Around the World
Around the World: Circling the basketball first around your head, than your waist, Finally, put your legs together and take the ball around both legs at the knees. Then spread your legs, bend at the waist, and take the ball around one leg. Then the other. This will give you a feel for the basketball and help you become more comfortable in your ball handling. A good hand speed and coordination drill, also great conditioner for your arms
Figure 8
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.
Crab Walk
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.
Squeeze the banana
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 imrove your ball control.
Catch-catch-catch
This is a drill to work on your ballhandling. 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.
Figure 8 Dribbling
This is a drill to practice your ballhandling. 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.
Touch-Touch-Touch
This is another ballhandling 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.
The Midas Touch
Having a soft touch is very desirable, and really just means that rather than clanging off the rim, your ball dribbles softly around the edge - due to your soft touch. To develop a soft touch, you want to have more rotation on the ball when you shoot and a higher arch to your ball.
The Midas Touch
Having a soft touch is very desirable, and really just means that rather than clanging off the rim, your ball dribbles softly around the edge - due to your soft touch. To develop a soft touch, you want to have more rotation on the ball when you shoot and a higher arch to your ball.
The Midas Touch
An undesirable trait is thinking too much, and it is due to being tentative. To overcome this tentativeness you want to make sure that when you don't have the ball you think about what you will do with it when you get it (for example - "If I'm open for the shot I will shoot it." etc). This prevents you from freezing up and "thinking too much" once you have the ball.
Up the Ladder
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.
One on two
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 manuevers while being alert to the defense.
Figure Eight--Running in Place
Move the ball around your legs as in the Figure Eight Drill, but in addition, run in place.
Pass and Catch
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.
Situp Dribble
While doing bent-knee situps, 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.
Between the Legs Scissors
To start this basketball drill, place your left foot ahead of your right and bounce the ball between your legs from your right hand to your left. 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. This shifting of your feet will occur with every bounce.
Figure Eight Drop
The ball is moved around the outside of the left legfrom 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.
Ball Circle
A great way to become comfortable with the basketball is to take it and circle it around your head, then around your waist, and, finally, around your knees. Reverse direction and take the ball back up--around the knees, waist, and head.
Figure Eight Drop Reverse
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.
The constant quest for a "better way" is what makes our profession as coaches, and this great game of basketball, an ever changing adventure. As long as we continue to grow and learn, the future of our sport is in good hands. Basketball coaches come in as many shapes and sizes as the number of game plans that are possible during the evolving, re-inventing, and recycling of ideas in our wonderful sport. In this book I hope that each coach may find some tips that will either "square" with what they already knew, make them look at something from a different "angle", or provide something new that completed the "circle" for them.
