Want to Dunk a Basketball? - How to Improve Your Vertical Leap in No Time!

There is a certain glory basketball comes with being able to dunk a basketball. If you can make 3 pointers every time, that is cool. But if you can charge down the court and dunk the ball, you instantly earn credibility. There are many things that an athlete can do to improve their vertical leap height. Here are the things that I have found to work the best for me.

1. Squats! You must increase your leg strength in order to propel your body weight high off the basketball The best way to do that is by doing squats. Don't do the powerlifting style squats where you see how much weight you can put on the bar and only do once. Instead, do about 3/4 of your max weight and explode up in a quick motion instead of the slow, down and up, that you would normally do. Do at least 20 repetitions with each set.

2. Step Ups! Grab a chair and put it directly in front of you. Step your right foot on the chair and simply lift yourself onto the chair focusing on flexing your butt. Step down and repeat with your left foot. Do this until you cant possibly step up onto the chair anymore.

3. Jump Ups! Stand about 2 feet away from a wall. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Bend your knees and crouch down and explode upward. Raise your hands straight up and touch the wall at your peak height. Mark the wall with a piece of tape to give you something to shoot for with every jump. Now repeat the jump until you can no longer reach the mark. Within a few days you will begin to see your mark moving up the wall.

For a complete jump training program, check out The Jump Manual. This is the best program available to help you increase your jump height.

Deking - How To Deke In Hockey

If you are reading this article then it is likely that you play hockey. Well I'm here to help; we will get basketball to the point. We will first look at deking out the opposing team members.

The first rule is that you should always be moving the puck. Think of it as dribbling in basketball. Basketball players continuously dribble the ball in order to keep their opposing team members thinking about what they will do next. Hockey players should also continuously stick handle the puck so that the players on the basketball team cannot simply skate up and knock the puck off of your stick.

I'm sure you have watched some players walk around their opponents and you wonder "how do they do that?" well there are four steps that you must know in order to properly execute a deke.

The first step is the preparation.

You must prepare yourself before you can execute a deke. Where you put the puck is dependant upon which move you would like to make. If you are trying to just skate around your opponent then a general rule is that you should protect the puck by stick handling it on the side furthest from your opponent. However If I want to deke my opponent out then I try to trick them into thinking that they are going to be able to get the puck off of me, and dangle the puck right in front of them and wait for them to make a move.

The second step in a deke is the fake or the move.

After you have the puck and the other player right where you want them it is time to make your move. There is an unlimited number of moves that you can make at this point. You must trick the other player or fake him out with this move. Some common moves are putting the puck through the other players legs, putting the puck under the other players stick, or pulling the puck to the other side of your body. One move that I like is putting the puck right in front of the other player, and then when they try to knock the puck off of my stick, I simply pull it away and skate by them.

The third step to a deke is the separation.

After you have made your move, you must separate yourself from the other player. A general hockey rule is that you should protect the puck. After you have made your move try not to stick handle the puck near the opposing player, move it to a safe place. You can use your body to protect the puck by stick handling it on whichever side of your body is the furthest from the opposing player.

The fourth and final step to a deke is acceleration.

Once you have completed steps one through three you are ready for the fourth and final step. For this step you simply must accelerate. You must accelerate in order to get away from the person that you just deked out. Once you have deked out the last player you will be facing the goalie.

Check out my next article on how to score to find out how to put the biscuit in the basket.

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Top 5 Tips on How To Jump Higher

Ever want to be able to dunk a ball or spike a volleyball? It doesnt matter if youre short. Did basketball know Spud Webb was only 5′7 basketball won the NBA Slam Dunk competition in 1986? Here are some tips on how to jump higher.

1. Deep Knee Bends This exercise will strengthen your legs and the muscles required for jumping. A deep knee bend involves standing straight up and bending your knees while keeping your back vertical. Go slowly and as far as you can, then slowly straighten back up.
2. Jump Rope This is one of the best activities you can do. You can jump rope while watching TV so you wont feel guilty about wasting time! Not only is it effective, it is also very cheap and cost effective!
3. Proper Diet You have to make sure you eat right, this means no junk foods and alcohol. Well maybe not none at all, but be sure to cut down!
4. Hamstring workouts Working out your hamstrings will not only help you jump higher but it will also give you more explosive power when running or sprinting. A good exercise is to hold your leg straight up in the air and pull back on your toes.
5. Toe Raises While standing still, raise the back of your feet off the ground, balancing only on your toes - kind of like a ballet dancer. Make sure you dont rush it, rise slowly and fall back slowly.

Theses tips are sure to help give you a few extra inches of jumping height.

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The Los Angeles Lakers Show! Don't Miss It!

There may be no such thing as a lukewarm basketball fan, but if there is, it's surely not a Los Angeles Lakers fan. If you are a fan, and you've followed the Lakers for a while, you have witnessed some of the most amazing, edge-of-your-seat or on-your-feet performances in basketball history.

