The fundamentals of Basketball

AS and A Level Physical Education (Sport & Coaching)

Leander Bienemy

English 1020-01N

Mr. Murphy

/25/06

Basketball

Entertainment plays an important roll in today's society. There are many forms of entertainment and many different ways to entertain. One way others can entertain themselves is by participating in a sport. The sport of basketball is one of the easiest and yet one of the most complicated sports played in the world today. In order to take part in this activity and be efficient at it you must learn the fundamentals of the game. One of most important basics for the sport of basketball is dribbling. Another important fundamental is passing the ball efficiently to your teammate. Shooting is also an important fundamental in the sport of basketball. The most important fundamental in basketball is defense. Basketball is a sport that consists of fundamentals including dribbling, passing, shooting, and defense.

In order to play basketball you must first learn the rules of the game. After you learn the do's and don'ts of the game then you can improve yourself on the fundamentals of the game and most start with dribbling. Dribbling is just bouncing a ball constantly. When dribbling you must be cautious and careful because you not only have to pay attention to your defender you also have to pay attention to yourself. During this fundamental you can be your best defender or you could be the best offender depending on your knowledge of the game, decision making, and dribbling abilities. Most people get confused with the concept of dribbling. Offenders have the habit to just catch the ball and start dribbling. This is not what dribbling is used for. When an offender catches the ball they should see what they have before making the decision to dribble in a certain direction. Dribbling is used to create space between the defender and the player with the ball. When there is a good defender who plays tight defense then that is when dribbling is necessary.

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Another important fundamental is passing. Passing is simple at times when your target is easily spotted and in close range. All you have to do to pass the ball is throw the ball to another player on your team. Passing becomes complicated when two or more defenders decide to close in on you (trap) and try to force you to make a bad pass or lob the ball to where another defender can intercept the ball. When this happens then the offender is faced with a decision. His decision is to call a timeout or if he is an experience player and used to being trapped the he can step between the two defenders and find an easy target. The other teammates also have a responsibility which is that they must try to become a target and give their teammate options to get the ball off. Passing is made to shift the defense around so the offense can create a play so they could get off a good uncontested shot.

The main objective of the offense is to hurt the defense and the only way that they could complete that task is by scoring points. In order to do this they must complete one of three things. The offense must either make a lay up, make a free throw, or they must make a jump shot. Shooting is an important fundamental in basketball because that is how you hurt the other team is by putting points on the score board. There are coaches that drill and drill certain players who are given the title "shooting guard". The main objective of the shooting guard on the basketball court is just to be able to shoot the ball really well and be able to play defense. The catch to being a shooting guard is that not only do you have to be efficient at shooting the ball uncontested but you also have to make contested shots and have a high percentage of shooting the ball and be on of the main clutch player on the team when your team needs to make shots.

Defense is the last and most important fundamental in the whole sport of basketball. If your team has excellent defense then your offense does not have to be very efficient in scoring because your defense will hold the other team. All good coaches concentrate mainly on defense. There is a variety of different drills that coaches need to go through with their team in order to make them affective when they are on the court. One drill that coaches work on especially with their guards is the guards foot work because all guards need to have quick feet in order to stay between the ball and the goal. The coaches also have to work on their post players with position in the post position and playing tough and strong. Another form of defense that is extremely affective and hurts the other team is taking a charge. A charge is when the defensive player has position and the offensive player tries to make a strong move to the basket and runs over the defensive player and pushes him or her down. Accepting or taking a charge not only gives your team the ball but it also gives the other team a foul at the same time. Different coaches have different techniques for defense depending on what they see their team needs to improve on.

To learn the sport of basketball you must learn the fundamentals. After you learn the fundamentals you must be efficient in using with you learn in different situations and you must also know your role in the game. The fundamentals of basketball are dribbling, passing, shooting, and defense. If a player is well experience with the fundamentals of the sport then they have a greater chance in going on to a higher level of the sport such as collage or professional.

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