From Cormac…
We run a basketball drill for 5/6 & 7/8 graders that we call Indian File.  It is basically the chair drill with people.

4 players are placed in a line spread across the length of the basketball court.  The first defender is located just inside of the baseline.  Then it’s timeline back court, timeline front court and the front court 3-point line.  We usually use two lines on opposite sides of the court facing in opposite directions.  A dribble feed line is located at the front baseline and depending on the level of skill and age, you may also have a feed line for the defenders out of bounds at the far sideline.

The drill starts with the ball handler at the near baseline who jab-steps and attacks the first defender with a cross-over move and proceeds to weave in and out through the remaining defenders.  As the dribbler passes a defender that defender moves up to take the position of the defender in front of him.  The first defender would then become the last person in the dribble feed line.  The first defender is usually attacked to the inside as it will set up an outside move on the last defender.  Upon passing the last defender the ball handler has to make a strong move to the basket which should be with the outside hand.

We generally work on the cross-over, spin dribble, between the legs and behind the back moves to help our players be more comfortable with the ball in traffic.  We teach trying to stay on line as much as possible so players are not swaying too far off course when moving up the court beyond a defender.  We have used the sideline or other lines on the court to help the players stay on line.  We also usually have a coach at the end of each line holding up different numbers of fingers with the players calling out the numbers to keep their focus up court.  We vary the players locations to work on different approaches to the basket from the wing lay-up to the baseline power move or the reverse lay-up.  We also stress explosion to the basket coming out of the last move and finding the rim early.  Depending on the skill level of our players, we also vary the level of defense the defender plays from a stationary position to some lateral movement.

Depending on the number of coaches we have we will also have a basketball coach “walk the line” instructing the dribblers as they move through the line.  At times we will also have a coach or a player stand near the basket playing token defense on the lay-up.

After completing the lay-up the dribbler retrieves his own shot and passes the ball across the baseline to the next person in the opposite dribble line and then sprints to the back of the opposite defender feed line.  For advanced players you could also have this player “race” the opposite ball handler to the basket to defend the lay-up.  We would send our players to the outside of the dribble line to even out the race.  Defense can be token or live.
(Note, it is important that defenders maintain proper spacing to allow the ball handler enough space to recover from the move made on the previous defender.  Make sure the defenders do not bunch up.)

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From Bruce…
I’ve had basketball teams in the past that never seemed to have enough stamina at the end of the game. I’ve always felt that this was a combination of endurance and confidence. So, I decided to start my basketball conditioning drills at the beginning of basketball practice.

I set up a series of cones in a zigzag fashion, the width of the key, all the way down the court. The object is for the entire team to touch the floor just outside each cone, one by one. We start out running for 5 minutes and gradually increase the time each practice until we hit 12 minutes. In between waiting to run the gauntlet, we do either pushups, jumping jacks, or line hops.

The point is that the kids develop tremendous cardiovascular conditioning. The fourth quarter becomes easy. They know that no team is better prepared than they are!

Also, at the end of the basketball drill, everyone has to make a free throw. I tell them that the hardest time to make a free throw is when you’re tired.

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From  Marwan…
To improve passing:
Form a circle of players (about 15 feet diameter) and introduce one basketball.  Each player must call out another player’s name, ensure that he has his attention, then pass the ball to that player.  Next, introduce a second ball to the circle.  Then, a third ball, then fourth ball etc. to the circle.

This basketball drill is fun and it teaches good crisp passing, receiving and learning to obtain eye contact before passing a ball.  It is a great way for new players to learn their teammates names as well.

From Kym…
I am a real novice at coaching but here goes with my tip.  I am coaching for my first year with a group of under 14 girls and I found it hard to get and keep their attention so I decided to bring music to each session.

I do a drill with dribbling and passing and make sure it is timed with the music.  When the music stops they have to stop and pass.  Sort of like musical dribbling!  I now have put it in an obstacle course with girls dribbling around obstacles and then when the music stops they have to pass to another player.

If the pass doesn’t make it strong to the other girl I play a song I like instead of a song they like!  Sounds lame but works really well and they concentrate.

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From Raymond…
Here’s a basketball drill my guys tend to like because of the competitive nature.

Split the team into groups of three… one basketball.
One positioned at the left “block” near the hope, another at top of the key, the third (with the ball) at the wing on the right… 10 feet-12 feet out.

Shooter takes his shot and goes for his own rebound.  Immediately the player at the top of the key fills in the vacated spot by the shooter;the player at the block fills in the spot at the top of the key.  Hit or miss the shooter rebounds the ball and passes to the top of the key.  That player quickly passes it to the person at the shooting position, who then  takes the next shot.  Round and round it goes from there until teams hit 5 straight shots or 5 minutes is up.  Team that wins decides what the others will do (suicides, push-ups) while they do the opposite.  If 5 minutes goes by without a winner… the whole team does both.

Focuses on quick passes and following shots under “pressure”. Can be done in “reverse”.  Players pass the ball in the same direction, but move to the position where they received the ball from.  Start with the shot. While the ball is rebounded by the player on the “block”, the shooter moves to the top of the key, while the player at the top of the  key kicks to the left wing to receive the outlet pass from the rebounder. Hit or miss, the player at the block passes it to the left wing, and quickly moves to the shooting position on the right.  The pass moves from  the left, to the top of the key, then out to the shooter. (The player receiving the pass from the rebounder then fills in to rebound after kicking pass to the top of the key.  Round and round it goes. A little long winded, but I hope that this is helpful none the less.

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From Linda
Here is a basketball drill that I created and have tried–a little unorthodox, but the boys loved it and it warmed them up in a really fun way for practicing lay-ups.

Our basketball warm up was- working in pairs - standing on one leg hopping -Trying to get your opponent to put down their other leg on the floor. No holding permitted.

