Immediate Feedback

One of the amazing things about basketball and why it is often seen as a game of flow (problems go away, thinking goes away, and you can just enjoying playing) for athletes because there is so much immediate feedback. When you shoot the ball you know whether you did well or not within seconds. This can be harder for other sports, in baseball you get to hit the ball only 3 times a game and the ball might never come to you on defense, in football you might not touch the ball the entire game, and in soccer there might be only 1 goal for a two hour match. So immediate feedback is less obvious and can be harder to find that flow.

in basketball; ball handling can feel the same way and can be default or boring for athletes to train because there is less obvious immediate feedback. So as a trainer we need to find ways to measure and track what we can with do dribbling.

Hard Dribbles: Having the ability to dribble the ball fast and powerful is important because often to get by a defender that first dribble or two needs to be with speed. How can we measure this for immediate feedback? How many (pounds, certain moves, hitting a marker) s can they do in a certain amount of time. Tracking and recording their time will help make dribbling more engaging.

Footwork: To actually get by defenders while dribbling usually has to do more with footwork than your moves or handle. So for immediate feedback we can practice ladder drills for time, or footwork patterns with the ball for time, or give them cones to get to and they can freestyle their footwork with a limited amount of time.

Protecting the ball: I like small games (dribble knockout) or props ( they pick up a cone or you use a pad) to help provide immediate feedback.

If your training feels ineffective or boring and you can’t get to flow make sure you have a measure for immediate feedback. The best measure might be to challenge someone… 1 0n1, shooting contest…. Lets gooooo