The team with the ball is taking the basketball out underneath their basket.

Your best three point shooter is taking the ball out. The tallest person (#5) then the 4 then the 3 is lined side by side underneath the basket centering the 4 right under the goal. #5 is on ball side and 3 is on weak side of 4. The other guard (2) is stacked behind the 4.

When the ball is snapped, 2 moves back towards half court for safety.

The 5 in post position moves toward the ball asking for it, stopping two steps before you get to the three point line on a side shot.  Then player 4 side over in post position asking for the ball to ball side block and the 3 slide posting underneath  the basket.  The ball goes to the 5. 5 fakes the shot as the shooter steps in behind the 5n over head back pass.

Three point shot is then taken by the shooter.  Other players are in place for rebounding and safety.  This basketball drill should become an all time favorite with your team.

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Teaching Shooting

Drill #1
In middle of the lane–-
Have your player to bend his knees and get his butt down low. Get the basketball in the shot pocket and come up in one motion and jump and shoot.  Get good extension, and stick the landing with his feet. He should look at his feet prior to
the shot and then look at his feet after he is done shooting.
This is “stick your landing”.  Your feet need to come down in the same position.

Drill #2 same as above except change the position – back is to the sideline and player will pivot on foot closest to the basket, down in that low stance and shoot – again stick his landing

Drill #3 same as drill #2 except – pivot to square and pivot back to the original position and pivot again and shoot. Stick the landing.  This is pivot,pivot,pivot and shoot.

To emphasize – these 3 basketball drills teach someone to shoot a jump shot well!

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I have a line of girls from the foul line and out.  The first two girls in line are involved.  Both are facing the basket. The girl in front of the line has the basketball and tosses it up against the backboard and goes get the rebound under the hoop.  The second girl follows and is physical with the girl who rebounded.  The rebounder pump fakes and then leans into the defender on her back and goes up hard, making the basket and drawing contact.

Another basketball drill is having one offensive player on the block being closely guarded by a defender.  The basketball coach is out on the wing and feeds the girl under the hoop.  The offensive girl works on recognizing where the defender is playing so as to understand her options.

I give the girls three main options: Drop Step, Up and Under, or kick back out. Have the defender rotate cheating low and then high.  You can then move this drill to the elbow as well.

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It is rather easy to recognize those players who will be starters and contribute to the program, however, in the good programs that are successful year after year the coaching staff find the younger or less experienced players and develop them.

Near the end of the basketball game or half when two starters are on the bench with foul troubles, the players who have to contribute are a few non-starters.  Assistant coaches need to work with players to prepare them for those situations.   Also, when injuries and illness challenge us during a season we need other players to step up.

As a basketball coach I now spend more time with the entire team learning and repeating time and score situations, especially with substitutes on the floor.   Along with this I have found that I can carefully facilitate player growth by putting the substitute in situations where they will more likely be successful rather than in a tough situation that will attack their weakness.

The team concept has become a critical component and the team has to honor every players contribution.

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Often I have a couple of weak kids on my team. I designed a basketball play just to make sure they will have an opportunity to score. I like every player to score every game. It is good for them and good for the other players to learn about teamwork and sharing the basketball.

On an inbounds pass I line up three guys on the lane shoulder to shoulder at the baseline. The intended shooter inbounds the pass from the weak side to my strongest ball handler. The shooter then goes down the lane on the weak side and runs baseline to the other side of the triple pick. The point hits him with an easy pass for an easy two pointer.

The point can also penetrate the lane if the intended shooter is followed around the pick or dish it off to the lowest man on the pick who rolls off to the basket once the shooter passes him on the baseline.

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You can also add push-ups at the end of the time for each layup missed or bad/turnover passes.  This adds incentive to the players to focus on working together.

4 players, 1 ball, 4 transitions (up and back twice)
#1 line up at the free throw line on the left elbow, #’s 2 and 3 line up at the free throw line extended, and #4 at the basket.
#4 lays the ball in the basket, takes out of bounds and outlets to the man on the right side #2.

