How To Use Your Off-Arm (Hand Swipe) to Get Past Defenders! ๐
44Thereโs ONE TRAIT that ALL ELITE HOOPERS ๐ have in common when trying to beat their defenders off the dribble: An ACTIVE OFF-ARM that seemingly moves like itโs got a mind of its own! ๐คฏ
Youโve probably seen tons of videos by now talking about the importance of using your Off-Arm (Hand Swipe) to make it easier to get past defenders, but you probably havenโt seen it broken down from a Dabblerโs Point of View, as someone who only started teaching themselves how to hoop AFTER the age of 21 years old! ๐ณ๐ค
So here are 3 Different Ways to use your Off-Arm in 3 Different Scenarios! ๐ฃ๐
1๏ธโฃ Defender Initiates Contact by Hand-Checking: If your defender is putting their hands on you before youโve started your downhill attack, you should ALWAYS use an Off-Arm Swipe to regain inside leverage prior to taking your first step!
2๏ธโฃ Defender Does NOT Initiate Contact, but Hand-Checks during Drive: If the defender is NOT initially hand-checking, then swing your Off-Arm backwards as you attack downhill so youโre able to swing it back forwards to swipe down again to break free of any additional hand-checks or attempts to jam you during your drive to the basket!
3๏ธโฃ Change of Direction: Any time you change directions and the ball exchanges hands, you should always get in the habit of initiating some degree of contact with the defender by using your Off-Arm to protect the ball from a well-timed reach, which is a very common defensive tendency and/or pattern!
Example (00:12): On a Left to Right Tween, as soon as I exchange the ball from my Left Hand to my Right Hand, I immediately swing my Left Hand in front of me because that is typically the โspaceโ and โtimeโ where a potential reach would occur!
Example (01:08): On a Right to Left BTB Snatch, as soon as I begin decelerating to change directions, I swing my Left Hand forward to touch the defenderโs arm thatโs closest to me (because that is the arm they would typically reach with) right before exchanging the ball from my Right Hand to my Left Hand!
So when practicing or dabbling with certain basketball moves, you should ALWAYS be considering what the typical defensive tendencies will be and make sure your Off-Arm is moving in such a way to help protect against those scenarios!