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How to get your handles faster in basketball
Basketball Dribbling and Ball Handling Video Clips, Fundamentals, Drills, and Tips
Most coaches use dribbling and ball handling interchangeably. Though they are linked, the 2 skills are definitely separate.
Dribbling and controlling the ball is a skill that can be practiced alone and is separate from the other ball skills on the court. Ball handling, however, involves knowledge of the game and integrates dribbling, passing and decision-making.
Practicing and improving your dribbling is a simple task. There are innumerable dribbling drills that are in use today that are challenging and effective. The set of drills that have come to be known as "Maravich Drills," (after the late ball-handling wizard Pete Maravich) are widely known. They include drills such as passing the ball around your body, dribble figure 8s, spider dribbling, drop and catch.
Practicing and improving your ball handling requires imagination, as you have to put yourself in game situations.
One of our favorite series of ballhandling drills that helps develop better ballhandlers is the Maravich series! Watch it below.
9 Tips To Improve Your Dribbling & Ball Handling
Here are 9 tips from pro coach Don Kelbick.
Dribble the ball hard. The more time the ball spends in your hand, the more control you have of the ball. The harder you dribble, the quicker it gets back in your hand.
Head up at all times. Look at the rim or a spot on the wall during all practice.
Use your finger tips to control the ball, not your palm.
Use your imagination. Picture when and how you would use each of the dribbles.
Teach mentality. There is too much dribbling for no reason in our game today. I like to teach that the primary purpose for putting the ball on the floor is to get a lay-up. If you don't have an opportunity, don't put it on the floor.
Basketball is a game of length. Work on lengthening the dribble. Work to get your opportunities with 1 dribble. You don't beat defenses with your dribble. You beat people with your feet; you SEPARATE from your defense with the dribble.
Basketball is also a game of angles. Try to move in straight lines. Whenever you make an "East-West" move (something that takes you toward the sideline), re-capture a "North-South" path (direct line to the basket) as quickly as possible.
Don't do things in 2 dribbles that you can do in 1.
Practice outside your comfort zone. Experiment; go faster than you are used to, use your imagination. When working on new skills, don't be concerned with losing the ball. Just pick it up and do it again. If you practice only things that are comfortable, then you will never improve.
More Ball Handling Tips and Articles
Executing The Basketball Pick and Roll
The Importance of the Back Up Dribble and How It Reduces Turnovers Against Pressure
A Secret to Chris Paul's Success - Change of Pace
Handling Ball Screens Like Steve Nash
Chris Paul Hesitation Move & The Importance of Counter Moves [VIDEO]
Other Blog Posts About Ball Handling
Dribbling Practice
"Maravich Drills" are very good at getting players comfortable with the ball. Below are some examples.
Dribble Figure 8's - Spread legs about shoulder width. Dribble the ball through and around legs in a figure 8. Can be done multiple ways - front to back, back to front, low dribbles (as many dribbles as possible with dribble about shoe height), as few dribbles as possible (high dribble about waist high), can even be done walking. For even more of a challenge, try the drill with one hand instead of two.
Spider Dribble - Feet spread about shoulder width. Dribble the ball between your legs in the following manner - left hand, right hand in front of your legs; left hand, right hand behind your legs. Work to as fast a possible.
Drop and Catch - Hold ball between your legs with right hand in front of your body, left hand behind. Drop the ball and exchange you hand position and re-catch the ball before it hits the ground.
These are just examples. There are too many of these drills to list here. Pete Maravich devised these drills out of his imagination, his need for challenge and his drive to improve. You do not need to be bound by other people's drills; challenge yourself to come up with your own drills.
Dribbling Warm Ups
I prefer to practice skills in combinations that are relevant to multiple aspects of the game. It saves time and instills a great sense of urgency.. It
saves time and has a great sense of urgency. One of the ways I do this is to add dribbling into my stretching exercises.
