| If there's one question I get asked over and over, all | | | | enough to throw off his game when he finally set foot |
| the time really, it's this: Where should I practice | | | | on a real gym floor. |
| basketball? | | | | So where you practice is vitally important. We see this |
| That's a tricky question for several reasons that I will | | | | all the time. Down at the park or on a make shift court |
| get into later in the article. For now, I will just say that its | | | | on a side street of the city you might absolutely |
| something that needs to be talked about because it is | | | | dominate. But if things are off, if the rim is too high or |
| very important to your basketball development. So I | | | | two short (as is often the case) you develop |
| am going to answer that question today in this article. | | | | unbreakable bad habits and you reinforce those bad |
| Where you practice is very important for many | | | | habits the longer you practice under those |
| reasons. First, you play the best where you practice | | | | circumstances. |
| the most. They call this "Home Court Advantage" and | | | | So what can you do about it? Well, the very best thing |
| it is a very very real phenomenon. | | | | to do is to practice as much as possible on the court |
| Another reason this is so very important is slightly | | | | where your team will be playing during the season. |
| more sinister. I know a guy that used to practice for | | | | Usually this is a high school or junior high school gym. |
| hours a day at three pointers in his back yard. Back | | | | Many schools offer "Open gym" time when you can |
| there, he could sink anything under the sun with his | | | | get in there and shoot around to your hearts content. I |
| eyes closed and with one hand tied behind his back | | | | suggest you do this whenever possible, for as long as |
| (really, I saw him do that many times!). But when he got | | | | possible. If this isn't available, be sure to measure your |
| to school, he couldn't hit anything. Why was that? You | | | | home or park courts with a tape measure to make |
| wouldn't expect to see such a dramatic difference | | | | sure the rim is ten feet high. Be sure also to check the |
| between two places, but this guy barely made the | | | | distance to the free throw line and the distance to the |
| team when it came time to try out as freshmen. | | | | three point line. These often get painted on sloppily, or |
| What happened? His backyard court was screwy. His | | | | not at all. |
| basket was between one half and one full inch higher | | | | Developing bad habits is a terrible thing to do, and its a |
| than it should have been and the basketball he used | | | | real shame when you put in hours of work practicing |
| was filled with too much air. These two simple things, | | | | only to find out that your practicing was actually |
| things that could happen to literally anyone, were | | | | harmful because you practiced at a bad place. |