5 Basketball Moves You Must Practice

Practice will make you a better basketball player. You will hear that over and over because it is true. However, you may not know what to practice if you are part of an organized team. You may wonder what you should be practicing to make your game better.

Here are five essential basketball moves that you need to practice and master in order to be the best player you can be. Some of the moves you can practice alone, but others will require a partner. If you can find someone to practice with every time you practice that would help you out. Plus it helps to keep you focused and motivated.

Move #1: Dribbling

Dribbling should be practiced often. Predictable players are targets, and your ability to manage and maneuver are directly related to you dribbling skills.

You should practice dribbling in a straight line as well as agility drills where you dribble in a wavy line or in other patterns other then a straight line down the court.

It is nice to start and end practice with some dribbling drills.

Move #2: Passing

You will need a partner for practicing passing. You should practice the different types of passes. You can start with one type, like the chest pass and then move into another type of pass like the bounce pass. Then you can alternate between a few different passes.

One great way to practice is to start by standing still and warming up. Then you should move down the court as you are passing. It is important to incorporate moving passes since the majority of passes on the court will be while you are moving.

Move #3: Shooting

Shooting is almost a given in practice. Most people only practice shooting. While shooting is important it is not the only part of the game. However, you always should practice your shots.

Make sure to practice shots from all around the court. You should practice a variety of shots like slam dunks jump shots and lay ups in addition to set shots.

Move #4: Guarding

Guarding is an essential part of basketball. You should practice guarding both offensively and defensively. You have to be able to stop the ball and stop other players.

Drills should be created that help you to learn how to anticipate moves and how to move efficiently.

Move #5: Rebounding

Rebounding is all about control. You have to be able to get the ball after a basket or the other team may just get it and your chance to score is lost.

Rebounding is something you can practice over an over by yourself, but it is best done with a partner. You want to make the basket and try to rebound. You want to have them make the basket and you grab the rebound.

Mix it up and work until you master all these skills. You want o be able to do them all efficiently and with good technique. This will allow you to be the best player you can be.

Dealing With the Effects of Tinnitus

Quite often persons troubled by this disorder have a great deal of difficulty getting adequate rest at the end of the day. Such persons are constantly searching for some new therapy or treatment which might be beneficial for this trouble. The difficulty is due to loud "ringing" in the evening when not surrounded by the normal noise of daily life. To the sufferer, it seems almost as if their head is stuck inside of a constantly ringing bell, keeping them awake.

One type of therapy for this problem, which can be used for those persons who are experiencing difficulty sleeping, involves masking of the noise. This modality employs white noise to distract the individual from the ringing in his or her ears. This type of treatment, however, is only of short-term benefit.

Unfortunately, white noise can only be a temporary treatment. If the sufferer is wearing the masker, he will have some relief from the noise. However, once the masker is removed, the noise returns immediately. Because of this shortcoming, tinnitus sufferers prefer to have treatments that are much more effective in allowing them to sleep longer and more soundly.

Melatonin, taken in supplemental tablet form, has been proven to be a great natural remedy for sleeplessness and comes highly recommended. Over the counter melatonin tablets are easy to be found, but should only be ingested under a doctor's care. Never take a melatonin in large doses or at an inappropriate time of day lest it conflict with your body's natural production of melatonin.

Scientists studying these difficulties have discovered that beta carotene, which is of the ingredients present in carrots can greatly reduce the ringing sound. This can be verified by the fact multiple treatments include high doses of Vitamin A. These two metabolites are converted in the human body, serving all necessary needs. It is difficult to overdose on these substances since they are water soluble, and easily eliminated by the body.

People who suffer from tinnitus welcome any treatment which helps lessen the ringing in their ears. A new treatment using melatonin and beta-carotene has been welcomed with open arms. Another treatment which boosts the immune systems of people with tinnitus is daily doses of Vitamin A. When their immune systems are healthy, it has the psychological effect of making the ringing in their ears seem less bothersome.

Child Recliner - Constructed with Love

Child size recliners have become a very popular gift over the past few years. I currently have over 500 of these recliners in over 2-dozen styles ready for the holiday season. But how do these great chairs come into being?

I recently took a trip to visit several manufacturers of kid recliners. These manufacturers come in varying sizes, from shops with only a handful of employees to full blown factories with hundreds of workers. Surprisingly, the child recliners were all made in a similar fashion, regardless of the size of the manufacturer.

