The subject of how to shoot a basketball is one that is close to many people’s hearts. “Within that ring lies greatness”, that’s probably what Shakespeare would have had to say on the subject! (If he’d been alive) and even in the modern era it is not only great playwrights that worry about how to shoot a basketball. That is the job of most of us who have ever messed about shooting some hoops, and dreamed of being Michael Jordan. This thinking leads to good challenges on the basketball court to improve, and an ongoing effort to improve our shooting technique and other factors that are directly under our control. In this article, I am going to look at some of the factors that influence how to shoot a basketball and how you can go about improving your basketball game in a gradual and predictable way.
The first factor to consider in it how to shoot a basketball is your foot placement. The reason this is paramount is because ultimately everything ties in to your body balance and how your body is centred. Because it is that balance, which properly allows you to get into the correct posture and position to shoot the ball effectively. In practice, what this means, is that you should have your feet placed in a stable manner, and most of your body parts bent prior to shooting the basketball. So for example, you would be flexed at the knees, with pressure evenly spread on your ankles, and your wrist bent slightly to allow you to get maximum thrust on the basketball before you propel it forwards.
The next factor to consider is how your eyes are. You need to make sure that you are focusing clearly on the basketball ring and not on the basketball itself. This is a mistake that beginners often make when they first start out with basketball, in that they are so focused on their own body position that they tend to lose sight of the main goal, which is obviously to score a basket. One aspect of this though that does differ between different teaching styles, is which part of the basket rim you should focus on. Some say it is the most forward part of the rim you should focus on, some say the backboard just above the rim, and some even say you should focus on the left or the right of the rim depending on which of your eyes is dominant when taking the basketball shot. In practice, this is quite a difficult thing to consider, and so try the four types out and then choose which ever method works best for you.
The third factor, that we are going to consider in this article is your hand position, and how you hold the basketball. This really is a critical factor. If you hold the basketball too high, then you won’t get enough leverage on it, and you won’t be able to get the correct speed or spin, in order to give the basketball the correct momentum to go in the right place. But too low, and you will find that you don’t have enough control over it. Basically, you need to experiment, find a hand grip position that allows you to have sufficient control over the basketball, but at the same time, allows you to have the dexterity of touch, to enable you to have the feel to make the shot.
If you examine these three steps. Take action and practice, then you will be well on the path to mastering the beautiful game! To discover more basketball tips, tricks and strategies. Visit the links below for up-to-date basketball information and techniques.
There’s no reason you should be embarrassed about your lack of success with shooting a basketball.