Focus on keeping your weight in the balls of your feet, but not in your toes, which will throw you off balance. To test how low your stance is, reach down with one hand. You should be able to touch the ground with your fingers. You should still be able to move easily; if you can’t, ease up on your squat just a bit. Keeping your weight low and centered on the balls of your feet will help you stop quickly, accelerate faster, and react better to the ball.
This stance might seem uncomfortable at first, but it will feel more natural with practice. Making sure your back is flat will protect it from injury while keeping you balanced.
Your coach might have a specific hand placement they want you to use depending on how aggressive your defense is. If not, just focus on keeping your hands up and active. Try different positions and see what feels natural and effective.
Communication is key during a transition! Tell your teammates if you’re covering the basket, the ball, or an open player. Your role on offense might be to sprint towards the net to get the rebound after a shot. In this case, you would only sprint back on defense if you don’t get the rebound and the other team has secured the ball.
Work within your team’s gameplan. If your coach assigns you to a player, try to stick with them as much as possible. If a player has the ball without any pressure, though, attack them as soon as possible.
This angled stance, called a “heel/toe/pushpoint” alignment, prevents the ball handler from dribbling up the middle of the court. Instead, you’ll push them towards a sideline, baseline, or your teammates on defense.
Instead of standing up when you have to move, stay low and shuffle from side to side. To help you stay low, get into your stance and imagine that you’re playing in a gym with a ceiling just above your head. If you straighten up or bob up and down when you move, you’ll hit your head on the ceiling. [7] X Research source Staying in a low defensive stance gives you great balance and lets you react quickly to the ball.
It’s extremely hard for an offensive player to fake with their mid-section, which makes it a great way to track their movements.
Don’t reach for the ball. This will put you off-balance and give the ball handler a chance to dart past you, and you could also be called for a foul if your hit their arm. [9] X Expert Source Ryan TremblayBasketball Coach Expert Interview. 13 November 2020.
“Ball, ball, ball!”—use this when you’re running forward to pressure the ball. “Deny, deny, deny”—use this if you’re defending a player who’s one pass away from the ball. “Screen right” or “Screen left”—use these to tell a teammate that a screen is coming on one side. In a screen, an offensive player runs in to try to block the defense guarding another offensive player.
Be patient. Don’t try to reach or go for the steal unless the ball handler loses control or makes a big error.
This will help you contain the ball handler until they make a mistake, or your teammates can come help.
Only try a dig if the player is trying to drive past you and you have no way of containing them, or if they’re handling the ball loosely and you see an opportunity.
Be careful when drawing a charge! You could be called for blocking if you’re moving towards the ball, don’t have both feet on the ground, or were hit on somewhere other than your torso. Move with the dribbler and stay in their dribbling lane to try to draw the foul. Stay very low and bend your forearm in front of your chest, keeping it strong and close to you to absorb some of the blow. Your upper body will naturally sway backwards, helping you to sell the call. [11] X Research source
This is considered a better tactic than jumping and swatting at the basketball during a shot, which could result in a foul if you hit the shooter’s arm or, if they’re faking, gives them an open dribbling or passing lane.
In some situations or defensive strategies, your coach might want you to help the on-ball defender instead of cutting off the pass. In this case, you’ll hover behind the on-ball defender to block off the dribbling lane.
Stay on the corner even if the ball handler is driving to the rim. If you try to help in this play, the ball handler can dump off a simple pass to the corner player, who can take an easy jump shot.
Try to be as close to the basketball as you can, while staying close enough to your player that you can defend them if they get a quick skip pass.
Don’t get caught up in watching the ball and forget that you have a job to do, too! A good offense will always be able to take advantage of a lazy or distracted defender.
To do a wall sit, rest your back against a wall and slide down until your knees are at a 90 degree angle. Stay in position for as long as you can and work to last longer every time. To do a squat, stand up straight with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Lower your body until your knees are bent at a 90 degree angle. Stand up straight and repeat for at least 10 reps.
With a jump rope, first try the basic single jump, focusing on getting your feet off the ground as quickly as possible. Then try moving side to side on each jump, or moving your feet back and forth. [19] X Research source With an agility ladder, run through and tap both feet in each square with your chest facing forwards, then turn to the side and do the same thing. Look up other agility ladder drills online for an extra challenge. If you don’t have an agility ladder, make your own with chalk on the sidewalk, or by laying down long sticks as “rungs. ”
You can work through this drill with your teammates or by yourself. Try to get through the course 3-5 times, going as hard as you can every time.
Handing the ball to the offensive player means you have to start the drill right next to them, forcing you to react quickly to their moves. In this drill, focus on keeping the offensive player in front of you, staying in your defensive stance, and challenging every shot they take.
Ask the offensive player to use fakes or quickly change pace to disrupt your mirroring. Stay low with active hands for the whole drill.
