Northern Michigan Basketball Training
How to Turn Basketball Training Reps into Game Success
First, we’d like to thank our Northern Michigan HBE ELITE AAU business sponsors. They’re helping HB create a better place to learn, compete, and play basketball in the North!
The biggest question that every player asks is how do I improve the game the fastest I can or why are the things I am practicing not getting me better at basketball or translating into the game.
This question gets passed through every player at every level at some point if you are a 2nd grader trying to learn how to dribble or an NBA player on the fringe of getting cut and needs to see instant results quickly. Well, today, we are here to help break down this question and help you improve your basketball training which will help improve your game quicker!
The first thing you need to understand about anything new you are trying to learn or improve is that you do not know all the answers, and it’s okay to seek help or guidance. With anything in life, if you want to be successful in something, go to the person who has already accomplished what you want to do and learn from them!
Once you have those two concepts down you will be able to set yourself up for the where, how, when, what, and why the real grind starts.
Now you need to look at the habits and strategies you have been doing that have made you the player you have been. Second, you need to go deeper, learn more, and restructure your whole mindset to basketball training.
Our HB Elite Training App helps kids and parents with programming daily basketball workouts. Right now, we are giving a special offer for a limited time 50% off for the next year.
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In the video above, we have been working all summer with Luke on coming to a complete stop, hesitating, and then making an in-game read based on the defender in front of him. We broke it down step by step first. I wanted Luke to reference another player performing the move, so I showed him a clip of Paul George performing the move. Now we move to the breakdown. The most important part is that we start with the speed stop at the elbow. From there, once he incorporated it in the drop stance and then in one whole training session, he tweaked the timing, angles, footwork, and so much more.
Once a player learns a move, they practice it on their own for a day or two until they learn another move or counter. The problem is when you do things for a short timeframe or bounce to the next move too soon, you will not master it at all. Instead of training on cones, you need to go against live, physical, athletic defenders to start learning counters and building the base for in-game transfer.
For instance, you can see in the second video we took the move and put it into a live game situation. First, he got the different reads down going at 50%, and once he mastered that, it was full go! The defender played 100% all defense, and the only rule was he could only score out of the speed stop. It forced him to react and learn how to play uncomfortably through the skill and move he was training.
In the first half of the session, he couldn’t really make the read, but in the end, he worked through the adversity and mental struggle to make it click and finally got it. In the next session, we added a help side defender, so now it is 2 on 1 making reads and learning how to navigate with an even tougher live environment!
From the second clip, you can see he didn’t drop, but he did a cross jab into a speed stop, so his body and brain repped it out so much against defenders he was just playing basketball, not worried about making the wrong read.
When you can take a part of the game you want to improve, break it down piece by piece to really understand the move’s footwork, dribble timing, body angles, and more. It will help your game expand when you break basketball training into small digestible chunks of information and learning.
In the first training session, go against air (1-0), get the footwork down and the timing. Then once mastered, go get the best defender or athlete in your town or on your team and compete going game speed at it.
Make mistakes, be uncomfortable, and push yourself in those move reps (even if you fail), and I guarantee over time, you’ll become a better basketball player!
Come out and check out our Northern Michigan basketball camps this fall and winter!