Overview of Basketball for Beginners

Series Summary

In December of 1891, A Canadian by the name of James Naismith, a physical education student and instructor at a local YMCA, was looking for a way to stay fit during the long winter months. Needing to stay indoors, Naismith nailed a peach basket to a ten foot elevated track in the gymnasium and basketball was born. At first the basket retained its bottom, meaning the ball had to be retrieved after every basket, but soon improvements were made and an iron rim and cloth net replaced the wooden peach basket. Basketball continued to evolve over the next century and rose out of obscurity into one of the most popular sports in the world.

In this free video series, our expert Cynthia Dallas will teach you basic basketball skills like shooting, rebounding, and dribbling. She will also show you various drills like the michon drill and mummy wraps to improve your speed, ball handing, and shooting. Cynthia will also explain the principles of the triple threat, what the markings on the basketball court mean, and how the point and timing systems work. Whether you've played basketball for years or never picked up a ball, this free video series will help you become a better basketball player by improving your fundamentals.

Video Transcript

"Hi! Welcome to Expert Village. My name is Cynthia Dallas. I'm a basketball player. I guess what makes me an expert is I've been playing basketball since I was 9 years old. I played through middle school, high school, college, and I was even drafted to the pros, so I have a little bit of creditability being an all-American and all big ten 3 years in a row. I'm very proud of that. I still coach. Right now, I'm an assistant girls basketball coach and I also run a clinic sometimes on the weekend. Before we go any further, I'm going to tell you a little bit about what we're going to do today. We're going to talk about some ball handling techniques. We're going to talk about proper form shooting, a little bit about rebounding, and doing the most basic step of all, the lay-up. Let's get started, shall we."