You are here: DIME Home > Basketball > Youth Basketball Shooting Drills

Youth Basketball Shooting Drills

There is nothing more satisfying than watching a basketball leave your fingertips with the perfect backspin and arch on its way toward the hoop until you hear the sweet sound of the swish.

Author: Trevor Sumner
Date: Nov 13, 2009 - 6:02:58 AM

Printer friendly page

There is nothing more satisfying than watching a basketball leave your fingertips with the perfect backspin and arch on its way toward the hoop until you hear the sweet sound of the swish. Like anything else it takes practice to become a good shooter, and though some people have more natural shooting ability than others, shooting drills can help any player improve their shot and become more of a scoring threat. However, no matter how much you practice, if you are simply going through countless repetitions of shooting the ball using poor form you won't be getting much accomplished.

Below are some tips for proper basketball shooting techniques as well as some fun drills for your youth basketball team's practice. You can also find more free basketball skills & drills videos and tutorials online at websites like Weplay.com

Basketball Shooting Fundamentals

• Keep your elbow aligned with your shoulder rather than allowing it to drift off to the right. If you stop and simulate that position right now you'll recognize that the correct alignment will leave your hand and fingertips correctly centered on the ball.
  
  
• Square your body up to the hoop. Of course there are times when you cannot be perfectly positioned due to the ebb and flow of the game, but we call those "off balance shots" right? They are impressive when they go in because of the high difficulty level, but they are low percentage opportunities. You need to have your shoulders squared up to the basket and your elbow tucked in.
  
  
• Follow through correctly. When you watch good shooters, you will always see them follow through completely with a snapping rather than a pushing motion. You release the ball with a flip of the wrist with your arm fully extended, and this results in the proper backspin. Watch bad shooters and you will see that they invariably do not extend their arms fully or release the ball with that perfect flip of the wrist.

Basketball Shooting Drills

• Wall Drill
  This drill is designed to condition your players to focus on form any time they think about shooting the basketball. Your players line up facing a wall in the gym, and you instruct them to aim for a spot on the wall and try to hit it while using proper shooting form. As the ball bounces back they work on catching the "pass" in rhythm, gathering it in, and squaring up and releasing another shot using the correct shooting technique. This is something that players should be encouraged to do on their own as well.
  
  
• Bank Drill
  When you are close to the basket the backboard can be your best friend. This drill creates touch off the board and allows players to work on improving their off-hand shooting ability. Have players start off about three feet from the basket and utilize perfect form making a bank shot with their shooting hand. Have them shoot ten or fifteen shots and then go to the other side of the basket and do the same with their off-hand. Then they take a couple of steps back and continue repeating the drill from longer distances.

View all articles by Trevor Sumner

Link to this article:

Code to copy:

<a href="http://www.dime-co.com/basketball/Youth-Basketball-Shooting-Drill.shtml">Youth Basketball Shooting Drills</a>

---

Search for articles: Advanced Search

Recommended Associates

Latest Articles in All Categories

Putting Up a Small Commercial Printing Business

So You Might Be Unemployed And Desire To Become A San Francisco Real Estate Investor Now

Meditation and Mindfulness: Dealing With Emotion

CPA Websites: Five Essential Ideas for Composing Convincing Articles

Set Goals In Order to Come Up With Your Action Plan

Is the Air in Your Home Safe to Breathe?

Coarse Fishing Tackle Review: The JW Young 13ft Trotter Rod

Section 1031 Exchanges For San Diego Real Estate Investors

Phoenix Real Estate Investing For Highest Possible Earnings

Legendary are the Volk Racing TE37 Wheels

Developing the Next Generation Wall Station (ChaseDesk™) for Healthcare - A Case Study

What are step down transformers?

Introducing Sharehype, the Revolutionary Tool for Online Marketers

Rewards To Shopping For Austin Real Estate On The Web

Hydroponics for Beginners

Do you write?

Would you like submit your articles and have them approved on a priority status? Find out more about how you can become a Priority author for pennies a day! Click here.

News Feed

Dime-co.com Home

Business (9328)

Computers & The Internet (5740)

Entertainment (1348)

Family (958)

Finance (1963)

Health (4246)

Home and Living (6670)

Marketing (6113)

Shopping & Product Reviews (2624)

Sports (694)

Travel and Vacations (1689)

Video Articles (1)

Editors Pick (1)