Hamstring Stretch - While dribbling with your right hand, cross right leg over left. Bend at the waist, touch the floor with your left
hand and bring your dribble down to shoe top level. Hold for an 8 count. Reverse position and switch hands.
Lower Body and Achilles Stretch - Dribble waist high while standing up. Step as far forward with your right leg as you can, keeping
your back straight and your left heel on the ground. At the same time bring your dribble forward of your right foot, keeping the ball at
shoe-top height. Hold for an 8 count and then stand up. Switch legs and dribble hand.
Crossover - Same as above except, step forward with left leg. As foot goes to the floor, switch hands, right to left, keeping
dribble shoe top height. Cross back when standing up.
Through Legs - Same as above except instead of crossing over, put ball through legs at shoe top height.
Multiple Through Legs - Same as above except put ball through legs 3 times (left, right, left) on quick, successive dribbles
shoe top height.
Torso Twist - Spread legs outside of shoulder width, dribble with right hand. Keeping legs straight, bring ball across body to
left side, outside left foot and dribble at shoe top height behind left foot.
These are just samples. You can develop a dribble stretch for any part of the body.
Two Ball Dribbling Drills & Videos:
I think the most effective way to improve your dribble, however, is by using 2 balls. Any dribble or drill you can do with 1 ball, you can do with 2.
Stationary practice at first will build confidence. Stand on the baseline and try to control both balls. Then start to move. Go half court, then full court. Follow
the lines around the court or in any route you can come up with.
To see more DRILLS & VIDEOS Click Here.
The difference between dribbling and ball handling is intent. Dribbling is the skill of controlling the ball as you bounce it to the floor. Ball handling (at least 1 aspect of ball handling) is what you do with that dribble.
Whether you use it to go to the basket, make a passing angle, escape from pressure or anything else, those situations have to be imagined and practiced.
Here are some situational drills:
Full Court Lay-ups - Start on the baseline. Dribble full court with right hand in 5 dribbles and make a lay-up, come back with left hand. Then reduce the number of dribbles to 4 and then to 3.
Chair Changes - Place a chair about 21 feet from the basket. It can be on top, on the wing, or in the corner. Start about 8-10 feet beyond the chair. Dribble straight at the chair. At the chair, use a change of direction dribble (crossover, inside out, behind back, etc) to go beyond the chair and make a lay-up. Try to get to the point where you only need one dribble to get to the lay-up. Practice all the changes.
Two up - Two back - Set a chair such as in the drill above. Take 2 hard dribbles at the chair. When reaching the chair, take 2 backup dribbles. After the second dribble, push ahead into 1 dribble lay-up or pull-up jumpshot.
Dropstep Dribble - (works on footwork and ballhanding)
Chair Curl - This is another great multi use drill. It combines shooting, ball handling and speed and high intensity change in direction.
Chair Curl Phase 2 (With 2 Chairs)
Two Ball Dribbling Drills & Moves - Excellent way to improve one on one moves.
Basketball Pick and Roll Drills
Shooting drills can also be adapted to work on ball handling aspects by adding changes of direction and pivoting to create 1 and 2 dribble opportunities for either jumpers or lay-ups.
Once you have developed a feel for the ball, it's very important that you practice your ball handling in competitive, game-like situations with defenders present. In the DVD 30 Competitive Skill Development Drills, you will find 12 drills that are specific to improving your ball handling skills in game-like situations.
More Dribbling and Ball Handling Drills
Coaches, go here for more Dribbling & Ball Handling Drills
Players, go here for more Dribbling & Ball Handling Drills
Recommended Training Resources:
Youth Ball Handling & Workout App - Over 200 ball handling and footwork drills. 24 Different Levels.
SKLZ Court Vision dribble goggles will help you develop better ball control and improved awareness of the whole court. They force players to handle the ball with their head up to survey the court...(more info)
5 Things You Need To Know To Be a Great Ball Handler
By Jeff Haefner
You can be an extremely effective ball handler by knowing and practicing 5 things. Most players and coaches make
things too complicated. But dribbling effectively is simple. You don't need lots of moves. You just need EFFECTIVE moves.
