How Much Basketball Should You Play per Day ?

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Every basketball lover idealizes in becoming a pro player which requires a lot of practice and dedication. Knowing how much you should be training in a day might give a general outline you can focus on to keep consistency.

There are different play times for various age groups. 

According to Youth basketball guidelines outlined here:

 

You should be playing around 2 games max of 32 to 40 min length per day and 1 or 2 Rest days are recommended within the week.

Age	Game Length	Max Games Per day	Rest Days Per Week
7-8	20- 28 Min	1	2
9-11	24-32 Min	2	2
12-14	28-32 Min	2	1

 

These are basic guidelines to follow If you want to become better at basketball sport.

The guidelines are formed by health experts to prevent potential injuries and to maintain a player's wellbeing.

 

Prone to injury:

Basketball is a sport that is prone to injury a study conducted on elite sports athletes mainly NBA players over 17 years. 

According to the data  12594 injuries were recorded and out of this 49.9% were reported during gameplay.

 

To reduce the chances of injury these set of guidelines has been formed which reduces the stress on the player bringing less likelihood of getting injured and missing Season games

Consistency:

Now you know how much you should be striving for each day but your efforts are fruitless if there is no consistency. 

 

Being consistent is much more important in achieving the game performance goals. Every top NBA players are consistent in their daily training routine from Micheal Jordon to Lebron James and Stephen curry.

 

We will list some methods to make you disciplined in basketball. 

 

How to stay consistent with playing basketball per day?

 

Teens, 20s and Preoccupied:

Playing basketball in your teenage and 20s is hard. These are the busiest times in a person's life. You are overwhelmed with tasks including study, family, exams, part-time jobs, etc. 

 

Things take so much time maintaining 2 games per day is quite hard.

 

To overcome these problems follow a few simple steps below.

 

Pre-schedule your week:

Its best you ready yourself in advance. At the end of the week schedule your next week in advance for example:

 

Days	Schedule
Monday	Go to work/school, study 3 hours, etc
Tuesday	Same
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday

 

By pre-planning things, you will get an outline to follow and it's easier to maintain a 2 game day routine.

It will also help you to find some spare time, not known before which will keep your time management towards the sport.

Pre-plan your day:

 

After you are done planning the week in advance now it's time to focus on the day planning.

 

Before the next day starts it's better you pre-plan that day in order to adjust according to the situation.

 

Everyone is going through something in their lives and things happen So, it is better to adjust the next day beforehand in order to maintain consistency with the basketball game.

Correcting the mistakes:

You can have a time management plan for the basketball game but it will not improve your skills alone. By repeating the mistakes and not correcting them in the next practice session you are not making any further progress.

The best approach is with every 30 to 40 min game length ends write down what you have done wrong. 

By doing this you will achieve 2 things:

1. A logbook for your training of where you were and where you are now.
2. You can find your weakness and work on them rather than going all over the place.

Maintaining a diary of your mistakes and then working on the weak link will strengthen your game with each passing training session.

"A chain is only as strong as its weakest link"  ~Thomas Reid's

Strong Motivation:

 

This brings us to the point of having a strong motivation for the sport.

 

Doing anything per day is hard whether it's school, a job, or any family commitment. Maintaining consistency requires strong motivation.

 

You have done the time management, you are ready with the log book now it's about the actual "Doing time".

 

NBA player's motivation:

To keep yourself motivated first we will look at how college players are motivated because they are getting scholarships.

 

Similarly, NBA players are motivated because they are getting paid to do so. It's a livelihood for them they are getting benefits that are going to help them make progress in their lives.

 

What is your motivation?

Find your motivation and think about what you are getting in return that can keep you consistent with 2 games per day. Are you getting anything worthy if not it's better you should join some team or a club,

 

Either in your school or apply for some competition which can make you motivated to train each day.

Adapting to changing rules:

By playing each day you can get smooth in your delivery. Dribbling, shooting, passing, etc.

 

NBA is a big sport and each player is striving for the best, changes within basketball happen all the time. 

Let's Look at the example of usage of glasses within the sport. As in early times, NBA players wore glasses to get a clear vision.

 

But with technological advancements now there are contact lenses and players can wear them without other people noticing and can get an advantage on the court.

Read my post on Do Basketball players wear contact lenses?

 

Hoop height:

Similarly, the hoop height was also under discussion and NBA was looking to increase the hoop height as most players can reach it but it still hasn't become official despite some players' requests.

 

Adaptation:

If you are consistent with a game you can adapt to some of these changes much more quickly before other players try to practice which will give you the advantage. 

 

Most players fail to practice each day and it's a difference maker with the player who performs well and who performs outstanding like Micheal jordans and others.

Find someone challenging:

To force yourself in practicing each day find a challenging opponent. Whenever there is a challenge our motivation automatically comes to life without even trying. 

 

As Miller states most researchers view high challenging tasks as beneficial for learning and increasing motivation.

 

Challenge someone better:

You should challenge someone who has the skill and try to defeat them. Each day you will get fired up to improve your game in order to defeat the other player's ego.

 

Failure is sometimes a strong motivation and getting out of that failure is what you need to stay consistent and play basketball daily.

Recapping All points:

• Prone to injury
• Consistency
• Pre-schedule week
• Pre-plan your day
• Correcting the mistakes
• Strong Motivation
•  Adapting to changing rules
• Find a challenge

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