Amanda Knapp
Absorbing contact in basketball is an important skill to develop for players who want to improve their game. While basketball is often billed as a non-contact sport, physical contact is an inevitable part of the game. Good players learn to embrace contact and make the necessary plays without relying on referee calls or expecting fouls. This involves adjusting one's mindset and developing the right techniques, such as initiating contact within the rules to gain leverage and finishing plays at the rim. Additionally, players should focus on stability and force absorption through targeted exercises and proper warm-up routines to optimize their performance and reduce the risk of injuries.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Mindset | Adjust your mindset to expect contact and don't rely on referee calls. Focus on finishing plays regardless of contact. |
| Practice | Get used to playing without looking for fouls. Avoid calling fouls in practice games. |
| Strategy | Initiate contact to gain leverage and surprise your opponent. Use ripping motions to keep the ball safe from defenders. |
| Warm-up & Exercises | Incorporate targeted exercises to improve force absorption and stabilization. Include squats, split squats, and unilateral force absorption drills. |
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What You'll Learn
Adjust your mindset: Accept contact is part of the game
Although basketball is often billed as a non-contact sport, physical contact is an inevitable part of the game. Good players realize this and adjust their mindset accordingly. They don't depend on a lack of contact when dribbling or shooting; instead, they learn to absorb and initiate contact while still making the necessary play.
To develop this mindset, it's important to accept that referee calls won't always go your way. Train yourself to play without expecting fouls to be called. When playing in practice or pickup games, avoid calling fouls and focus on finishing plays despite any contact you encounter. This will help you get comfortable with physical play and improve your ability to absorb contact effectively.
Additionally, initiating contact can give you an advantage over your opponent. By creating contact, you can gain leverage to finish plays, hold a box-out position, or fight through a screen. This element of surprise can work in your favor, so long as you initiate contact within the rules of the game.
Remember, basketball involves constant absorption of force during shots, layups, rebounds, and blocked shots. Incorporating targeted exercises into your training program can help you improve your force absorption capabilities and overall stability. This includes exercises that challenge your balance, strength, and mental toughness, such as landing softly from a jump with your arms swung back or performing unilateral force absorption movements with weights.
By embracing contact as an inherent part of basketball, you can improve your resilience, adaptability, and overall performance on the court.
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Embrace physicality: Initiate contact to gain leverage
To improve your game, you need to learn to embrace the physicality of basketball. It's a contact sport, and good players realize that contact is part of the game. By initiating contact, you can gain leverage and get the upper hand on your opponent.
When you're moving the ball from one side of your body to the other, do it quickly and violently. This will help prevent defenders from poking the ball away. Keep the ball close to your body, especially when driving to the basket. After your last dribble, keep the ball on your outside hip. This makes it harder for defenders to reach in and steal the ball, as they will have to reach across your body.
You can also use contact to your advantage when finishing plays at the rim or holding a box out. By initiating contact, you can create separation from your defender or gain extra leverage to secure a rebound. It's important to note that initiating contact should always be done within the rules of the game.
In addition to physical techniques, adjusting your mindset is crucial. Don't expect referees to call fouls in your favor, and get used to playing without relying on foul calls. This will help you develop the habit of finishing plays regardless of contact. By embracing physicality and initiating contact strategically, you can improve your effectiveness as a basketball player.
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Avoid swinging the ball: Keep it close to your body
To absorb contact in basketball, you must first embrace physicality and accept that contact is part of the game. Adjust your mindset to focus on finishing plays and don't rely on referee calls or expect fouls to be given.
When moving with the ball, a common mistake is to swing it from side to side, which can lead to the defender stealing it. Instead, keep the ball close to your body, especially when driving to the basket. After your last dribble, keep the ball on your outside hip as you go up for a layup. This makes it harder for defenders to reach in and try to steal the ball, as they would have to go across your body.
Additionally, when moving the ball from one side of your body to the other, rip it through with force. This violent movement can help prevent defenders from poking the ball away.
Off the court, you can also improve your ability to absorb contact through specific exercises. For example, try a split-squat with one leg elevated, driving through your heel while keeping your chest up and core engaged. This improves your stability and force absorption, reducing the risk of injuries and improving performance.
