Basketball Drills

  1. Rules
    1. Description of Court, Baselines, Sidelines, Centre, Key

Basketball Drills

    1. Traveling, Double Dribble,
    2. Fouls, what’s allowed, what’s not.
    3. Discussion of Defense (Demonstration of slide step, Defense position)

 

    Drill #1

    1. Line players up on Baseline with ball, yell “Go”, and players dribble ball towards other baseline.  When coach blows whistle, players must stop immediately without traveling and establish Pivot foot.  Have player circle in all directions while keeping pivot foot.  Coach yells go again and process repeats until player reaches the other baseline.

    Drill #2

    1. Organize players in groups of two.  Start at one baseline, one player with ball while the other is on defense.
    2. Player with ball zigzags from sideline to sideline down towards other baseline while defensive player keeps at least one arm length away.  Defensive player uses slide step to keep in front of offensive player.
    3. This is mostly a defensive drill.  Focus on maintaining arm length distance from offensive player while still impeding the offensive player from a direct path down the basket. You may need to have offensive player go only at half speed.

 

    1. Dribbling
    1. Focus on proper form of dribbling using part of the hand at the base of the fingers.
    2. No slapping of ball or applying too much or too little pressure.

    Drill #1

    1. All players have a ball and are spread out around coach.
    2. Players follow coach’s lead dribbling using first right hand then left hand. 
    3. Cross over dribbling, between legs, around legs, sitting down, lying down.
    4. After a few practices get different players to lead team.
    5. Great way to warm up before games.

    Drill #2

    1. All players have a ball in a defined playing area using lines on the court.
    2. Players must dribble ball continuously while trying to knock another teammate’s ball away and staying within playing area.
    3. No fouls allowed.  Coach is judge as to whether player is out of game either by leaving playing area or by having ball knocked away.
    4. As players get knocked out, continue to make the playing area smaller and smaller.
    5. If you have an assistant coach, have the knocked out player go and join him or her to work on shooting or dribbling.

 

  1. Shooting

Start by teaching shooting without the use of a basket.
Fundaments of shooting:
Use of one hand for force of shot while other hand acts only as a guide.
Follow through with shooting hand and exaggerate the follow-through by snapping wrist as ball leaves hand.
Shoulders square to the basket, Ball starts at stomach and is brought up over the eye of the shooting hand. Elbow is in and underneath ball and is held high during shot

    Drill #1

    1. Organize team in pairs. Standing 5 ft apart facing each other.
    2. One player has ball and practices shooting while focusing on form.
    3. At this age it generally helps to try and get players to shoot ball as high as they can while landing at partner.
    4. Coaches watches team perform drill while helping correct form.

 

  1. Lay-ups

Have players form a line.  Progressively have players demonstrate how to do a lay-up as follows
1. Player tries a lay-up one step towards basket.  Outside leg drives up towards basket.  Use backboard on shot.
2. Add one step
3. Add one step with dribble.
4. Two steps back with dribble
5. Full speed, many steps back from basket

 

  1. Passing
    1. Organize the team in pairs and in two lines.
    2. Demonstrate the different types of passes.  Chest pass, bounce pass, baseball pass.
    3. Make sure the players are close enough to each other so that they can still show proper form.

     

  2. Positioning on the court
    1. Explain the purpose and position of each position on the court. (guards, forwards, centre)
    2. Emphasize importance of spreading players out on the court.