Basketball Dribbling

Before going to some advanced techniques about dribbling it would be helpful to first understand the basics. If you can grasp the basics correctly and apply them then you can move forward to other things. On the other hand if you don't even know which part of the hand to use then you cannot move forward.

Dribble using finger tips

If you dribble using the complete hand or palm then it is completely wrong. Only the finger tips should be used while dribbling. If you have been playing basketball for a while, you will definitely know this.

Forearms and wrists should be used to dribble

The ball should be pushed by moving the forearms and wrists only. Using the complete hand is not efficient and your control on the ball will be lost easily. There will also be no balance and you will lose the ball. Practice by slowly hitting the ball and get into the rhythm. After you are able to do it properly, you can go for higher speeds.

Hit the ball without looking at it

For players who are knew and are just learning, this will be somewhat difficult. Hitting the ball without looking at it requires continuous practice. You have to keep the ball under control, dribble continuously and look in the arena for passing or getting through the other team members.

The head should be straight and the eyes should look forward

This is another important thing. Keep your head straight with eyes looking forward so that you will have complete picture of the players' positions. This will help you to find the correct person to pass to, to go through the defences properly and get that score.

Dribble using both the hands

Some of you will dribble correctly with right hand and some with left. But you must learn to do it correctly with both the hands. As the game is fast paced, you have no time to react when you get the ball. You have to just take it with either the right or left hand and start going inside the defences of the other team. So practice dribbling with both the hands.

In a basket ball game you will be at different positions in a flash. It would be foolish to dribble slowly when you are going through the defenses of the other team. You will just lose a chance to gain points. If you have the correct knowledge about the different dribbling methods at different positions, you'll be in far better position to score for your team.

The different types of dribbling methods are

1) Control Dribble
2) Speed Dribble
3) Cross over dribble
4) In and out dribble
5) Hesitation dribble
6) Behing the back dribble, through the legs dribble
7) Backup dribble and crossover

These will be discussed one by one here..

When a player of the other team is upclose and guarding you, then dribbling low will be the best thing to do. Stay in somewhat crouched position by keeping yourself in between the ball and the defender.Try to keep a good control of the ball, because in a second, the ball can be snatched from you.

While dribbling, have a good look at your team mates and decide what you will do. It will be better to keep your other hand straight towards the defender to prevent him from coming too near the ball. Be careful and do not push the other person in a hurry as you will land in trouble for this thing.

One more thing to keep in mind is to dribble continuously. Do not stop until you have some chance. If you stop without deciding then you'll surely lose the ball because the other players will come and snatch the ball.

The speed dribbling should be done when there are no defenders near you. You have to be quick and be in control of the ball. You can imagine youself as going through the enemies defences (obviously you'll run as fast as you could).

For doing this, push the ball infront of you such that it bounces to your waist height. Keeping the hand at a slant position (like 45 degrees) will help you go forward quickly.

Before you do speed dribbling, have a good look on the court and decide where you got to go. Then just launch yourself inside the defences by keeping your head straight.

To master this, you need to practice dribbling quickly and keeping control of the ball.

In crossover dribbling, you will shift the dribbling from one hand to the other in a flash to trick a defender. It is a very sleek maneuver and if you master this, you will be in a different level than most of the basketball players. You can see many players doing this from under the legs.

You can use this to quickly change the direction in which you are going. For example, if you are dribbling with left hand and moving left, you can quickly change to the right hand and move forward.

There are three types of crossovers.

1) Normal crossover
2) Killer crossover
3) Double crossover

You can read about them here.

The in and out dribbling move is done to get around a defender. It is a fake move which will confuse the player who is defending. How do you do this move?

First of all you'll make a bounce infront of you and get the feeling in the defenders mind that you are going to do a crossover. As you know that in a crossover dribble you will transfer the ball to another hand. But in this one you just roll the dribbling hand on the top of the ball, then bring it sharply back and go around the defender. This is a good way to confuse the other player.

You have to practice hard for this move and while doing this move you have to be one hundred percent clear about what you are going to do. If you want to make this move very successful then practice daily.

Hesitation dribbling move is another faker move which will come in handy sometimes. What you will do for this move is, charge towards the defender. He will think that you are going to speed dribble across him and he will be ready to make a move. Just when you come close to him, stop right there by putting the inside foot forward.

The defender will get confused for a moment and come for you. As he makes that move, start and charge around him and move forward. You can use the crossover dribble or the in and out dribble along with this move to make it more effective.

The timing will be really important in this method. If you can master the timing then you can fake to the good player as well.