TIP! You need good balance when you shoot. Sometimes you’ll see professional players fall out of bounds while making a shot from afar, but this doesn’t work at all times.

Your first basketball match was a whole different ballgame. You were finding your way around shooting, dribbling and passing. Sooner or later, you need to seek out new ideas. The following article will show you that you still have much to learn.

TIP! To improve your game, concentrate on your strong points. You can contribute to the team by consolidating your best skills, even if these skills do not make you one of the star players.

Learn what a crossover is and how to do it. Moving the ball from hand to hand is a crossover. This must be done quickly to be successful. If you do it right, a crossover dribble will assist you in changing directions and getting down the court in an efficient manner.

TIP! Work on pass catches. Be sure to be able to catch off-target throws on top of good ones.

Passing the ball is an important part of playing basketball so practice making and receiving passes. During practice you should come up with drills where you perfect catching bad passes along with the good ones. This will help you catch those bad passes during a game. Learning how to catch these errant passes will put you at an advantage.

TIP! Would you like to fool the opposing team? Back passes can give your team the opportunity to score while the other team is still wondering what happened. Use your dominant hand to palm the basketball.

You should practice against a variety of defense types, not just zone. The majority of the game is in that area, but be careful about a team who changes things up. You might lose your control of the court if the other team use this technique, unless you are ready for this possibility.

TIP! Make use of hand signals so that wild passes can be avoided. Basketball passes can be really frustrating when shot wrong.

Completing passes to your teammates is just as important as dribbling the ball. Playing without any dribbling is very hard, but builds your passing skills. This is very challenging at first, but eventually it will really improve your entire team’s passing game.

Core Muscles

TIP! Don’t play when you are injured! It’s a challenging sport that’s very physical, and you have the ability to get injured. If you keep on playing after sustaining an injury, you may make the injury even more serious.

If you have a child who has expressed interest in becoming a basketball player in high school, make sure he trains his core muscles. Core muscles are comprised of the hips, lower back, and abdominal muscles. Without a strong core, a player’s performance may not be as good as it could be. The stronger your core, the higher you will jump.

TIP! Make it your goal to never turn away from the ball on the court. This keeps you aware of what is going on so you aren’t surprised.

Keeping your fingers spread wide is important for holding onto the ball. This will help prevent the ball from getting away from you while dribbling. You should avoid having your palm touching the ball. Only your fingers should touch it during a pass or when dribbling.

TIP! To hold the ball right, spread your fingers out. You will have better luck holding onto the ball as well.

Passing between the legs is something that helps when you have defense all over you. Go forwards and backwards with the ball to practice bouncing it. Mastering this technique can give you a significant advantage.

TIP! If you’ve developed somewhat of a shooting slump, focus on your shoulders. Regardless of your skill level, if you don’t have your shoulders positioned correctly, you will miss.

Work on making your forearms and hands stronger in order to improve ball handling. Do some wrist curls as much as possible and your dribbling should get better. You can’t just stand and shoot for the whole game. You need to be able to move the basketball to make things happen.

TIP! Make sure you know what is going on with your feet. Stepping your toe in a baseline with a ball in your grip will mean that you’re out of bounds.

Change your pace up to throw the offense off. When you’re moving towards the net, act like you’re going to straighten up. The guard will assume you are reducing speed and will do the same. After that, push hard in a forward motion and scoot by them.

Strength Training

TIP! When you want consistently good free throws, repeat your routine. This could mean dribbling twice, shaking out your head to loosen your neck or whatever else makes you comfortable.

Strength training can improve your game. You need both strength and endurance if you are going to excel. Even young kids can improve if they exercise the right way and strengthen their core. As they grow and become teenagers, weight-lifting can be beneficial. When you get to be an adult is when you want to concentrate on strength training to help improve durability on the court.

TIP! In order to ensure that you are always ready to defend, keep your stance at all times. Slide your feet to and fro or use your opposing foot to push off to maintain your position.

Stay low when you play defense. You will be able to react more quickly and jump higher because of this. Maintain your proper defensive stance no matter what. If you need to leave your feet in order to prevent your opponent from shooting the ball, quickly get back into that good defensive position.

TIP! Remain low when playing defense. This will let you get to the jump quicker and let you react to your opponent easier.

For your weaker hand, to build skills, use it off-court for as much as you can, from brushing teeth to opening jars. You will have more control as you use it to do daily activities that require dexterity. This also can significantly help your basketball game.

TIP! Always set your three-point shooting practice goal at the official NBA distance. All the other three point lines are much closer than the NBA line.

Keep your knees bent while dribbling. If you are standing straight, you will have a harder time controlling the ball and your opponent will be able to steal it more easily. You only need to bend your knees slightly to improve your control of the basketball.

Keep the action beneath your knees, if you can. This prevents your opponents from stealing the ball. Practice moving quickly while dribbling below knee level.

TIP! Keep your dribbling in a rhythm until you want to throw your opponent off guard. Changing your pace quickly can take the other player by surprise and give you an advantage.

Create a barrier between the ball and your opponent with the hand you are not using for dribbling. You don’t want to be pushing any of your opponents (that’s a foul), but you can use that non-dribbling arm as a separator to keep the ball safe. Keep is slightly up as you dribble with your other hand.

TIP! Create teamwork both off and on the basketball court. Basketball teams that work together well can take the game to a new level.

Switching up your dribbling rhythm can really throw the defense off. Dribbling somewhat slowly, then suddenly dribbling fast might give you the opening you need to take a shot. Both the change in speed and sound will confound the player who is guarding you.

TIP! Try to remain calm when shooting. Keep your view on the basket.

With all the advice you have now, there is no limit to where you can go. Set reasonable goals and practice regularly to become the best player possible. When you add the tips and use them in your game, you’ll see the results you have always wanted.