From Brian…
Passing and catching basketball drill.

I put all the boys in  circle arms length apart at the center of court.  Everyone takes 5 steps back to widen the circle.  I coach from the middle of the circle.  One boy has a basketball and bounce or chest passes to the next boy until we complete the circle.  We are concentrating on making eye contact with the next player, stepping to the player making a sharp pass.  The receiver has to step to the pass, secure the ball, use his pivot foot and pass to the next boy.

I will time the boys to see how long it takes to complete the circle.  I will introduce a second ball half way around the circle and possible a third ball to the circle.  This keeps the boys attention and helps with speed and passing fundamentals.

After 5 times around the circle I will have the basketball coaches play passive defense on the inside of the circle to help the boys make good passing decisions.

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From Gregory…
I call this basketball passing drill “SPIDERWEB“.  It consists of four players around the perimeter with the rest of the team in line behind them evenly.

Player 1 is extended out a little from the left block(facing the basket), Player 2 is extended out a little from the right block(facing the basket), Player 3 is free throw extended on the left(facing the basket) and Player 4 is free throw extended to the right(facing the basket).

Drill:  Player 2 starts with the basketball.  He passes it to Player 1(crisp chest pass), Player 1 receives the ball and passes it back to Player 2 .  Player 2 is moving around the perimeter, outside of the paint (low and shuffling without crossing feet).  Player 2 then delivers a crisp chest pass to Player 3 who makes a crisp chest pass back to Player 2.  Player 2 , still staying low and shuffling without crossing feet, makes a crisp chest pass to Player 4.  Player 4 then makes a crisp chest pass to the next Player 2 in line who delivers a bounce pass to the original Player 2 cutting to the basket.

Focus:  You will be focusing on the crisp chest passes.  Also you will be focusing on the original Player 2’s footwork around the perimeter, his crisp passes while staying low and shuffling without crossing the feet, and the finish layup.
Note:  After Player 2 passes the ball to Player 4 he hesitates a little and gets his timing right to receive the pass from the next Player 2 in line for the layup.

*You can run this drill from both sides with Player 1 starting with the ball and finishing with a left handed layup.  You also can use bounce passes around the perimeter.  Count the misses to add to the end of basketball practice sprints.

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From Mark…
This sounds great!  One of the best basketball drills that I have put into our practices is to use a medicine ball in our basketball passing drills.

I just use the same old drills but use a 5 or 8 lb medicine ball.  Improves hand strength and catching ability as well as help put a little more zip on the ball.  Also toss it up in the air to simulate a rebound. It really helped to make some of the guys stronger on the boards.

From Mike…
We have a fun 30 sec basketball drill.

Defense plays a 3 - 2 zone We have 3 on 5 and 30 sec to score. They must throw screens for the man with the basketball.  On the 3rd screen a 4th player joins the offense and on the 5th screen the 5th joins. They have only 30 sec to score 2 points for an offensive basket - keep the ball and 1 point for a stop and they switch to offense.  We play up to 10.

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From Chuck
I usually lead into this basketball drill with a standard two-line layup drill.

In the same two lines as the basketball layup drill, the player from line A dribbles up to the elbow and takes a shot (stop-and-pop). At the same time, the player from line B moves toward the basket to get position for the rebound. Player A must follow his shot to attempt to get the rebound, and Player B must get position and Box out to attempt to get the rebound. The players switch lines after each turn.

This is a simple basketball drill that kids like, and it teaches shooting while following your shot, as well as defensive positioning and boxing out for a rebound. It’s also good as a pre-game warmup.

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From John…
Out of Bounds Play

We taught the kids this basketball play back in 3rd grade but two years later it’s still working. It’s another version of the Stack play and the reason it works is because it plays right into the philosophy of youth rule #1 on defense “stay between your man and the basket”.

Out of bounds under your own basket, the players line up in a stack with the first man in the line starting on the box in front of the man taking the basketball out. Typically the 4 defenders of the stack will all line up on the basket side of the stack. On “break” the first man in line jumps out of the stack towards the corner and either puts his hand out looking for the pass or actually calls out the name of the man taking the ball out. If he feels the defender follow him out of the stack he immediately turns and runs around the stack and cuts hard to the basket.

You’ll be amazed how often he’ll be wide open for a lay up. The other 3 kids in the stack don’t move until the first guy has run around the back of the stack. Then the 2nd man cuts to the corner (ball side), the 3rd man takes one step forward looking for a lob pass and the 4th man steps backward so we have a man back on D. After you do this basketball drill a few times the defender of the first man in the stack will stop following him through and will wait on the other side of the stack for him to run around it. Now when the first man jumps out of the stack and doesn’t feel the defender following him he’ll be wide open for a short shot.

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From Tony…
I’m sure all of you already do this basketball drill but it sure has helped me get my big men going to the hoop higher and harder not to mention the basketball conditioning it gives them.

