Tips For Making Your Basketball Team

Are you trying out for a basketball team? Here are five things that will help you stand out as a player and make your team:

Stop the team’s best player
When you walk onto a basketball court for a tryout, you know who is considered the cream of the crop. Defend this player. Disturb his or her game. However, sometimes it is not just one player. In that case, make sure that you defend whichever one of them is on the court at the same time as you. Stop them and change their game, the coach will notice.

Make positive noise
When performing, make sure to call out screens, say encouraging things like “good job” when a teammate makes play, and show some positive emotion, like pumping your fist when you make a shot. Trust me; basketball coaches will see the mistakes you make. So, make sure that he or she sees the positive plays as well.

Stay within your game
If you want to do something amazing in a tryout, make sure you practiced before the day of the tryout. If I know that if I usually miss dunks, tryouts is not the place to try and throw one down. If I know I am a master at passing the ball, tryouts is no place to hog the basketball and dribble. Play in your comfort zone. We play our best in our comfort zone. If you feel there is something you need to get comfortable with in order to make a team, then you must get comfortable with it long before the day of the tryout.

Be 100% confident in your game
This confidence must come from practice. You put in the work, so, you know your skills. Be confident in those skills. If you’ve been working on a skill all summer, and you pretty much have it mastered, tryouts are not the place to shy away from that skill. Instead, in the course of drills and games during tryouts, put yourself in position to showcase that skill as much as possible.

Be flexible
If a coach ever asks you, “What is your position?,” your reply should be, “Basketball player; whatever I have to do for my team to win will be done.” You definitely do not want to limit yourself in terms of your capabilities. You want to make it known that you have the ability to be an all around player. For in actuality, all positions have the same responsibility. It’s just done from different spots on the court. If you don’t know how, I can show you.

Take these steps with you to your next tryout and you’ll improve in no time.