Day 27: Rules of engagement

This article is part of the series “30 days to being a better basketball player“.

Rules are created for a reason. A lot of people don’t like them much, but that’s only because they don’t know how to use them to their advantage.

By knowing the rules of the game better than your opponent, you will have a definite advantage over them. After all, you can’t push the boundaries if you don’t even know where the boundaries are.

You have probably already learned the basics in practice and while playing the game. FIBA’s official game rules are available on their site. These form the basis of the rules we play by in South Africa. It’s worth working through them to make sure you understand the in’s and out’s of the game properly.

At 81 pages long, it’s easy to not want to, so rather break it down into manageable chunks and work through it over a period of time. There are some that will be more relevant than others; we’d recommend that if you’re a player you should at least look at Rule 4, Rule 5 and Rule 6 which focus on playing regulations, violations and fouls respectively.

Here is the latest version of FIBA’s rules at the time of writing:

So for today’s assignment, we challenge you to set aside ten daily or weekly slots (say half an hour each) to work through the different sections of the rules (from Rule 1 to Rule 8, and then A-E followed lastly by the Index).

It will take a bit of time but will be worthwhile in the end. Good luck studying, and happy reading.

P.S. Basketball Rulz  🙂

Tags: 30 Days, Basketball, basketball rules, engagement, FIBA, game, rules