Here's all you need to know to be effective at any level.
1 - You need to develop a feel for the basketball.
Developing a feel for the ball consists of drills that are stationary and slow moving. You will improve your hand-eye coordination, hand quickness, ambidexterity, throwing, catching and other important aspects of ball handling.
These drills consists of the Maravich series, one-ball dribbling, one-ball dribbling through cones, two-ball dribbling, two-ball dribbling through cones, tennis ball dribbling, and the Steve Nash passing series.
These drills are also great to put at the beginning of your warm up as a stepping stone to more intense drills.
A huge mistake that many players and coaches make is that they spend too much time on this. While it is important, especially for beginners, limit yourself to 5 to 6 minutes of each practice. The reasoning is that you can get very good at these drills, but you neglect the components below, you won't have the ability to handle game situations. If you can dribble 3 basketballs while juggling 5 tennis balls at the same time, it looks cool and it is a neat circus trick that is great for marketing, but it is a circus trick. It is not going to make you a better basketball player. The majority of your ball handling should be functional which means that they simulate game-like situations. Can you get down the court in 3 to 4 dribbles with either hand? Can you stop on a dime? Can you change speed and change directions like Chris Paul?
If you are able to dribble 3 balls and juggle 5 tennis balls at the same time, I would say that your hand-eye coordination, dexterity, and hand quickness are extremely good and you probably don't need to focus on them any more. You probably should spend more time on shooting, footwork, athleticism, and functional ball handling.
2 - You must be able to dribble the ball down the court at any speed (all the way from walking up to sprinting) with both hands with your head up.
Pretty simple but important, right? You can simply dribble up and down the court at different speeds.
3 - You must be able to change your pace.
It's good to incorporate change of pace in your dribbling drills.
Chris Paul is the
expert at changing speeds (pace). That allows him to get the defender off balance.
Practice changing the pace from walking, slow, medium, fast, and full speed. You can change the pace from slow to fast, medium to full speed, and any
other combinations you can imagine.
4 - You must be able to dribble while moving backwards.
So now instead of going forward, you need to be able to back out of traffic and so on. That's where the
back up dribble comes into play.
Simply, get in a position where you are protecting the ball and shuffle forwards and backwards up and down the court.
Next, you can practice running forward at a faster speed, come to hockey stop, and shuffle a couple of steps backwards.
Mix it up so you can handle any situation.
5 - You must have a primary dribble move and a counter dribble move.
If you perfect a go-to move that's very difficult to stop, good defenders will adjust to stop it. That's when you add your counter move to completely
keep the defender guessing.
I prefer the cross over as the primary move and the inside out as the counter move. You might use the hesitation move and the crossover.
That's it! Perfect those five things and when it comes to dribbling, you'll have the dribbling ability to handle almost any situation. Should you also
practice other things for ball handling? Sure. Now do you need apply the technical skills to competitive drills to handle game situations like transition, ball screens, handling traps, etc.? Yes. Do you need to improve your athleticism to make you a better player in every aspect of your game? Yes. But I'm telling you, that these are five extremely effective methods to give you the technical skill to handle any situation.
You can use the back up dribble all the time -- you use it when approaching a trap, when approaching defensive traffic, when getting cut off in the lane, when breaking the press, when breaking a player down one on one, etc.
You can then incorporate the cross over in lots of situations. If you advance the ball and get cut off you can back up dribble and then cross over to break down your man and blow by him. You can cross over to change directions and bring the ball to the other side of the court. You can cross over to the passing angle to your teammate. You can cross over to split a ball screen. You can cross over on the fast break to get by the defender. You can cross over to eventually set up your counter move (the inside out). So next time instead of crossing over, fake out the defender by giving the inside out move and then blow by the defender.
