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Breaking Down the Game, Vol 1 - Footwork
By Coach Randy Brown

This article represents the first in a series of fundamentals of the game of basketball. My decision to write this series represents my commitment to proper instruction in youth basketball. The game must be broken down into small pieces and needs to be coached in this manner. Footwork is one of the foundations that all players must have play.

Footwork is applied in so many ways in basketball. As an example, think of a 1 year old child attempting to walk for the first time. Their mind tells them to walk and their upper body moves forward, but the feet cannot follow. As they grow, the feet slowly catch up to the rest of the body. With more growth the child can begin to walk, run, and move with no thought or hesitancy. As a young person begins to play sports they face another challenge. The particular movements and footwork that are required take on an entirely new set of learning experiences.

This is where a good coach can make all the difference. Instead of saying, "Billy is so uncoordinated, he'll never be able to play," a coach can say, "Billy is challenged by poor footwork now, but with specific teaching and drills, Billy can close the gap with improved footwork." So why do a lot of coaches, especially youth coaches not take this kind of approach with kids. There are many reasons, but lack of knowledge, patience, and time must rank up there as reasons why sport specific footwork is not a priority at the youth level.

In basketball, footwork can be improved in a multitude of ways. Generally, the jump rope, ladder, and agility exercises are good and can help. Specifically for basketball, let's look at the ways that footwork can be enhanced.

1. Balance--This is an area that cannot be overlooked. Almost every mistake in basketball has to do with an athlete attempting to make a play out of balance. I've found video tape of NBA games a good tool for getting young players to work on their balance. When they see the world's best players making mistakes by having bad balance, it seems to make an impact.

2. Pivoting--To pivot properly a player must be on balance. Assuming he is, the art of the pivot must be taught and never taken for granted. So many times during a game the pivot is used. Players need to know how to pivot, when to pivot, and why they need to pivot. Learning and using the forward pivot and reverse pivot are necessary parts of gaining confidence as a young player.

3. Jump Stop--This is an abused area of youth basketball. If I walked out on the floor today with a team of youth players, this would be one of the first concepts I would teach. Players must understand that when their momentum moves forward while dribbling the ball, their friend is the jump stop. To transition from a full speed dribble to a sudden stop can only be accomplished with the jump stop. The jump stop is also important when screening, as proper screening is executed by "running" to screen, then coming to a sudden stop with your feet apart. It must be taught very early on and is one skill that can cut down on mistakes like traveling, bad passes, and charging more than any other area. If you want to clean up your team's game, teach them all how to properly execute the jump stop.

4. Catching and Triple Threat Position--Just to get open on the wing takes precision footwork. Once the ball is caught, the player squares up facing the basket. This is call triple threat position because he can pass, dribble, and shoot from that spot. When catching, a pivot foot needs to be established. Which foot is the pivot foot depends on how your are taught, but most of the time the inside foot is your pivot foot. This allows you to "move" legally and without traveling. With a foot anchored, you can pass fake, shot fake, and sweep the ball in front of the defender. You can actually cover about 8 feet laterally by crossing over your free foot from right to left or left to right. This is an excellent way to show young players the power and value of the pivot foot, balance, and footwork.

5. Offensive moves-- Whether you play on the perimeter or the post, the pivot is an essential part of every move you will make. The simplest moves in basketball rely on balanced footwork. When you take the defender off the dribble on the wing, you are employing the pivot foot, balance, triple threat position, and proper footwork. This is EXACTLY why we must teach young players the fundamentals before teaching moves and plays. Fundamentally, this is what has gone awry in youth basketball. We have the cart before the horse and the result is a deteriorating game, void of solid fundamentals. In the post the same emphasis on balance and footwork exist, just closer to the basket. All players, regardless of skill, size, position or level need a constant diet of work on balance and footwork.

My passion is to coach coaches on how to properly teach this game. In that sentence is the crux of what needs to be done on the youth basketball front. If we could get committed coaches to value the teaching above our game would move ahead by leaps and bounds. If we don't, the world will leave us in the dust. From where I stand the dust has already started to gather.