Blog Posting #22, December 1, 2008
 
QUICKNESS: THE NUMBER ONE  ASSET OF A BASKETBALL PLAYER

The great running back takes the ball through the hole, slighly hesitaes, makes a head fake to his left and sharply cuts right, fakes right and goes left, and follows each change of direction with an accelerated change of pace. This is the epitomy of quickness. History’s great athletes all possess quickness.

Basketball is a game of mental alertness and quickness. A player may be quick, but if he is not aware of the momentary opportunity, his quickness will be of little value. On the other hand, a player may be alert, but if he does not act quickly, he will miss the opportunity. The latter is the worse of the two evils; erroneous action can be made up for after the play, but there is no possible way to make up for a missed opportunity.

Is quickness a natural gift or can it be developed. Both are true. As we all know, some players are just naturally physically quick. But as we learned above, they must be mentally quick as well if they are going to be able to use that quickness to make plays. Mental quickness may be a gift as well. But there is much we can do to improve quickness, both mentally and physically. Mental quickness is developed through competition; the more a player plays, the better he becomes at anticipation. In this blog posting, we are going to address how a coach can improve the physical quickness of all players.

THE DEFINTION OF PHYSICAL QUICKNESS
We say a player is physically quick when he can, at a moment’s notice, change pace and direction on offense and defense. Changing direction means making sharp angles, like the running back. Arcs are a waste of energy and time.

BALANCE
Quickess is dependent on balance. Take a broom and hold it, about in the middle, with one hand. If you are not holding it at the center of gravity, the broom will seem heavy. Hold it at the center of gravity, and it will feel light. Without the ability to gain and regain balance, a player will never be as quick as he could be.

John Wooden, in Practical Modern Basketball states that the basketball player is in balance when he has the feet a little wider than the shoulders, back straight, chin up, hands close to the body, and every joint is flexed and relaxed. In regards to quickness, he emphasises the player should be able to move lightly on the forward part of the feet. In other words, never get caught on the heels. He goes on to say, a player is quicker when he takes short and choppy steps rather than longer steps. This makes sense as the later enables the alert player to change direction at a moment’s notice.

THE MECHANICS OF QUICKNESS
There are specific mechanics that will increase quickness. As mentioned in the definition, quickness means making sharp angle cuts, not arcs, and making them with a change of pace, accelerating after the change of direction. When changing direction to his left, the player should push off with the right foot, send the head in the direction he wants to go, take a short step with the left foot, and then take a long step with the right foot toward the direction he wants to go. To aid the change of pace and direction, the player should throw the inside arm toward that direction, as Coach Wooden explains.

Some of us have been taught, and have always believed, the first step, when changing direction, should be long. Not so. The first step, when going to the left, is with the left foot. It’s the right foot that can do the most damage. The first step is short, but is quickly followed by the second step (and arm) that propels the player in the new direction.

MISDIRECTION HELPS QUICKNESS
There is more to quickness than footwork. There is deception and misdirection. When the running back is facing a quick and experienced linebacker, he must fake in order to freeze the defender and create enough space to get by. A very slight hesitation, a slight bending of the knee,  and a head fake in the opposite direction  he wants to go, all while maintaining balance, can make that happen. The offensive player with the ball can do the same. But, he must stay low and avoid giving it away with the rest of his body.

DRILLING QUICKNESS
The coach that teaches the above in isolation and then incorporates the details, and enforces them, in every other drill, will cause these fundamentals to become unconsious habits. This is hard work for the coach, as he must first be sold on the concept that fundamentals and details are pivotal to winning, and be committed to watching and correcting every omission and infraction by the players.

This means communicating to players they must use the above during combination drills, and enforcing little the head fakes, a relaxed body, proper foot spacing, proper hands placement, chin up, sharp cuts, and change in pace (acceleration after the change in direction), for an entire season.

CONCLUSION: If quickness is the number one asset of a basketball player, than it stands to reason, teaching quickness must become a priority. The good news is, once the proper techniques has been taught in isolation, both for offensive maneuvers and defensive, they can be improved to automaticity and game condition in the offensive and defensive multi-player drills and scrimmages.