Youth Basketball Success Secrets - No 2

There are basketball success secrets that are being used daily by today's greatest players. The good news is young players can incorporate many of these secrets into their game with a little effort. In this article I'll reveal one that you and your child can observe for yourselves by simply watching a game together.

Communication

The best basketball players are masters in the art of communicating on the court. It is what allows them to control every aspect of each possession, and helps them place themselves in the best position for success. There are three types of communication you'll need to perfect before you can get your basketball 'Masters of Communication'.

Verbal

Isn't it amazing how kids can't seem to stop talking until you need them to? Every coach knows talking is an essential part of becoming a good defensive basketball team. Team defense is all about providing support for your teammates, and making them aware of where you are in relationship to the player with the ball. This helps them defend better and smarter. In addition, telling your teammate that you are in position to provide help may also keep your opponents off balance in their offensive execution by letting them know that you are in position and ready to help should they try running a play in your direction.

But talking is also where the best offensive players shine, from shouting out instructions to teammates that are in the wrong position, letting a rebounder know where they are so they can receive the outlet pass to start a fastbreak, letting the ball handler know they're open and ready to shoot, asking for or letting a teammate know a screen is needed or available to use, offering acknowledgment for a great pass, or simply offering words of encouragement to teammates, great players know that by talking their teammates know that they are ready and aware of everything going on out on the court, which will usually result in their teammates looking to get them the ball at some point in each offensive possession.

Non-Verbal

Watch a great offensive player and you'll notice that when they are ready to receive a pass they will show the player with the ball exactly where they want the ball thrown to them by raising the hand in which they want to receive the ball. You'll also notice they won't get themselves in position to receive the ball until the player with the ball is in position to pass it to them. This is why some lesser players get frustrated and complain they never get the ball even though they work real hard to get open. They don't understand it's the timing of when you get open, not the fact that you are open that will determine if you get the ball.

Great players understand this, which is why they always seem to have the ball in their hands, which is why they score so many points.

Subtle

This is where great players stand apart from their fellow players; they understand the art of the subtle non-verbal form of communication. The raised eyebrow, the slight head movement, that millisecond of eye contact that provides more information than a 20 minute conversation, all of these acts give the great player the slight advantage they need to be successful game after game. Granted you need heady teammates to be aware of the cues you're sending to them, but the great player's train their teammates to recognize these cues, because after all not every player is a true student of the game.

The Bottom Line

When it all comes down to it becoming a great player requires that you become a student of the game. That you understand and recognize opportunities before everyone else on the court.

How do you get this knowledge? Can you be taught these skills? You can gain this knowledge, and be taught the necessary skills, but the real question is; will you put in the necessary time and work needed to make yourself a great player?

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Ballwall B19 - Pass - fake - turn using the outside of the foot

- Make the pass, receive the ball and turn away from the defender using the outside of the foot to control the ball - change roles (striker/defender) with your friend Equipment: 1 x Technique Wall ballwall.com

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The Basics of Exercise

Exercise is an essential part of living a healthy life. It provides tremendous benefit to your entire body, as well as your mind. Exercise is incredible for helping overcome depressions and self confidence issues. It is also a wonderful way to feel as if you are accomplishing something. A great way to relieve stress and anxiety, it is also a key to weight control. Exercise is extremely important for your general well being and cardiovascular health. It is also a great way to prevent diseases, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Regular exercise helps build a strong immune system. Having a strong immune system means the body is better prepared to fight external germs and diseases with great efficiency.

There are two primary forms of exercises: aerobic and anaerobic.

Aerobic

Aerobic endurance exercises generally refers to long-term activities which rely primarily on the oxidative energy pathway. These involves continuous activity that is long in duration but low in intensity, allowing the body to replenish needed oxygen. It involves continuous and rhythmic physical motion, such as walking and bicycling. During aerobic exercises,the muscles draw on oxygen in the blood as well as fats and glucose increasing cardiovascular endurance. Aerobic activities include walking, jogging, swimming, biking, ballroom dancing, aerobic classes, etc. Aerobic exercise done for 45-60 minutes a day help in working out the large muscle group. It is ideal for beginners to build on their strength and stamina. Aerobic exercises are also less strenuous on the joints and muscles.

Anaerobic

Anaerobic exercises generally refers to short term endurance capacity which relies mainly on anaerobic energy pathways. Anaerobic exercise is essentially exercise without oxygen. Activities that many people enjoy include: yoga, pilates, weight training and other choices. Anaerobic exercise is where the body is exercising at such a rate that the blood stream cannot supply oxygen to muscles fast enough. It burns more fat than aerobic exercises. Therefore, it is ideal for fat and weight loss. These include short-term exercise lasting usually less than a minute before lactate and hydrogen ions bring muscle activity to a halt. Football, Basketball, Rugby, Hockey and Soccer are all examples of anaerobic sports. Among these (HIIT) short form for high intensity interval training has gained a lot of popularity in recent times. HIIT allows you to spend a long cumulative time in an anaerobic state by alternating high intensity activities with periods of rest and recovery. This includes a warm up followed by sprinting for 30 seconds and walking or jogging for 1 minute. Depending on fitness level the duration and intensity may vary from person to person.

Exercise is definitely not a waste of time. It is beneficial when done in the right amounts and in the right way. Once you begin to exercise regularly, you will discover many more reasons why exercise is so important to improving the quality of your life. Exercise not only is good for you, but it also helps you feel great. If you exercise enough, you will help your mental psyche improve, as well as increase your energy level.

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Barefoot Training - Why You Should Lose Your Shoes!

