Tips on Developing the Weak Hand

Some great tips from Montana State head coach Tricia Binford on becoming a better ball handler by developing the weak hand. Too many kids I see these days can only go right or go left, makes it much easier to defend. The advantages of being ambidextrous are tremendous, when Greg Oden broke his right wrist, it forced him to develop his left hand and it helped tremendously when Ohio State made their run. In baseball, the switch hitters are always valued more. Anyways, here are Coach Binford's tips:

1) Everything you eat from now on must be with your weak hand. The skill is more important than the image. Tell that to your date before he takes you out to Chinese.

2) Go rock climbing. Strong forearms improve your ball handling, passing, and rebounding. Just please make sure to have someone hold the rope. When I was in college on a ropes course I jumped off a 30 foot pole when my teammate wasn't holding the rope. That's why I ended up 5'4 instead of 6'4.

3) Find a racquetball court, bring a basketball, and shut yourself in for an hour. Practice any and every ball handling and passing drill you've ever learned and OVER EXAGGERATE it. Bounce or throw that ball as hard as you can. If you make a mistake you have four walls to bring that ball right back. Tell your mom to bring the video camera and you might make $10,000 on America's Funniest Home Videos.

4) HAVE FUN. To take it to the next level you have to put in more time than others are willing, so you might as well enjoy it. Be creative, innovative, and challenge yourself in ways you haven't imagined before.

My five year old can climb our fridge in under 5 seconds. He is destined for greatness.

The eating with the other hand is interesting, I've never thought of that one, I guess you could take that a step further by practicing to write with the weak hand.

Personally, my favorite is using a stress ball...

For more ball-handling tips, take a look at Ganon Baker's DVD on Perfecting Ball-handling.