Basketball is popular all over the world. Basketball is universally enjoyable by people who want to play for fun and those who wish to play semi professionally or professionally. Of course, anyone who plays wants to be a star player and win the game. The following article has excellent tips that will show you how to better your basketball playing skills.

TIP! Keep your head up when you dribble. If you start staring at the ball while you dribble, you know you need to practice more.

Make sure you are dribbling the right way. When dribbling the basketball, use your fingertips rather than the palm of your hand. This allows you to control the ball much better while you dribble. You should be dribbling the ball at your side instead of in front of your body. The ball should always be dribbled at waist level. You should always look upwards instead of at the ground.

Practice your free throw shot. These shots look easy on television, but are actually hard when you are doing the shooting. Practice this technique regularly. Start by holding your ball before your face. Then, look at the ball and visualize it going in the basket. Then throw the ball just as you had visualized.

TIP! It is important that you practice layups. During any game, layups make up about 75 percent of the game.

When dribbling, your head must be up, and you need to look forward. You need more practice if you feel that you cannot dribble without focusing on the ball. Take the basketball to all the places that you go. Dribble on your way to school. Don’t look while dribbling, because you won’t be able to see what’s going on.

Bounce Pass

TIP! To learn how to pass well, drill without dribbling. It’s tough to play basketball minus the dribbling, and it causes you to pass accurately.

Teach yourself how a bounce pass can be properly thrown. A good bounce pass should hit the player on the receiving end at waist level. Remember you should bounce the ball approximately three-quarters of the distance between yourself and the receiving player. Practicing your bounce pass is important so that you can use it skillfully during games.

Frequently train yourself on your pass catching moves. You need to be able to retrieve perfect passes and not so perfect passes. During a hectic game, every throw is not going to be perfect. You and your team mates will be happier if you (and they) are more versatile.

TIP! Would you like to fool the opposing team? Trick them using a back pass. Use the dominant hand to hold onto the basketball when trying this pass.

Avoid turning away from the ball so that you can always be prepared for what occurs on the court. Passes and turnovers won’t take you by surprise because you will be more aware of what is happening on the court. Also, you need to stay aware of areas which might open up and give you an easy basket.

One of the best ways to play a strong defensive game is to know your opponent. Make sure that you’ve watched tapes that show the other player. You can also check out scouting reports. Figure out which people are right or left handed. Studying your opponent is one of the best ways to be able to win the game. A defender that is knowledgeable is an effective defender.

TIP! Unseen passes can be avoided when proper hand signals are used by teammates. Basketball passes can be really frustrating when shot wrong.

Whenever you work out, practice footwork and work on your core strength. When your core is strengthened, you will have more balance and be able to move more swiftly. Work your ab, back, hip and buttocks muscles. Jump rope like the boxers do to increase your footwork speed.

You now know that there are countless tactics to make you a better player. Some are simple and just take practice. Practice is important to anything worth doing – just do it! You can practice in lots of ways. Play with kids for fun, play with your friends, practice with your teammates; no matter what, it will help.