Getting started with Dribbling

So, now that you know the goals, how do you achieve them? How do you improve your handles?

Well, here are some tips to work on your handles:

1. Dribble with your fingers first. Keeping the ball on the fingers helps maintain better overall control. To develop better finger control, work on strengthening your grip, strengthening your forearms and stretching out your fingers one by one by pulling them back towards your body.

2. During a strong dribble move, slightly palm the ball. For example, when you're crossing the ball over from one side to another, you have to slightly palm the ball so you don't lose if off your fingers. Be careful, because over-palming can result in carrying the ball. Same with the behind-the-back dribble, you have to slightly palm the ball.

3. Always keep the ball low. The ball is fastest when it’s low to the ground, and it’s easier to control as well. Bend at the knees to get low, as if you're crouching a little bit.

4. Trick your defender. This means dribbling in a way that your defender doesn't know what you're gonna do next. Using head, shoulder, and leg fakes can help you trick your defender. Also, constantly switching the ball between your left and right hands also keeps the defender guessing.

5. Of course, learn to dribble with both hands. To follow the above tip, you need to be good with your left and right hands.

Once you start improving your handles, you're ready to put down some strong dribble moves. All one-on-one moves, such as "the drive", require decent ball-handling skills...

This is why it’s important that before you try fancy one-on-one offensive moves, you work on improving basic ball-handing fundamentals.