The Rules of BasketballBasketball is a team sport. Two teams of five players each try to score by shooting a ball through a hoop elevated 10 feet above the ground. The game is played on a rectan-gular floor called the court, and there is a hoop at each end. The court is divided into two main sections by the mid-court line. If the offensive team puts the ball into play behind the mid-court line, it has ten seconds to get the ball over the mid-court line. If it doesn't, then the defense gets the ball. Once the offen-sive team gets the ball over the mid-court line, it can no longer have possession of the ball in the area in back of the line. If it does, the defense is awarded the ball.The ball is moved down the court toward the basket by passing or dribbling. The team with the ball is called the offense. The team without the ball is called the defense. They try to steal the ball, contest shots, steal and deflect passes, and garner re-

bounds. When a team makes a basket, they score two points and the ball goes to the other team. If a basket, or field goal, is made outside of the three-point arc, then that basket is worth three points. A free throw is worth one point. Free throws are awarded to a team according to some formats involv-ing the number of fouls committed in a half and/or the type of foul committed. Fouling a shooter always results in two or three free throws being awarded the shooter, depend-ing upon where he was when he shot. If he was beyond the three-point line, then he gets three shots. Other types of fouls do not result in free throws being awarded until a cer-tain number have ac-cumulated during a half. Once that number is reached, then the player who was fouled is awarded a ‘1-and-1’ opportunity. If he makes his first free throw, he gets to at-tempt a second. If he misses the first shot,

FoulsPersonal fouls: Personal fouls include any type of illegal physical contact.1.Hitting2.Pushing3.Slapping4.HoldingIllegal pick/screen -- when an offensive player is moving. When an offensive player sticks out a limb and makes physical con-tact with a defender in an attempt to block the path of the defender.Personal foul penalties: If a player is shooting while a being fouled, then he gets two free throws if his shot doesn't go in, but only one free throw if his shot does go in.

Three free throws are awarded if the player is fouled while shooting for a three-point goal and they miss their shot. If a player is fouled while shooting a three-point shot and makes it anyway, he is awarded one free throw. Thus, he could score four points on the play.

Inbounds. If fouled while not shooting, the ball is given to the team the foul was committed upon. They get the ball at the nearest side or baseline, out of bounds, and have 5 sec-onds to pass the ball onto the court.

One & one. If the team committing the foul has seven or more fouls in the game, then the player who was fouled is awarded one free throw. If he makes his first shot, then he is awarded another free throw.

Ten or more fouls. If the team committing the foul has ten or more fouls, then the fouled player re-ceives two free throws.

Charging. An offensive foul that is committed when a player pushes or runs over a defensive player. The ball is given to the team that the foul was committed upon.

Blocking. Blocking is illegal personal contact re-sulting from a defender not establishing position in time to prevent an opponent's drive to the bas-ket.

Flagrant foul. Violent contact with an opponent. This includes hitting, kicking, and punching. This type of foul results in free throws plus the offense retaining possession of the ball after the free throws.

Intentional foul. When a player makes physical contact with another player with no reasonable effort to steal the ball. It is a judgment call for the officials.

Technical foul. Technical foul. A player or a coach can commit this type of foul. It does not involve player contact or the ball but is instead about the 'manners' of the game. Foul language, obscenity, obscene gestures, and even arguing can be con-sidered a technical foul, as can technical details regarding filling in the scorebook improperly or dunking during warm-ups.

VIOLATIONS

Walking/Traveling. Taking more than 'a step and a half' without dribbling the ball is trave-ling. Moving your pivot foot once you've stopped dribbling is trave-ling.Carrying/palm-ing. When a player dribbles the ball with his hand too far to the side of or, sometimes, even under the ball.

Double Dribble. Dribbling the ball with both hands on the ball at the same time or pick-ing up the dribble and then dribbling again is a double dribble.

Held ball. Occa-sionally, two or more opposing players will gain possession of the ball at the same time. In order to avoid a prolonged

and/or violent tussle, the referee stops the action and awards the ball to one team or the other on a ro-tating basis.

Goaltending. If a defensive player interferes with a shot while it's on the way down to-ward the basket, while it's on the way up toward the basket after hav-ing touched the

backboard, or while it's in the cylinder above the rim, it's goaltend-ing and the shot counts. If commit-ted by an offensive player, it's a viola-tion and the ball is awarded to the opposing team for a throw-in.

Backcourt viola-tion. Once the of-fense has brought the ball across the mid-court line,

Center. Centers are generally your tallest players. They generally are positioned near the basket.

Offensive -- The center's goal is to get open for a pass and to shoot. They are also re-sponsible for block-ing defend-ers, known as picking or screening, to open other play-ers up for driving to the basket for a goal. Centers are expected to get some offensive rebounds and put-backs.

Defensive -- On defense, the cent-er's main respon-sibility is to keep

opponents from shoot-ing by blocking shots

and passes in the key area. They also are ex-pected to get a lot of rebounds

because they're taller.

Forward. Your next tallest

players will most likely be your for-

wards. While a for-ward may be called

upon to play

under the hoop, they may also be required to oper-ate in the

wings and corner areas.

Offensive -- For-wards are respon-sible to get free for a pass, take outside shots, drive for goals, and rebound.