You still need to practice a lot, but I think this will simplify your life greatly by focusing on a few really effective dribbling techniques instead of
trying to practice all kinds of moves and techniques that don't really help. The techniques above are the the most effective dribbling moves that I know.
How To Become A Great Ball Handler
If you'd like to become a great ball handler, check out the Progressive Ball Handling & Footwork Workouts App.
It provides a step-by-step process with professionally designed videos and workouts. It has over 200 drills and 24 levels of workouts.
What do you think? Please leave your thoughts and comments below.
BALL HANDLING TECHNIQUE I R
BALL HANDLING TECHNIQUE I P
TECHNIQUE MASTERING BALL AND COUNTER
To receptions possession of the ball include: interception, snatching and taking a rebound from the shield; to countermeasures - knocking out, pulling out, repulsing when throwing.
Home a feature of these techniques is that the choice of countermeasures, time its execution, the nature of the action always depends on the opponent, who owns ball. He has the ability to perform his movements before he is able to. respond to them defender. Therefore, in the techniques carried out quite simple movements, paramount importance belongs to the choice of position, allowing you to act quickly, timely and accurately.
Interception - the most active technique of protection. It provides the opportunity to take possession of the ball and carry out a counterattack. FROM using this technique, you can counteract passes and dribbles (adopting ball).
Interception transmission. Protector is located somewhat to the side or behind the attacker and waits for him to transmission will be sent. You need to be closer to the side of the direction intended transfer. At the moment the ball leaves the hands of the passer, one should sharply come forward ahead of the ward
and blocking his way out, to seize ball, catching it or pushing it forward with subsequent possession.
Interception at dribbling the ball. Following next to the player dribbling, you need to determine the rhythm of pushes on the ball and fast dash towards the ball when it is in free flight, take over the dribble, substituting a hand to meet the ball before the host does.
Pulling out. If an opponent holds the ball while on place or performing turns, it is advisable to snatch the ball from him. There are two known ways pull-outs: a jerk on yourself and a push on the enemy forward and down.
Pull-out jerk on yourself. Capturing the ball from both sides, with a quick movement, a strong jerk is made on oneself unbending the arms and simultaneously turning the body with its back to the opponent. Tear out the ball follows in such a way that the direction of the jerk coincides with the free away from the capture of the enemy.
Push pull on the enemy forward and down. Simultaneously with a grip, the player, as it were, "leans" on the ball, pushing it into a free capture side, forward-down with simultaneous rotation of the body with its back to adversary.
Take ball rebound. This trick very important and effective. Mastering the rebound makes it possible to repeat throw attack or counterattack. When the ball bounces, players from both teams are approximately equal and interested in taking possession of the ball. For mastering the ball, you need to go to him, jump high and catch the ball as possible higher point before the enemy does. Landing on playground, you need to cover the ball, for which the basketball player spreads his legs wide, takes the elbows to the sides, and covers the ball with the body.
Success the execution of the reception depends on the timeliness of the exit to the ball and the jump. Before start moving towards the ball, it is necessary to block the path of the enemy by making in his direction step or turn. Only after that it is necessary to follow the selection.
Knockout applies in all cases where a player, standing still, holds the ball, moving it or dribbling.
Knockout hands Need to get closer to enemy at a distance that allows you to successfully operate, but in case of failure be able to retreat quickly. With a sharp, short movement of the hand, with a hand with tightly clenched fingers (edge), hit the ball from above or from below in a place free from capture.
Knockout at dribbling the ball. Retreating in front of the opponent dribbling the ball, you should direct it to the touchline and, slightly skipping it, knock the ball out with a lateral movement of the hand.
Covering - a technique that is used against throw. Having approached the thrower at a distance that allows for a reception, with a quick movement, the hand is placed on the ball by a player who is ready to shoot.
Beating. This technique is also used against the throw. in cases where it is impossible to catch the ball and take possession of it. Determining that the ball separated from the hands of the thrower, in a jump, with a short movement of the hand, you need to knock the ball off flight paths. The success of the reception depends on the timeliness of actions and height jump performing reception.
