One of the most confusing rules in basketball revolves around the act of "reaching in."

As a youth basketball coach, before each game or practice, it’s important to review the plays and to make sure everyone knows their role. Just as important; however, is a team warm-up. Conducting a few basketball-specific drills helps your young players prepare mentally and physically.

Basketball drills are an important part of practice for a middle school team. "The drills should allow you to see each player's offensive and defensive abilities, how physically fit a player is and how they interact with others," says Clark University women's basketball coach Pat Glispin.

The jump ball has been a part of every basketball game since the creation of the sport -- Dr. James Naismith invented the game in 1891 at Springfield College in Massachusetts.

The rules of basketball allow an unlimited number of substitutions by players during the course of the game. Substitutions are often used by coaches to provide ideal matchups against the other team, to give players rest when they are tired or to get players out of the game who are in foul trouble.

In basketball, playing defense means trying to stop your opponent from scoring. The rules of basketball spell out how and under what circumstances the defense can attempt to stop offensive players. The majority of personal fouls are called over illegal contact by defenders.

The offensive foul is a judgment call by the referee, and it often generates a protest from the player cited and his coach. Although the rules for an offensive foul are clear in rulebooks, not every offensive foul is the same, and it can depend on the positioning of the defensive player.

Timeouts in basketball are provided under the rules, in order to give players a chance to rest, give coaches the ability to talk things over with their team, and provide players and coaches a way to stop the clock in late-game situations.

In basketball, you do not have to actually make the basket to be credited statistically. The player who passes the ball to a player prior to a successful shot is rewarded with an assist. There are slight variations in the wording of the college (NCAA) and professional (NBA) rules as to what constitutes an assist.

With so much movement, it's not unusual for a basketball to soar out of bounds. When that happens, or after a made basket, the offensive team has to throw the ball back in to resume game play. The game has several rules to make that play fair for both sides.

Basketball players maneuver around the court while dribbling, a skill for which you repeatedly bounce the ball with one hand while walking, running or standing still. Rules govern how to properly dribble, specifically where your hand contacts the ball.

It happens in nearly every game. One team's coach wants a traveling call, and the other coach wants a foul—but the referees don’t call anything.