Let's start from the beginning. At some point each of these manufacturers decided to build child recliners. They all have someone, usually the owner in smaller shops, who creates patterns for anything they're going to create. This person probably took an adult recliner, ripped it apart and created miniature patterns for the child recliner. Two sets of patterns are created, one for the material and another for the wooden frame.

The material is then cut to the pattern. Imagine metal tables laid out end to end for 50 feet. Fabric is rolled out across these tables. Because time is money, the fabric is laid out 10 to 20 layers thick and cut to the pattern all at once. The pattern is laid out on top of the fabric and marked with chalk. To make the cut, an electric or air driven knife is used that resembles the electric knife you would use to cut up a turkey on Thanksgiving.

Once the fabric is cut, it goes to the sewing station. The factories I visited all had row upon row of sewing stations set up. The smallest shop had 10 stations while the largest had closer to 100. The pre-cut fabric is sewn together leaving various holes so that the fabric can be put onto the chair and the padding can be inserted.

While the fabric is being prepared, another set of craftsmen are creating the frames. Depending on the chair, they are cutting either hard wood or plywood based on the previously created patterns. They use table saws, band saws and various other saws to shape the wood. Everything is done using stop blocks created long ago to speed the process. Once the wood is cut to pattern, it is combined with a pre-purchased lift mechanism using several techniques depending on the quality and cost of the chair. Staple gun, gang nail, air gun and screws are all used to hold the frame together.

At this point the frame and fabric are combined. The fabric is stretched over the frame and tacked or stapled into place. Usually a combination of tacking and stapling is used. Tacking can create some nice effects in visible areas, while stapling is the standard and used anywhere people won't see.

Once the fabric is attached to the chair, the chair is stuffed with fiber foam. The foam is blown in using a special machine. You can view something very similar at any Build-A-Bear(TM) workshop.

Some final stitching is done to close up the hole where the stuffing entered and voila, a fantastic child recliner is born. It is then wrapped in a plastic bag and put in a specially sized both, ready for delivery.

You can view this article including pictures on my web site at http://www.kidrecliners.com/getarticle.aspx?articleid=7

Pictures Of Fat Kids

OK everybody has a problem with photographs. Unless you are a photographers dream or the latest supermodel we all have a problem with our photographic image. We have our good days of course but poor lighting, poor complexion, red eye and a long list of problems may cause us concern when we see our image in all its glory It is said a picture tells a thousand words. If it is true pictures of fat kids still tells a thousand words, a thousand often-unpleasant words.

If the picture is one of you or your family how does it make you feel? People say lots of things when looking at a picture or photograph "isn't that cute", "what a great smile", "don't they look so happy" etc etc. however it matters little what they say out a loud most would agree that it is not right to see pictures of fat kids. Fat kids do not look healthy, they don't look right to the eye. Cruel yes but the truth sometimes is.

When looking back through your family album you may come across these same photographs of you or your family and you say to yourself "boy was I a chubby kid", "look at that puppy fat". That's great if you have since moved on and shed this image. Maybe it was just a short phase that you grew out of, a growth spurt maybe! The problem at the moment is that in the 21st century the chances of seeing a family picture without some fat or overweight people in the frame is getting ever more difficult to find. The statistics are coming ever more frequent and the trends are all going the same way. That way is up. The average weight is going up especially for our children. Not just up but substantially so, up to the point where it is common to hear words like obese, clinically obese and life threatening in the same sentence. Also equally alarming these statistics also show that kids that reach these proportions are more and more likely to remain so in their adult life and so attracting all the ailments and problems that come with it.

What causes this to happen you may ask, it didn't happen when you were a kid. Rose tinted spectacles may cloud our memories but things are different today, very different. Children in the 21st century live a completely different lifestyle to that of their parents. In just one generation of a family the world of the child has changed dramatically. Just look at some of the inventions that have made yours and my kids lives so effortless. The cell phone, remote controls, Internet chat rooms and the WWW, convenience foods, the play station, fast food/poor quality food and 24-hour access to virtually everything. Is it any surprise that the amount of energy we exert in our every day activities is dropping so much. As parents we can no longer expect our kids to be energetic, its not part of their lifestyle. We cannot leave it to our schools, after all lack of exercise and poor nutrition is one of our main complaints with our education authorities. As parents we need to take the lead when it comes to our children. We need to take stock of our family life and look at how our kids get their references and influences. We send them to school for their learning but by far the majority of their education comes from the family and their peers. It's informal, continuous, visual, emotional and very powerful. With all the distractions in this world how often do you hear people say" he's just like his old man or "like mother like daughter. As parents you need to take the lead and get your kids back into shape. You need to influence their diet their activity levels and provide their motivation. Here are 3 great ways to make a powerful impact 1/ Eat more healthy food in the house (5 portions of fruit or vegetable a day)

