Mini Basketball Drills

Coaching youth basketball can be a daunting task. However, it is also exciting and rewarding. Working with the youngest of players, especially those under age 10, requires patience and a sense of humor. Most coaches approach very young teams with a desire to instill a love of the game while teaching some basic rules and short, fun drills, also called mini drills.

  1. Stance

    • Achieving and maintaining the proper stance is critical to fundamental basketball. The purpose of the proper stance is to be ready to receive or steal the ball. A player should have his knees bent with his back straight, feet shoulder width or wider apart. This allows for a strong sense of balance. The hips should be pushed back such that the backside is slightly behind the heels. The hand position will depend upon what action the player wishes to take, offensive or defensive. Check the stance at the beginning of each practice, and do periodic stop and spot checks to maintain this skill.

    Footwork

    • An easy and familiar drill to start with is a basketball version of the children's game of red-light-green-light. It combines footwork with dribbling practice. The coach stands at one baseline and lines up the team evenly spread apart at the other baseline. Give each player a ball and instruct him to dribble non-stop. Then call out the word "green" to instruct the players to dribble and move straight ahead, "yellow" to dribble left, "blue" to dribble right and "red" to stop. A player is out when he makes a mistake.

    Dribbling

    • This drill increases dribbling speed. Have players line up at midcourt and dribble to the baseline. Count the number of dribbles. Then re-run the drill, asking players to reduce their number of dribbles by one. Repeat the drill, again asking players to reduce number of dribbles by one. Continue the drill to see how low each player can go and set that as his goal to work toward. Fewer dribbles translates to greater speed on the court. If there are enough volunteers, this drill can be run with individual players while the rest of the team participates in a group drill.

    Passing

    • Teaching the skill of passing is a challenge in youth basketball because less mature players want to hold onto the ball as much as possible. A fun way to teach passing is to play a version of the keep-away game. Divide the players into two teams. Each team alternates with two minutes on offense and two minutes on defense. Play fun upbeat music in two-minute bursts. Instruct offensive players that they must pass the ball every five seconds or less to earn points. The coach keeps time by counting 1 to 5 aloud. Each time the offense passes within five seconds, they get a point. The team on defense should try to steal the ball and erase points from the offense. Alternate teams every two minutes to keep the pace fast and the players engaged.

    Shooting

    • Shooting is a fundamental skill.

      For really young players, a great way to start is with the half-moon drill. Divide players into two teams. Then arrange each team in a half-moon shape around each three-point line. Start with a player in one of the corners on each team. Determine a short time limit, such as three minutes. Each player takes his shot, follows through, and passes to the next player. Each player then scoots in the half-circle to replace the person to his left or right depending on the direction chosen. At the end of the allotted time, the team with the most baskets wins.

    Considerations

    • Keep it fun.

      For young teams, the best way to keep players focused and engaged is to run short easy drills and move quickly between drills. As players mature, weave in more complex activities of longer duration. Also, break things up with a variety of drills each week alternated with familiar drills to build confidence while having fun.