7 Steps to Improving Your Basketball Skills This Summer

If you’re a serious basketball player, you want to get better!  No matter how good you already are.  If you DON’T want to get better, you won’t be a serious basketball player for long because the guys you had in your rearview you’ll soon see ahead of you.  Here are seven steps to really improving your game this summer.

Get an Assessment of your Current Game 

Don’t just look in the mirror!  Sometimes our own vision of ourselves can be deceiving.  Ask your coach, your teammates, your parents and your friends to asses your current game, including your strengths and weaknesses.  I’ve done this before, and I still remember some of the feedback I got from one of my buddies one summer.  It still sticks with me to this day, and it helped me get better at the time he gave it.  Take the feedback from others who can see your blind spots, and combine that with what you know about yourself to get an accurate snapshot of yourself as a basketball player.

 Identify the Player You Want to Be in the Fall 

Sometimes players start to work on various skills without identifying what they want the end result to be.  You definitely want to know what you’re working towards.  If you’re not exactly sure how to decide “the player you want to be”, an easy way to do this is to look at your favorite NBA or college player.  Find the player you really want to play like.  Look at the skills he has and how he plays the game.  You can use him as a temporary standard.  You can say “I want to handle like Kyrie”, or “I want to pass like CP3”.  Identify the skills they have that you currently don’t but that you want to acquire.

 Find a Gym 

This sounds simple, but it is important.  Find a practice space where you have access to a dribbling space and a 10 foot basketball goal.  This can be your driveway, or it can be the park down the street.  It can also be your local gym where you have a membership.  Nobody gets better by waking up with the desire but not knowing where to go.  You want to wake up and get right to your practice area.  Find a place where you know the times you’ll have that space to train so you can get on a consistent schedule as well.

 Find a Basketball Trainer and a Workout Partner 

You may know “what” you want to develop, but a good basketball trainer can give you the “how”.  Again the concept of blind spots comes into play.  You may think you look one way while shooting or dribbling, but you really look a different way.  Your trainer can help correct and guide you.  A workout partner is also good for accountability.  You don’t need or want a partner all the time while you are working on your game, but having a partner to work with at least once or twice per week will help keep you accountable, focused and on enthusiastic.

 Find a Good Pickup Game 

You’ve got to find a good weekly pickup game to work on your new skills.  You want to work on skills in a pickup setting because there are generally less restrictions than organized games and you can play more freely.  If you are working on that new double crossover move, it’s okay if you mess up in a pickup game.  If you are working on shooting and all you want to do is shoot the ball from long distance, that’s fine as well.  You’ll get more confidence and key feedback as you try things in a pickup game setting. 

Find a Summer League 

Whatever you’ve been working on, you gotta do it with the lights on!  We all know there is a different pressure and feel when playing in an organized game as opposed to playing with your buddies.  Most players are more conservative in organized games and only display skills they are 100% confident with.  You’ve got to convert some of your new skills into toolkit skills.  And by toolkit skills I mean skills that are second nature to you.  Get practice with your new game in this setting before your fall season comes.  If you can be successful with your new game here, you can do it in your fall season.

 Develop a Long-Term Practice Regimen

Lastly, a long-term practice regimen is important for maintaining what you’ve worked on.  We all know that the basketball season starts in the fall or winter, but your summer vacation ends in August.  You’ve got to come up with practice time to hold you over so you don’t lose your skills  Even if your school has a basketball offseason class, that time is usually not dedicated to you doing whatever you want to do to develop perosnally.  You still need personal practice time.  Find a location and two or three days per week that you can work on your basketball game in the midst of homework, projects and the football season.

We’ve just given you 7 steps tips to improving your basketball game this summer.  Get started now with an assessment, and contact us to help you with the process of developing into the player you want to be.  Have fun practicing and playing games this summer.  We can’t wait to see how you grow!

When I was a kid, Michael Jordan was the best player in the world.  As a result, kids all across the world wanted to play just like him.  That meant driving to the basket, getting steals, and hitting game-winning shots.  When I was a kid I even drove to the basket with my tongue out!  As people my age got older, we wanted to dunk on people like Michael and score crazy amounts of points like Michael.  We wanted to be like Mike.  One thing that me and a lot of other people didn’t work on until later in our basketball lives was the art of shooting, because shooting wasn’t as cool as driving and dunking.

Fast forward to today.  Who is the best player in the world?  Lebron James.  He’s actually a good shooter but is not known for his shooting.  His best attributes are in other areas.  But kids today should still work on their shooting.

Here Are Your Top Ten Reasons to Work on Your Shooting This Summer

10.  Everybody can be a good shooter.  Everybody’s not going to be able to dunk from the free throw line or sprint up the floor in 3 seconds, but everybody has the potential to be a good shooter.  So even if you aren’t blessed with MJ’s or Lebron’s physical gifts (which most of us aren’t), you can still have value on the basketball court.

