i want to tryout for my school's basketball team but i don't think i'm that good and i'll embarrass myself!

Question

i'm pretty short (i'm 5'2 or 5'3) and i want to play shooting guard. tryouts are next week. i'm 14 and a freshman in high school. i've never played in an organized basketball league before, so i don't think i'll be that good. what are some things i can do to work on my shooting, layups, and dribbling? what are some drills (please don't say just practice)? also, i'm really nervous i'll just embarrass myself like if i miss a layup or someone steals it from me. what do i do?

Answer 1

ok honestly, i'm REALLY similar to you. i didn't make middle school either years but i made freshman and now am probably making JV and probably starting. first of all NEVER think negative thoughts anymore from now on, SERIOUSLY. you NEED to stop that. that'll hurt your game more than anything. again though, i was just like you in thinking like that. k now to basketball. there is sooooooooooooo much for me to tell you. first of all check out gobasketballpro.com and ralitodd.com they really really helped me and are easily the best thing and you will accomplish anything you want with them. honestly i am not just saying this. practising you should first of all do ball pounds in stead of drills for dribbling. buy a big basketball at ***** sporting goods if you can. pound the ball into the ground as hard as you can. do crossovers, in and outs, dribbling normally, through the legs and behind the back if you can. the main thing is to dribble 100% AS HARD AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN. you will mess up but thats good, you'll see a lot of improvement in your handles from this. do it righty and lefty for like 10-20 seconds each dribble. for shooting i can't really tell you what to do because everyone is completely unique and different with their shot and needs to work on different things for their shot so you should basically indentify your flaws and fix them. some common ones and how to fix them are not keeping elbow in(tap your hip before you shoot with your shooting arm), having your palm of your shooting hand touch the ball when shooting(use a gatorade cap, rubberband it so it blocks your palm from touching the ball and shoot with it(kinda hard to explain)). not looking in the right spot(stare and the clip that holds up the net that is lined up with you), bad balance(do this drill, http://youtube.com/watch?v=Kzywo9k0_eg), having your guide hand interfere too much(hold a penny in between your guide hand's thumb and index finger). about layups, keep your eyes on the rim, attack the defender, not the hoop, what i mean by that is having your shoulder go into the defender's chest and bumping them away, go for the upper right hand corner on right side and upper left hand corner of box on left side. for practising, make circuits. think of about 6-10 drills and do them in a circuit, about 30 seconds each with 15-30 seconds rest. do like 3-4 circuts. most importantly for them, GO 100% at all times when going. this is so important, do this if you wanna get good. think of drills that would improve YOU PERSONALLY, make them up, i do a drill that i made up where i use a chair and do a move past it and finish and then a move coming back the other way to where i started, i also need help on the balance of my shot so i do the drill above in my circuits too. also, find your thing that you do best. develop it so you know that you are the best and no one is better than you at that thing. this is soooooo important, you need to establish that one thing that you dominate everyone else in, for you maybe shooting, dribbling, passing, defense.

Answer 2

I'm going to answer the second part of your question about possibly embarrassing yourself. Just do it. Yes, you might miss the layup and yes, someone might steal it from you. So what? That will happen to everyone. You must make lots of mistakes in order to learn from them and get better. The more you practice the more experience and confidence you will gain. Before you know it, you will be playing well and with confidence. If you are confident your mistakes won't look embarrassing at all. Hold your head high and keep playing. Then your next good shot will look like a real winner. Get out there and kick some basketball butt! GO!!

Answer 3

Don't worry about it. If you mess up, just laugh it off. What's to lose?

Also, I'm 14 and a freshman as well. I'm 5'4" and people make fun of me sometimes for being short, but it doesn't bother me.

