There are very few skills that are required to play. A majority of the skills that basketball players possess are developed through training and exercise, and happen over time. No player is an instant star and can shoot free throws and 3 pointers perfectly every single time. These skills are developed with practice and patience and aren’t forced.
One of the most essential and required skills is the ability to work well with others. Team work is absolutely essential if you are to succeed and win in basketball. A dysfunctional team can lead to many problems, the biggest of which is no one will be having fun.
While fun to some people isn’t necessary, even people that like to win, have fun, and without that fun and love of the game, people wouldn’t be playing. If you cannot work well with others or do not enjoy working with others, then you shouldn’t be playing a team sport period.
Self Improvement is another important and key skill in basketball. No matter how good you are, you must be willing to improve and work at something. The best basketball players in the world still work out, still run drills, and still find ways to improve themselves.
You need to not only practice what you are taught by coaches and other players, but you need to seek other sources of improvement as well. Watching other players from leagues like the NBA and WNBA will show you what you can aspire to be, and what you can achieve with hard work. Being an athlete is only hard if you let it be. If you get yourself in a proper daily routine, and eat properly, you will find that you will develop the discipline required to be a basketball player. Discipline is something you need to enforce upon yourself, while coaches can teach you the basics, and you can read about it, you need to practice discipline in every aspect of your life.
Another essential aspect of basketball is a personalized warm up routine. This warm up routine should incorporate aspects of your team warm ups, but also aspects of drills that assist you in developing some of your weak points, while accenting some of your stronger points. These drills also need to be progressive in nature and need to evolve as your skills increase so that they keep up with you as a player and don’t fall behind.
Communication falls under the above mentioned teamwork, but also deserves a complete section of its own. You need to let your team mates know on the fly what you’re doing, or where you’re going. Communication is essential on and off the court. Coaches rely on it for feedback, and to sort out any issues and deal with them.
These above items are some of the very basic needs when going into basketball, some of the skills are specific to basketball, and some of them are just general life skills. When the above are present they form today’s basketball player.
Photo credit: _Shward_
