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How to communicate in basketball

Talk the Talk: The Importance of Communication in Basketball

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Talk the Talk: The Importance of Communication in Basketball

Not all basketball players are outgoing and verbal. A team may consist of talkative players or shy, timid individuals. Regardless of your players' off-the-court personalities, communication on the court is essential for a successful basketball team.

Communicate on the Court

While coaching your team, you're constantly yelling instructions and calling plays. But your voice only carries so far. If you want your team to play together and improve, you must encourage your players to communicate on the floor.

Communication can separate a good team from a great team. Talking helps players get on the same page and assures that everyone is working together.

When players communicate, they give their teammates verbal cues. Simple phrases like, "screen left," "I've got your help" and "dead, dead, dead" can help teams make quick, on-court adjustments.

Talk on Defense

A point guard may not see a screen coming. If your center sees the screen, he or she can yell "screen left" and help the point guard avoid running into the pick. In this situation, communication prevents an offensive advantage.

Talking helps your defense coordinate its rotation. A great defense moves as one, and in order to do this; all of your players must communicate.

Talk on Offense

The point guard is like the extension of the coach on the floor. He has to know where everyone should be on offense, and he has to use verbal cues to get his teammates to the right spots.

Although communication generally starts with your point guard or captain, it's important for all of your players to be verbal on the floor. Yelling instructions on offense helps your team execute plays and score more points.

Play How You Practice

Just like basketball skills, team communication can be improved with practice. If you work on talking during practice, this will translate to the court on game day.

Whether it's calling out screens or talking on defense, communication helps your team play together, which can help you win more games.

Click here for more great tips from Breakthrough Basketball.

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The Value of Communication in Basketball

This basketball coaching article was written by Basketball HQ Co-Founder Kyle Ohman.

Let’s keep this simple. Have you ever seen a great basketball team that wasn’t also great at communicating on the floor? The answer is no because elite teams communicate at a high level, with no excuses. So if this is true, how much time are you spending on emphasizing communication with your basketball team?

Learning to communicate as a basketball team takes practice, and it needs to be emphasized daily. As a basketball coach, you must be willing to spend time on the things you value, and communication needs to be at the top of the list. Don’t let a practice or even a possession go by where your team is not effectively communicating. If there is a communication breakdown, you must remind your team about the importance of it. There should be no plays off from communicating.

That being said, what does quality communication look like in basketball? Also, how can you make sure that you hold your team accountable with communication? Here are some tips to help you implement quality communication with your basketball team and make sure that you are doing it daily.

Basketball Communication Needs to be Relevant

Not all communication is equal. When a player talks on either end of the floor, they need to be saying something relevant to the situation, which will help a teammate out. We have all seen the shell defense basketball drill where players are talking but not really saying anything of value, don’t be that team. A great way to do this is by establishing your own terminology as a team. Every action should have a specific term that your players should be communicating with everyone else. Here are some things that your players should be calling out to each other.

Defense

Screens – Ball Screens and Off Ball Screens
Being in the Gap
Being in the Help
Cutters
Switches

Offense

What Basketball Play you are Running (echo the call)
Actions within the Play
Good Pass after a Make (from the shooter)
Good shot

Basketball Communication Needs to be LOUD

One of the primary answers that you will get from a basketball player after asking them why they didn’t communicate on the previous play is, “I did, but they must not have heard me. ” That answer may even be true, but don’t let that answer fly with your team. Communication needs to loud! There will be end-of-game situations where the crowd is going wild, and soft communication is not going to cut it. You need to make sure that your basketball team is communicating loudly with each other.

This type of communication also helps to intimidate the other team. If they hear your team communicating with each other and setting the tone defensively, it will cause them to think twice about whether they can score against you or not.

Basketball Communication Needs to be Early

Not only does communication need to be loud so that everyone can hear it, but it also needs to be early so that players have enough time to react to what is being communicated. A player can’t call out a screen as their teammate is already getting hit or call a basketball play that they will run right as they are making the first pass to set up the play. Communication sometimes takes time, and that means that your players need to learn to communicate early. The earlier teammates can get on the same page, the easier it will be to navigate both the offensive and defensive sides of the floor.

Basketball Communication Needs to be Often

Saying something once is not always enough. Sometimes it is too loud, or it doesn’t quite register the first time. Either way, there is no harm in yelling out, “Screen left, screen left, fight through it (or whatever your game plan is).” Repeating the communication will really help to make sure that everyone is on the same page. This goes back to making sure that you are communicating early, though. You will not have time to repeat what you are saying if you wait right until the action happens. So open up your mouth and communicate early and often.

Basketball Communication Needs to be Positive

Positive communication does not mean that you only ever say something when a good play is made or if someone makes a mistake; you just say, “good effort.” It means that communication needs to improve the situation, not make it worse. If two players blow a switch and give up a basket, they need to come together and communicate the right way to fix the problem for the next time. They don’t need to jump on each other and blame the other one for making a mistake. This is essential to having a great basketball team, and it is a real sign of maturity.

