Basketball is a team sport. Practicing with your team is important in order to have success, but working out with a team is not the only way to achieve success. To become a successful basketball player, you must also practice on your own. Becoming a great shooter does not happen overnight. Using individual basketball shooting drills can help you develop one of the game's most important skills.
Warmup Drill
Starting an individual shooting workout should include a proper warmup. Start close to the basket. Form Shooting is a drill that can be used as a warmup. Stand two to three feet from the basket in the center of the lane. Using only your shooting hand, shoot the ball while concentrating on correct form: elbow bent and facing the basket straight on, flicking the wrist and letting the ball go from the fingertips. After taking 15 shots at this spot, take one step back and repeat the drill. Repeat the drill until you reach the free throw line. As you approach the free throw line, use your other hand to help guide the ball and fully engage your legs.
Jump Shot Drill
Beat the Clock is a drill that works on your jump shot technique in a game-like situation. Set a clock at one minute. Start at one elbow--the area where the lane line and free throw line meet--with the ball. When the clock starts, shoot from the elbow, rebound the ball and shoot from the other elbow. Continue shooting from alternating elbows until the minute expires. Before you start, set a goal of how many shots you want to make in a minute and use the drill to measure your progress toward that goal. This drill also can be done using any two other areas on the court.
Free Throw Drill
Free throws are a key element of basketball that too many players fail to master. Great free throw shooters become great because of practice. Repetition is the key to perfecting free throw shooting. A simple individual free throw drill is called Repetition. Choose a number--at least 10--and shoot that many free throws, keeping track of how many you make. As you become more proficient, increase the number of shots and aim to increase your percentage of made shots. Another useful drill is to shoot free throws between drills in a workout. This simulates shooting free throws under game conditions.
3-Point Drill
If you are comfortable with shooting from the 3-point line, Spot Shooting is an effective drill. Pick five different spots beyond the 3-point line. Shoot 10 shots from each spot, keeping track of how many you make. Record your percentage after you finish shooting from all five spots. Aim to improve your percentage with each workout.
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