Colchester Youth Basketball - Coaches

Drills

INTRODUCTORY BALL HANDLING TIP
To be a top-flight ball handler (which is key to being a great point guard) one must be able to survey the floor while handling the ball. The ball-handler cannot afford to be concerned with whether he/she is going to be able to control the ball at high speeds especially while running a break. Everyone on the team relies on the ball-handler to get the ball down the floor and be the catalyst toward making something happen for the team.
A classic rule of life applies here: If you can handle two of something, then mastering one thing will be much easier. In other words, if you can handle two balls at high speeds while keeping your eyes looking ahead, handling one will be a piece of cake.
Drill: Stand at one end of the court. Hold one basketball in each hand. Begin to walk forward toward the opposite baseline, bouncing the ball in your right hand first. In the fraction of a second after the ball in your right hand has hit the floor, bounce the left ball. In the fraction of a second after the left ball hits the floor, bounce the right ball. Continue in this fashion down the court. As you begin to feel more comfortable doing the drill, start to pick up your pace. Ideally, you will eventually be able to sprint down the floor, bouncing both balls with equal skill. Don't underestimate the importance of this ball handling tip! I have seen NBA and WNBA players STILL performing this drill at the on-set of a practice. It sounds simple, and it is, so make sure to master ball-handling and you're on your way to a great basketball career!

AROUND THE WORLD
Ball Handling Tip #1: Circle the ball around your head, than your waist, and finally put your legs together and take the ball around both legs at the knees. Then, bend at the waist, spread your legs, and circle the ball around one leg, then the other. This exercise will give you a great feel for the ball in addition to hand coordination and speed.

THE SCISSORS
Ball Handling Tip #2: To start this exercise, place your left foot ahead of your right and bounce the ball between your legs from your right to your left hand. As the ball gets to your left hand shift your feet so that your right leg goes ahead of your left and bounce the ball back between your legs. Shift your feet with every bounce.

CATCH-CATCH-CATCH
Ball Handling Tip #3: This is a drill to work on your ball handling. Hold the ball between your legs, with both hands on the ball, right hand in front and left hand in back. Quickly switch your hands,(now left hand in front and right hand in the back), without letting the ball touch the ground. Do as quickly as possible...this drill is one of the hardest to master... but it just takes lots of practice.

CRAB WALK
Ball Handling Tip #4: This drill can go from baseline to half court. Step forward with your left leg and pass the ball from your right hand to your left under your left leg. As you take your next step with your right leg, pass the ball from your left hand to your right under your right leg. Continue this pattern all the way down the floor.

FIGURE 8
Ball Handling Tip #5: Spread your legs, bend at the waist, put the ball through your legs, around one leg, back through your legs, and around your other leg, making a figure eight. This will help you get a feel for the basketball as you move it around. Keep your head up not looking at the ball and increase your speed.

FIGURE 8 DRIBBLING
Ball Handling Tip #6: This is a drill to practice your ball-handling. Dribble the ball as quickly as possible in a figure 8 through and around the legs. Use the fingers when you dribble, and dribble very low and quickly. Switch from the right to the left and back to the right. Example: start with the right hand dribbling the ball in front and then dribble through your legs with your right hand, switch to your left hand and dribble from the back, around your left side to the front and back through you legs... then switch to your right hand behind the body and around the right side. Try to go as fast as possible and your dribbling skills will improve with daily practice.

FIGURE 8 DROP
Ball Handling Tip #7: The ball is moved around the outside of the left leg from the back to the front. Then it is passed in front of your body and around the outside of your right leg from front to back. Now the ball is between your legs at the back of your body. Bounce the ball, and as it is bouncing, reverse your hands, bring your right from the back to the front and your left from the front to the back. Catch the ball before it bounces again. Continue to do figure eights.

