Ball handling is one of the most important aspects of any good ballplayer's game. Without the ability to control the ball and drive to the hoop an individual will struggle and contribute little to the team. Here are the 3 most important keys to becoming a great ball handler:

1. Learn to dribble with your head up

Dribbling with your head up is one of the most important skills you can master. When you are on the court, you need to be able to look around and see all that is going on around you. Here is an easy drill you can do to work on keeping your head up:

Dribble the ball while alternating hands for 5 minutes while blindfolded. If you do not have a blindfold, try looking up at the sky. Whatever you do, be sure that you don't look at the ball. This drill will help you get a feel for the ball and learn how to control it without looking directly at it. To make this drill more challenging, try walking around and dribbling while blindfolded. A great court sense is necessary to be the best basketball ball handler, and this drill will help.

2. Dribble with your fingers, not your palm

Dribbling with your fingers instead of your palm helps you keep control of the ball more easily and allows you to dribble more quickly. To work on this control, try this drill:

Holding the ball in front of you, start to pass it from hand to hand using only your fingertips. Start by passing it this way at waist level, then slowly pass it back and forth until the ball is being passed at eye level. Remember to only use your fingertips to pass back and forth, as this will help you develop the control you need to dribble well. Do this for about 10 minutes.

3. Learn how to speed dribble

The speed dribble is used mostly during fast breaks, when you are sprinting up the court and trying to push the pace of the game. It is very important to get this skill down, since transition offense is one of the best ways to score some quick points. To improve your speed dribbling try to practice this drill as much as possible:

Starting at halfcourt, dribble as quickly as you can while sprinting towards the basket from the right side. As you get close to the basket, still at full speed do a layup with your right hand. After you get tired of doing this, switch sides and sprint at the basket from the left side and do a layup with your left hand. This drill should take about 10 to 15 minutes.

That's it! I hope you found these drills helpful, as they are probably the biggest reason for my improvement. If you liked the drills, I learned them from the Effective Ball Handling Program, a program I bought a while back. If you want to check out my review of the program, go here: Effective Ball Handling Program. Or, check out a Hubpage I put together with a short 5 day program to improve your skills:http://hubpages.com/hub/10-Days-to-More-Effective-Ball-Handling

Thanks for reading!