Technologies used uCoz
Fight for the ball | Techniques
The struggle for possession of the ball is one of the main tasks of the player in defense.
A full-fledged player in defense is guided by the principle "the best defense is an attack."
Unfortunately, we still have quite a few players and entire teams who are limited only to guarding the basket and do not take any active measures to take possession of the ball, patiently waiting for the opponent's mistakes. Such defensive play deserves sharp condemnation.
One of the reasons for the passive play in the defense of some players and teams is that most coaches pay little attention to the methods of fighting for the ball and do not care at all about their improvement. As a result, many players do not master these techniques and, of course, do not use them in the game.
Among the leading players and teams there are many real masters - "chasers for the ball." An example is the player of the USSR national team K. Petkevicius (Leningrad), who uses all the techniques of fighting for the ball in the game.
In order for the player to perfect these techniques, it is necessary to improve them systematically in the training process.
The main techniques in the fight for possession of the ball are: interception, knocking out, pulling out and fighting for the ball after rebounding from the backboard.
Ball interception . Interception of the ball is the best means of counterattack. The interception of the ball, as a rule, takes the opponent by surprise, and thus creates extremely favorable conditions for the transition to the attack.
Interception of the ball is most often possible if the attacker passes the ball inaccurately, does not go towards the pass during cross passes, especially repeated ones, as well as in all other favorable cases of the game.
If the interception fails, the player must immediately stop and quickly turn back. To intercept the ball, the player must take an advantageous position, prepare for a quick dash and correctly determine the distance, the pace of the upcoming pass.
The player's actions must be unexpected, fast, ahead of the attacker's (Fig. 60). The surprise of a jerk depends on the ability to disguise your actions. To do this, the player must demonstrate passivity and indifference to the upcoming transfer of the ball with all his appearance.
The constant threat of interception affects the decisiveness of the enemy's actions.
Fig. 60. Intercepting the ball
Kicking the ball . The ball is knocked out of the hands of the opponent either while dribbling or throwing into the basket. You can knock the ball out of the hands not only of a gaping opponent, but also of a player who used dribbling and holds the ball in his hands, or a player who lowered his hands with the ball before throwing it into the basket, and in a number of other cases.
In order to kick the ball, the defender allows the opponent to approach or himself suddenly approaches him and with a quick movement of his hand, reminiscent of the movement of a cat's paw, knocks the ball out of the opponent's hands.
Given that the hands holding the ball form a kind of bowl, knocking the ball from top to bottom is less effective than from bottom to top, in this regard, it is advisable to knock the ball with the movement of the hand from bottom to top. Since the distance between the palms holding the ball is extremely small, the ball is knocked out with the edge of the palm.
When dribbling the ball, it is advisable to take it out at the moment when the ball makes its way after rebounding from the floor to the hand. Another technique is used to select the ball while dribbling. The defender, having caught the pace of dribbling, puts his hand on the ball bouncing off the floor a little earlier than the opponent and thereby takes the ball away from the opponent’s hands, continuing to dribble it himself (Fig. 61). Knocking out the ball at the moment of throwing into the basket requires especially delicate calculation and high skill. Often, a skillfully knocked out ball saves the team from a sure hit. According to the execution technique, this resembles the action of a volleyball player when blocking, and the hand rests on top of the ball (Fig. 62). This technique is perhaps better called covering the ball. Covering the ball during shots to the basket is also applied if the defender overtakes the attacking player at the moment when he has already started the shot to the basket. In this case, the defender has the only means of fighting against the shot that has been started - this is to cover the ball. In order not to make a gross mistake, the defender is obliged, without reducing the speed of his movement, to determine the direction of his movement and the position of the ball in the hands of the opponent. The defender should not move towards the player, but overtake him somewhat and cover the ball at the moment when it leaves the opponent's hands. A defender who incorrectly determined the direction of his movement and the position of the ball will make a gross personal mistake: he will collide with the opponent or hit him on the hands.
