Basketball is an extraordinary sport for growing children to participate in. Physically, playing basketball improves coordination, speed, agility and cardiovascular strength. Basketball also is a team sport that fosters great relationships among kids and coaches and teaches kids how to cooperate in a team-based atmosphere. When creating basketball drills for eighth-grade children you have to realize that they are still children, so drills should improve their game but also be fun.
Speed Shooting
This exercise is a very simple drill which works on passing and shooting. Divide the players into groups of two and have one player stand off to the side of the hoop just before the 3-point line and have the other one start out just before half court. The player near half court runs towards the corner of the free throw line where his partner will then pass him the ball for him to shoot. Make sure each player has a chance to do both the shooting and passing.
Elbow Shooting Drill
You will need three people for this exercise: a shooter, a passer and a rebounder. The shooter will start out at the top of the 3-point line, the passer off to the side and the rebounder under the hoop. The shooter cuts to the inside and upon receiving the ball from the passer, shoots it. Once the rebounder rebounds the ball, he becomes the next passer, the passer becomes the next shooter and the shooter is the new rebounder.
Partner Dribbling with Tennis Ball Toss
This is a good drill for improving ball-handling skills and teamwork. Pairs of players start out with one basketball each and one tennis ball. Facing each other about five feet apart, the players shuffle from one side of the court to the other dribbling the basketball with one hand and passing the tennis ball back and forth to their partners with the other hand. Once they reach one side, they switch hands and return to their original starting side.
Cat and Mouse
The cat and mouse exercise combines a childhood game with a basketball twist. Begin by choosing one "cat" to stand in the middle of the court and lining up the rest of your eighth-graders on one end, giving each one a basketball to start out with -- they are the "mice." Their objective is to dribble the ball to the other side of the court without the cat knocking the ball away. Once the cat knocks a ball away from a player, that player also becomes a cat and the game continues until there is only one mouse left. This drill is a lot of fun and greatly improves coordination and ball-handling skills.
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