Warm-upBounce, pass, swap7 min
- Pairs, one ball each pair, everyone in the half court at once. The dribbler moves anywhere with eyes up. When the partner puts their hands up, the next bounce goes straight into a two-hand pass. The partner catches, starts dribbling, and the other one moves away and shows hands.
- Count passes in 60 seconds. A pass only counts if it came straight off a bounce. Three rounds; beat your own score.
- Theme link: the pass starts from the bounce, not from a stop. Eyes up is what lets you see the hands.
Block 1Pound, pound, pass8 min
- Adds: a count, so the pass comes from the dribble at the same moment every time.
- Two lines facing each other about nine metres apart at each hoop. Dribble twice toward the other line ("pound, pound"), and the third bounce comes straight up into a two-hand chest pass ("pass!"). No hold, no wind-up. Follow your pass to the back of the other line.
- Right hand for two minutes, left hand for two, then bounce passes, then on the run.
- Progress when: the ball goes from the bounce to the pass without stopping at the chest.
- Regress if: players stop their feet and hold before passing. Walk it, saying "pound, pound, pass" out loud, then speed it up.
- Cues (questions): "Did the ball stop anywhere between the bounce and the pass?" "Which hand bounced it last?"
Block 2Pass it before they see it10 min
- Adds: a defender's hands.
- Groups of three at each hoop, two waiting. A dribbler at the top, a receiver on the wing, a defender on the dribbler with hands up who can step into the passing lane but can't steal off the dribble. The receiver gets open and shouts "Here!"; the dribbler passes straight off the next bounce.
- Scoring: a pass that gets through is 1 to the dribbler; a deflection is 1 to the defender. Five passes each, then rotate: dribbler → receiver → defender → waiting.
- Progress when: passes off the bounce get through, and passes after a hold get deflected. That's the lesson; let them find it.
- Regress if: defenders stand in the lane and nothing gets through. The defender has to start behind the dribbler and catch up before they can block anything.
- Cues (questions): "When did the defender's hands move: when you picked it up, or after you'd passed?" "What happened the time you held it?"
Water2 min
Block 3Keep it alive12 min
- Adds: a defender on the receiver too, so the dribbler has to keep the dribble alive until someone gets open.
- 2v2 at each hoop, one waiting. Cones mark an end zone along the baseline. Score by dribbling into the zone or passing to a teammate standing in it. Picking the ball up and holding it (the defence counts "one, two") hands the ball to the defence.
- First to 3, then the waiting player rotates in. Swap who attacks each game.
- Progress when: the dribble stays alive until the pass, and passes come straight off a bounce.
- Regress if: dribblers panic and pick up early. The defence has to stand a step off the dribbler for the first round.
- Cues (questions): "When did you pick it up? Was anyone open yet?" "What did the receiver do to get open?"
Water2 min
FinisherBounce-pass bonus16 min
- Two teams of five. Three from each team play 3v3 at one hoop; the other two from each play 2v2 at the other. Both games add up to one team score. Swap who plays where every four minutes.
- Scoring:
- 2 pts: any basket.
- 3 pts: a basket straight after a pass that came off a bounce with no hold. The coach calls it.
- Defence: a stop, or a held ball after a pick-up ("one, two"), wins the ball.
- Progress when: most passes come off the dribble without the coach saying so.
- Regress if: it turns into one player dribbling end to end. The ball must be passed once before a shot.
Huddle3 min
- One question to the group: "When did a pass get through today, and what did you do with the ball just before it?"
Coach notes
- Decision errors vs execution errors:
- Picking the ball up with nobody open is a decision error. Ask Block 3's question.
- A pass off the bounce that goes behind the receiver or bounces short is execution. Back to Block 1 for a round.
- Common failure: the stop-and-look. Players dribble, stop, hold the ball at their chest, then look for someone. Eyes up during the dribble is what fixes it: they should already know who's open before they pick it up.
- Two hands on purpose. The source drill ("pound, pound, push") is a one-hand pass straight off the dribble. The site's under-12 passing list names chest, bounce and overhead passes, so this plan keeps the pass two-handed. If you want the one-hand push pass for this age, that's a call for the Coaching Under-12s guide first.
- How it differs from the other U10 plans: Catch, Stop, Pivot is about the feet after a catch; Ball Protection is about keeping the ball away while dribbling. This one is the moment between the dribble and the pass.
Sources
| Source | Used for |
|---|---|
| Lennie Acuff — Space & Pace Offensive System | Mechanism and Block 1 ("pound, pound, push": passing straight off the dribble, no wind-up), Block 2 the receiver calling where they are, Block 3 never picking up the dribble without a pass or a shot |
| Steve Clifford — The Flash Game | Warm-up and Block 1: pass the way you would in a game, no habit passes |
| junior.basketball (original) | Two-hand version of the pass, warm-up scoring, Block 2 scoring, Block 3 end-zone game, finisher format and bonus |
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.