HOW TO: Alley-Oop

On of the most effectively offensive plays on the court, an alley-oop is passing the ball to your friend for them to score. But a lot more comes into it when perfecting it. To utilise this skill takes practice in teamwork,timing and precision all at once, as the most important feature is to effectively co-ordinate with your teammate whom you are setting the ball up for or receiving the ball from. If you are not on the same level as your teammate, this move will surely fail.

We'll run through the process acting on both sides of this technique - the player setting up for the other player to score, and vice versa in each step outlined below.

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Step 1: Signal

The first step is ensuring a signal has been made for the alley-oop to take place. For the receiver, this could possibly be pointing to the net, giving a number or sign with their fingers, or saying it to your teammate before your next offensive possession. For the passer, all involved is simply identifying when the signal has been made to know it's time to move onto Step 2.

Step 2: Timing

By far the most crucial aspect of the play, where you have to be certain that before the passer is ready to make their move, so is the receiver. The best way both teammates can act on the move together is keep an eye on each other. If you lose focus on what part they've reached in the process, you can perform a sequence too early or too late. 

Example for passer: not seeing your teammate and passing the ball too late

Example for receiver: not seeing your teammate held up and running too early

The best take on this issue is for the receiver to steadily maintain control of the ball whilst holding off opponents, keeping an eye out for their teammate. As soon as they see their teammate make the run for it, so do they, moving to Step 3.

Step 3: Set Up

Now that both players are on the move, what’s left is the pass and the score to make. The aim in the final part of this play for the passer is 2 a) lure the defense towards themselves, away from their teammate and b) clear the area around the net making it easier for their teammate to make the run and jump.

As the receiver progresses towards the net, they should seem as if they are heading for the net or making an individual big play, acting as a ploy or distraction, right before the last part, Step 4.

Step 4: Pass

The final move to be made by both players. This part we will run through separately in both roles.

Passer: the final step is to make the pass to the receiver. Fair warning this is not a simple ‘just throw it to the player’ pass. The ball needs to be gently tossed towards the net so that your teammate can simply dunk or shoot the ball in simply by guiding it from they contacted it. If the player has to take control or abruptly slow down/speedup their run and contact, the pass could have been better.

Reciever: the final step is jumping at the right time to contact the ball and get the points. This needs to be carefully timed right from Step 1 when the receiver first makes the signal. The aim is for all to go well and the receiver to be perfectly in motion so that they coincide with the ball’s motion where all they simply have to do is dunk it in the net or lob it in.

And that’s the alley-oop guys, and be ready for our video to come out soon which will show you how to do this with your teammate perfectly.