The Complete Player-Dribbling Part 2 (Intermediate)
After our players have mastered the drills in dribbling part 1, we quickly move them on to a tougher progression.
A word of note here. We always want to push kids outside their comfort zone. We believe that this is the zone where they get better. With this in mind, we never wait for the kids to perfect the tail end of part 1 before we move on to part 2. Once you start seeing them getting the hang of the toughest drills in part 1 it's time to move on.
The intermediate part of our dribbling progressions will introduce a lot more movements of the ball in the horizontal plane. In the beginner phase we spend a lot of time teaching our kids how dribble up and down or in the vertical plane. Our goal is for them to get the feel of dribbling the basketball. Once they advance to part 2 we introduce the movement along the horizontal plane. In addition to this we also introduce varying heights of dribble along the vertical plane which is very important in a dribbling progression.
Along with this emphasis we also encourage our kids to continue pounding the ball. One might ask why do we stress pounding the ball. The simple answer is the faster the ball comes back into your hands the safer it is when you are playing against someone. The ball gets to your hands faster when you pound the ball. We also call this a tight dribble. Many young players spend a lot of time on learning how to dribble. You watch them and they know how to dribble between the legs, they know how to wrap, and they do combo moves. The problem is that everything is slow or what I call loose. Their dribble is so slow that even though they know all the moves they are still easy to defend. When we see this as coaches we start working on pounds. When we say pounds we mean pound everything. We pound straight dribbles, crossovers, between the legs, wraps. We pound everything.
Points of Emphasis
Now that they are feeling comfortable, we start to work on our 3 points of emphasis. We do this by having them do the following drills:
With dribbling on the move we will emphasize pushing the ball fast and hard up the floor with a few dribbles as possible. Again the whole idea is that the less time the ball spends on the ground the safer the ball is. Pushing the ball up the floor like this also maximizes speed.
The only drill that we use for this section is a full court dribble to the basket. We will count the kids dribbles and then challenge them to reduce that number each time they take a rep. Challenge them to over exaggerate and really push the ball out in front of them. The trick is to push the ball out in front as far as possible before the ball bounces a second time.
In closing, the above mentioned drills constitute the intermediate section of our dribbling drills. We add the horizontal plane into the equation and focus on pounding the ball or dribbling hard and fast with every drill we do. With this section of dribbling it is a good idea to keep parts of the drills mentioned in your players routines for the rest of their playing careers.
A word of note here. We always want to push kids outside their comfort zone. We believe that this is the zone where they get better. With this in mind, we never wait for the kids to perfect the tail end of part 1 before we move on to part 2. Once you start seeing them getting the hang of the toughest drills in part 1 it's time to move on.
The intermediate part of our dribbling progressions will introduce a lot more movements of the ball in the horizontal plane. In the beginner phase we spend a lot of time teaching our kids how dribble up and down or in the vertical plane. Our goal is for them to get the feel of dribbling the basketball. Once they advance to part 2 we introduce the movement along the horizontal plane. In addition to this we also introduce varying heights of dribble along the vertical plane which is very important in a dribbling progression.
Along with this emphasis we also encourage our kids to continue pounding the ball. One might ask why do we stress pounding the ball. The simple answer is the faster the ball comes back into your hands the safer it is when you are playing against someone. The ball gets to your hands faster when you pound the ball. We also call this a tight dribble. Many young players spend a lot of time on learning how to dribble. You watch them and they know how to dribble between the legs, they know how to wrap, and they do combo moves. The problem is that everything is slow or what I call loose. Their dribble is so slow that even though they know all the moves they are still easy to defend. When we see this as coaches we start working on pounds. When we say pounds we mean pound everything. We pound straight dribbles, crossovers, between the legs, wraps. We pound everything.
Points of Emphasis
- Look up on dribbles
- Work on horizontal as well as varying heights on the vertical plane
- Pound everything (pounding can also be considered quick)
Now that they are feeling comfortable, we start to work on our 3 points of emphasis. We do this by having them do the following drills:
- Straight dribble - we do this at the waist, knees, and ankles. Make sure they bend at the knees and not at the waist. Remember we are pounding everything.
- Figure eights - low dribbles, between the legs, as quick as possible (make them go outside their comfort zone). This begins teaching them how to move the ball on the horizontal plane.
- Crossover - we do tight, regular, and wide. Again everything is pounded.
- Between the legs - start by going right hand to left hand under the left leg. Once the ball goes to the left hand then crossover to the right hand and do it again. Once done about 10 times then do it from the left hand to the right hand.
- Behind the Back - do behind the back crossovers. If they can't do consecutive crossovers behind the back then let them dribble the ball once or twice and then go behind the back. So they can go right hand-behind the back-left hand-dribble-dribble-behind the back.
- One handed crossover - This is an important dribble as it starts to teach the all important moving the ball horizontally as well as vertically with the same hand. Have them do one hand first and then the next one
- Yo-Yo's - Is what we call the one handed dribble where the dribbler starts the dribble with their right hand and on their right side will bounce the ball backwards and the move the right arm back to receive the ball backhanded to bounce it back forward.
- Fakees - Are what we call the one handed dribble where the offensive player fakes a crossover by placing his hand on the outside of the ball and then quickly move the hand to the inside of the ball to bring it back. This again is a move that helps players get comfortable with the horizontal plane.
- Jump the Line - Find a line on the floor and dribble the ball over and behind the line continuously. do it front and back and then side to side.
With dribbling on the move we will emphasize pushing the ball fast and hard up the floor with a few dribbles as possible. Again the whole idea is that the less time the ball spends on the ground the safer the ball is. Pushing the ball up the floor like this also maximizes speed.
The only drill that we use for this section is a full court dribble to the basket. We will count the kids dribbles and then challenge them to reduce that number each time they take a rep. Challenge them to over exaggerate and really push the ball out in front of them. The trick is to push the ball out in front as far as possible before the ball bounces a second time.
In closing, the above mentioned drills constitute the intermediate section of our dribbling drills. We add the horizontal plane into the equation and focus on pounding the ball or dribbling hard and fast with every drill we do. With this section of dribbling it is a good idea to keep parts of the drills mentioned in your players routines for the rest of their playing careers.
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