Basketball Drills for Youth

I’ve received a lot of requests for [tag]basketball drills for youth[/tag] over the past few days.  Here’s an idea that Bob sent to me–very creative!“  Give it a try.

From Bob…
I stumbled onto this approach when I was looking for a way to teach the kids to have good spacing and movement without the ball.  This year I used it with 7th graders, but this works with all ages.  The kids hate [tag]basketball[/tag] [tag]drills[/tag]; they just want to [tag]scrimmage[/tag].  Sound familiar?“  This mini-game approach is fun for them, and the [tag]coach[/tag] has enough control to shape their behavior.  This is the part of [tag]practice[/tag] they all look forward to most. “  They always ask “coach, are we doing 3-on-2 today?”.

Line the kids up on the baseline.  Once they know this [tag]drill[/tag], they try to form teams, so you have to split the kids up by ability.

Take the first 3, make that a team.  Then the next 2.  The 2-person team gets the ball, change of possessions have to be cleared to the 3-point line.  Whichever team scores first stays in.  If it’s the 2-person team, bring out the next 3; if it’s the 3-person team, bring out the next 2.

In each mini-game, they have to talk to each other to decide their [tag]defense[/tag], work together to switch and help, have good spacing, set screens, take good shots, exploit defensive breakdowns, and fight for [tag]rebounds[/tag].
The motivation is very high because if you lose, you sit out.  This is a great way to get them to use most of the concepts you are trying to teach in a game-like situation.