The best thing to do with shooting to prepare you for your tryout is just shoot around. Maybe you'll find a hotspot and sometimes during tryouts in the beginning they'll tell everyone to go off and shoot around and they'll observe everyone and if you have a hotspot, you can make a good impression.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

I think one or two people mentioned routines. Me and my 2 bro's play basketball. When my brothers were your age, they had a routine. They used to practice on their own. The first thing they would do is get warmed up. They would take 5 to 10 shots from all around the court. Then every day they would practice free throws. They usually shot around 40 to 50. But for a start, try at 20 free throws per routine session. Once you average around 35 to 40 out of 50 free throws, go and practice mid range shots and three's. Yo sohuld practice lay-ups. normal, reversed, left and right hand. Do each around 10 times per session. Thats enough for shooting. You can build up on it after you improve. now, for dribbling, get some cones or chairs. You dont need a hoop tho. just adjust the cones or whatever obstacles you got in certain patterns. First start with like, 4 cones in a row. Dribble in and out. Then increase it and tighten the gap between them. keep doing that and you would probably improve. For defense, you need to play against someone. So at school with freinds, mostly guard. Guard as best as you can. If u get embarrassed from missing lay-ups, for your height, its not that bad. If you miss lay-ups, then jump stop when nearing the basket and shoot normally. It might make a difference. There is nothing to get embarrassed about when u get the ball stolen. It happens all the time. Just try to dribble low enough so its hard for them to steal. If you dribble too high, then its easier because you have less control over the ball. I know what i am talking about because i am 15 years old and i have been playing ball since i was 4 years old in those small little hoops..lol. Hope this helps. The major thing is to CREATE YOUR OWN ROUTINES and build on it every few weeks. And take a paper outside and keep track of all your stats and records. If you have a computer, use microsoft excel and input the stats in there. You'll know if you improve and what skills you need more improving in. Good luck.

Answer 6

Hell, I tried out for the football team as a wide reciever, and I'm 6'0, 145 pounds and couldn't bench press a potato. And I actually did pretty good, for a guy who's never played before.
I was so bad I couldn't catch a cold. But on the very last game, I somehow managed to strip the ball from the other team and run 90 yards for a touchdown. Because of me, we finished UNDEFEATED (9-0) on the JV team. We did better than the varsity stars did. So sign up for the basketball team. It'll be good for you. As for me, I got past the potato and am now working on cinder blocks.

Answer 7

Have some faith in yourself! If you want to try out, GO FOR IT! :D
and try your best! if you get it, awesome, if you don't, at least you tried, there's always next year[ which gives you more time to grow ;) ] , but honestly, i know a guy who's 5'0", and he's AMAZING at basketball, he's better than guys that are almost a foot taller than him. Height doesn't always mean everything, sometimes the little guys get a great advantage :)
try your best out there, good luck!

[just do lay-ups, suicides[start at one end of the gym. run to the first line, then run back to where you started, then run to the next line and back, etc.], exercise, and practice dribbling. that should be enough. it's all in your heart! :)

Answer 8

1st off, you dont need some long answer like the ones above. Short and sweet is great. So, practice doing layups, shots, and dribbling. If you can do all those, try out. If you can't, don't. There are probably kids worse than you. Just don't go through life saying, WHAT IF? you know what I'm trying to say.

Answer 9

If it's something you really want to do then I think you should go for it. If you practice and perhaps get someone you feel comfortable with to help you you might make the team. If you don't make it this year you can always try again next year. Good luck :) I hope things turns out well for you.

Answer 10

I say go for it kid. You will never know If you don't try! I've been to auditions and tryouts that people have fallen on their butts and nobody laughed. And if they did who cares. I just went to a huge audition and they only had five positions available. I was so nervous and never thought I'd make it, but went anyway. I got the job!!! So just do your best and if that isn't good enough join a local bball league to work on your skills for next year.

Hey look at the Red Sox they sucked *** for years and it was a little embarrassing but Now look at them!!!

GOOD LUCK!!!

Answer 11

don't worry dude.
have alot of confidence in yourself, just remember that there will always be people better than you. I play soccer and hockey and I'm pretty good but I'll always come across people that could beat me to the puck or steal the ball. Life's just like that.

P.S Try dribbling around objects, like cones, and try fake out moves. Good luck man