Warm-upDribble knockout6 min
- Everyone dribbles inside the key and the free-throw circle. Keep your own ball alive while knocking other balls out of the area.
- Knocked out: 5 ball taps outside the arc, then straight back in. Nobody sits out.
- Theme link: the only way to keep your ball while reaching for someone else's is to turn your body between the ball and the nearest player.
Block 1Crab dribble6 min
- Adds: side-on protection against a partner who leans in. No steals yet.
- Pairs side by side. The protector side-steps from the sideline to a cone, dribbling with the outside hand, ball behind the back leg, bent arm bar up. The partner keeps one hand on the protector's shoulder and one on the hip and leans in.
- Second trip: the partner may reach around for the ball.
- Progress when: the protector gets to the cone without the ball drifting in front of the body.
- Regress if: players lose the ball on every trip. Go back to walking pace.
- Cues (questions): "Where was the ball when your partner reached?" "Can you see the cone while you dribble?"
Block 2Keep it for 307 min
- Adds: a live defender reaching for the ball, in a small space.
- Each pair gets a 3-metre square. The dribbler keeps the ball for 30 seconds; the defender tries to tap it away. The dribbler can knock reaching hands down with the off arm and turn a full 360 inside the square. Swap.
- Progress when: dribblers last 30 seconds without leaving the square.
- Regress if: the defender wins every time. Defender plays with one hand behind the back.
- Cues (questions): "Which way did you turn when they reached?" "What did your free arm do?"
Block 3Pull and escape8 min
- Adds: a cue and a decision. The defender's reach is the trigger to pull the ball back and change direction.
- The dribbler faces the defender, two cone gates behind the defender. When the defender reaches, the dribbler pulls the ball back to the hip and escapes through the gate on the side away from the reach.
- Progress when: players move only after the reach, not before it.
- Regress if: dribblers guess and run before the reach. The coach calls "reach" as the trigger for 4 reps, then hands it back to the defender.
- Cues (questions): "Which hand reached?" "Which gate was further from that hand?"
Water2 min
Block 4Five bounces to the key8 min
- Adds: somewhere to get to. The dribbler has five bounces to get two feet into the key.
- Start 1v1 from the wing. Once that works, a second defender waits in the key. In the key: jump stop, bear-hug the ball to the chest, then score or pass to the teammate on the other wing.
- Progress when: most reps reach the key and the pickup is protected.
- Regress if: turnovers on most reps. Allow six bounces.
- Cues (questions): "What kind of dribble kept you safe from the second defender?" "Where was the ball when you stopped?"
FinisherBring it up8 min
- 1v1 from half-way, two games side by side. The dribbler has 10 seconds.
- Scoring:
- 1 pt: reaching the 3-point arc with the ball.
- 2 pts: a jump stop in the key with the ball protected.
- Defender, 2 pts: a clean steal.
- Rotate after every rep; first pair to 10.
Coach notes
- Decision errors vs execution errors:
- Turning away from the defender's reach before it happens is a decision error. Fix it with Block 3's question, not more dribbling drills.
- The ball creeping in front of the body is an execution error. Send the player back to Block 1 for one trip.
- Common failure: eyes on the ball. Ask "how many fingers am I holding up?" mid-rep.
- Common failure: the arm bar turns into a push. Call it as a turnover from the first live rep, because referees will.
- Judge the decision, not the turnover. A player who protected the ball properly and still lost it to a better defender did their job.
- Running it for 60: add the 15 minutes to the live end, not the technique blocks. Block 4 goes to 13 min (bring in the second defender sooner). The finisher goes to 16 min, with the second half played on 8 seconds instead of 10. Close with a 2-min huddle: "What told you to pull the ball back?"
Sources
| Source | Used for |
|---|---|
| Nathan Cooper-Brown — 2019 Jamboree Parents Clinic | Warm-up, Block 1, Block 3, finisher |
| Kristen Veal — Individual Skill Development | Block 2 |
| Sam Gruggen — 2019 Skill Development Clinic Series | Block 4 |
| Jarrod Moore — Skill Development for U12 and U14 | Block 4 |
| Danny Cooper — Skills Workout | Block 3 |
| junior.basketball (original) | Finisher scoring |
Unofficial resource. Drills are adapted from recorded coaching clinics and credited to the coaches named in Sources above; anything marked junior.basketball (original) was written for this plan. Not affiliated with or endorsed by those coaches or the organisations that ran the clinics. Full credit to every presenter.