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Happy New Year!
It is week #5 of the high school basketball season. Technically, we should’ve shared this at the start of the season, however, with the New Year and a quarter of the season more than done, we felt now was the appropriate time to share the concept of how each year, a player will have a different role. Also, it takes few weeks to define a role clearly
It is important to understand that throughout the course of a season, a player can assume a few different roles, depending upon injuries, opponents, sickness, and an incredible amount of other factors. To have a successful season, it is critical that a player (and his family) understand his role. Once a role is clear, a player MUST fully embrace that role.
Different Roles
Your role on your team is based on talent, experience, and chemistry. If you have all three, stop reading and go do your thing. If you don’t, here are a few pointers.
Each new year brings a new journey. The four journeys for a high school basketball player are freshman year, sophomore year, junior year, and senior year. To be a good basketball player we feel it is critical to have short-term focus. By short-term focus we mean place all your energy on TODAY! Long-term should be this week.
Improve Each Day
Try to get a little bit better each day. In some cases that might mean resting, but in most cases a player should do some type skill development. To be a good basketball player, simply practicing with your team is not going to be enough. You will be an average player, because every player in the state and every player in your program is practicing just as much as you.
Start with an extra 10 to 15 minutes of individual skill development. Just a little extra work will give you confidence that you are doing more than the average player. Overtime, these brief workouts will result in slow, steady improvement. It is important for you to focus on skills that are most important in helping your team win and more importantly earning you playing time and a chance to be on the court.
Do Pushups
Create a pushup chart and do pushups each day. Many players do pushups each day, but many don’t. Simply doing pushups will separate your from the other players.
Jump Rope
Basketball is not an equal opportunity sport, just like it is or should be at the high school level. You have to earn your minutes. The best way to do this is to get to practice early or stay late. Sometimes another team might be coming in right after you so there’s no opportunity for workout in the gym.
In this case, jump rope. Jumping rope is one of the best season activities for a player to increase stamina, upper body, strength, and quickness. Adding quickness can impact so many aspects of basketball – offense, defense, rebounding, jumping and getting to the rim.
A simple jump rope routine could be as simple as
- A two minute warm-up,
- 2-3 sets of one minute. Try to get as many repetitions as possible. A good high school basketball player should be able to score in the range of 160 to 190 repetitions if they work at it.
Shot Fakes
Watch a high school game and pay attention to how many shot fakes or ball fakes are made during the game. You will be amazed. At the freshman level or the varsity level, in most programs, you’ll be lucky to see double digit fakes. At the sub-varsity level, you can probably count the shot fakes on one hand.
We try to keep the game simple and encourage a basketball player to focus on three things when they catch the ball.
- Catch and shoot
- Show and go (to a strong hand dribble)
- Rip the hip (to a weak hand dribble)
Practicing shot fakes can be done at home in front of a mirror. Or if the weather is not too cold you can practice outside in a driveway or at a court.
The Million Dollar Move
If you have time and a basket, focus on your Million Dollar Move. Be the best on the team at this one move. Once you master the Million Dollar Move. Every chance a player gets at the high school level, a player should go to his Million Dollar Move until it is stopped. To make the Million Dollar Move valuable, it is important for a player to have a counter move. As a player adds more scoring movers, he can have MANY Million Dollar Moves.
Stationary Dribbling Drills
All players can have a better handle. Complete a 5-10 minute stationary ball drills or the tennis ball series every day. Over the course of the season, those minutes will add up to hours. Hours of skill development over the season will make a huge difference in a player’s talent level.
Try to expand your role on the team by working a little more each day.
Completing an extra workout should be your number one goal. Each week to be the most improved player in your program. If you have the mindset that every single day you’re going to be the most improved player, that means you will be the most improved player for the week. And you can do that an entire basketball season, we think you will be very happy with the results.
Good luck check back for more ideas on the high school basketball year.