Basketball players have a lot of pre-game rituals, some like to hang on the rim and pull themselves up. Some have a boxing match and beat up the goal pad. Others like to toss chalk up in the air.
Why do basketball players use chalk? Basketball players use chalk before and during the game simply for a better grip on the basketball. During a game of basketball, a player is said to run 2 to 3 miles, this would have a player perspiring heavily in which the palms of his hands and fingers would be sweaty also. The chalk is used to absorb the sweat and give the player more grip on the basketball.
A player’s grip can be very important in a basketball game, a single turnover in a crucial moment because a player could not maintain control of the ball because his hands were wet would cost his team the game.
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More on basketball players using chalk
Lebron James was very famous for a pre-game ritual in which he would walk up to the scorer’s table facing the crowd and put a healthy amount of powdered chalk in his hands and throwing it up into the air, creating a mushroom cloud for the whole arena to see.
After showing everyone his chalk toss, he would then slap his hands together to and rub the remainder of the chalk to them. Although during the game itself I never did see him put on more chalk.
Sounds like it was more of a ritual than needing more grip for his hands when he touched the basketball. Most would suspect he never needed the chalk to grip the ball better anyway.
Competitive powerlifters use chalk to grip the barbell better when they are doing a power lift such as a heavy deadlift. The last thing a powerlifter wants to do is lose the grip on the bar and waste his precious energy performing an unsuccessful lift. This would be detrimental to his performance as lifting a heavy maximum lift could completely drain the athlete and his performance could suffer.
Much like basketball, it can be the same thing, we all experience in a pickup game or scrimmage the basketball being wet, and trying to dribble the basketball or shoot it can be a waste of a possession or a costly one.
When you have a bunch of grown men sweating at the free-throw line dripping like a leaky faucet all over the floor, no wonder you need a couple of floor cleaners to wipe down the floor so no one falls. That same sweat gets all over the basketball also.
Some argue the chalk doesn’t do anything for the athlete and its more of a placebo than a remedy. The reality is the chalk is a quick fix that doesn’t last long. I have never used chalk but imagine why would anyone waste their time if it didn’t work but again it could be all apart of a pre-game ritual.
Chalk used for Dunking?
Growing up I would always dunk on lower rims and even try grabbing a 10-foot rim all the time when I played basketball. I could jump high enough to grab the rim but not dunk. But the results were calluses on my index, middle and ring finger. Sometimes they would bleed. I imagine basketball players who do a lot of dunking have calluses on their hands also, does the chalk help?
I would imagine it does with dunking to reduce the friction of the fingers rubbing against the rim but I am not sure this is why basketball players specifically use chalk for. The player would need to apply it to their hands quite frequently but it something that could be done before warm-up when players do fancy dunks for the crowd.
Just like a gymnast, chalk is used to reduce the friction of the bar or rings they are swinging from. This helps with the calluses they already have, the chalk separates the bar from the skin.