Offensive is a technique that must be practiced and takes time to develop. Its not the end of the world if you can’t make long range shots right away. If you are lost for skill it’s not the end of the world, take your time and try to focus on easy little maneuvers. The best way to practice is just shoot around for fifteen minutes somewhere practicing on close range shots from particular areas on the court starting with right under the net. You must learn to develop patience and maturity in the game and not get carried away in taking long-range shots that’s quickest way to lose a match and worst way to practice. By working on a few moves and dribbling skills you will find that it’s not that hard to play the game. After a while you will find that a few simple moves is all you need to succeed on offence and that the real crucial task will come once you switch to defense.
It’s true that offense gets the glory, but defense is what wins the game. Defensive techniques are absolutely crucial to success or failure of a game. You always have chance when your playing good defense on any kind of opponent. Playing good defense is always a lot harder to learn then offence since there are so many types of opponents. The opponents who are large must be guarded very closely where quick opponents must be given a little room so you have some time for some lateral movement to contain your opponent. The toughest part of playing defense is having the ability to read your opponent and what kind of position you must play him. Defense can only be taught by playing with others. The tougher the opponent is to defend the better it is to learn from.
People often make the biggest mistake in the beginning of the game by going easy on their opponent then later find themselves trying to stay alive at the end of the game with first-class defense. Opponents must be played conservatively throughout the game with skillful defense, not wasting all the energy on one play. Sometimes your best defense and offence can come out of you not physically, but mentally.
Your mental strategy is the key to keeping you competitive. When you are up against very talented opponents you will find that the best defense can also come from your mouth. This is my favorite part of the game; it’s called trash talking. I’m not talking about cursing at your opponent; this is much better than that. Trash talking is what it sounds like just talking trash about nothing to your opponent just to keep his concentration off. I find that the talk about the opponent’s mother works the best against the male opponents. By doing this you are cleverly messing up your opponents chances to make the next shot. Be careful this trash talking works both ways and you have to learn to dish it out as well as calmly receive some trash too. The other part of the mental game, which best works on defense, is patience. Never force an uncomfortable shot for any reason other than a shot clock winding down, especially not for a trash talker. Respect the time and use it to get a good shot. By using the trash talking method and slow and steady shot method you heavily increase your chances of staying competitive.
The game can sometimes cheat you out of win cause of a little luck, but it can also save you. I lost a few games cause of it, but you can’t leaves games to chance and have to take control with the fundamentals of offence, defense, and the mental elements. Just remember every time you step onto the court bring it all floor and don’t leave anything behind. So are you going to step up and step onto the court?