FIGURE 8 DROP REVERSE
Ball Handling Tip #8: For this drill, follow the procedure described in the Figure Eight Drop Drill, except that when you bounce the ball, your movement will be reversed. After the bounce, circle the ball around the outside of your right leg, in front of your left leg, and around your left leg from the front to the back.

FIGURE 8 RUNNING IN PLACE
Ball Handling Tip #9: Move the ball around your legs as in the Figure Eight Drill, but in addition, run in place.

ONE ON TWO
Ball Handling Tip #10: A good drill to use to better your dribbling under pressure is to try to advance the ball against two defenders. This will force you to use a variety of maneuvers while being alert to the defense.

PASS AND CATCH
Ball Handling Tip #11: With 2 hands, make a bounce pass between your legs from front to back and catch the ball with 2 hands behind you. Then bounce the ball through your legs from the back to the front, and catch the ball in front of your body. This is a good drill for body awareness.

SIT-UP DRIBBLE
Ball Handling Tip #12: While doing bent-knee sit-ups, dribble up with your right hand as you sit up, and around your feet, then switch hands to your left as you go back down, and then dribble with your left hand as you sit up, back around your feet, switching back to your right hand. Continue as quickly as possible.
Ball Handling Tip #13: This is a drill that helps increase the strength in your fingers. Hold the ball in front of you at eye level with two hands. By squeezing your fingers and thumb together with one hand at a time, you move the ball from one hand to the other as quickly as you can. More finger and arm strength will improve your ball control.

TOUCH-TOUCH-TOUCH
Ball Handling Tip #14: This is another ball-handling drill that seems very difficult at first, but with daily practice, will improve your handles. This drill is called touch-touch-touch because that is what you do... while keeping the ball between your legs, you touch the ball once with your right hand(fingers) in front, then with your left hand(fingers) in front, then with your right behind you, and then with your left behind you. Continue in this manner as fast as possible. Before long, you will master this skill.

UP THE LADDER
Ball Handling Tip #15: Hold the ball out in front of you and pass it back from hand to hand using only your finger tips. Go from out in front of your waist to above your head and back. This will help you develop the finger tip control that you will need to properly handle the ball. 

BAD PASSES
One bad pass can beget another. Whenever a player receives a bad pass, he or she should make sure that they regain their balance before throwing another pass.

BASEBALLPASS
The baseball pass is most often used to advance the ball up the floor. The ball is held with both hands on the ball, one on either side with the throwing hand usually a little higher on the ball. The ball is cocked up near the ear to aid in a quick release. The passers hand must be BEHIND the ball so the pass doesn’t have too much side spin, making it hard to catch. The pass is made over the defense, leading the receiver.

BEHIND THE BACKPASS
One of the most deceptive passes is the behind the back pass. This should become a fundamental pass in every good basketball players game. Although the pass looks hard it is quite simple. First place the ball in your dominant hand and hold it there. Then put the ball behind your back. Then you flick your wrist in the direction the ball should travel. This pass is deceptive and is a great way to build up finger pad control and to build up wrist flexibility and strength. This should really become a fundamental pass and not a pass used for "showboating".

BOUNCEPASS
The bounce pass should travel from your waist to receiver’s waist. The ball should bounce about 2/3 of the way to the receiver. You should follow through as in chest pass with your thumbs down. The backspin that this creates slows the ball down when it hits the ground and makes it easier to catch.

CHESTPASS
The chest pass should go from your chest to receiver’s chest. You should step into the pass with your knees bent and follow through, with the ball coming off of your fingertips and your thumbs down. This creates good backspin and makes the pass easier to catch.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF PASSES
There are several different types of passes, to be used in different situations: The chest pass is used primarily in the open court and on the perimeter: The overhead pass is used on the perimeter and on the outlet pass: The bounce pass is a pass that is used anytime under defensive pressure: The baseball pass is used when you need a long pass.

