Basketball: Essential skills

Basketball: Three key skills

At its core, the essential skills of basketball can be learned by children as young as 2 or 3 years old. However, as their coordination and strength develop, their ability to utilize these skills grows. In this section, we will explain how to build the foundations for basketball, focusing on the essential skills of Dribbling, Shooting, and Passing. We’ll also touch briefly on the fourth key skill: defense.

Dribbling the basketball

Dribbling with a basketball is the most essential skill to learn to move with the ball. Players dribble the ball from one end of the court to the other. They do this by bouncing the ball while running with it. If your child can master dribbling, they will be able to move around and change position while playing with their friends or practicing in their backyard.

🏀 Step one – Bounce and catch: If your child is starting out, ask them to practice bouncing and catching the ball with two hands. The movement should begin and end at their waist. Pay attention to this as younger children will often bounce the ball to chest height.

🏀 Step two – Push or pat the ball towards the ground: When children learn how to dribble a basketball, they often start by slapping the ball towards the ground with the palm of their hand. Guide them away from this technique. Instead, encourage them to keep their dominant hand relaxed, spread out their fingers, and push or pat the ball gently down to the ground. At first, they can push the ball down once and then catch it with two hands. When they have done that, ask them to try doing it twice. Eventually they can see how many times they can bounce the ball in a row.

🏀 Step three – Bounce and move: Your child will probably move around while bouncing the ball anyway as they follow it around the backyard or court. Oftentimes, they are entirely focused on the ball. As they get more confident, ask them to stop looking at the ball and look up. Suggest that they try bouncing and walking in a straight line with the ball. When they master that, ask them to change directions.

🏀 Next Step – Use both hands: Once your child is comfortable dribbling with their dominant hand, challenge them to try it with their other hand. Great players can dribble well with both hands!

Shooting The Basketball

Shooting is what every child wants to do when they play basketball. After all, that’s the way that you score points – and it’s fun! It’s natural for very young kids to push the ball with two hands from their chest or even try underarm throws. Let them have fun with this! As they get stronger, you can introduce the proper one-handed shooting form.

🏀 Step One – Getting into the ‘Shot Pocket’: Have your child stand facing the basket, holding the ball with two hands in front of their chest. This is the ‘shot pocket’. From here, help them position their dominant (shooting) hand behind the ball and their non-dominant (guide) hand on the side of the ball for balance. The elbow of their shooting arm should be tucked in, pointing towards the basket.

🏀 Step Two – Focus on the Form: As they progress, we’ll focus on the position of their hands on the ball. For now, the goal is to have the dominant hand behind the ball and the guide hand around the side of it. Holding the ball like that, ask them to pass it to you, pushing the ball with their dominant hand and letting the guide hand fall away.

🏀 Step three – shooting ‘up’: Once they are comfortable with the motion, it’s time to shoot ‘up’ at the hoop. Depending on their physical development, they can either raise the ball to head height and shoot, or keep the ball at chest height. Whichever they prefer, make sure that they have their dominant hand behind the ball, and their guide hand to the side of it.

🏀 Final tip – think B.E.E.F: A simple way of helping them to remember the basics of shooting is B.E.E.F:
• Balance: feet shoulder-width apart
• Eyes: on the backboard – we are aiming for the back of the rim
• Elbow: under the ball, forming an “L” shape
• Follow-through: wrist flicks forward, like reaching into a cookie jar.

Passing the basketball

Basketball is a team game, and if your kid wants to join a team, they are going to have to pass the ball to their teammates. There are three basic passes every player should learn

🏀 The Chest Pass: This is the most common and direct pass. Have your child hold the ball with both hands at their chest, thumbs behind the ball. To pass, they should step toward their target and extend their arms fully, pushing the ball forward and snapping their thumbs down. The ball should travel in a straight line to their teammate’s chest.

🏀 The Bounce Pass: This pass is used to get around a defender. The starting motion is the same as the chest pass, but instead of aiming for their teammate’s chest, they should aim for the floor. The ball should bounce once about two-thirds of the way to their target.

🏀 The Overhead Pass: This pass is used to throw the ball over a defender’s head, often over longer distances. Have your child bring the ball up over their head with two hands, then step forward and throw the ball towards their teammate, similar to a soccer throw-in.

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