Keep young children engaged during long basketball practices with drills that more closely resemble games than boot camp exercises. Many game-like drills can help young basketball players develop basic skills such as dribbling, passing and shooting. Try ending practice with one of these fun drills as a reward for your players' hard work.
Bean Bag Dribbling Race
This drill resembles a relay race, with one half of the team competing against the other half. Divide your players into two teams and tell one team to line up behind one basket and the other behind center court. Pile plenty of bean bags at the key halfway between the two teams. When you say "Start," the first person at the front of each line should dribble toward the bean bags, grab one bag and return to her line without stopping dribbling. She then passes the ball to the next person in line. Play until no bean bags remain on the court. The team that has collected the most bean bags wins.
Steal the Bacon
This drill puts players against each other in one-on-one competition, but the individual players work to score points for their team. Divide the players into two teams and have each team stand behind one basket. Assign each player on each team a number. Assign the same set of numbers to both teams. When you call out a number, the players with that number from each team must race to the center of the court to reach the basketball and try to score with it. Players earn one point for their team by reaching the ball first, an additional point for each shot they make. Once a shot is made, the two players leave the court and you call out another number at random.
Red Light Green Light
This dribbling game emphasizes continuous dribbling while changing directions. The game also requires a high level of alertness. Have all the players line up, each with a basketball. Tell the players to begin dribbling. They should not stop dribbling at all throughout the drill. When you say "green light," they must dribble toward you. When you say "yellow light," they must dribble to their right. When you say "blue light," they must dribble to their left. When you say "red light," they must either dribble while walking backward or turn to dribble in the other direction. You can also ask players to stop and pick up the ball at the red light, or attempt to shoot from wherever they are on the court.
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