Communication Accountability

It doesn’t matter how well you teach communication if you can’t get your basketball players to actually do it. So after explaining to your players the importance of communication, you need to hold them accountable. This is a big part of teaching communication on the court. The first and most crucial key to accountability is being consistent. If a player is not talking on the court (regardless of personality), you need to call them out on it. It could be your best player or the last player on the bench; it doesn’t matter. Everyone needs to communicate with each other once they step on the floor.

If the player(s) continue not to communicate, you may need to add some kind of punishment (running, push-ups, etc. ). This is not necessarily to punish the player but to help them remember to communicate the next time. If the player(s) are still not communicating, then the final step will be to take away playing time. Make sure that you tell the player why they are not playing, though. This will also help send a clear message to the rest of the team that communication is non-negotiable.

Communication in basketball is one of those things like energy and effort; it needs always to be happening at a high level. It is something that every player can learn and do, so there is no excuse or reason good enough as to why it is not being done. It starts, though, with your basketball team’s culture and making sure that you cultivate this high level of communication.

As a basketball coach, make sure that you are taking the time to build up the foundation of communication with your team. After that, hold them accountable every single time they step on the floor. It won’t be long before you see the benefits that come with high-level communication.

9 Definitions Every Basketball Player Should Know

Learning to Speak the Same Language

WE DECIDED TO HELP THE BEGINNERS LEARN BASKETBALL LANGUAGE, TO NOT BE LOST ON THE COURT AND UNDERSTAND BETTER.

!!! If you haven't seen the first article with 11 terms, read it first:

Basketball terms everyone should know

This word in basketball has two meanings: sometimes they say this about the bench. "Sit on the bank." And sometimes they call it a block shot. We hope that you will distribute cans, and not sit on it.

Another definition for a block shot:

Pick and roll

One of the simple combinations in basketball, which is based on the interaction of two players. The first moves with the ball, the second puts a screen (peak) and after the screen he turns around (roll) and moves to the ring.

Pick and pop

This combination is a variation of the pick and roll, only in this version the player who puts the screen does not move towards the ring, but opens up for a throw.

The difference in playing the combination will be in reading the actions of the defense.

In the 1990s, Utah and their duo of Karl Malone (2 in all-time scoring) and John Stockton (1 in all-time assists) often played this combo.

Eurostep

One of the ways to complete the attack in the passage is when the first step is taken in one direction and the second in the other. This movement began to be popularized by Manu Ginobili, and now Giannis Antetokounmpo stands out with this technique from his size, sweeping steps and powerful dunks from not the most convenient positions.

See a short and simple analysis from the Greek:

Back door

A type of offensive interaction when a player without the ball runs behind his defender and receives a pass there. For a better understanding, watch the video:

Ankle breaker

A term that is often heard in relation to street basketball, although it is sometimes seen at the professional level. This phrase refers to a situation where the ball carrier makes some movement and the defender goes down. In some cases, the ankle is twisted along with this ...

Coast to coast

This is the name given to the passage of one player from his ring to someone else's in a fast break.

Double, triple (triple-double) and quadruple-double

All these terms refer to achievements in statistics per match. Each game is recorded: points, rebounds, assists, block shots and interceptions. When 10+ points are observed for 2 indicators of them, it will be a double. If according to 3 indicators - triple, if according to 4 - quadruple-double.

Interesting fact: Russell Westbrook is the second player in history to average a triple-double per game in 1 season. However, he is the only one who has done this more than once.

Interesting fact

Only 4 people in the history of the NBA collected a quadruple double. The last one was recorded in 1994 by David Robinson.

Do you want to take your first steps in basketball or improve your basic skills? We have a Basic Basketball Skills workout for you. See the schedule and sign up:

Coach: Yuriy Bespalov

- Professional player of the INANOMO 3x3 team;
- Champion of Russia 3x3 2019;
- Winner and medalist of the MOFB championship;
- MLBL Summer League MVP 2017;
- Multiple participant of Moscow Open;
- Champion of Moscow 3x3 2017;
- MVP GrunisCup 2017.

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Keywords

STUDENT BASKETBALL PLAYERS, COMMUNICATION, INTRA-GROUP COMMUNICATION, VERBAL MEANS OF COMMUNICATION, NON-VERBAL MEANS OF COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION the level of individual training of the players of the ASB championship [2]. In this regard, the most relevant at the present time will be a detailed and versatile study of the issue of the influence of intra-group communication of student basketball players on the effectiveness of competitive activity.

Human activity is characterized by a set of subject-oriented actions. In view of this, the following types of these actions are distinguished in sports: individual, group and team.

