Purpose: To develop the conditioning, mental toughness, and speed that is required on the basketball court. Drill: Split the team in half. Have one half of the team line up on the sideline and the other half about 5 feet behind them. Players should utilize the full length of the sideline and give themselves plenty of room. On the whistle or 'Go' command, the front line will sprint 16 widths of the court, touching each line. Also on the first whistle, the second line will get into a defensive … [Read more...]

Purpose: To develop greater power and speed into acceleration. Improve first step quickness and explosiveness. Drill: Hold a medicine ball in front of chest and squat down to a 1/2 squat position. Drive from your heels to your toes as you explode forward off the ground at approximately a 45 degree angle, extending the arms and pressing (throwing) the ball as far as possible. Upon landing from the explosive launching start, accelerate and chase (sprint) past the rolling medicine ball. Coaching … [Read more...]

Purpose: To develop footwork, agility, balance, speed and overall conditioning. Drill: Players will form two lines under the basket and perform the following movements, spelling out any letter chosen (in this diagram, I have used the letter 'M'): Defensive slide to the corner. Sprint to half court. Slide to the 3-point line. Sprint to half court. Backpedal to the baseline. Rotate lines after completing each circuit. Continue for desired number of repetitions. Note: You can utilize any … [Read more...]

Purpose: To improve basketball conditioning. Specifically, to develop aerobic and anaerobic capacities. Drill: Have all players line in a single file line on the outside of the court. The players should be spaced about 3 to 4 feet apart from one another. The entire team will begin to jog around the outside of the basketball court, making sure to stay outside the court. Once the players begin jogging, O1 will sprint past the entire line, take the lead position, then slow to the original … [Read more...]

Purpose: To develop conditioning and proper footwork through various basketball-related movements. Drill: The players will form one line under the basket. The first player will begin just to the outside of the lane line and will always face the opposite end of the court throughout the entire drill. Each player will execute the following movements and skills: Sprint to halfcourt. Defensive slide to the far side of the center circle. Backpedal to the foul line. Defensive slide to the … [Read more...]

Purpose: To improve overall conditioning, speed, and sprint-endurance. Drill: The players start along the baseline. If there are a lot of players, use 2 groups. Have a coach or manager with a stopwatch timing this drill. On 'Go', the players sprint as fast as they can to the opposite baseline and back five times. The entire team should finish in under :65 seconds. Most high school players can do this in less than :65 seconds. Adjust accordingly if you have younger players or older … [Read more...]

Purpose: To improve acceleration by putting the athlete in a learning environment which integrates posture, leg action, and arm action in a fun and competitive way. Drill: The athlete begins in a prone position, face down, head at the starting line. (Essentially, in a down push-up position). On the word 'Go' or a whistle, accelerate for a distance of 6-10 yards. (If doing this on a basketball court, I will have the athlete's go from baseline to midcourt line. Sometimes another court marking … [Read more...]

Purpose: This drill is simple, fun and serves one purpose -- to develop quickness of hands and feet. Drill: Utilize the circles that are on the court and place 2 players in each circle (if your court doesn't have any more than just the center circle, you can also use squares or boxes formed by court lines painted down -- or even set up some cones). The players score points by touching the knees of the other player. Each player can use his hands and arms to block tries at his knees but cannot … [Read more...]

Purpose: Work on defensive movements (run, shuffle, backpedal) in an intense setting. Also improves conditioning in a basketball-specific way. Drill: This drill begins with the players in a line at a baseline corner, as shown. The players, one at a time with a gap between each other, will run to the midcourt, shuffle across the midcourt line to the other sideline and then run to the opposite baseline. Without stopping, they will then shuffle across the baseline, backpedal to midcourt, shuffle … [Read more...]