How To Shoot A Layup For Beginners! Basketball Basics [SECRETS]

I'm going to show you how to make a layup for beginners. And we're going to do this with a five drill sequence. First thing we want to do is take the different elements of a layup and break them apart. And I'm going to give you some different secrets to help you master each of those elements so you can bring them all together. First thing we want to do is make sure we can make the shot. All the stuff beforehand, we got to get that right. But if you're not going to make the shot, really, what's the point? Come next to the backboard. And if you've got the square on the backboard, that helps. You'd want to aim for the top corner on the square and just use your left hand on the left side and that right hand on the right side. And with this shot, I recommend you do an overhand release. If underhand is more comfortable for you, that's fine. You just want to step back a little bit further. But a lot of coaches are going to want you to do overhand release because they feel like it's easier for you to get down. And I kind of agree. Having that overhand release is closer to like shooting. But of course, when you move to your weak hand, I'm a lefty. When you move to that weak hand, it might make it a little bit more difficult. But this does allow you to pick the basketball with two hands so you have better control. Have your hand under it and you can launch it straight up because of your hand positioning. However, you can still achieve that with that underhand. The only difference is you're going to have to use one hand for more of the motion. So for a lot of younger players, this might be more difficult. I know a lot of coaches are going to say you should only do overhand release, but that really limits what you can do. So as you get more advanced, you'll want to use that underhand release as well. And you might even want to work on sidearm releases, things like that. I'll link you to a couple videos at the end that'll really help you with this. Plus, I'll link you to another video that shows you what you should aim for on layups depending on which way you're moving because you're not always going to come, you know, right from this angle. So first, you know, just try to make it in. Try to get 10 repetitions on one side and then 10 on the other. And then once you've got that down, then try to make 10, nothing but net. So just backboard, net. 10 on that side, 10 on the other side, using that left hand and the right hand so you can get comfortable with both. Hit that like button if the tips are helping so far. OK, next thing for a lot of beginners that messes them up is the footwork and the steps. And what usually ends up happening is, you know, players will run in as fast as they can and they'll end up launching the basketball up without good control. Maybe they'll jump off the wrong foot. Maybe they'll jump from way back here for their layup. And that makes it a heck of a lot harder to make it. So when you're starting out, you've got to slow things down and confine the individual elements. And in this case, we're talking about the element of your footwork. So if you're on the left side, start with that left foot forward. All you're going to do is take one step with the right foot and then jump up for the layup. Now, a lot of people think that's a travel. Legally, it's not because you can pick up this pivot foot as long as you don't come back down onto it. So if you get rid of the basketball, that's completely legal. That being said, some refs aren't really in tune with those parts of the rule. So keep in mind, this might be called for a travel in games, but we're not doing it as like a move that you would want to do in a game. We're just doing this to make sure we're getting the footwork right. One thing to pay very close attention to with this and anything after this point is when you pick up the basketball and you're doing anything with the basketball before that shot goes up. We want to make sure that the basketball is on the side that we're going to take the layup with. So if I'm going to do a left hand layup, I want to make sure when we're gathering the basketball that we're gathering it on the left side. As I'm taking this step in for the layup, I want to make sure I keep the basketball on the left side. What that'll do is get us in the habit of using that left hand and it'll keep us from messing up our steps later when we start gathering the basketball. So we're just going to start with the basketball on this side with both hands. One step layup, making sure we're starting with the left foot forward. So if I'm on the left side, left foot, one step jump. You want to think about this leg and this arm on the layup being attached on a string. They move up at the same time. So whenever you're going for your layup, think left arm up, left leg up or that knee and the elbow. That'll help make sure as you're getting more speed into it, that you're keeping this element right. But the biggest thing you can do is just repping this out. So doing this for like 10, 20, 30 times on each side. So it becomes a habit. And now your body will naturally want to move that way. So if I'm on the right side, right foot forward, left step, get that layup off. And big thing you want to pay attention to is your positioning. I don't want to be too far out because then I'm going to take this layup way out here. So I want to make sure from that one step I can get in pretty tight for that layup. And as you get comfortable with this, I would apply the same thing we did to the last drill. At first, you just want to work on making the layup. But as you get better, you want to try not to hit the rim. And there's nothing wrong with hitting the rim, but working on trying not to hit the rim makes it so you're making it right down the middle. So that way in games when you're moving more full speed or you're trying to do things off the dribble as we get to the more advanced drills. Now, you're going to be a little bit more precise with those layups to begin with. So even if you're not making it right down the middle of the hoop and you're off just a little bit, you have a better chance of making the layup. If this is still giving you a hard time, it just feels uncomfortable and awkward and the footwork and the timing and everything doesn't feel right. Here's a thing you can do for this and all the drills going forward after it in the rest of this video, simply get rid of the hoop so we can just focus on what we're doing with our feet, the basketball and our body, because if these elements aren't right, it's going to be a lot harder to start focusing on what matters, which is making the shot. So if we can ingrain the motor pattern of just going like this and then that feels comfortable after doing it a bunch of