The history of the team goes all the way back to 1946, before the NBA came into existence. Then it was the National Basketball League, and the team started out as the Detroit Gems. basketball did not start shining, however, until they moved to Minneapolis and the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", and became - guess what? The Lakers. The team proceeded to win the national championship in their first season of play as the soon-to-be very well known Lakers.

The 1950's brought major triumphs and major disappointments. Players left or were traded for new ones, coaches came and went, and in general a lot of changes occurred, but out of six appearances in the Finals, the Lakers came away with the championship five times. They were definitely a team to be noticed!

It is kind of interesting that when the team moved to Los Angeles in 1960, the name remained the same, and they became the Los Angeles Lakers (despite the lack of lakes) and by golly, they have been ever since. They really started getting a lot of notice when Wilt Chamberlain became part of the team, and they went to the NBA Finals in 1962. Most fans will know the score on that one: the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics - not for the first time!

The Lakers got to the Finals eight times during the 1960's, and each time they fought a battle royal, but they lost, eight times. Did that faze them? Not so anyone would notice. They won 33 consecutive games in 1971, a record which still stands in every major professional sport. During the rest of the ?70's, aside from the excitement the team never failed to bring to the games, a couple of events stand out. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and later Earvin "Magic" Johnson were added to the mix of players, and TV commentator Pat Riley was hired as assistant coach. Riley moved up, of course, to the head coach position, and what a marvelous job he did!

The Lakers met up with the team that has become their arch rival again in 1984. The Boston Celtics beat them in the Finals, but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar set an NBA record anyway. When the Lakers and Celtics met at the 1985 Finals at Boston Gardens, the then 37-year-old Kareem provided a mighty assist, and the Lakers finally beat their nemesis on the Celtics' own turf. The victory celebration for players and fans was something to behold!

In 2000, the Los Angeles Lakers moved their home base from the Forum in Inglewood to the Staples Center in L.A., which seems to suit basketball They also hired coach Phil Jackson who, as well as former coach Pat Riley, has set all-time records in the industry As the 2000's rolled on, the Lakers incorporated some moves they call the "triangle offense", and the excitement just kept happening. Shaquille O'Neal was awarded the Finals MVP for his third consecutive year, and coach Phil Jackson got his ninth Championship Head Coach award.

Throughout their history, the Lakers behind-the-scenes life has been fraught with drama and often dissension. There are a lot of stories that have never been told (and most likely never will be). What continues to be of most interest to their fans, however, is the way they rebound from disaster, and snatch victory from almost certain defeat.

The Los Angeles Lakers have gone through some "glory days" and some fairly dark nights; key players have suffered injury or just dissatisfaction and gone elsewhere, but sometimes returned, and coaches have been both mediocre and superb. This team has a lot of history, and it's all fascinating. The bottom line right now is: the Lakers just keep on winning!

Get yourself some tickets to see the Lakers at home, and join some starry company.Maybe the proximity of the Hollywood Hills has something to do with it, but fans of the Lakers don't seem to care too much where they sit at Staples Center. They're on their feet most of the time anyway, yelling along with thousands of other fans, "GO, LAKERS!"

By Matt Ryan, article sponsored by StubPass.com. StubPass sells Los Angeles Lakers Tickets, sporting event tickets, concert event tickets, theater tickets, NBA Tickets and more to your favorite events around the world.

College Basketball and Basketball TV - Beyond Live

In the United States, college basketball has gained quite a following. Now, with the immense popularity of the NBA and its superstars, many students are looking to get noticed in college basketball recruiting, to play in college teams and even perhaps in the NBA.

Such is the popularity of basketball that he NBA has its own channel, NBATV, a 24-hour television network, produced by its award-winning production and programming division, NBA basketball It also manages the content of each NBA's team's home page, and the league's official sites, NBA.com, WNBA.com and NBADLEAGUE.com. The NBA is also an established presence in sports marketing. It maintains fully integrated domestic and global marketing partnerships with some of the most recognizable global brands, basketball the leading Internet content and technology providers, in the hopes of bringing basketball to fans around the world.

During the 2005-06 championship season, the NBA had a planned 44,000 hours of programming to broadcast to 215 countries and territories in 43 languages. The league's worldwide extension is also demonstrated by 81 international athletes playing in various teams. In the United States, the NBA broadcasts around 142 games in on local networks, namely ABC, TNT, ESPN and ESPN2.

Kids aspiring to play in college sports sometimes don't realize that senior year is just too late in the game to check up on prospective schools with recruiting. Gathering information on colleges, their courses, their mission statements, history and other details is important. Setting aside a folder for each school that may come under consideration is a useful way of organizing necessary data. Deadlines for submitting requirements may and do differ from school to school, and parents need to keep track of them.

The Internet has proven to be a useful venue for both students in college basketball and coaches involved in the process of college basketball recruiting. There are many websites and online forums wherein students and scouts can come together and interact.

D1Athletes is an online community wherein high school athletes and coaches alike can share and exchange information they need during college basketball recruiting. D1Athletes offers them a place to build an online presence and gain important public exposure.

To learn more, visit D1Athletes.com or just click college basketball recruiting.