The present world has ever-new athletic gear for runners with a promise to protect from injury and damage. However, the truth is that even with such athletic gear, there is only a small minority who runs or walks. Most of us spend a lot of time sitting on the couch munching on popcorn and watching our favorite TV shows, or surfing the net or gaming online. The similarity in all these all activities is laziness in being physically active. But apart from becoming lethargic, such activities cause a hindrance to us using our feet. Our feet are designed by nature to run, hop, jog, sprint and take a stroll, which a majority of us just don't use well enough. So when our youth is spent in being couch potatoes, old age eventually could lead to the feet not being strong enough to carry the increased weight. And then people start complaining of all pain in the joints and muscles.

It is vital to optimize the usage of your feet during your youth. After all, childhood is best spent in running around in the park and being physically active all the time. The best way is to do it barefoot. Take a look at the structure of the human foot; it is designed by nature to run in without any "protection" from shoes. The majority of contemporary running shoes aren't prepared for running naturally with no damage. They are fashioned with the erroneous idea that people fall on the heels and with a requirement for some false machination to soak up the shock as the heel hit next to the ground. If running naturally implied to land on the heels, nature would have placed springs in our heels! The shoe corporation may well try to make us consider that humans are not made to run in any case not on artificial planes.

There are two key issues with the story that the shoe corporation forces us to believe. One is that nature did not intend that the heel should soak up shock. The flaws are quite easy to discern: One that the collision of landing on the heel costs the Achilles tendon, then the impact goes straight up the leg to the knee, and if the knee isn't permitted to curve, then up to the back, resulting ultimately in utter damage. Secondly, consecutively to land on the heel, the foot must be moving frontward even as the ground is moving rearward underneath us. So that although the heel hits, it is thrusting next to the ground in the reverse direction we are aiming to run.

Basically, when the foot lands, it ought to go in reverse, corresponding with the pace of the ground underneath, since the body is required to be pushed onward when running ahead. This happens perfectly when the landing is on the ball of the foot, and not the heel. The foot has a natural curve, unless of course it has been tampered with with orthotic inserts. This particular curve serves as a natural coil. It is fashioned by nature to support movement. It serves as a foil for the first part of the landing, after which the role of the heel comes in the way. The heel allows the calf muscles to relax after which automatically the knee bends. This is the way nature intended and this is the way it ought to be. The shock is not felt so shockingly but soaked up naturally. However, while you permit your knees to bend, do not let the rest of your body go in to hunchback of Notre Dame mode. Keep the back straight and erect. This is why when you run barefoot not only are you able to develop a lot of stamina and patience, but it also allows you to fight off all injuries that otherwise may plague your feet. And it increases your speed as well. This is perhaps why the Kenyans are always on top of every competitive racing event.

To take a leap in barefoot running, start to walk in slow motion first so that you are able to get the feel of the ground. This will allow your feet to get accustomed to walking or running on the irregular, jagged surfaces of twigs, rocks, sand and even dirt. Once exhausted, you can try walking on a golf course or on the grass in the park to refresh and soothe the feet muscles. Be careful while treading barefoot. Unlike your ancestors you never ran barefoot in the fields did you? So take it slow and make barefoot running a gradual hobby instead of an abrupt one. It just takes around a year.

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Fitness Nutrition - Essential Information You Ought to Know About

You've all heard that regular exercise and a healthy diet are part and parcel of staying fit. However, it seems that the idea of fitness nutrition is, more often than not, subordinate to exercise. What does this mean? There seems to be the mistaken notion that it's okay to eat anything as long as you burn it off afterwards. Not! This is one of the biggest lies ever propagated where fitness nutrition is concerned.

The aim of fitness nutrition is to give your body the nutrients it needs to stay strong, fit, healthy and energized throughout the day. With this in mind, it's also imperative to fill our diet with foods that give us this kind of nutrition. Eating for health requires that all food groups be represented. Remember the go, glow and grow foods your grade school teacher spent hammering into your head? Well, food groupings haven't changed much. You still need your proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. That means you need to feed your body with fruits, vegetables, fish, lean meat, dairy, whole grains and cereals. That means going natural with your food choices as well.

But that's not all there is to eating for heath. It also means eating in moderation and at the right times. Too much of anything is bad, so don't get too caught up in the high-protein low-carb diets. They only wreck havoc on your normal body processes. Eating healthy means eating the right amounts from all food groups in small portions five to six times a day. This also means not skipping breakfast. When your mother nearly force-feeds you to eat this most important meal of the day, she wasn't kidding. If you don't eat, you're starving your body and preparing it to snack on more sugar-rich and unhealthy junk later in the day.

What if you do feel the need to snack during the day? Opt for fresh fruits like bananas, pears or apples. They're chock full of fiber, vitamins and minerals. Yogurt is also a good alternative. Not only is it rich in calcium and protein, it also has live Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria that's good for the digestive system as well.

Does that mean that all fast food is off-limits? That would be ideal? However, it's not necessarily a no-no for as long as you watch your portions and you don't do it often. But where soda is concerned, you'd do best to avoid it with your cheeseburger meal. Ask for water instead. Fruit juice? Unless you squeeze it from the fruit itself, forget it. Processed juiced drinks have more sugar than juice and you're better off with pure water.

Fitness nutrition also means minding how you eat. It's chewing your food well and taking the time to enjoy your meal for at least 20 minutes. It's eating when you're hungry, not because you're stressed or emotionally upset. It's stopping when you're already full. Finally, eating for health also means learning healthier ways of preparing foods. You need to learn how to cook foods through steaming and stir-frying instead of deep frying them. It also means stocking your pantry with healthful foods.

Eat healthy. Live healthy. That's the real essence of fitness nutrition.

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