Three Ways for Girls Basketball Player to Improve

All players, but especially female players, must play the game in a more athletic position, bending their knees and lowering their butts. Too many girls stand straight up, limiting explosiveness and quickness, hampering balance and putting the player at-risk for injury. By sitting down in a stance, offensively and defensively, a player's game will improve, without any extra skill work. The stance need not be extreme; a great coach once explained that to be in a good defensive stance, he wanted his players to simply be comfortable, with knees bent in an athletic position.

The athletic stance improves balance, quickness and control, the three key elements of basketball. By being wider and lower, one's center of gravity lowers, and the player has a stronger base of support, making a player stronger and increasing balance. If somebody pushes me, I bend my knees and widen my stance to strengthen and support my body in order to hold my position. If I stand upright, it is easy to knock me off balance. Similarly, if I want a quick start, I get low to explode out of the blocks. In an athletic position on a basketball court, the lower position makes for a quicker first step, and a longer first step, which makes offensive moves more effective. By simply lowering oneself four inches in her athletic stance, a player can increase offensive efficiency and explosiveness and become a better all-around player.

As a result, players will be ready to make plays. The second observation is the importance of taking advantage of opportunities when they are presented. Players are most open when they initially receive the ball; if they receive the ball in an athletic stance, they are ready to take advantage of any opening. Too many players catch the ball and immediately place the ball overhead and look to pass.

Every time a player catches a pass in her range, she thinks score. That does not mean she shoots every time; however, it means she looks at the basket and is a threat. Players must be operational when they have the ball in their hands. That means that upon receiving a pass, a player turns and faces the basket with the intention of shooting if open. The ball, therefore, is in the shooting pocket, or an operational position: the generic position is hand and elbow under the ball with ball roughly at the armpit. From this position, a player can shoot, pass or dribble and is a bigger threat than a player with the ball tucked away on her hip.

Too many players catch and fail to look at the basket; they are not a threat to score and are easily defended. Basketball is a simple game and the goal, offensively, is to score. By watching many players, one might assume there is a rule prohibiting certain positions from shooting. A good shot is an open shot within the player's range. Players who catch and wait and hold the ball above their head allow the defensive player to sit down in a stance and get under control. Also, by holding the ball, the help defense (or zone) shifts. Therefore, a player has a more difficult time attacking the basket or finding an open player with an opportunity to score. The window of opportunity closed. Players must catch in an attack position and quickly take advantage of the situation presented. Gaining this feel for playing with the ball in one's hands greatly increases a player's offensive effectiveness.

A great way to increase a player's operational ability and to learn to take advantage of opportunities when presented is to play pick-up games. Girls do not play enough informal pick-up basketball. All their practice time is structured and coach-driven. While structure is not inherently bad, it hampers a player's freedom to play and learn outside of the coach's system. By playing pick-up games or games without structure, players learn to cut, to attack immediately, to move to open areas, to create space, etc., important concepts often left untaught as coaches enforce structured offenses that teach players where to go, but not why to go there. Players learn to run to spots, but they don't necessarily learn why certain cuts are made or why picks are set in certain ways. And, because they are told repeatedly to run the offense, they do not look to shoot unless the set play is designed for them to shoot. So, even if a player receives the ball and is wide open, she puts the ball above her head and runs the play. Again, the goal of offense is to score, not to run offense. By playing pick-up basketball, players learn some of these lessons and are more prepared to play in a less structured, motion-oriented offense.

These three things-bending one's knees, being operational and playing pick-up games-will not increase skill level or ability. None takes much effort; just concentration, focus and more time spent playing. However, by learning the first two, and adding some pick-up play to a normal workout routine, a player can dramatically improve one's overall game.