This continues for 5 minutes, rotating partners putting dominant players together from pairs. The aim of this was to get the boys used to the physical contact.  My boys tended to be a little timid on game day, and often back off if the opposition is good at using their body.  The hopping (both feet have to be used) is for strengthening their ankles as they are triggering all the balancing tendons/ligament muscles etc.

Next basketball drill was on to layups, focusing on the jumping and lifting of the opposite leg, talking about using your mass momentum.

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From Beth…
Obviously most of us have basketball drills that we have “borrowed” from other coaches and it is hard to think of different drills that most people don’t already know.  Therefore I am giving one that I learned this year.

It is a basketball shooting drill called “Beat the Pro.”  For every three shots taken the “Pro” gets four points.  The shooter is allowed one three-point shot and two fifteen foot jump shots before the pro is allowed four points.  Points awarded to the shooter are regular scoring (three points and two points).  The first to 20 wins.  Obviously after five sets of three shots the “Pro” will win if the shooter did not make any shots.

The shooter is encouraged to call out his/her score after each basket made.  To make it more exciting you can have another shooter at the end of the court competing against the “Pro” and the other shooter.

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From Aaron…
I normally like to run the “shell drill“.

It starts with 5 offensive players passing the basketball around the three point line with 5 defensive players rotating to the position of the ball.  It’s simple.  If you’re one pass away from the ball you need a hand in the passing lane.  If you’re more than one pass you need to be cheating off your player looking to help.  You work the ball around and have the defense rotate.

Remember, this is primarily a defensive basketball drill so tell your players to keep their head on a swivel and to stay low. This drill progresses with the offense then taking one dribble penetration (making the defense help) and then dishing (making the defense recover).  It ends by a small five on five match until the offense scores.  Stress to the defense to keep their “shell” even if there players are moving around.

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From Donna…
The best basketball drill I ran with my boys was a John Wooden drill that I learned. There are 2 main parts of the drill that you focus on, and I will explain as I demonstrate the drill. The boys loved the drill and it was originally called a basketball conditioning drill by Wooden because it is constant running. Any time a kid hears conditioning at practice they tend to groan so he renamed it the 3-on-2-on-1 drill. Here is how it goes.

You start by having 3 players on offense and 2 on defense (full court). The rest of the players line up at the 1/2 court line out of bounds.

The offense throws the basketball off the backboard, rebounds, and then runs a 3 man weave  down court, looking to keep spacing around 10-15 ft apart once they cross 1/2 court. Two things happen on defense, the players line up one high (a little past the foul line) and one low (between the foul line & basket).

The object on defense is to have the high man stop ball. As the offense crosses 1/2 court, 1 sideline player runs onto the court toward 1/2 court circle and then joins the defense (he has to run to 1/2 court circle). When he joins the defense (which starts a s a 2 man zone), he yells who he will guard and the other 2 defensive players then man up by yelling who they have. The defense either steals the ball, rebounds a missed shot, or the shot goes in and they rebound. The 3 defensive players are now on offense looking to weave down the court, the passer and the shooter who were on offense must hustle back on defense and the drill starts all over again with the 3rd defensive  player joining after the offense crosses 1/2 court.

It is a constant motion drill, with players filing back to the 1/2 court line when their portion of the drill is over. It took a little time for the boys to remember to fill in as the 3rd guy on defense, but other than that it worked great.

I was having trouble explaining how to defensively stop ball while the rest of the defense played zone until all the players recovered defensively on a break and this drill helped to make it an automatic response. The boys loved the drill (especially if 2 defensive players stopped the offense before their 3rd man came onto the court). They challenged one another, they didn’t realize it but it was great conditioning, and the 3rd thing it did was to help my big guys to become better passers. I explained to them that on offense, once they were crossing 1/2 court the wings needed to flair wide and whoever was in the middle needed to control the ball until the wing players spaced and were open. A lot of times my center or power forward happened to be the middle guy and they had to learn to protect the ball from the stop ball player and make a good pass to the open wing player. This meant they couldn’t dribble with their heads down (couldn’t find the open wing player), and they had to protect the ball from being stolen when they dribbled (most centers don’t dribble all that often unless on the break).

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From Jarrod…
A basketball drill I that I have used to develop my players ball handling is to get an old rubber basketball, put it in soapy water then get them to do 3 dribble zig-zag ball handling moves in a row e.g crossovers, thru legs, behind back, spin move, etc.

The reason I use this is to help simulate a player having to handle a slippery basketball (like they do late in games when the balls covered in sweat). At first the basketballs went everywhere as the players couldn’t handle the ball, but after a few sessions the players adapted and their ball handling improved rapidly.

From Lin…
Instead of the normal suicidal runs, I’ll make my players do it with dribbling a ball.  It’s effective and improves their control of the ball with the added pressure to run faster than the rest of the teammates.

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From Rene…
Stop the Ball Drill
Goal of the drill: To teach the players to run to a spot in front of the ball handler instead of along side of them.

Drill setup: Two lines near the baseline under the basket, one line with the basketballs(offense), one without(defense). The line with the basketballs(offense) is on the outside of the other line.

Drill execution: You can either have the defense line start a little ahead of the offense line to give them a head start or have the offense line angle there approach toward the mid-court sidelines (place a cone at the intersection of the mid-court line and the sideline) and the defense line take a direct approach to the far basket. On the whistle, the first player in the offense line dribbles towards the cone at the mid-court/sidelines, when reaching the cone they cross-over and head for the far basket to do a layup. The defense line player takes a more direct line to the far basket in order to get to a spot in front of the offense player.

When they meet (hopefully before the basket) the defensive player squares up into a defensive stance and then they play 1 on 1 until the defensive player gains possession of the ball.

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