Conditioning drills can help the players on your girls' basketball team develop their speed, agility, stamina and footwork. You can use drills that focus exclusively on running or sprinting, or you can incorporate conditioning into skill drills. Alternate between those two types of conditioning drills to keep your players engaged.
Speed Lay-Ups
In this drill, the whole team tries to shoot a certain number of successful lay-ups within a strict time limit. Decide upon a total score the team should shoot for and a time limit. For example, you might tell the team to try to shoot 40 successful lay-ups within two minutes. Divide your players into two groups and have the groups line up at either end of the court. Give the first player in one of the lines a ball. When you blow the whistle, the player with the ball must dribble as fast as she can to the opposite basket to shoot a lay-up. The first person in line behind that basket must take the rebound, dribble as fast as possible to the opposite basket and shoot another lay-up. Keep track of the team's total successful lay-ups by counting out loud.
Suicide Sprints
This notorious sprinting drill will help your players develop their speed and stamina. Have your players spread themselves out along one of the court's end lines. When you blow the whistle, the players must sprint to the free-throw line and back, to the half-court line and back, to the opposite free-throw line and back and finally to the opposite end line and back. Players should touch each line as they reach it and pivot to return to the end line.
Loose Ball Recovery Sprints
Have your players line up behind one of the court's end lines. Roll or toss a ball across the court for each player in line to sprint towards. Players must reach the ball before it rolls out-of-bounds. If a player successfully recovers the loose ball, she must then try to make a basket. Designate a particular type of shot for players to work on, such as a lay-up or jump shot. Players that do not recover the loose ball before it rolls out of bounds must return to the back of the line to try again.
Hour Glass Drill
This conditioning drill helps players develop speed, stamina and footwork. Players run in an hour glass pattern around the court, alternating between sprinting and shuffling in the defensive position with hands up. Have all your players line up at one corner of the court. When you blow the whistle, the first player should begin the run. She must sprint to the half-court line, then shuffle across the court to the opposite sideline, sprint to the opposite end line, shuffle around the three-point line, sprint to the half-court line, shuffle across the half-court line, sprint to the starting end line and shuffle around the three-point line back to the starting point. Each time a runner reaches the half-court line the first time, blow the whistle to indicate that the next runner should start.
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