The Can't-Miss Basketball Apps to Help You Develop Skills

When it comes to being a better coach and coaching your team to be better players, there are a lot of different approaches you can take. There are clinics, or in-personal learning. There are online learning opportunities, both formal and informal. There are books and manuals on the subject. There are YouTube videos. And then there are apps.

Apps are made up of downloadable programs through which you can access specific content. Apps are great because you can carry them around in your pocket (on your smartphone) or backpack (on a tablet or computer). This means you can take them wherever you go and have them handy when you need them. And while we at Hustle Training have out own app, we are happy to share with you the other ones that we feel meet muster as top basketball training resources (in alphabetical order).

Evolve Basketball App

Coming in with a 4.7 star rating in the iTunes store, this app revolves around social media. It os created by Evolve Sports, which offers a two-day basketball camp in Australia. That said, this app is pretty neat. As described:

It is a complete tool that allows a player to become better in every aspect. As a basketball player, the goal is to be better than your competition on and off the court. With the drills available through our coin based model, you are able to take your game to the next level. Money is not needed to unlock videos. We also emphasise strength and conditioning and a nutritional plan to give you the complete tools you need to become a successful basketball player. We strive to give you the best basketball drills and workouts to help you become an elite athlete.

The app contains a few interesting features including:

• A news feed oriented at basketball news that includes game highlights and sports news.
• Individual profiles for every member.
• A workout calendar.
• Social communication messaging and group chat features.
• Free basketball videos.
• Sports nutrition tips and recipes.
• The ability to get feedback on your own videos.
• Customizability.

HomeCourt

This Artificial Intelligence basketball training app that helps improve the players basketball shots raised $4 million in working capital in 2018, as noted by TechSource.

The app starts off with an iPhone. Players can boot up their camera and begin recording their shots, and the app will go back and track what worked and what didn’t work with that shot, as well as where the player is making and missing those shots.It’s not tracking every single motion of the player, but once a player makes a shot, it will track that trajectory and shooting form, like where his or her feet are planted. That kind of feedback can help players understand the kinds of small tweaks they can make to improve their shooting percentage over time, such as release speed or jump height. And while it’s not designed to be hugely robust like the kinds of advanced tracking technology that show up in advanced training facilities at some larger sports franchises, it aims to be a plug-and-play way of getting feedback on a player’s game right away.

The app refers to itself as “basketball training revolutionized,” which isn’t far off. And it is likely to become one of the most used training tools for youth, amateur, college, and professional players out there.

Hustle Sports Training

Available on Google Play or The App Store, this app is specifically designed for coaching and training. The app is designed around basketball, but also incorporates baseball. It is the one app everyone needs. Here is its design:

Hustle is the simple way to learn new sports skills. Learn directly from college coaches, professional players and expert trainers. Hustle's practice plans and workout routines are designed to make you a more effective coach, a better player and a more knowledgeable student of the sports you love.

Are you a youth coach? Hustle has partnered with college and professional coaches to develop practice plans that will walk you and your players through beginner, intermediate and advanced concepts. Game planning is easy with Hustle.

Are you an athlete? Hustle has tons of workout routines and skill development activities to guide your offseason workouts and in-season tuneups. We give you everything you need to improve your game and reach your full potential.

The app contains:

• Hundreds of drills covering the skills you need to become a successful coach or athlete.
• Guided practice plans and exercises designed to help you attain new skills, techniques and know-how.
• Drill of the Day: daily skills development exercises on a new topic each day.
• Training led by professional players, coaches and trainers.

The companion website for Hustle Training has a series of training plans and articles meant to advance the skills of youth sports coaches, but it is the app that literally has over 1,000 drills to help you train your team.

Pure Sweat featuring Drew Hanlen

Offering open gym during the summer months is not enough to build your team for the upcoming season. The Pure Sweat app draws on the extensive experience of NBA skills trainer Drew Hanlen and bills itself as a way to create basketball workouts for what you need to work on in the time you have. While Coach Hanlen has personally trained the likes of Joel Embiid, Jason Tatum, and Bradley Beal, they are not featured heavily in the app content.

In the Pure Sweat app, Coach Hanlen covers dozens of teaching points featuring both individual and team drills for dribbling, passing, defense and, most prominently, shooting. He shows how many of the drills can be adapted to make them more enjoyable and competitive for players of various ages and skill levels. This outstanding skill development app is filled with valuable drills and numerous teaching points that all coaches would find beneficial.

Shot Tracker Basketball System

This is a cool app that allows players to track their analytics when they are shooting hoops in their backyards or on the court, as noted by Sponge Coach. On the market for several years now, ShotTracker self describes as, “a sensor based system that automatically captures statistical and performance analytics for an entire team in real-time. ShotTracker is changing the way that coaches, players, fans and broadcast partners experience the game - both on and off the court.”

The system works by using a tracker enabled ball, play censors worn by the players, and anchors that are placed in the ceiling or on the rafters (above the court). Those anchors track the ball and each player, allowing advanced statistics and updates to be tracked by the app. The coaches can get live data and analytics, as well as build custom reports in real time. The players can look at their own results and compare those to their teammates. Parents and fans can also track the teams progress.

ShotTracker bills itself as "a  sensor-based system that delivers statistics and analytics to teams, fans and broadcast networks instantly, enhancing the experience of the game — both on and off the court." Analytics is now more than ever, an integral part of the sports fan experience. ShotTracker was co-founded in Overland Park, Kansas by basketball and technology experts Davyeon Ross and Bruce Ianni. ShotTracker is an affordable, wearable tech for basketball players who want to improve their shooting. It is currently being utilized by 61 men’s and women’s college basketball programs spanning 12 conferences. Its partners include Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Spalding and Wilson.

While this system may be more advanced than many youth coaches need, it is still good to know that it exists and has potential for taking training to a whole new level.