Beginning Basketball Drills

Basketball is a fast-paced sport that requires players to have a solid foundation in offensive and defensive skills. When coaching beginners, it's best to start with the fundamentals. Ball-handling, passing, shooting, rebounding and defensive drills become an integral part of player development. In addition to working on individual drills, it becomes important for coaches to introduce basketball drills in progression so that you keep building upon skills and reinforce what players have learned.

  1. Ball Control

    • Ball control becomes an important skill that all players, including centers, must acquire. Dribbling drills help players improve their ball control, hand coordination and speed on the court. Dribbling drills help set the foundation for offensive moves that break down the opponent's defense. Coaches teaching beginners should start with sideline drills. Players pair up in groups of two and spread out evenly along the sideline. The first player in each pair dribbles across the court right-handed, and then returns dribbling the ball left-handed. The player then passes the ball to her partner, who repeats the exercise. Players run down the court twice before moving on to the next series. Players follow up with a variety of moves, including a crossover dribble, in which they switch from right hand to left hand; speed dribbling, in which they bounce the ball quickly and low to the ground; and zigzag dribbling, in which they run in a zigzag formation while dribbling. The drill should usually last about 10 minutes.

    Shooting Drills

    • Shooting drills help players focus on form, technique and passing skills. Players pair up in groups of two. Player No. 1 stands underneath the basket, while player No. 2 positions himself at the outer edge of the three-point line, near the baseline. After player No. 1 passes the ball to player No. 2, he runs over to player No. 2 and runs by the shooter. Player No. 1 does not try to block the shot, but merely make his presence known. After player No. 2 takes the shot, he follows the ball for a rebound. Once he gets the ball, he passes it to player No. 1, and the shooting drill continues the same format. Players take at least five shots along the three-point line.

    Passing drills

    • Passing drills help players improve ball movement down the court, in addition to providing conditioning training. Fast-break passing drills provide game-like scenarios and help players with footwork. For this passing drill, players form two lines, starting at the baseline, about 10 feet apart. The coach picks another player from the end of the line to stand at half court. The two players at the front of each line begin running down the court, passing the ball to one another. As they reach half court, the player standing there tries to defend his area and steal the ball. The other two players keep passing the ball and attempt to score by shooting a layup. Once this group is finished, the next group begins the drill. No dribbling is allowed during the drill.