Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Your Guide to Basketball Tryouts

Posted by Chris Langley | Tuesday, October 5, 2010 | Category: , , , , , , |

Tryouts for rec league teams, church league teams, and middle and high school teams are right around the corner and we want to make sure that you're ready for anything your coach may throw at you during tryouts. Here are a couple of questions you need to ask yourself before tryouts to make sure you are ready.

1. Am I in good physical condition?

Basketball is a game of short bursts of actions and speed that is interrupted by free-throws, fouls, timeouts, and dead balls. Being in "basketball shape" is nothing like being in shape for cross country or soccer, where endurance over a long period of time is key. For basketball, you need to be able to know if you can run constantly for at least a minute without being winded or having to rest. If not, you need to make sure that you work on your "basketball endurance" by doing drills that involve constantly running and changing directions for at least a minute without being worn out. Line drills are a great way to work on this part of your game!

2. Am I able to shoot a layup with proper form?

Coaches expect players at any level to be able to shoot layups with proper form. To shoot a right hand layup from the right side of the basket, you will jump off of your left foot and your right hand and right knee will be in the air as you release the ball toward the basket. To shoot a left hand layup from the left side of the basket, you will jump off of your right foot and your left hand and left knee will be in the air as you release the ball toward the basket.

If you are having trouble with layup form, try "block layups." Start with both feet on the right block to work on your right hand layups. Take one step off the block with your left foot, and jump straight up toward the basket with the ball in your right hand with your right knee in the air. Practice this until you become comfortable shooting the layup consistently with proper form. To practice layups from the left side of the basket start on the left side take a step off the left block with your right foot and jump straight up toward the basket with the ball in your left hand with you left knee in the air. Practice this until you become comfortable shooting the layup consistently with proper form.

Without a defender guarding you, you should be able to make at least 9 out of 10 layups. Coaches need to know that if you get open under the basket that you can make a layup from either side.

If you are comfortable shooting layups from either side and want to work on your layups in pressure situations try the "cone layup" drill demonstrated in the video below:


3. Do I know basic basketball offenses?

2 basic offenses that coaches expect you to know are Pass and Cut and Pass and Screen Away.

For a simplified version of these offenses start with 3 guard spots, one player at the top of the key (point guard) and a player on either wing. The goal in any good offense is to make sure you keep spacing between all the offensive players to make it tougher for the defenders to guard against shots and players driving to the basket. On offense whenever a player gets close to another offensive player to set a pick or make a cut, they always bring the player that is guarding them on defense. Spacing is key. Without good spacing there will be less room to maneuver which makes it harder to score. So for these offenses, make sure you accomplish good spacing by making sure you always fill the 3 guard spots.

Pass and Cut is probably the most simple of the offenses. Starting with the ball from the top spot (point guard spot) in your offense, pass the ball to one of the wing positions and cut directly to the basket looking for a pass back from the player on the wing to whom you initially passed the ball. If you are open, you should get the pass and score on an easy layup. If you are not open, the opposite wing should fill the top spot which was left vacant after you cut and you should fill the spot on the wing that that player just left. Now the ball goes back to the top where it started and the offense is ready to run again. There is good spacing and all 3 guard spots filled.

Pass and Screen Away is one of the best offenses to make sure you keep space between yourself and other players on offense and is also one of the best ways to get your teammates open. Start again with 3 guard spots. Starting from the top spot (point guard spot) in your offense, pass the ball to one of the wing positions and set a screen for the opposite wing. The wing that was screened will take the top spot and the screener takes the spot of the wing. All 3 guard spots are filled again and you still have space between players for them to cut to the basket and get open. To get a better idea of how to run this offense watch the video below:


4. Can I listen and follow directions?

This is probably the most important question to ask yourself before tryouts! Listening is a key component in basketball. Every player must be able to listen to their coach, in order to be able to prepare for opposing teams in practice, learn offensive sets, run offensive plays out of timeouts during games, play good team defense, and to accomplish overall goals set forth for the team by the coach. Since listening is so important in basketball, coaches need to find out in tryouts if players have the ability to listen and follow directions. My advice to you would be to listen to every word the coach says. If your coach tells you to sprint from drill to drill, then SPRINT! If your coach tells you to not dribble the basketball while they are instructing, then DON'T DRIBBLE! Make it a point to try to do every thing exactly like your coach wants it done because coaches look for players that are disciplined and can listen.

If you can answer YES to the 4 questions above, then you are well on your way to making the basketball team. If you answer NO to some of those questions, then you need to start working NOW to make sure you are as prepared as you can be when tryouts come.

ARE YOU READY?

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