Purpose: This is a great drill to work on shooting close to the basket. It's a great warm up drill to start every shooting workout with. Rebounding and quick feet also play a role in this drill.
Instructions 1.Stand to one side of the basket slightly inside of the block facing the baseline. Jump and power the ball up for a lay up. Make sure to use the backboard. 2.Soon as you land, jump back up and rebound the ball out of the net. Try to rebound the ball as high as possible. When you grab the ball, keep it above your head. Your jump should transition you to the other side of the hoop. If you shoot on the right side, your jump should take you to the left side. 3.Continue the process side to side working on your left and right hands. 4.Continue this pattern back and forth for a set number of repetitions.
FOOTWORK DRILLS:
Start with form running - As players run down the floor, look back over inside shoulder and raise outside hand asking for the ball
Jump stops - Players should sprint to foul line, half court, 3/4 court, and full court coming to a 2-foot jump stop at each line. Players should not be going for height, but to stop their bodies. Both feet should hit the ground at the same time, which will allow them to choose which foot they want to pivot on.
Right and left foot pivots - Players should sprint to foul line, half court, 3/4 court, and full court coming to a 2-foot jump stop. Once they have done this, they should make 4 pivots, keeping their feet inside their shoulders and hips and not getting too wide and off balance.
PASSING DRILLS:
All passes should be made so that the players' thumbs end up down at the floor and their fingers pointing at their target.
Receivers of passes should have their hands up telling the passer where they want the ball to be passed.
Chest passes should be made from players' chest to partners' chest.
Bounce passes should be made from players' chest/waist and bounce 2/3 to 3/4 of way to their partner. The ball should not be spiked into the ground, nor thrown at their partner's feet.
Overhead passes should be made with the ball on top of the passer's head, NOT behind their head.
LAY-UP DRILLS:
Right hand lay-ups should be done by jumping off left foot (right foot in the air), left hand lay-ups should be done by jumping off right foot (left foot in the air). I have always told players that there is a string that is connecting their shooting elbow and shooting knee and that when the elbow goes up, the string should pull the knee up with it.
They should hold the ball with two hands until just before they lay the ball off the backboard, when the guide hand (the one they are not shooting with) should just come off to the side.
The target is the top corner of the square on the backboard on their side of the rim. Shoot it up in the air at that target.
Younger players (3rd-4th) should start by taking one step starting from the block with no dribbles.
Older players (5th-6th grade) should be able to pull off one dribble without traveling as they lay it in.
FORM SHOOTING DRILLS:
Middle finger of shooting hand on the air inflation hole
Hold shooting arm out straight and be able to read the label on the ball
Spin the ball up so that it is in the middle of the forehead
Place non-shooting hand (guide hand) on the side of the ball, NOT behind or in front of the ball
Feet should be shoulder width apart, knees bent, eyes on the target
Shoot to partner across the lane line. They should NOT be watching the ball as it goes through the air, but keeping their eyes on the target (in this case, their partner)
Players should follow through as if they are picking a cookie out of the cookie jar and hold that follow through until their partner catches the ball.
The ball should be shot up so that their shooting elbow finishes above their eye brow.
