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Everything in basketball is about quickness, so it’s important that your young players understand the importance of the mechanics of the Quick Stance, and which stance to use for Offense and which stance to use for Defense.
Here are a couple of important points about the Quick Stance:
1. Your weight is on your whole foot, so that your whole foot is down on the floor. Feet are shoulder-width apart and pointing a little bit to the outside.
2. All of your joints are bent. And I don’t mean just your legs – you also have to bend your arms and keep your arms in close. If your arms are out waving around, that means you’re slow. And opponents are going to take advantage of that.
Offensive Triple Threat Position
An offensive quick stance would be a Triple Threat Position. Your stance position is still the same, but the ball is on your side as you try to “pit and protect the ball”, getting that ball as close to your armpit as possible.
You can work with your players on this stance without the ball, focusing on keeping the back straight and arms tucked in tight to the side.
Defensive Quick Stance
A defensive quick stance is a little bit different – your stance position is the same but your hands are actively moving to follow the ball. Hands will transition between palms up and palms down based on the ball carrier – if he/she has the ball up, then the defensive players hands will be up, and vice versa is he/she is dribbling, the hands will be palms down.
The other difference is that your feet are active. You can move your feet and it isn’t traveling, because you are on defense.
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Or, if you’re looking for more ideas for teaching basic fundamentals, head over to our collection of youth basketball drills.