Outletter #2 takes 1 dribble max (more for younger players) and headmans the basketball to #1 who sprints from the free throw line to the opposite basket for a layup. Depending on the age group, the pass should either be a lead pass with no dribble after being caught, or for younger players, allow 1 dribble for the layup.

#3 sprints to the opposite sideline and grabs the ball as it goes through the hoop from #1’s layup, making sure it doesn’t touch the ground. As this happens, #2 sprints to the far free throw line elbow and turns back up court, while #4 sprints to touch the far baseline and then turns back up court.

The basketball drill continues the back up court with #3 hitting #1 as an outlet, and #1 headmaning the ball to #2 for the layup, while #4 sprints back to make sure the ball doesn’t touch the ground.

The drill continues another trip down and back with players #4 and #3 getting their turns for layups, while #1 and #2 run their sprints to the baselines.

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This first basketball drill I find useful for helping teach the fundamentals of boxing out:

4-5 offensive players form a circle about 15 feet in diameter, facing center.
The same number of defensive players form a circle facing an offensive player that they are “guarding”, in defensive position.

A basketball is placed on floor in the center of the circle.
The basketball coach blows the whistle and the defensive players turn and box out the offensive player that they are guarding, and try to keep them away from the basketball for 3 seconds, when the coach again blows the whistle to stop.

Offensive players try to get the basketball when the coach blows the first whistle.

Another fun drill encompasses offense/defense/boxing out/rebounding and a lot of fun.
1. Line up players on half court arms length apart, facing the hoop.
2. Assign them each a number…..out of sequence
3. Place a ball on the foul line.
4. Call out 2 random numbers.
5. Players who’s numbers were called race to the ball. Player who gains control takes it to the hoop while other player plays defense, calls for shot, boxes out etc.
6. Play continues until someone scores.

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Players play four on four with a specific team goal in mind (defense, rebounding, help side Defense, minimum of 3 passes before taking a shot on Offense, etc).

When one team scores, the losing teams does a half set up line (foul line, end line, center line, foul line).

As this is happening the scoring basketball team is heading down the court to take on a new set of four players.

If the defense steals the basketball or creates a turn over, they become the offense and go attack the other 4 players while the team that turned the ball over, run a half set of lines.

Goal of the drill–to score quickly, in order to catch the team running lines off gurad and score a fast break lay up.

This basketball drill continues until one teams get three fast break lay ups in a row!

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In order to get them to go after a ball on the ground I set a ball in the middle of the court and broke the team down into even numbered rounds. The groups would stand in a circle with their partners one behind the other.  The first player would be one and the second would be two.  When I called the number the player would run all the way around the circle, back to their partner and have to crawl under their legs and be the first one to get the ball.

Since starting this basketball drill even when the girls are playing 2 on 2 and the ball is loose they will hit the floor to get it!

Another one of our favorite drills is foot shuffling while listening to the coach for instructions.  Two lines of players.
The basketball coach blows the whistle and points left, right, forward, or back. The players shuffle sideways or forward and back, with palms up, knees bent and head straight ahead and up.  The last part of the drill is the coach yells “Take a charge!”.  The players fall back.

The players have fun and they are learning good body mechanics for defense positions.

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A lot of players will tell you what works for them and then find a comfort zone. Prior to basketball practice have each player tell you something they don’t want to do on the court, or they fear they’re not good at on the court. You will be amazed how many players have the same concerns or weaknesses that they can’t seem to correct!

Once you know what they are, you can set aside 10 minutes of every practice to let them work on moves that help them overcome their weak spots. And, when setting up practices, as coach, you can put them in situations where they WILL overcome that weakness because they are practicing it.

This builds up coach/player rapport because it is not the coach telling the player what the problem is. It’s the basketball player learning to identify and analyze her game, and getting the support she needs to improve.

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