Learn the basketball block: timing, take-off, the goaltending rule and a safe landing. How to reject shots without falling for fakes or fouling.
A block is the defence of an opponent's shot with the hand. It is legal as long as you do not touch the ball completely above ring level on its downward flight or after it has touched the backboard [1]. It is successful when you jump without contact, hit the ball cleanly and land safely.
The honest answer to “Is blocking a question of height?”: partly. Height helps, but timing beats reach. And timing is stolen from you by shooters: according to the authors of one study, even NBA players fall for pump fakes about 73 % of the time and start a false block [2]. Whoever jumps too early gets sent past.
Also the block ends with a landing, often on one leg, often next to the opponent. That is the most dangerous phase. We treat it as thoroughly as the take-off.
A block is not a swat but a hit at the right moment.
You may touch the ball while it is still on its way up or not yet completely above the ring on its way down. If you touch it completely above ring level on the downward flight or after it has touched the backboard, it is goaltending and the shot counts (two or three points, depending on where it was released) [1]. If you reach up through the basket from below, it is basket interference [1]. If you touch the shooting arm or body instead of the ball, it is a foul. Milestone: You explain goaltending in one sentence.
You may jump straight up, even with raised arms, as long as you stay within your own cylinder [1]. Whoever jumps diagonally into the shooter is responsible for the contact. Milestone: Ten vertical jumps without a run-up, arms staying above the head.
Jump only when the shooter leaves the floor or lifts the ball, not already at the fake. Once started, a block movement can only be aborted early: the study places the point at which half of the participants could no longer stop it 462 milliseconds before release, just under half a second [2]. Let the fake play out, watch the ball. Milestone: A partner fakes, you stay down, in five out of ten fakes.
Extend the arm vertically, palm facing the ball. Hit the ball from the top or side and stay in front of the shooter. Whoever reaches from behind and touches the opponent commits a foul, even if he wants to play the ball [1]. Milestone: Ten shots from 3 metres, you touch the ball in seven cases without hitting the shooter's arm.
A study with 14 female basketball players compared blocks with the dominant and non-dominant arm when landing on the dominant leg. With the dominant arm, ground reaction forces acting forward and inward, knee flexion, knee abduction and lateral knee force were higher [3]. The authors conclude that players should master the landing after a block with the dominant arm especially cleanly and widen their repertoire of techniques [3]. So practise both sides (standard practice). Milestone: Five blocks with the right, five with the left; after each landing keep your eyes on the floor briefly before running on. Land on both feet if possible.
The landing after a block is risky. Landing on an opponent's foot was the leading cause (55 %) in 445 analysed videos of ankle injuries in indoor sports [4]. In a video analysis of 31 cruciate ligament tears in the NBA, landing from a jump was the most common situation (14 of 31 cases), and in 28 of 31 cases an opponent stood within about 60 centimetres [6]. That means: land under control, not on the opponent, and do not let the knee collapse inward. Stop at any pain in the knee or ankle. This guide explains and motivates; it does not replace supervised training or a coach.
Hit the ball with your palm and steer it to a teammate. A block that ends out of bounds often hands the ball back to the opponent; a block to a teammate starts your fast break. This is coaching experience.
You touch the ball on a shot when it is completely above ring level and on its way down, or after it has touched the backboard. The shot then counts as successful: 2 points from the two-point zone, 3 from the three-point zone [1]. Touches in the upward phase are allowed.
Touching alone is not automatically a foul. But if the contact restricts the shooter's freedom of movement, it is one [1]. Whoever reaches from behind and touches the opponent commits a foul, even if he wants to play the ball [1].
Wait until the shooter takes off and focus on the ball, not the head. Even NBA players fall for it about 73 % of the time according to the study [2]. Practice helps: in the study the precision of the response improved over the course of the experiment [2].
If possible on both feet, with bent knees and eyes on the floor. Practise both sides: in the test the load was higher with the dominant arm and landing on the dominant leg [3].
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