ENTRY PASSES
To enter the ball to the wing, the passer and receiver should ensure a proper passing angle. The passer from the guard spot should attempt to get to, what we call, the "Entry Line". The Entry Line is a line drawn from the basket THROUGH the corner of the key and the free throw line, on out to half court. The passer should attempt to get as close to that line with the dribble prior to passing to the wing. This ensures a good angle to the wing and cuts down on the defense’s chance of denying or intercepting the pass.

FAKE A PASS-THROW A PASS
When you are prepared to pass the ball while being pressured by a defender, pass fake (which is a fake throwing the ball in one direction) then pass the ball other way. Fake a bounce pass and throw overhead. Fake overhead and throw around. This will usually make the defender go for the first pass and clear some lane for a pass in the opposite direction.

FEEDING THE POST 
One of the biggest problems with passing the ball into the post is passing from bad angles. The passer, the post player and the basket should all be in a direct line. This will force the defender to pick a side to guard and you can get a good angle from which to feed the ball into the low post.

FOCUS UNDER THE BASKET
In order to be a better passer who gets the ball to the right player at the right time, learn to focus under the basket. As you develop your peripheral vision, you will learn to see all the players on your team and be able to pick out who is open without telegraphing your passes.

KEYS TO PASSING
-Eye contact. -Crisp two handed pass motion. -Pass to the target, if the player is in motion, throw a lead pass. -Thumbs should be pointing in the direction of the ball after the ball is thrown.

HAND POSITION FOR THE CHESTPASS
When throwing a chest pass, position your hands on the sides of the ball, both thumbs pointing up. When the pass is thrown correctly, the hands should rotate so that the backs of the hands face each other and the thumbs point down.

KNOW THE DEFENDER
A good rule of thumb when passing is to pass around or under a taller opponent, over a shorter one. These passes will be more difficult for that particular defender to stop.

OVERHEADPASS
The ball is held straight up in the air avoiding any bend in the elbows. The ball should not be put behind the head. The passer extends a leg toward the receiver and delivers the pass with a snap of the wrists. The ball should be thrown on a straight line with very little spin.

PASS UP THE COURT
Put a player at each end line, one at each free throw line and another at mid court. Have those players relay the ball from one end line to the other and back again. To do so take EIGHT passes. Then take the FASTEST dribbler and have him try to dribble to the opposite end and back before the group of FIVE players throw EIGHT passes. The passing team ALWAYS wins (unless, of course, they drop the ball or really miss a pass). This demonstration usually enlightens young players as to the importance of passing.

SEE THE DEFENSE
As important as seeing your teammates are, seeing the DEFENSE may be more important. You are going to KNOW where your players should be through practice and naturally react to their same color uniforms. It is better if you have a "soft focus" on the floor and see your teammates through your peripheral vision. However, you should concentrate on where the defense is attack their weak areas and pass AWAY from the defensive player.

TWO HANDBOUNCEPASS
The pass is made with the ball held close to the chest and the elbows in to the side of the body. Push forward with a thrust of both arms and a snap of the wrists. In releasing the ball, the player steps or puts weight on the front foot. The passer assumes a slightly lower position and aims his pass for the receiver’s thighs. The ball should be bounced about three quarters of the way between the players. 

 QUICK
In a circle, you in middle. The kids copy you running on the spot, jumping etc. When you say quick they get into the defensive position. However if you say get down they continue to do what they were beforehand. They are only out if you see them.

HEADS UP DIRECTION CHANGE
Along the center court line space out 4 to 5 players facing you. You should be off the court at center court. Instruct your players to move while dribbling in whichever direction you move - side to side, forward and backwards. Change direction without words so they have to keep their eyes on you. As they progress change directions more quickly and move faster.

REDLIGHT-GREENLIGHT 2
Have a group of kids start at one baseline, don't bunch them too closely together. Each child in the group has a ball. When the facilitator shouts green light the children dribble forward, blue and they dribble left, yellow they dribble right, and of course red they stop. All during this youth basketball drill the children keep dribbling.