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Train your body: Exercises to absorb force and stabilise
Training your body to absorb force and stabilise is crucial to optimising your basketball performance and reducing the risk of injuries. Here are some exercises to help you achieve that:
Skater Jumps
Stand in an athletic stance with your hips back and knees slightly bent. Perform a lateral jump, focusing on landing softly on one leg and letting the other leg swing behind you. Repeat on the other side, aiming for quickness, height, or distance. This exercise improves force absorption, power, and endurance in your lower body.
Hurdle Jumps
Stand on one leg in front of a line of low hurdles. Hop over each hurdle, sticking the landing on the same leg, and focus on landing softly. Repeat the exercise on the opposite leg, emphasising a soft landing to absorb force through your hip and glute. This exercise teaches you to absorb force and improves your jumping ability.
Plyo Box Squats
Start on top of a plyo box and step off, landing in a squat position with your arms swung back. Focus on landing softly and absorbing the force through your hips. Hold the position for two seconds, then repeat. This exercise challenges your mental toughness and improves the stability around your knee.
Lateral Lunges
From a standing position, step to the side, keeping your toes pointed straight ahead and feet flat. This exercise mimics basketball's defensive shuffling motion and opens up the muscles of the groin and hips, improving your lateral quickness.
Sprinter Step-ups
Perform a standard step-up exercise, but emphasise slowly lowering yourself back down to the starting position. This teaches your body control and improves your force absorption capacity.
Depth Jumps
Depth jumps are an advanced movement where you jump down from a box or platform and immediately explode into a vertical jump, spending as little time on the ground as possible. This teaches you to transition from absorbing force to producing force quickly.
Remember, a proper warm-up and targeted exercises are essential to improving your force absorption and stabilisation capabilities, reducing injuries, and optimising your basketball performance.
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Practice drills: Improve force absorption and power
To improve force absorption and power in basketball, players should incorporate drills that improve coordination, speed, agility, and power. Here are some specific drills that can help:
The Skater Drill
This drill improves force absorption, power, and endurance in the entire lower body. Start by assuming an athletic stance with your hips back and knees slightly bent. Perform a lateral jump, focusing on landing softly on one leg and letting the other leg swing behind you. Jump back to the starting position, landing on the other leg, and repeat. This drill can be modified to focus on quickness, height, or distance, depending on the player's goals.
Lateral Lunges
Lateral lunges improve hip and glute strength, which helps stabilize the entire lower body. Hold a weight in front of you at chest level with your elbows pointed down (goblet position). Take a wide stance and let one hip sink down and back while keeping the opposite leg straight. Lunges help train the body to absorb force properly and stabilize, which is crucial for sharp changes of direction in basketball.
Split Squat
This drill helps improve strength and balance, challenging your mental toughness and improving the stabilizers around your knee. Elevate one foot on a box, step, or bench, about knee height. Perform a standard split squat, driving through your heel and keeping your front shin vertical. Keep your chest up and engage your core.
Hurdle Mobility Drill
This drill improves mobility, coordination, force production, and absorption. Stand next to a track hurdle or any object you can step over. Step through with one leg and move your entire body through the hurdle. Stand on the opposite side and repeat in the other direction. Perform this drill for 30 to 45 seconds.
Power Layup Drill
This drill teaches players to make powerful layups, which can be useful when there is contact or when a player needs to gain control. Start on the right wing and take one dribble toward the hoop. Come to a jump stop at about 10-12 feet, pull up, and hit the bank shot. Secure the rebound and repeat on the other side. Focus on keeping your balance and extending your shooting arm.
Additionally, players should adopt a mindset that embraces physical contact. During practice, avoid looking for fouls and get used to finishing plays despite contact. Initiating contact within the rules can give you more leverage to finish plays and fight through screens.
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Frequently asked questions
Good players realise that contact is part of the game. They do not depend on being free of contact as they dribble or shoot. Instead, they figure out how to absorb or initiate contact and still make the necessary play. Don't expect the referee's calls to go your way. Get used to playing without looking for fouls. Get in the habit of finishing plays no matter what contact you encounter.
Stability is key. Basketball requires sharp changes of direction and constant absorption of force when coming down off of shots, layups, rebounds, and blocked shots. You can train your body by incorporating targeted exercises into your warm-up routine. For example, you can stand on one leg next to a low hurdle and hop over it laterally, focusing on landing softly.
If you initiate contact, you have the advantage. Your opponent will be surprised, giving you more leverage to finish plays. When moving the ball from one side of your body to the other, rip it through violently below your knee or above your head. By getting in the habit of ripping the ball through the defence, you’ll have fewer balls poked away by a reaching defender.