2/take regular exercise (30 - 60 minutes of fairly vigorous exercise 5 days per week)

3/ Lead by example, educate your self then educate your children

Did you know that many children at age 12 do not know where their food originates? Start today to make a difference to your self and your charges. As an adult you must take responsibility for yourself and your actions, you must also be responsible for your children. What will people make of your family album in the years to come? It matters little what the content of the photo may be, the obvious enjoyment or the significance of the surroundings. People will see pictures of fat kids even if they are also overweight, regardless of what they tell you.

The Consciousness of Chocolate

Throughout all the vivid memories of life, the sweetest ones I can remember seemed to have had a distinct connection with chocolate. As a child, chocolate was a form of currency. My earliest memory of abundance was being the one clinging tightly to a scrumptious bar of chocolate among a sea of friends who were willing to do just about anything for even a sliver of cacao gold. As soon as the wrapper came off, chocolate was like an edible super power that had the ability to interrupt any tantrum or frustrated emotional state. It had the power to deem anything in my focus at the moment, completely irrelevant as long as the chocolate was being passed my way.

Chocolate, as it came and went in its many forms throughout my life, was a symbol of sweetness. No matter what was happening and how important I believed it to be, the chocolate would appear as a reminder that all is inherently well - and that like the chocolate, at my core, this sweetness is actually what I am.

This realization, of course, would be twenty-eight years in the making, even though the signs were there all along. The fact was that every time I ate a piece of chocolate, it became clearly impossible to focus on the endless thoughts running through my mind, while simultaneously enjoying the chocolate that ignited each taste bud like an explosion of flavor, all at the same time.

The chocolate didn't seem concerned with waiting around for me to end my thought. It was there in the very moment I found it, and whether it melted in its wrapper, in my hand, or in my mouth, it remained an experience I could always enjoy if I honored it with focus and attention.

As spiritual maturity slowly woke up, I began to see these subtle teaching chocolate had always offered, not only as a symbol of sweetness, but as the sweet truth of life underneath all the noise, goal-setting and finger-pointing.

Chocolate was even revealed as my first meditation teacher, whose disguise was everything it needed to be, gently pulling my attention from the compulsion to change, fix, and judge my experience of life into simply sitting for a moment and enjoying what is here right now.

To anyone else, it might just be an oddly-shaped object or something else to see and touch in this living experience of space and senses. Once you open the wrapper, however, the deeper teachings become available as you hold and taste the distinct flavor life continues to offer, unable to fully immerse yourself in the experience, unless whatever was important a moment ago begins to fall out of focus. It is in this moment when the sweetness of life simply disguised as chocolate begins to reveal itself to you.

The teaching of chocolate showed me how my thoughts aren't as important as I once imagined. I can look back at all the times I was caught in my mind ranting about someone or something that had unjustly caused suffering in my life and all of a sudden, I was offered a piece of chocolate or as I now see it, life's funny way of telling me it was time to meditate.

I would eat the chocolate and as I did, the thoughts weren't there as they were before. Now it was the joyful consideration of how wonderfully the almonds and dark chocolate blended together, as the chocolate pointed to the arbitrary nature of thought by offering me an opportunity to fully enjoy life, just as it is.

The chocolate would soon be eaten and I wouldn't be able to remember what I was thinking about and even if I did, I couldn't get back to the same emotional pull that made it so important only a few moments ago. If I was truly meant to keep thinking about it, how is it that it could be so easily forgotten or destroyed by the dharma of chocolate?

Chocolate became the kryptonite my pointless, self-indulgent thoughts could never rival. One by one thoughts would come and go, vanishing from a mind that once labeled each one as true, vital and necessary to dwell on, and in the end, all that was left was a teacher called chocolate inviting me to be one with the sweetness of life.

The teachings transformed my entire perspective of life. I am truly humbled by this gift of clear vision that now sees a beautiful world, as whole and unique as each piece of chocolate that somehow found its way to me.

© Copyright 2008 True Divine Nature, LLC