Behavior Change and Off Hand Development

On most youth teams there may be two to three players that can dribble equally with either hand.  These players typically are intrinsically motivated to work on their game and skills outside of organized practices.  

The question becomes how can we get more than two to three players on a local youth team to work on their skills outside of practice.  For this article we will specifically focus on improving their off hand ball handling.

To help with this task we will be using the book, Tiny Habits: The Small Changes that Change Everything, by BJ Fogg, PhD.  Per Dr. Fogg, for action to take place when motivation is low the behavior must be easy to do.  As an example, if the aspiration is to floss your teeth daily start with one tooth.  

A main theme of the book is to take a behavior "you" want, make it tiny, find where it fits naturally in your life (a prompt), and nurture its growth.  In this case, the behavior and aspiration we want is to improve off hand ball handling.

Below are specific examples on how to make it tiny for your players with a prompt:

1. Before leaving the house to go to school I will take 10 dribbles with my off hand out of my comfort zone at different heights/speeds with eyes forward.
2. When getting the mail I will dribble from the door to the mailbox with my off hand.
3. When watching tv I will dribble with my off hand creatively for one minute during a commercial break.
4. I will complete a five minute off hand ball handling workout before my organized practice starts.
5. Before using Snapchat or TikTok I will do two minutes of creative off hand dribbling in my home.

To make it a habit it's important your players find a prompt that naturally fits into their life.  Examples could be pre or post brushing teeth, a meal, showering for the day, or returning from school.  The prompt reminds your players naturally to dribble with their off hand now and should be something that happens at the right time for your players to perform the behavior.  

Dr. Fogg also states that emotions create habits by wiring the habit into your brain.  For this reason your players must celebrate (create shine) after performing the behavior.   Examples of creating shine could be:

1. Pumping your fist.
2. Saying boom shakalaka, victory, awesome, etc... .
3. Smiling and giving thumbs up.
4. Glide around the room like an airplane.

​Lastly, designing the home environment to make the habit easier to perform can make a big difference in whether the action gets done.  Examples of improving environment design would be:

1. Have a basketball in living room/kitchen, basement, and garage for ease of access and visual reminder.
2. Get a calendar in your room and X the day if complete the behavior.  
3. Have access to a ball handling list of drills for stationary work, moving, and ball handling routines to create variety.

As we all know motivation can be fickle.  If our players can find a way to make a habit this can make all the difference.  It can take an average player and make them solid.  Will they miss days?  Yes.  Tell them to not be too hard on themselves and to just start again.  Slowly the off hand will get better and better and they will naturally increase the challenge.  

Thank you for reading our content and feel free to contact us with any questions!