How To Have Basketball Success While Being Undersized

I am short, my wife is short, and our basketball playing daughter(s) are short.  Instead of running from it, we embrace it.  We tell our daughters now that they will never be the biggest or tallest on the court, so they have to be the toughest, smartest, hardest working kids on the court.  There are some things that we just can't help, and genetics is one of them.  But we don't have to allow things like size hold us back.

There are smaller players at every level of all sports having success, but it takes a different level of character and commitment when you are undersized to compete at the highest levels.

I was once at a high school basketball game where an assistant basketball coach from the University of Arizona was recruiting a smaller guard, and I asked him about the athlete's ability to play at the next level.  Here is a summary of his response on what it takes for a smaller guard to play at the highest level of college basketball:

"To be undersized and successful at the college level, you have to be able to knock down the 3 consistently to stretch the defense, and you have to be able to make floaters and pull-up jumpers consistently because you aren't going to be able to get to the basket and finish against the taller bigs that protect the rim.

You have to be a leader on offense that can get wherever on the court that you need to get to without getting in trouble, without getting trapped, and without turning it over.  Smaller guards gave to be able break the defense down, get into the paint, draw help defenders, and then make the right reads and the right play when they get there.

Defensively you have to be an absolute dog.  This means being the toughest kid on the court.  You have to be willing and able to pick up and pressure your man without getting beat.  You have to find ways to disrupt the ball-handler and the offense by getting deflections and steals as often as possible while being in position and not getting beat.

You have to know where you are supposed to be and be there and you have to know where your teammates need to be and lead them so that they are there.  Then you have to make plays.  If you can do that, you can play and have success at the next level while being undersized."

Several years ago, I was a small college basketball coach and we had an undersized point guard who absolutely dominated games.  When I asked him what he felt was the best part of his game, he said it was that nobody could stop him from getting wherever he wanted on the court.  I asked him, 'Why don't you score more (not that he needed to),' and his response was, 'I can't score on everybody, but I can get where I need to make the plays so my team can score.'

I thought that his level of awareness of his game was amazing and that this was a great goal of all guards - to be able to get wherever you need to get on the court and then be able to make the right play when you get there.

What also made him special was that he was a conference defensive player of the year. He could keep other point guards out of the paint by moving his feet, turning them, and 'standing them up' when he cut them off.  He would not allow bigger players to post him up.  He would push them off the blocks and front them.  When they got the ball, he would pressure up on them and make them uncomfortable.  If they brought the ball low, he would get his hands on it and take it away from them or deflect it away from them.

He would never make excuses for himself, and he was the ultimate leader, competitor, and winner.  He knew that being short meant that you have to be the toughest kid on the court and you have to bring that toughness and competitiveness out of your teammates.

Us little guys and girls can have success out there, but we have to have a different mindset and level of competitiveness to offset what we don't have in size.  We also have to have a different work ethic.  But probably the most important thing that we have to have is that we have to be able to listen and be coachable.  We have to learn and be students of the game.  When our coaches are trying to teach us and put us in the right spots, we have to listen and do it right immediately.  When are parents see something that can help us, we have to be willing to listen to them and apply what they are saying.

Ballhandling
If you are undersized, you have to be the best ballhandler that you can be.  My advice would be to spend 20 minutes everyday dribbling the ball.  It doesn't really matter what you do as long as you don't stop dribbling for 20 minutes.  You can follow a plan, or you can just dribble while you are watching TV.  Just keep dribbling.  In The Lab is a really good resource for this.  Dev has several videos that can help you become a better ballhandler:  

Shoot
Have a plan for how many shots that you want to take on your own every day and for how effectively you want to shoot the ball.  A solid in-game goal would be to shoot 35% from 2, 30% from 3, and 80% from the free-throw line.

On my own, I would work on different layup finishes, floaters, pull-up jumpers, 3's and free-throws.  Try to make 6 out of 10 floaters and pull-up jumpers.  I would try to make 5 out of 10 3s when nobody is guarding me in practice.  I would try to always shoot for 8 out of 10 free-throws.

Defensive Slides
Train your body to have quickness and stamina doing defensives slides to become a better defender.  One of the best ways to do this is to do defensive slides around the running track.  Another way is to do defensive slide line drills.  You can slide to the free-throw line and back, to half-court and back, to the other free-throw line and back, and then the length of the court and back.  Both of these will build your leg strength and stamina.

Compete To Win
Undersized players have to prove that they can help their teams win.  Every time you step on the court, step on the court to win.  Try to stay on the court in open gym.  Try to do everything that it takes to win.  Learn how to win games.  If you can help your team win, coaches will appreciate you.

Good luck on your journey.