9 . 3 points is better than 2.  If you’ve played basketball for any amount of time you know this is true.  You can make the prettiest, most creative and athletic move to the rim and score 2 points, and the guy you are guarding can come right back and hit a quick shot and score 3 points!  It’s frustrating but that’s life.  3 is better than 2.

8.  Shooters get to stay in at the end of games.  There are three types of players who coaches trust at the end of games – guys who can handle the ball, guys who can play defense, and guys who can shoot.  3 point shooting is needed to make big comebacks, and free throw shooting is needed to close-out games.

7.  You get free scoring opportunities at the end of games. Do you know what happens when you are a good free throw shooter and your team is up by 4 points with 30 seconds left?  Your teammates will give you the ball, the other team will foul you, and you get a chance to score more points at the free throw line.  Woohoo!
6.  Everybody needs a shooter.  I have a buddy who is 6 foot tall and 180 pounds soaking wet.  He played big time college basketball on a full basketball scholarship.  Do you know why?  Because he can shoot, consistently, from faaaar beyond the 3 point line.  Every team needs a shooter and shooting can be your way onto your middle school, club, or high school basketball team.  If you’re an outstanding shooter, you may even have a chance at college basketball.

5.  Chicks dig the long ball.  Okay, that’s a baseball joke, but I had to get that in there.  Do you know the best way to hear a gym or arena go crazy?  Hit a big 3 pointer!  There’s nothing like it.  Fans dig the 3 ball.  Your team digs the 3 ball.

4.  Shooting opens the rest of your game up.  As I got older I realized that Michael Jordan was a great jump shooter.  He used his jumpshot to score when defenders sagged off of him, and he used a shot fake to get defenders in the air to go to the basket.  If you can shoot, it actually helps you to get easier driving opportunities and get those highlight finishes we all love.

3.  Shooting is cool again.  Kevin Durant is a great shooter, and there are whispers that Kevin Durant might be better than Lebron James *gasp*.  Most people (including me) will still say that Lebron is still better, but Kevin is at least making it a real argument.  Kevin is a shooter who is one of the Top 2 players in the world.  It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to say that.  Shooters are coming back in style.

2.  Shooting is the great equalizer.  When I was a sophomore in HS school still playing sub varsity basketball, I got a chance to play one of my school’s varsity starters, a senior, in a game of 1-on-1. I was able to beat him… mainly because I hit a lot of long distance shots.  He was bigger, stronger and faster than me, so he felt he should have beaten me.  He wanted a rematch.  I beat him again.  And again.  At the end of it, he asked me not to tell anyone about it.  Sorry Nigel, I’ve got to finally tell somebody.  I was a decent shooter then, but not a great one.  If I would have really developed my shooting ability at that time, I could have played Varsity basketball earlier than I did.  Shooting is a unique skill that allows players to play at a higher level than their physical attributes or other skills may allow.  It really is great to be a shooter.

And number 1 *drumroll*…

1. You can achieve greatness with a single shot!!!

If you’re not inspired to work on your shooting after that, you don’t love this game!  Happy shooting!

BasketballTrainer.com writer Chris Price is a former Texas Longhorn, a basketball trainer at Austin Youth Basketball, and a big Houston Rockets fan.

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Most basketball players have the desire to become a better player but they are unsure of what to do and how to accomplish their goals. You wouldn’t leave for a trip without first looking at a map to figure the directions of how to get there, it is the same with basketball. Once you set a specific goal for yourself you need to figure what you are going to do to get to that goal. Setting goals without having any plans to follow through are no good, here is your game plan for success.

The first thing that a good basketball trainer should do is what we just talked about and that is helping you in  setting some goals. Each person’s goals are going to be different so make your goals specific to you. Also you need to make your goals realistic. If you are playing 5 minutes a game, don’t make your goal to average 30 points a game by the end of the year. Make your goal to play 20 minutes a game, then once you get that aim to be a starter, and so on. You can also set skill development goals. Maybe you want to be able finish better with your weak hand or shooter a higher percent from the 3 point line. Set short and long term goals and then write them down somewhere that you will be constantly reminded of them.

Next you need to sit down and write out what you are going to do on a daily basis to achieve your goals. For example if one of your goals is to become a better shooter than you could write something like shoot 200 shots per day. Make sure that when you write out your schedule that you are able to realistically do it. If you can only work 30 minutes on your game a day start there and work your way up. When you do get in the gym to work on your game though put everything else aside and get to work. This time is dedicated specifically for achieving your dreams and goals don’t water it down with any other distractions.

Anybody can set a goal and write down what they are going to do to get there. They might even start on their way to achieving the goals they set but this is where most people drop off. To have success you must learn to be consistent. Getting in the gym for 3 days in a row and then taking two weeks off is not going to cut it. Becoming better as a player is about consistency and getting better on a daily basis. This is where you will see real improvement in your game.

If you are able to do these three things then you will give yourself a chance to have success and accomplish your goals. Don’t wait till tomorrow or next week to get started. Sit down right now and begin making steps to get where you want to be as a basketball player.

Now that you have outlined your basketball goals, head over to www.basketballhq.com to design the curriculum you need to reach your basketball goals.