Basketball Drills, Plays and Coaching Tips

This is one of our favorite youth basketball drills. It is great drill for any youth team but I’ve used it with older kids as well with equally good results. We use it to teach jab steps, dribble protection, defensive positioning, slide feet, rebounding all from one simple drill.

• Make a line at the top of the key.
• First in line is the defender.
• Go one on one.
• Traveling or double dribble your out.
• If you shoot and score the defender is out or runs a lap.
• If the offense misses, the defender becomes offense on the rebound.
• Go until there is a score.

If there is a foul the defender is out or runs a lap. The offensive player shoots one free throw–if they make it they’re in, if they miss they’re out or run a lap.

We have also at times let the player have one pass to the basketball coach for a V-cut if they get stuck on the dribble drive to the basket.

Kids love this drill!

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Here are two basketball practice drills to do with your team after your warm-ups.  These drills work on passing and on footwork and the kids love the competitive side of them.

My 13 and 14 year olds often have problems passing and moving, so one drill I like to do is called The Passing Box.

I put players on each end of the foul line and some on each block down low.  The basketball starts up on top and they pass down low, once they pass down low they have to pop out on the wing and then run down to the end of the line they passed to.  When the
ball goes low, they pop out to the middle of the foul line and then back to the line they passed to, they continue this until there is either a bad pass or the ball hits the floor.

I usually run this for five minutes and every time the ball either hits the floor or there is a bad pass, is usually the number of sprints they do at the end of practice.

To help the player’s with their footwork and get them comfortable with quick but focused put back, we do a drill called THE BICYCLE.
You can use multiple baskets and turn into a round robin tournament for fun. Players shoot alternating shots from under the rim without letting the ball touch the floor. Going for 90 seconds and counting the number made.

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I’ve found that these simple basketball drills have worked well for my team of 12-15 year old girls. The first one is a simple warm up drill and the next is a variation on the suicide drill.

3 Man weave 2 on 1

• Line up with 3 lines under the basket.
• You three man weave until half court.
• Then the players turn around and come back.
• The last person to touch the basketball becomes the defender.

Typically they slam the ball down near half court welcoming the 2 on 1 challenge.  It’s then a live 2 on 1 until a shot or a steal is made. Then the next group of three goes.  I’ve found it helps get them into game mode much better than the typical layups drill, both defensively and offensively, by seeing the floor and looking for options available,  and not just going through the motions.

Another tip is for when you are doing the suicide run. We start at the baseline and go to the foul line, then back and then to half court.  Once at half court, the suicide is a run/skip backwards.

This helps the girls to remember to turn around at half court and play defensive/offensive ball from that point on (unless of course, we are in a full court press).

Want more coaching tips? Click here for a free step by step basketball practice planning template

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If you’re looking for basketball rebounding drills, try this one. I’ve found it to be both fun and helpful with skill development. It rewards free throw accuracy (to earn a 2nd shot), encourages participation by all defensive players to earn “maximum” box-out/rebound points, and is a good FUNdamental basketball drill for players of all ages.

FREE THROW, BOX-OUT DRILL
Using two “teams” of 4 players, designate the first free throw shooter and have all players fill the lane spots for a 1-and-1 free throw attempt.  Defensive team has two low-block players and two high-block players who will each “earn” 1 point for a successful box-out during the free-throw attempt (even if the free throw is made).

Defensive team’s rebound of a missed free throw earns 1 point.  (Maximum defensive team’s points per free throw attempt = 5 for 4 effective box-out’s and 1 rebound of missed shot.)

Offensive team’s shooter earns 2 points for each “made” free throw, but only earns a 2nd “bonus” free throw attempt by making the first shot.  Offensive team receives 4 “sharp-shooter” bonus points for two consecutive made free throws.  Offensive team can also earn 1 point for an offensive rebound and 1 point for a made basket by the rebounder’s initial stick-back shot.

Play stops after an offensive rebounder’s first shot attempt (no dribbling or passing), regardless of make or miss.  (Maximum offensive team’s points per free throw attempt = 2 for either a made free throw, or, 1 for an offensive rebound and 1 for a stick-back basket by offensive rebounder on 1st shot attempt.)  However, by making both free throw attempts, the offensive team can earn up to 8 points = 2 points for each made free throw plus the 4-point “sharp-shooter” award.

Rotate offensive/defensive rebounding positions (counter-clockwise) until all 8 players have completed his/her Free Throws. The 4-player team that earned the most total points is declared the winner.   (Try to beat the previous “High Score.”)

Have you tried this drill in practice? Did it work for you? Please let me know by leaving a comment in the box below. And be sure to check out this article before you leave the site: Basketball Offense – 15 Laws For Success

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Here are two basketball youth drills that I use constantly. One is called  “Shark in the Water” and the other is “Full Court Knockout”. I have kids that ask to do these drills continually.

For Shark in the Water, I put all the players inside the 3-point line with a basketball, then I take the ball away from two players. It is their job to go play defense on another player until they are able to steal the ball away. Then whoever the ball was taken away from becomes the new ‘shark.’ I do this drill for about 5 minutes at a time. This has taught my players defense – from moving their feet to stealing the ball, protecting the ball, double teaming, moving with the ball, and many other things.

Here is how we play “full court knockout.” It’s played the regular way of playing knockout, but when you get out at one basket, you go to the other one and so on until there is only one player left at one of the baskets.

It works for conditioning as well as shooting and rebounding. The players are almost always moving continually. They get so much running in during a game!

Would you like to contribute coaching tip of your own and share it with our community? Leave a comment in the box below now! And for more practice suggestions, check out this youth basketball drills article I just completed.

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