Last Saturday, it was raining pretty hard since the morning. After a warm shower, while sipping hot coffee from the mug, I kept my eyes rolling down the books placed on the shelf, thinking of keeping my mind engrossed in some romance novels for some time.
Suddenly I heard a loud noise of a falling pot. I hurried towards the kitchen and saw my teen boy trying to catch the basketball, which has slipped from his hand, spilling the milk all over the floor!!
He is very obsessed with how Joseph Odhiambo from the USA could spin a basketball on a finger for 4 hours 15 minutes and make the Guinness World Record, and since then, he is trying to do for the past two days the same and breaking things at home.
What Do I Need To Learn To Spin A Basketball On My Finger?
Now to master this art of spinning, things at fingertips look cool and stylish and impressive. It can even help you gain popularity within your gang and make every new eye turner!
The basic requirements are as follows:
Get Your Nails Trimmed
Trim your nails with a nail clipper if the nails of your fingers are pretty long. Long nails would not allow you to keep the ball balanced easily, even for a fraction of a second, and spinning the ball is just next to impossible!
Besides, long nails might get broken inconsistently and can even hurt you and cause discomfort. But many of us are ignorant that a slight bit of nail just exceeding the tip of your finger can aid a person to balance the ball and place it long easily. So, the trick even lies in the size of the nails. Clip the nails off four to five days before can exactly solve the purpose.
Get An Old Basketball
As a beginner, it is always advisable to start spinning using an old basketball, indoor basketball or outdoor basketball will be fine as long as it is old. The grooves in a new basketball are shiny and smooth, and so it becomes quite challenging to make the ball stay on the tip of your finger.
Many of us do not know this trick. If you want to learn the spinning technique, then the prime most requirements are to get an old basketball that has worn out grooves. It will help you to balance the ball as you try to spin it, allowing your finger to remain on target without changing the focus.
Keep Your Arms And Fingers Stretched
A simple stretching of fingers and arms can do wonders. Basketball is quite heavy for a finger to balance. Without proper stretching, you might strain your arm, wrist, and hurt or even break your finger. Thus to avoid such mishaps, you need to extend the arms and fingers as much they can go.
Keep on repeating this extending for a few times. It is merely a warm-up session for your hands before you start practicing the spinning of the ball. Hard chore arm and hands exercise is not at all required.
Wide Space
You need to select a vast area where you can easily practice the spinning of basketball without hurting yourself or others or causing any damage or casualty.
Practicing in an empty field is the best option because if you practice learning in a garden or a park, you might hurt others or break some pots and damage plants. So, the selection of the location for practice is essential.
Practice With Patience
Do not lose hope but keep on practicing and that too with patience, and within a few weeks, you can master this art the same as dribbling a ball for long.
How To Spin A Basketball On Your Finger?
Now, let’s delve deeper into the topic directly and check out the secrets to spin a basketball on a finger.
Step 1: Find The Grooves
Keep in mind that you have to rotate the ball in the air so that the grooves meet at the down in the perpendicular position that means the ball must be spun in the vertical position and not in the horizontal position concerning the groves.
Step 2: Spinning
In this step, you need to keep the ball rotating with all its grooves facing vertically and that too for a long time in the air and consistently at high speed. This step is the most crucial one. It can be done in two methods:
With Two Hands
First, hold the ball from the bottom with the dominant hand’s fingers, leveling it with your face, and keep the dormant hand by the side to maintain balance. Next, you try to spin the dominant hand’s fingers at 180 degrees outwardly along with the inactive hand’s help. This method is excellent and easy for beginners.
With One Hand
Keep on tossing the ball until it is perfect and never toss it high; it will be difficult for you to catch the ball. You need a lot of practice and hold patience at this stage.
Step 3: Placing The Fingertip
By now, you can freely toss the ball at a decent height and speed, and you will also notice that the ball is moving very steadily, and you can see the grooves moving consistently and not wobbling down as you might have experienced in the initial stage.
While the ball is in the air, try to softly place the index tip at the down precisely where all the grooves meet. This will help you to balance the ball quickly.
Step 4: Slap Light
To strike a balance with the ball’s momentum, you need to lower your dominant hand or move it forward or backward as per requirement. Now you have to keep the speed of the ball steady or else it will fall off. To prevent this from happening, you need to slap the ball lightly using your dormant hand.
Additional Resources
The video guide below will give you a better understanding on how to spin a basketball on your finger.
Conclusion
Hope this amazing tricks help!! In a one-liner, to spin a basketball on a finger, all you need to do is to practice as much as you can! Try to practice it every day, and if you can hold it for thirty seconds, you become the heart stealer!! Let your dedication speak for you!