At the same time, in group or team sports activities, there are all three types of actions. It follows that the game and other interaction of the participants is part of their collective joint activity as a result of their interpersonal communication.

This allows us to conclude that sports activity is a combination of individual, group and team subject-oriented actions (operations) and interpersonal communication.

From this it is clear that group interaction and distribution of functions in basketball requires the organization of joint actions, which is provided by communication. At the same time, it should be noted that communication acts as an important component of object-oriented actions, however, it is distinguished from objective activity by its focus on a partner (subjective orientation).

Interpersonal communication is usually characterized from two sides (external and internal). The external side of communication is the communicative behavior of partners. Consideration of their interpersonal contacts in joint activities begins with the analysis of appeals.

The inner side of communication consists of:

peculiarities of the partners' subjective perception of the situation of communication;
emotional experiences;
motives and goals of contact;
change in attitudes, attitudes, motivation, state, etc.

In accordance with the above, we can draw a conclusion similar to the opinion of Yu.L. Khanin [4], that interpersonal relationships and interpersonal communication cannot be reduced to externally observed “conversations”, verbal communication. The basis of the interaction of competing athletes is communication [3]. Communication between student players is aimed at regulating the joint actions and states of basketball players in order to achieve the intended competitive goal, while acting as an important part of sports activity.

Verbal (linguistic) and non-verbal (non-linguistic means) are distinguished in communication. The sound language of words most adequately expresses the thought in most communicative situations. Verbal communication in basketball acts as the main one.

In basketball, along with verbal means of communication, non-verbal means of communication are widely used (in some cases they even predominate, which is associated with the transience of game situations and the lack of time to transmit a message), namely: aimed at unambiguous perception of information;

Some motor activities;

Gestures, facial expressions, pantomime, eye contact, etc.

The situation is a means of communication that is different from gestures, motor skills, facial expressions, since the latter, unlike the situation, are properties of the speaking object. At the same time, against the background of a certain situation, all other non-verbal means acquire strength and meaning.

Motor actions refer to the means of communication in connection with their information capabilities and intentional use for information transfer. They will include: joint actions of two or more student players aimed at solving a specific competitive task, deliberately informing partners of information adequate to the purpose of the actions; deceptive movements in which information is specifically reported that does not coincide with the main goal of the action. In this case, motor actions perform a business function, as specific methods of basketball technique, and a communicative one, as a means of transmitting information.

Gestures, facial expressions, pantomimics are directly related to a particular situation and verbal communication, being symbolic means. When using them, communication takes on more pronounced forms [3].

In basketball there is a wide use of special gestures, the signal function of which is agreed between the players, players and the coach. A well-executed gesture carries certain information.

Communication in basketball in conditions of competitive activity acts in the form of direct business contacts as a necessary factor that determines motor activity. It is implemented as intra-group communication between the players, between the players and the coach.

Intra-group communication of team members not only conveys information and emotions, but is also necessary for solving team management problems [3]. This, in turn, leads to mutual understanding. At the same time, it should be noted that communication between student players in a basketball team is difficult due to the need to hide tactical ideas and plans from an opponent.

Features of communication between basketball players are determined by the specific functional roles of the players and the objective conditions of a particular match. For example, the communication profile (correlation of different categories of communication — useful information, motives, approvals, disapprovals) of basketball players is characterized by the predominance of useful information and low intensity of motives, evaluations [4].

So, communication in sports activities:

Represents its relatively independent component;
Not identical to interaction and object-oriented activities;
Characterized by the subject orientation of the other person;
Subject to interaction tasks;
Carried out using a system of speech and non-speech signals.

According to V.Z. Babushkin, is the communicative nature of the activity inherent in the players - "dispatchers" [1]. That is why the point guard is the most "talkative" in the basketball team [3].

In this regard, the point guard must have organizational skills, the desire to cooperate with partners, focus on interaction and creative initiative [1].

In basketball, continuity of intragroup communication is especially necessary. It (the continuity of communication) significantly affects the effectiveness of solving intra-group tasks and achieving team victory. A decrease in the level of intragroup communication leads to disruption of connections in game interaction.

The variety of means of communication in basketball and the peculiarity of their use raise the question of the need to teach players the means of communication. Mastering these means is especially important for the point guard - the player who organizes the coordination of the interactions of basketball players in competitive activities.

References

Babushkin V.Z. Specialization in sports games. - K .: Health, 1991. - 164 p.
Kalita M.V. Leadership potential of a point guard of a student basketball team as one of the factors in the effectiveness of its performance [Electronic resource] // Novainfo electron. scientific magazine 2017 No. 62-2. URL: http://novainfo.ru/article/11981 (accessed 04/02/2017).
Psychology of physical education and sports: Textbook for in-t nat. cult. / Ed. T.T. Dzhamgarova, A.Ts. Puni. - M .: Physical culture and sport, 1979 - 143 p.
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