SPEED LAY-UP DRILL
Coach times player for 1 minute; team counts aloud number of shots made and encourages player along the way.
Player with a basketball stands to the right of the basket, coach says 'GO' and player shoots a layup (using backboard) from right side... then miss or make goes to left side. She continues to alternate sides, team counts how many are made in one minute.
Coach may decide to give stronger players 45 seconds, weaker players 1 minute +.

SPEED DRIBBLE
Players start at 1/2 court or baseline. Each line or player has a ball. Objective is to reduce the number of dribbles. Let the players cover the required distance and count their dribbles. Have them cover the same distance and reduce the dribbles by 1. Repeat and reduce by 1 again. Continue reducing until you have increased speed.

SIDE-LINE LAYUPS
The O's pass to the outlet line. The line to their left if they are going to shoot left handed lay ups and vice versa. The O then runs the floor to receive a bounce pass at the other end. X throws a baseball pass down the sideline. Then pass to the foul line, the x at the foul line gives a bounce pass to O for the lay-up. X's always follow their pass to the next line. X at the foul line get the rebound of O and are the next shooters.
With two balls, shoot to get 20 makes in two minutes with 4-6 graders. Try 25 in junior high and 30 with Varsity players.
Double this when adding the third and fourth ball.

REDLIGHT-GREENLIGHT
This youth basketball drill starts with everyone at the baseline with a ball. When the coach says 'green light', the player starts to dribble and walk. When the coach says 'red light', the player stops. For the younger kids just learning, tell them this is not a race. When 'red light' is said, let them pick-up their dribble. As the level of play increases, different variations could be things like walking backwards, making it a race, using opposite hands, or any errors in dribbling having the player to go back to start. You can also use a whistle; one blow signifies 'green light' and two whistles mean 'red light'.

PIN-BALL
Players start in a confined area. Each player has two cloths pins clipped on the back of their jerseys about shoulder blade level.
On command, everyone goes after cloths pins on everyone else. Winner is player with most pins.
Helps young players with aggressiveness.
Hustle. Reward winner by sitting out next round or X number of sprints, etc.
Time - 5 minutes

PCPP
Three players are lined up in a straight line approx. 30ft. apart A player on either end starts with the ball. This players slap on the ball starts the drill and is a signal for the player in the middle to cut towards him to receive a pass from him. The middle player cuts towards the passer, receives the pass that is thrown to him and completes a legal stop(jump stop or one two stop). After making the catch and stop, this player makes a legal pivot and passes to the player on the other end. After this pass is caught by the ender the middle player cuts towards the ender and receives a return pass from him where upon the middle player again completes a legal stop, pivot and passes to the player on the other end. For youth players I would switch the middle man after he has made anywhere from 5 to 10 passes or you could do the drill for 30 to 45 sec. and then rotate players so that everybody in the drill gets a shot in the middle especially.

KEEP IT BOUNCING
While dribbling try to tap the other players ball out of bounds. Second dribble is not allowed. When your ball goes out of bounds you must do 5 push ups or run one lap, after you did that you can join the group again. Make sure the kids keep there head up, use both arms. The more the try to tap away other players balls (in stead of just protecting there own ball) the better dribblers they become.

HOT HANDS
You cannot dribble the ball in this game! The player who receives a pass can take two steps and then has to pass the ball to someone else. As soon as the player receives a pass, he/she is requires to count out loud the steps he/she takes. If the player exceeds the two steps, the coach stops the game and this player is replaced by someone on the bench (if there are any).

HEADS UP
Minimum of two players spaced 5-8 feet apart (depending on age level). Each player has a basketball and one has a wiffle golf ball or ping pong ball. Dribbling with your good hand (proper form required) you underhand pass the ping pong ball back and forth while dribbling. If you miss the ping pong ball dribble to get it and continue the drill.
Switch to your off hand and continue drill (5-10 min drill total)

GOPHER BALL
Players start at 1/2 court circle or free throw circle. Teach players to react quickly to loose ball. - Go quickly into Offense.  Players lay down on stomach with eyes closed. Toss ball into air and blow whistle. Players scramble for ball.