I place a basketball on each of the rectangles on either side of the hoop. Then the player must as quick and hard as he can reach down , grab the ball and explode to the basket while shooting. As soon as he hits the ground he runs to the other ball and does the same while you are setting the first ball back into its spot.

Have him do this as much as he can effectively, then just work up to more reps as he gets stronger and better.

From Cary…
To improve a defender’s ability to move their feet, I have found this basketball defense drill to be helpful.  This drill can be done from full court or from half court.

Essentially, you have a defender who steps out between the dribbler and the hoop.  He has to prevent the offensive player from dribbling down and getting a layup.  The defender must put his hands behind his back and keep them there the entire time.  He now must use his feet to stop a layup.   Be sure and pair up players of similar speed.

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From John…
This is a defensive basketball drill we use with our 5th grade boys team but it can really be used at any level.

Two lines under the basket, one basketball for each line; one basketball coach standing on each elbow. The first two players in line pass the ball to the coach in front of them and close out in a defensive stance. We look to make sure the last few steps before getting to the coach are short and choppy so they don’t over commit and also look for them to stop arms length away.

As the player approaches, the coach will make one or two stationary offensive moves (typically jab steps) to make sure get the defender is reacting correctly. Finally the coach says go and the player slides to the corner, drop steps at the corner and slides across the baseline and gets in the other line from where he started.

We use this drill in basketball practice but also in pre-game warm ups to get the kids thinking about defense.

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From Lee…
The Marines at Camp Pendleton, here in north San Diego, have a tradition of practicing a basketball drill in which they have two squads of five men pass the ball and run their offense, but no dribbling is allowed!

I took that drill and adjusted it for our 4th-graders, and ran a scrimmage, with a three-on-three full-court scrimmage for 8 minutes (two groups), and then a 5-on-5 scrimmage for 8 minutes…the boys loved it so much they begged for a second 5-on-5 scrimmage for 8 min. and I reffed the “game” just as usual, plus no dribbling.

The boys understood the message of team play and passing.

From Judy…
Here is a variation of hustle/aggression basketball drills that we use with under 15 year old boys to encourage aggressive play and hustle.

4 lines at baseline; basketball coach in the middle rolls ball towards middle of court then blows whistle. The first player from each inside line race to get ball, after they take off towards ball, first player from each outside line sprints up sideline towards opposing basket.

Player retrieving the basketball must immediately pass to sprinting player on his side of court.  The other sprinter, and player not getting initial ball are defenders and must stop the layup. Sprinter must either layup ball or pass back to trailer who stops and pops.

All 4 players clear out after shot and rebound, then next group  goes.

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From Papa…
Rebounding Drill
One player lies on the floor his/her back, with feet toward the basket on the free throw line. Three people (basketball coaches, assistants or other players) space themselves in an arc around the basket about 10-15 feet out.  These three people begin passing the basketball to each other in a random fashion.  Without warning, one of them shoots the ball toward the basket with the intent of bouncing it off the rim to create a rebound opportunity. As soon as the reclining player sees that the ball is heading toward the basket, (s)he springs to his/her feet and grabs the rebound as quickly as possible.

The best possible scenario is for the player to get the rebound before the ball hits the floor.  Grabbing the ball after the first bounce is still OK.  Grabbing it after the second bounce is less OK, but acceptable if the ball took a “wild” rebound off the rim.  The ball should never bounce a third time before being snatched.

This basketball drill develops 2 of the 3 rebounding skills I teach;
1. Anticipation – estimating which direction the ball will bounce off the rim.
2. Quickness – getting to the ball fast.
3. Positioning (vis a vis an opposing player).  You can incorporate this skill into an “advanced” version of the drill by having two players lie on their backs at the free throw line and compete for the rebound.  (With my middle-schoolers, I don’t put heavy emphasis on leaping ability as a 4th rebounding skill, as I believe kids who master the other 3 skills will get more rebounds than pure jumpers.)

Key Features of the Drill:
* Reclining players cannot move until the ball is shot, but to be successful they must move the instant they know it has been shot – while it is still on its way to the rim.
* Use at least 2 (I use 3) people to pass and shoot the ball so that the reclining players won’t know ahead of time where the ball is coming from – they will have to think and move faster.

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From Kevin…
I don’t have a name for this basketball drill, but the intent is to teach the very young players passing skills and how to move and get open. It’s keep-a-way in a box.

I just use a box because very young players need some reference point or they will run all over the gym.Three players on the corners of a box with 15′ sides play keep-a-way from one player in the middle. There is always one open corner.

The players cannot pass across the box, but only to an adjacent corner. If a corner adjacent to the basketball is empty then the player diagonal must move to fill the empty spot. The passer must make a decision to pass left or right, faking out the person in the middle. After every pass, someone must move. If the person in the middle gets the ball, whoever they took it from moves to the middle.

This is intended to be a fast moving game with many touches on the ball teaching movement, getting open, and passing skills. After the players get the game down then the “box” can be removed and they can play on half of the court.

I’m now coaching very young players and need basketball drills focused on teaching basic ball skills.

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