Hey,what's your name?

Wonder what does the above title about?It's a sign that you are being recognized by other players.I was in this situation many times before whenever I'm in a game with strangers.I played good,showed off some skills,tricked them and then only the conversation starts.Of course,this does not only happen to me but everyone else as well but it only happens to certain people who played well in a game.Recently,I was being asked for my name from this Palestine dude who's studying at my local university and he played good too.So whenever you're in a game with strangers,and after that,they ask for your name,at that point,you know you're the playmaker.

Just A Forum,Or Two

I thought it was time for me to spread mah wings a bit so I decided to join a forum or two about freestyle and street basketball.Forums are beneficial for you to create connections in the community,discuss your interests and expand your knowledge about it.Fortunately,I found three very good forum sites to join.
1)www.FreestyleBasketball.Forumotion.net
2)www.StreetBallTalk.com
3)www.StreetBall.com

These 3 are the top forums about freestyle and street basketball that I could ever find in the internet,especially the first one.The first forum site let you to discuss and share about events held or will be held,tricks and moves and even clips!The fun part is,you can 'battle' clips in the forum!Show off your skills there by posting a video of you street ballin and other people will do the same too.Just see who's the best!It's a great forum for you to indulge more of yourself in freestyle and street basketball.

The second and third forum sites let you to do the same too except 'battle clipping'.You can post videos,pictures and other stuffs to share there.There are abundant of skills you can learn and share from those two.The last forum site has an advantage of its online store since you can buy and purchase basketball products there online.

In a nutshell,the first one stands out the most.My username for the first forum is 'amirfikri' so if you ever stumble upon my post or thread,just holla at me!

Out Of Bounce And The Professor

'Out Of Bounce' is actually a freestyle basketball team from Korea.I'm not sure whether they're good in matches but they sure are good when it comes to freestyle handling.These guys perform around the streets of Korea to promote their name and...well,for fun!Their style is somewhat like 'High School Musical' just that they're not hype like the HSMs.

They had achieved optimum basketball handling that's why they can do all these complicated and insane skills.It's not hard as long as you put your heart into basketball.Just keep on playing with your own style and before you know it,people will be trying to copy your skills,make you as an idol and...stuffs man.Take a glimpse of them here;

Now here's someone that I want to talk about.Nonetheless,he's...*drum rolls*...

The Professor!

He is most known with his 'speedy-weedy' basketball dribbles and his 'clowning' moves on his opponents.Well,suppose,not really but just that his passing and dribble skills made his name appear as the next 'streetball legend'!How's that?

Anyway,I forgot to tell you a little bit about his biography.His real name is Boucher,that is,Grayson Boucher.He played for McNary High School,Salem Academy and Chemeketa Community College before he moved up to the AND1 Mixtape Tour.Mostly,he developed his skills from watching Rafer Alston on the AND1 Mixtape's Volume 1 and Volume 2.He got into AND1 when he was playing at Portland's Memorial Coliseum,impressing tour players with his passing and dribbling skills.The name,'The Professor' was given by the MC Duke Tango describing Grayson as the only white player to play on the AND1 team.Watch his highlights here;

"I'll show you how to do this" XD

Recently,he came here to Malaysia for the AND1 finals at Times Square,Kuala Lumpur.I didn't get the chance to meet him because I was too busy with my studies!Ergh!Did I tell you that I'm a college student anyway?Yup,he got his own site right here,www.GraysonBoucher.net .Go there oftenly if you want to stay updated with him.Got plenty of things you can learn from there!I'm out!

The Ultimate Fundamental:Ball Handling

When you're playing freestyle basketball or much more known as 'street basketball',there's one thing that you should be a master of,that is,the ball handling.It doesn't matter if you're not good in shooting for scores in the game as long as you got this ultimate aspect that makes crowds gone crazy over your skills.You can do insane and crazy tricks to make your opponent confused and pass the ball to your team mate when you're done even if you can't shoot.Whether you realise it or not,you will still assumed as the 'playmaker' of the game!You do tricks,and people 'wowed' over you and that's it!You're in their idols' top lists!

However,it's not easy to handle the ball when there are opponents who kept on trying to steal it.That's why you have to practice.One way is to practice doing the ball handling drills.I found a very good video that teaches you to do the best ball handling drills in just 7 minutes a day!Here it is;

Also,you can watch this two videos here that I found from Youtube done by Snake (refer to my previous post) and Mad Skills (a freestylist from Youtube).Damn they're just insane!

Introducing-Snake

This dude that I've just found from Youtube is just amazing!I don't really know his real name but people called him 'Snake' and his username for Youtube is 'snakejmoney' so make sure you take a note for that because trust me,it'll be useful later on for you to learn his skills.He should go co-op with The Professor,Hot Sauce or the other known and famous street ballers out there.His skills are just mad,highlight that!Superbly stunning!Nonetheless,he's not the only basketball 'genius' out there.There are more to discover but he's totally one of them.I'm not promoting his name on the web or what,just that,I think you should take a look at his skills here.



He posted a lot more videos on Youtube though so you can check out on him there if you want to know a lot more.Just type his name in the Youtube search box and there will be lists of his videos.Not to mention that,he teaches people the freestyle basketball skills too!For free!Damn he's just generous man.You can watch his video tutorials from Youtube.Enjoy watching!