times. Now, OK, this can become habit. We don't have to think about this and being able to control what we're doing with our feet, control with the basketball, all that, all the stuff that's going on inside your head, maybe. And we can start making that second nature now. And then we can put our focus back onto the backboard just like we did with the first drill. So at any point going forward, don't be afraid to get rid of the hoop and simply go into the steps extending the basketball and jumping. So that would look like this. And I can literally do that just going back and forth, right? Without without a hoop or any of that stuff, just making sure I'm starting left forward, jump on the right, left forward, jump on the right. Drill number three, you want to start working on getting a little more movement into the layup and getting another extra step into it. So instead of starting with the left foot forward on the left side, I would start with my right foot forward and a little bit back. So if I was starting here before, I would just take one big step back. Take left, right into the layup. Now, yes, that would be a travel. It doesn't matter what league you're in. So right foot forward, left, right. No dribble. Getting that layup off again, 10 to 20 repetitions, making them. And as you get more advanced, try to make it without hitting the rim. And of course, we would flip this to the right side. So if I had right foot forward, I would take one big step back. One to make that layup. Try not to hit the rim. Drill number four, we're going to start adding the dribble finally. And this is where a lot of players mess up. So make sure you're doing this slow once again to start off to make sure you're doing it right and you can gradually increase the speed for this and all the previous drills with the footwork involved. Don't be afraid to go one to real slow and literally pause on the steps like I did there. One, two. OK, you wouldn't want to do it in the game that way once again, but this will help make sure you're being in control of what you're doing. Because again, the biggest problem with players is they rush into it and then they'll jump off the incorrect foot, which is something you can work on as you get advanced. But we want to start doing things the right way first. We're going to do the same as last drill. So instead of having the left foot forward, I'm going to take that one big step back. Only thing we're going to add now is the dribble. So all I want you to do is push the basketball out in front of you. Don't think of this as being a regular dribble. Not really a pass either. We're just kind of pushing it out in front of us. Do the push of the dribble first before anything else. So we don't want to be stepping as we're pushing, because that could mess up your timing. So push it, then step to gather the basketball. And the reason that is so important is because that's going to make sure I'm picking up the basketball on this left step so I can take my one more step to get that layup off. Getting that timing down is huge for being quick and fluid with the whole layup motion. And one really important thing to pay attention to here is something we talked about earlier. We want to make sure we're picking up the basketball on that left side. So we want to make sure we're pushing it to the left side and we're on the right side. We want to push it to the right side. So if I push it over here, where a lot of times will end up happening is now players are going to want to go up with that right hand because they're gathering it here or it'll start to ingrain the habit of picking it up on this side where the ball could get stolen, swiped. And a lot of times what will happen is the footwork gets messed up. So just that little simple act of pushing the basketball out to the left side makes a big difference when we're on the left side and when we go to the right side, pushing the basketball out to the right side so we can make sure we're gathering it on that side. So right foot forward, pushing it out, left, right. And again, if you got to go that slow, go that slow just to make sure you're doing it right at first. One, two, good to go. From there now, I can start bringing that rhythm up a little bit faster and getting that speed up, OK? Same thing on the right side. I'm in one step to where I can get a good clean layup off. So from this starting position, I would take one more step back, push the ball out, gather right, left, layup. One more time, pushing it out, then step right, left, layup. And again, I want to try to make it just hit the backboard and the net, no rim. Again, make 10 to 20 of this. It's once you're solid at that, that now we would start moving back a little bit further. I would recommend around the elbow, maybe start out a little bit wider if that works better for you, because you want to give yourself an angle once you come into the lane to get it off that backboard. If you're a little bit more here, it makes that angle a little bit tougher, but it is doable. But since we're beginners, we want to probably start where we can get, you know, more 45 degree to the backboard. And all you want to do is get your dribble going. We want to take at least two dribbles just to get comfortable with doing this off the dribble more and not just pushing it out there. So we're going to go one, two, one, two steps for that layup. The big thing you want to pay attention to is that I'm picking it up on this left step for a left hand layup. So I take my one more step after that gather and I go right up smooth. So left, right. Boom. And one big thing you can do is really slap that basketball with both hands. OK, so left, right, right side. Get the dribble going. Right, left, boom. Slapping out on that right step is going to be big. And then as you're comfortable with that, then you could bring it out to the three point line to get more speed and momentum going into it. Again, though, what I recommend you do is make sure you slap on that left step and don't be afraid to slow down on that last two steps to make sure you're doing the correct steps and got that timing down. So get my dribble going. Left, right, layup. And again, I want to try to make it without hitting the rim. Let's try that again. Left, right. Pretty good. On the right side, getting that dribble going. Right, left. In this playlist right here is the video on what you should aim for on layups. Breaks down what you should do when you're moving in different directions. Also a video in that playlist on the five layups you should master that'll help you with working on different hand positions. And if you click the top link in the description, that's three things that keep players from scoring as much as they could around the rim. Make sure you grab that video series. It'll help you a ton.