Lately, I started thinking about the correlation between soccer and basketball, and how previous background in soccer have affected some players. This came after seeing the post about Olajuwon how good his footwork was. Both games in principal are the same. One with the hands, the other with the feet. Both are meant to put the ball in the others team goal, etc, etc, etc. Of course there are differences, as the field and goal size, set of rules, and so on. But previous basketball players that have played soccer, and have found their way to the NBA have amazing foot work and court vision. The list of players with soccer background that I know are: Olajuwon Nash (BTW, the pass he did on the dunk contest to Amare is a soccer move, and one of the most difficult ones to get it right.) Kobe Kidd Now, my question is: should NBA coaches (and basketball coaches in general)implement some soccer training techniques? Maybe a pickup game every so often?
What was Kidd's soccer experience? Did he play in high school or college? Was he known for his soccer ability at any level? I imagine that there are quite a few players in the NBA who have played some soccer, also baseball, football, golf, tennis. Generally professional athletes excel in more than their chosen sport.
There are TONS of similarities in both sports, primarily spacing and moving without the ball, and give and goes, picks and rolls tons of the same types of things. DD
I played soccer for 9 years before starting playing basketbal. It helped me but I was a Keeper. My footwork, timing for rebounding were both great. However I would probably gotten those skills if i played Basketbal from when I was young. The most importent reason why people can be good in both soccer and basketbal is because they know how the handle the ball. IMHO there is no use doing some Soccer training techniques. The skills you learn from those techniques can also be gained basketbal training techniques. I had to train a team full of soccer players how to play basketbal (they played soccer when they were young and started playing basketbal in my team when they were 17 and older). And they missed a lot of fundamentals, also they really had difficulties moving without the ball.
At a St. John's basketball game, there was this black dude with a Gheri curl and another dude, this one from Africa, who were on a double date with two black girls who themselves were sisters. The African dude had never been to a basketball game and tried to imitate the other guy when shouting taunts. The black dude from New York asked the African dude if they played a game of running after primates. The African dude responded that they played football, otherwise known in the 'States as soccer. Later, the New Yorker said he didn't like any sport where they didn't use their hands like in soccer. It was a most entertaining exchange involving the two sports.
think about the other millions of athletes who play soccer and basketball, never heard of em. It looks to me like something that helped them develop footwork at an early age, rather than something they can learn later on in the NBA.
Yes, everyone talks about Olajuwon's soccer history, but rarely do you hear about his team handball experiences. Team handball is much more analogous to basketball. Team handball is a really cool fast-paced sport. I had an opportunity to watch a couple of games at the Atlanta Olympics (Olajuwon showed up at one and sat a few rows down from me), and it is the kind of game you would think would catch on here in the US. It demands footwork and hand-eye coordination to the extreme.