Fig. 61. Dribbling tackle
62. Covering the ball when throwing into the basket
The defender, who has an advantage in height, fighting for the ball under the backboard, uses the following technique: he retreats to the backboard, and then, two or three steps from the backboard, passes the attacking player past him, gives him the ability to initiate a shot into the basket and then remove or cover the ball as it leaves the opponent's hands.
Pulling the ball. Pulling the ball requires fine calculation, quick, energetic action. The ball should be grabbed as deep as possible, and then jerk it sharply towards you. The jerk should be short and energetic. To increase the strength of the jerk, it is advisable to pull out with a turn of the torso.
If the ball cannot be cleared immediately, the referee awards a dropped ball. The appointment of a dropped ball is a partial victory for the defender.
A snatch is used when an opponent holds the ball in their hands, when the opponent lands after catching the ball in a jump, especially when playing from the backboard, and also when the opponent dribbles.
Lately, players have been successful in taking the ball away from players who are finishing dribbles. The defender carefully observes the player dribbling the ball, and, having determined the end of the dribbling, quickly captures the ball a little earlier or simultaneously with the opponent.
USSR national team player L. Alekseeva successfully uses a ball snatch after the player has caught the ball, standing with his back to the direction of movement and having lost his bearings in the position of the defender, makes a turn and tries to start a dribble or other action. An unexpected face-to-face meeting with a defender gives the defender an advantage to capture the ball (fig. 63).
If you don't have an opportunity, don't put it on the floor.
Below are some examples.
You do not need to be bound by other people's drills; challenge yourself to come up with your own drills.
Hold for an 8 count and then stand up. Switch legs and dribble hand.
Any dribble or drill you can do with 1 ball, you can do with 2.
Stationary practice at first will build confidence. Stand on the baseline and try to control both balls. Then start to move. Go half court, then full court. Follow
the lines around the court or in any route you can come up with.
24 Different Levels.
If you can dribble 3 basketballs while juggling 5 tennis balls at the same time, it looks cool and it is a neat circus trick that is great for marketing, but it is a circus trick. It is not going to make you a better basketball player. The majority of your ball handling should be functional which means that they simulate game-like situations. Can you get down the court in 3 to 4 dribbles with either hand? Can you stop on a dime? Can you change speed and change directions like Chris Paul?
The techniques above are the the most effective dribbling moves that I know.
He has the ability to perform his movements before he is able to. respond to them defender. Therefore, in the techniques carried out quite simple movements, paramount importance belongs to the choice of position, allowing you to act quickly, timely and accurately. 
in cases where it is impossible to catch the ball and take possession of it. Determining that the ball separated from the hands of the thrower, in a jump, with a short movement of the hand, you need to knock the ball off flight paths. The success of the reception depends on the timeliness of actions and height jump performing reception. 
As a result, many players do not master these techniques and, of course, do not use them in the game. 
61). Knocking out the ball at the moment of throwing into the basket requires especially delicate calculation and high skill. Often, a skillfully knocked out ball saves the team from a sure hit. According to the execution technique, this resembles the action of a volleyball player when blocking, and the hand rests on top of the ball (Fig. 62). This technique is perhaps better called covering the ball. Covering the ball during shots to the basket is also applied if the defender overtakes the attacking player at the moment when he has already started the shot to the basket. In this case, the defender has the only means of fighting against the shot that has been started - this is to cover the ball. In order not to make a gross mistake, the defender is obliged, without reducing the speed of his movement, to determine the direction of his movement and the position of the ball in the hands of the opponent. The defender should not move towards the player, but overtake him somewhat and cover the ball at the moment when it leaves the opponent's hands.
A defender who incorrectly determined the direction of his movement and the position of the ball will make a gross personal mistake: he will collide with the opponent or hit him on the hands. 
The appointment of a dropped ball is a partial victory for the defender. 
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