In today’s video blog post, we are breaking down the basic principles of passing and catching the basketball, and provide some tips to ensure that you are maximizing your pass and catch situations.
Recommended: check out our complete collection of basketball drills for kids age 6-10.
The keys to passing and catching the basketball are: Timing, Accuracy and Quickness
Basic Principles of Passing the Basketball
When we pass the basketball, we want to make sure our feet are on the floor – we don’t want to jump to pass. As athletes get stronger, they like to make jump passes, which increases your chances of a turnover. Because you can’t land after you jump – it will be called a travel.
- Don’t jump to pass, keep your feet firmly on the floor
- Make firm passes. Don’ t pass too hard (a bullet pass) or too soft (a rainbow pass). For example, a rainbow pass would allow the defense way too much time to react.
- Throw a nice, firm pass into the shooting pocket, and remember to keep your feet firmly planted.
- You want to catch the ball in triple threat, so that you are immediately ready to shoot that ball to it’s next position.
Basic Principles of Catching the Basketball
- When catching the basketball, we really want to emphasize ball in the air, and feet in the air. We do this so that we can use our permanent pivot foot and make a direct drive of crossovers as quick as we can.
- Catch with the fingertips, so that you can hear the “clicking” sound of a good catch.
- There are 3 ways that you catch a basketball – with your eyes, feet and hands.
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