Basic Basketball Passing Techniques

Series Summary

In December of 1891, a YMCA physical education instructor named James Naismith was looking for a way to stay fit during the bitterly cold months of the long Canadian winter. Necessity being the mother of invention, and humans needing to maintain a minimum body heat, Naismith opted to create an indoor activity that would keep the blood pumping. He nailed a peach basket to a ten foot elevated track in the gymnasium…and that’s how basketball was born. At first, the basket retained its bottom, meaning the ball had to be retrieved after every goal, but it wasn’t long until the signature iron rim and cloth net replaced the wooden peach basket. The sport of basketball continued to change over the next century, rising from obscurity to become one of the most popular games in the world today.

Basketball is exciting and fast-paced, pitting player against player and skill against skill. Having strong fundamentals like dribbling, passing, and shooting is the key to the success of any aspiring player or team. In these free instructional videos, learn the basics of passing the ball, one of the key skills to have to become a great player and build a successful team. Our expert will walk you through these passing drills one at a time, with tips and techniques that even NBA all stars use to beat their defenders or get the ball to the player with the best shot open. Practice these often, and you’re game is sure to improve.

Video Transcript

"TRAVIS WAACK: This is Travis on behalf of Expert Village, and we're going to talk about passing. And passing is, obviously, throwing the ball from one person to another, and that could be done in a variety of ways. And if it's done properly, it can be graceful, beautiful. Lots of players in the NBA have become really beloved for their abilities to pass: Magic Johnson, Steve Nash. It's the unselfishness of the pass: giving it up to your teammates, creating that assist that you get for making a nice pass. And when you have a nice pass, it's just something that everybody likes to see. And if you perfect it, which takes practice, it's fun to watch. It's real fun to watch. And so what good passing takes is accuracy, timing, strength, all of those things. Accuracy, timing and strength, as we're going to demonstrate in this series. We're going to show bounce passing, overhead passing, all sorts. So let's learn something."