Basketball Reaction and Quickness Drills

There are times when the ball would slipped out from your hand or maybe times when you got hit by the ball on the head (Consider that you were fantasizing about something.Take that for not getting your head in the game!Courtesy:High School Musical).Plus,you would see the ball rose high up in the air and you know that instant it will land in your hands when suddenly,*poof*,the ball is gone,stolen by the opponent faster than you.These are the common things that usually happen to players in basketball matches.The reaction that you're about to act is slow and you realise that yourself and you tried to react faster but couldn't.You tried to act quick and fast but your body won't let you eventhough you tried very hard in doing so.Why did these things happened?Basically,it's because of your body position when you're about to move.You can't run or sprint towards the ball when you're standing straight right?One other thing about reacting fast is that you can't react fast when you're focusing on two things,might be the cheerleaders at the side or maybe your opponents who are not holding the ball.

In a nutshell,you can react faster by focusing on the ball for where it moves (not alone but by external force of course).Keep your eye on the ball throughout the game but still,at the same time,be cautious so as not to get tricked by the opponents since he or she might trick you with the body movement.Your primary zone of sight will be on the ball and the second,will be the opponent.Besides that,you can also move to the ball quickly by lowering your body a bit with your feet apart from each other in shoulder width.Make sure your toes face in front at the same time.This stance will assist you in getting a proper position for getting speed to move quickly.Once you move,remember to always keep your body level low and move by sliding your feet quickly.Practice this every time you play and you'll soon realise the positive changes in your speed and stability.

Getting the fundamentals sure are not enough for you to improve consistently.Drills can make you stay 'up to date' with your speed of reaction and body movement.Here's a video I stumbled upon on Youtube that shows you various drills that could improve your reaction and quickness in basketball.The video is made to slow motion for easy viewing.They use a tennis ball for the drills to make you more focused in the game.What a creative idea!Make sure you implement the drills showed in the video once you're done watching it!I'll start first!

Point Guards

Point guards are basically responsible in offensive plays.They're most likely to be active around the court giving instructions to the team mates,passing and cutting in.They're more towards assisting the team to score for points rather than scoring on his own.In measurement of height,point guards are usually the shortest and fastest (in speed) of all.The main features of a point guard should have are;
1)Creative Thinking
2)Fast
3)High Stamina
3)Energetic
4)Skillful

Creative Thinking

In any game,there would be many kinds of strategies that would be used in either team for offensive and defensive purposes.Strategies such as full court press,half court press and man to man are by means the most common defense strategies ever exposed.Despite of all the strategies we know,there are more to expect in such cases.There will be times the team would panic because of the sudden change of strategy used by the opponent.At this point of time,the point guard must think fast and creatively to endure this problem from getting the team itself confused and scattered around foolishly.Once the solution is determined,the point guard has to instruct his team mates fast in order to act on them and stabilize the atmosphere again.In such occasions,it wouldn't be a surprise anymore to professional point guards like Allen Iverson,Jason Kidd,Magic Johnson for this type of confront since they're most likely prepared and ready with many back up plans.

Fast

In definition,speed for point guards are not just from the physical aspect but mentally too.Point guards are usually the 'smartest' player in the game since they have to think fast and act fast.Whenever a team of a point guard is leading stuck in a game,probably being guarded and marked by opponents,the point guard will find chances instead of waiting for them.This is the time when the power of luring comes into play.The point guard will eventually try to lure a player or two in order to open up spaces for his team mates to launch attacks and score.In other way,the point guard will instruct his team mates using the team's own coded communication language to help himself get an open space.Once open,there will be big chances of scoring.

High Stamina

Most basketball matches,especially full court will need this ability since there will be a lot of running throughout the game.Basketball isn't like football when all you have to do is just to wait for the ball to arrive or get close to your play zone,no.Players will have to move fast and strategically to find open spaces,lure opponents and not get crowded when trying to do a skill or two.In full court matches,all players have to go front during offense,depends on the strategy the team's using because some strategy requires one person to be at the back in case the ball is stolen by the opponent and they're planning to launch 'fast breaks'.The court is more like a playground for the players in the game for them to move here and there all the time.'Suicide' is one  type of drill you can use to increase your own stamina.

Energetic

Being energetic doesn't define as close as having high stamina.Energetic is more to having high determination to score and win the game.Here in Malaysia,I can see that Chineses who play basketball are more energetic than Malays.I've been observing how they play because usually they play better than Malays,including Indians (Malaysia have three main different races living together peacefully,Malay,Chinese and Indian).It takes high spirit and high determination for you to score continuously and not lose your guard to the opponent because opponents will eventually find a suitable time to strike,when you lose your guard,that is.So,it is important for you to have the determination so as to take the game seriously as if you're playing in NBA!

Skillful

This one is usually optional but it is most recommended that you practice this too.Why?Because if you don't have any skills,you'll look dumb at the court as if you don't know how to play basketball at all!Not just that,it is also important for you to practice it so that you can show off skills to your opponents to make them tricked or confused.Obviously,it'll be an advantage for you,as a point guard to create open spaces instead of finding it.If you just started playing basketball,don't worry since you'll be building and improving this aspect through time without you even knowing it.It's a natural being for you to learn it from the start.One way to start is observe the professional basketball players and try to copy their skills.Once you get the hang of it,you'll be creating your own signature skill,like Michael Jordan.

Allen Iverson

Jason Kidd

   Michael Jordan