  BEAN BAG GAME
Using half court place one team at center court, and one team at the corners of the baseline. Each team has one ball.
Place bean bags in key circle in a pile. On coaches command one player from each team dribbles into the key, while still dribbling the players must bend down and pick up a bean bag each. They must then dribble back to their team while still dribbling deposit the bean bag and give the ball to their next team member. This process continues until all bean bags are gone, and then they are able to steal bean bags from the other teams. After two minutes the team with the most bean bags wins.
NOTE: Only one bean bag is able to be taken at a time.

BALL SCRAMBLE
On command, everyone drops ball and runs to half court or bleachers, etc. and returns. While the players are running, coach removes one ball. Player without ball is out. With fewer players, start to reduce area. 
For those just starting out playing basketball, the game should be all about having fun. These drills will show you how to make sure the kids enjoy themselves while they learn the basics of basketball.
There are 22 basketball drills in this category, and the newest ones are listed first.

STEAL THE BACON
Split players into two even groups. Groups occupy opposite baselines and each player is assigned a number that matches the number of an opposing player. Ball is then placed at center court. Coach calls out a number. The two players assigned that number break for the ball. First player to the ball is awarded one point. The player reaching the ball first is now on offense and must attempt to score on opposing teams basket. Player is awarded one point for a shot attempt and one additional point for his/her team if the shot is successful. Coach may blow whistle and call play dead at any time. Players return to their baselines and a new number is called. First team to a predetermined score wins.

WATCH THE NUMBERS
Line up underneath the goal in three or four lines, then ever person that is first in their line has a ball. They can go full or half court. They must dribble the ball while looking up at numbers that you have on your construction paper or regular sized paper. When they get back to their line, call on someone to see if they can tell you what the number was. If they can’t send them on a lap.

CAT AND MOUSE
1 player (cat) starts half court in a defensive position. Rest of team (mice) start on one of the baselines (spread out), each with a ball. At whistle the mice try to dribble to the other baseline without being caught by the cat. The cat (without fouling) steals the ball from the mouse, if the cat does so that mouse now also becomes a cat. The only rules are the cat can only steal 1 ball per baseline attempt by the mice and the cat must have control of the ball (once stolen), and dribble back to the baseline where the mouse came from (the mouse should not give up on the ball). Also, once mouse crosses the other baseline that mouse is protected so cat cannot steal that ball. After all of the mice that did not get their ball stolen, stop game and take all of the stolen balls out of play and set your (now) cats and mice up to do it again!!!!HAVE FUN

MONKEY IN THE MIDDLE GETS THE BALL

The end person passes to the middle man and runs to where the middle man was. When the middle man gets the ball he dribbles to where the end guy was. As soon as the end guy gets to the middle the other end guy passes the ball to him. Continue this pattern.

CLAP PASS

You get all the players circled around you. You pass the ball to random players in the group. The player must clap before they catch the ball. They sit out if:
1.They don’t catch the ball
2.They don’t clap
3.They clap when you fake a pass to them
WHO’S AFRAID OF…….
One person stands in the middle of the court with a ball. He calls out “Who’s afraid of…” (here you can use whatever name you like).  Everybody has their own ball and try to reach the other side of the court without getting “caught” by the one in the middle.  Everyone who get caught by a tap on his back helps the one in the middle the next time.
HEADS UP DIRECTION CHANGE
Along the center court line space out 4 to 5 players facing you. You should be off the court at center court. Instruct your players to move while dribbling in whichever direction you move – side to side, forward and backwards. Change direction without words so they have to keep their eyes on you. As they progress change directions more quickly and move faster.

Useful Links

http://www.5min.com/Video/How-To-Play-Basketball-Zone-Defense-Mistakes-6185413

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/

http://www.wonderhowto.com