Defensive -- Re-sponsibilities in-clude preventing drives to the goal and rebounding.

Guard. These are potentially your shortest players and they should be really good at dribbling fast, seeing the court, and passing. It is their job to bring the ball down the court and set up offensive plays.

Offensive -- Drib-bling, passing, and

setting up offensive plays are a guard's main responsibilities. They also need to be able to drive to the basket and to shoot from the perimeter.

Defensive -- On defense, a guard is re-sponsible for stealing passes, contest-ing shots, preventing drives to

the hoop, and for boxing out.

Player Positions

DefenceHere are 10 Keys to a Great Defen-sive Stance:

Fronts of the Feet - Most of your weight should be on the fronts or balls of your feet and the major-ity of the weight should be on the big toes. Heel should still be in contact with the ground.

Wide Base & Feet Turned Slightly In - Your feet

should be point-ing straight ahead or slightly turned in (pigeon-toed). This creates an angle that allows you to provide more force against the ground. In the picture to the right, the feet are bowed out which is improper form.

Your feet should also be slightly wider than shoul-der width apart.

Hips Back & Knees Bent - Butt should be be-hind the heels and your knees should be point-

ing for-

ward, but

not past the toes.

Knees Inside

of Feet - This helps create better push-off power.

Butt Down - Stay-ing low helps maintain balance.

Shoulders Over Knees - Your shoulders should be over your knees with your chest out and back straight or slightly

Dribbling and Ball HandingHere are 9 tips from pro coach Don Kelbick.

Dribble the ball hard. The more time the ball spends in your hand, the more control you have of the ball. The harder you dribble, the quicker it gets back in your hand.

Head up at all times. Look at the rim or a spot on the wall during all practice.Use your finger tips to control

the ball, not your palm.

Use your imagi-nation. Picture when and how you would use each of the dribbles.

Teach mental-ity. There is too much dribbling for no reason in

our game today. I like to teach that the pri-mary purpose for putting the ball on the floor is to get a lay-up. If you don't

have an opportuni-

ty, don't put it on

the floor.

Basketball is a game of length. Work on length-

ening the drib-ble. Work to get your opportunities with 1 dribble. You don't beat defens-es with your drib-ble. You beat peo-ple with your feet; you SEPARATE from your defense with the dribble.Basketball is also a game of an-gles. Try to move in straight lines. Whenever you make an "East-West" move (something that takes you toward the sideline), re-capture a "North-South" path (direct line to the basket) as quickly as pos-sible.Don't do things in 2 dribbles that you can do in 1.

Practice out-side your comfort zone. Experiment; go faster than you are used to, use your imagination. When working on new skills, don't be concerned with losing the ball. Just pick it up and do it again. If you practice

only things that are comfort-able, then

you will never

im-

prove.

ShootingBasketball Shooting Technique & Mechan-icsIn this sec-tion

you will get a step by step ex-planation and the secrets to proper shooting technique. These are the mechanics and techniques that you NEED to know to become a great shooter. You will learn proper:VisionStance and balanceShot pocketGripBalance handDeliveryUpforce and landingFollow through

You will also learn...

How to shoot on the move.Proper footwork and pivoting.Shooting off the dribble.Shooting off the catch.

Shooting

from the jump

stop.Tricks to help you remem-ber

shooting fundamen-tals.How to avoid very common fundamen-tal mistakes.Each section includes photographs show-ing you the exact shooting technique and form. We break things down and cut to the chase making it super easy for you to understand.

Step-By-Step Guide For Players: How To Develop A Great Jump Shot

In this section you will learn exactly

how to develop a high per-centage jump shot and how to PRACTICE.

We take you through the exact process you will need

to follow. You will learn...

How to quickly develop proper

shooting form and "good" muscle mem-ory (step by step).

How to develop your footwork for game situations (step by step). This is where you learn how to consistently knock down shots in any game situation.

How to develop a killer practice plan that will take you to the next level.

How to quickly in-crease your shooting percentage by prac-

ticing "smart".

8 ways you can save time in practice and take more shots in less time.

How you can practice at home and improve your basketball shooting fundamen-tals.

What it takes for you to be successful

and become an elite shooter.

Step-By-Step Guide For Coaches: How To Increase Your En-tire Team's Shooting Percentage

In this section we

passingCHEST PASSThe chest pass is named so because the pass originates from the chest. It is thrown by grip-ping the ball on the sides with the thumbs directly behind the ball. When the pass is thrown, the fingers are rotated behind the ball and the thumbs are turned down. The result-ing follow through has the back of the hands fac-ing one another with the thumbs straight down. The ball should have a nice backspin.When throwing a chest pass, the players should strive to throw it to the receiver's chest level. Passes that go low to high or high to low are

difficult to catch.

BOUNCE PASSThe bounce pass is thrown with the same motion how-ever it is aimed at the floor. It should be thrown far enough out that the ball bounces waist high to the receiver. Some say try to throw it 3/4 of the way to the receiver, and that may be a good reference point to start, but each player has to experiment how far to throw it so it bounces to the receiver properly. Putting a proper and consistent backspin on the pass will make the distance easier to judge.

OVERHEAD PASS