John Wooden once stated that he "discovered early on that the player who learned the fundamentals of basketball is going to have a much better chance of succeeding and rising through the levels of competition than the player who was content to do things his own way. A player should be interested in learning why things are done a certain way. The reasons behind the teaching often go a long way to helping develop the skill."
From a coaching standpoint, fundamentally sound basketball players are essential in developing your offensive and defensive system. You may have designed the greatest offense or defense in the world, but without proper execution of the fundamentals, they will not be effective.
If you coach young or beginning players or if you are a young player, a great deal of emphasis should be placed on the fundamentals. The fundamentals should be worked on every day in practice during the season. Players can and should work on the fundamentals during the offseason as well. By stressing the fundamentals the players will become ingrained with your teaching ideas and philosophies in that particular area. Players that learn and master the fundamentals will begin to take pride in their abilities as they transfer into game situations. That pride will develop into a confidence that as a player and/or team you will be prepared for any situation that arises during a game. If you are confident in your abilities, you will be confident when it is needed most.
I believe there are nine essential fundamental basketball skills that must be taught in the game of basketball. These nine fundamental skills are running, jump stopping, jumping, pivoting, shuffling, passing, catching, dribbling and shooting.
There is also one basic aspect that must be taught prior to teaching the above skills -- basketball position. Some may call it 'ready position' or 'athletic stance' or any other number of terms but the idea is the same; basketball players should never stand straight up while playing the game. The basketball player must always be ready to move in any direction and must always be alert. This concept needs to be taught to all players. Young players will need it often and older players may have to go back to it if they become lazy during the season.
The following list is the 7 points of emphasis for the basketball position:
- Feet are shoulder-width or just wider and slightly staggered.
- Knees should be bent to at least a 1/4 squat position and directly over the feet.
- Hips are rotated in so that the rear does not stick out.
- Back is straight so the shoulders are not rolled forward.
- Head is up and on a swivel so player can see the whole floor.
- Hands are above waist with elbows bent and relaxed so player is ready to react.
- Body weight is evenly distributed but slightly forward and player should be on the balls of their feet.
Once the 'basketball position' is learned the players can now move on to the nine fundamentals. Each fundamental is shown below. Click the fundamental and read about how and why to teach that particular skill. Each fundamental skill page will also have drills to help you teach and/or learn that skill effectively.
The Nine Basketball Fundamentals |
