12/9-15/12 Player Tip of the Week

How to stop Fouling: 50% of fouls called in a basketball game at the high school or middle school levels are reaching fouls. Players do not move their feet.

So players MOVE YOUR FEET and don’t reach when playing help defense and do not reach for the ball when guarding a player with the ball.

A ggod drill for this to practice your lateral moving skills. Go to a foul line and slide back and forth in a defensive position guarding a player with the ball.

Pretend you are guarding a player holding the ball at one side of the 12 foot foul line. Watch the players throat, not their head, chest, eyes or whatever because the throat is one part of the body that an offensive player with the ball cannot fake with.

Keep yourself in a good solid bent knee position and then pretend the player is dribbling to your left, the dribblers right and slide laterally along the foul line until the player gets to the edge of the foul line.

Then stop pretend you are guarding a player holding the ball again, and then prentend the plaer is now dribbling to your right, his/her left and slide laterally to the edge of the foul line on the other side.

Do this several times. This will help develop good lateral quickness and help you from reaching or hand checking a player holding ofr dribbling the ball.

Players get beat off the dribble and reach because they are not in a good low bent knee position to move laterally as the dribbler tries to penetrate by the defender.

Play the dribbler or the player with the ball to their strongside hand (usually the players right and your left. Keeo your body so that your right leg is lined up with the player with the ball mid line of his/her body and keep your left foot up and your right foot back.

This should force the dribbler to use their non dominat hand and you can drive him/her to their left where they don’t ewant to go.