Catching a Medicine Ball
Prior to a catch, make sure that you:
keep your arms extended, keep your hands together, keep eyes on the ball, reach out to meet the ball prior to making contact, and do not attempt to catch balls thrown wildly.
Condition with a ball
I prefer to do most of the conditioning with a ball, or by doing some activity that works on a basketball skill. We might do an intense full court dribble drill, offense vs. defense, a full court passing drill or some type of transition drill. One of my favorites is playing full court 3 on 3, no dribble. Watch how fatigued they get running, trying to get open, pivoting to protect the ball, and defending all of the above. Players focus on the activity and skill, rather than thinking that they are just ¡°conditioning¡±.
Mimic Basketball Skills
A basketball player?s quickness and agility program would include drills which emphasize lateral movement, change of direction, and sudden starts and stops (with or without ball) because these movement patterns are specific to the sport of basketball. By implementing these drills, inevitably, a basketball player?s skill acquisition is enhanced.
Medicine Ball Safety
To ensure personal safety and good technique while doing medicine ball exercises the following points should be remembered: Complete throws with full extension of the arms. On standing exercises, plant your feet before beginning to throw the ball. Always use the full joint range in the correct sequence in carrying out each exercise. Maintain technique - do not sacrifice control for distance. Inexperienced athletes should not take the ball too far back behind the head when carrying out overhead throws. When picking up a ball, ensure the knees are bent and the back is kept straight. When carrying out exercises lying on your back, ensure the lower back always remains in contact with the surface.
Dribble while you run
Everyone knows that running is an essential part of playing basketball and it helps you get in shape. Most people just jog or do sprints but why not dribble when running? This will help you get in shape and with your dribbling at the same time.
Ready-Set-Go!
The game of basketball requires running. If you can?t run, you can?t play. The most horrible loss you can have as a team is when you just get outlasted by the opposing team. You must get in shape for basketball, in which the game is full of sprints and stops; this is how you must train... lots of sprints and lines, resting in between. Remember, "no pain, no gain"!
Plyometrics
To improve your jumping try plyometrics exercises. These exercises involve the athlete dropping (not jumping) to the ground from a raised platform or box, and then immediately jumping up. The exercise will be more effective the shorter the time the feet are in contact with the ground. The loading in this exercise is governed by the height of the drop which should be in the region of 30-80 cm. Drop jumping is a relatively high impact form of plyometric training and would normally be introduced after the athlete had become accustomed to lower impact alternatives, such as two-footed jumping on the spot.
Bench Jumping
Either face a bench that is about one and a half feet high or stand beside it. You can either jump over and back or sideways. Feet should be kept together. Go for thirty seconds and count the number of times that you return to the starting point. Attempt to increase the number every day.
Sets of lines
This common conditioner has many different names. The player starts on the baseline and sprints to the free throw line, touches the line then sprints back to the baseline. The player repeats this to half court, the opposite free throw line, then the opposite baseline.
Cobra Drill
When you are practicing with a partner, you can work on your hand quickness with this drill. Both of you stand inside the jump circle in a defensive stance. Try to hit the inside of each other?s knees while remaining inside the circle. Whoever touches the inside of the other?s knees an agreed to number of times is the winner.
Side Catch
Place the ball between your legs with one hand holding it in front of your body and the other behind. Let the ball go and switch the position of your hands, front to back and back to front, and catch the ball before it hits the ground.
Finish on a positive note
if the last thing that players do at practice before they hit the locker room and go home is something that they do not enjoy (or even dislike!), that is what they will be talking about until the next practice comes around. A negative atmosphere may be brewing, without even knowing it. A much better method is to end practice on a positive note, and have everyone looking forward to getting back to work at the next practice.
When to start
Start only after a thourough check up from their Doctor...my advice is prior to high school just use resistance against own weight...(push ups, pull ups, sit ups) and tons of stretching( REAL IMPORTANT TO BE FLEXIBLE)...BODY MASS WILL INCREASE WITH AGE..DON?T RUSH IT...
Secondly, when they start lifting weights...always exercise both sets of muscles e.g. biceps AND triceps...push/pull group...hamstrings and Quads...etc...
go slow...in the case of Football...neck rolls combined with light weights will help the neck
But GO SLOW..and use full extension...contrary to popular opinion...not how heavy you lift...better to have more reps ( with full extension) with Light weights rather than a few lifts of Heavy weights...i.e. let the body develop as a result of GOOD NUTRITION rather than weights and the other stuff at an early age...good luck!
Lane Shuffle
The lane shuffle is a progressive drill that is outstanding for developing body control and coordination. You shuffle across the foul lane from one line to the other, first touching the line with your outside hand, the second time touching the line with the inside hand forcing a crossover step, then, the third time, touching the line with both hands. The drill can be run for a set time period with players counting the number of times they touch the lines.