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Session Plan · U12 · Team (7 or more) · 60 min

Fake to Pass: Move the Hands First

Why it works

A defender guarding the passer puts their hands where they think the ball is going. Throw at the hands and the pass gets deflected, however hard it's thrown. A fake (eyes, ball and a step all going one way) moves the hands, and the pass goes through the space they just left, before they get back. A passer holding the ball in two hands with the pivot foot down always has a second option, so a fake costs them nothing. And if the hands don't move, that is the answer too: the pass goes the way the fake did.

The thread through every block

  1. Two hands on the ball, pivot foot down
  2. fake with eyes, ball and a step
  3. watch the hands
  4. pass where the hands just left
  5. next fake if they didn't move.

Setup. 10 players, 1 coach, 2 hoops, 10 balls, 8 cones, bibs. Five players per hoop; every block runs at both hoops at once.

Prints on A4 for the clipboard: diagram on the left, rules on the right, and no block split across a page.

Warm · 7B1 · 8B2 · 8B3 · 8B4 · 12Finisher · 13

Warm-upMake me jump7 min

11123pass only after the defender movestip it: defender swaps in
Passer and defender in the middle, a target on each side. The passer pivots and fakes; the moment the defender's hands jump one way, the pass goes the other. Same at the other hoop.
  • Passer in the middle with the ball, defender in front of them, two targets about four metres away on each side. The fifth player waits.
  • The passer pivots and fakes (no dribble) until the defender's hands jump one way, then passes the other way. The defender tries to tip the pass.
  • Tip it, and the defender swaps with the passer. Clean pass: 1 point to the passer. First to 3, then rotate everyone one spot.
  • Theme link: the pass waits for the defender to move first.

Block 1Fake one, pass two8 min

F11123F = fake to the cornerthen pass to the top
Fake to one target, pass to the other. The defender bites on every fake for now. Swap the fake each rep. Same at the other hoop.
  • Adds: a defender's hands, with two places for the pass to go.
  • Passer on the wing, defender on them, targets at the top and in the corner. The passer fakes to one target, then passes to the other.
  • For now the defender bites on every fake: their hands follow it. The passer's job is to make the fake look real (eyes, ball and a step) and to pass the moment the hands move.
  • Bounce pass or two-hand overhead, never through the middle of the defender. Fake the corner and pass to the top, then the other way round. 4 passes, then rotate: passer → defender → target → target → wait → passer.
  • Progress when: the passes go past the hands, not over the defender's head or into them.
  • Regress if: the fakes are only arms. Freeze and ask the passer to show the fake with their eyes and a step, no ball.
  • Cues (questions): "Where were the defender's hands when you let it go?" "What did your eyes do on the fake?"

Block 2Fake and read8 min

AB1123A: hands followed the fake, pass awayB: hands stayed, pass where you faked
Same spots, but now the defender chooses whether to bite. The passer reads the hands after every fake. Same at the other hoop.
  • Adds: a decision. The defender now chooses whether to bite.
  • Same spots. The defender guards for real with their hands but doesn't step off the passer. After each fake, the passer reads the hands:
    • Hands followed the fake: pass the other way, where they just left.
    • Hands stayed: that lane is open, so pass where you faked.
    • Not sure: pivot and fake again. The ball stays in two hands until the pass.
  • Tipped pass: the defender becomes the passer. Clean pass: 1 point. Rotate after 4 passes.
  • Progress when: the passer can say which of the three it was before they pass.
  • Regress if: passers are guessing. The defender goes back to biting on every second fake, so there is something clear to read.
  • Cues (questions): "What did the hands do after your fake?" "Why did you pass that way?"

Block 3Fake high, bounce it back door8 min

F121122fake to the catch, bounce to the cutdenied wing: back cut on the fake
2v2. If the wing's defender denies, the passer fakes to the catch and bounces it to the back cut. If not, the wing just catches. Same at the other hoop.
  • Adds: a defender on the receiver too, so the target moves.
  • 2v2: passer at the top, receiver on the wing, both guarded. The wing's defender chooses: deny the pass or sit off.
  • Sat off: the wing steps out and catches; fake first, then pass.
  • Denied: the passer fakes a pass to the wing's catch spot. That fake pulls the denying defender further up. The wing back cuts on the fake, and the pass is a bounce pass to the cut. Banchi's rule: every back-door cut gets a bounce pass; every cut in front gets a chest pass.
  • Score on the cut: 1 point. Rotate offence → defence → wait → offence.
  • Progress when: the fake and the cut happen together, and the bounce lands in front of the cutter, not behind.
  • Regress if: the passer throws straight to a denied wing. The wing's defender denies every rep until the fake-and-bounce is working.
  • Cues (questions): "What told you the wing was going back door?" "Why a bounce pass and not a chest pass?"

Water2 min

Block 43v2 keep-away, no dribble12 min

111232no dribble · 5 passes = 1 pointa pass after a fake counts double
Three attackers keep the ball from two defenders in the shaded area, no dribbling. Same at the other hoop.
  • Adds: live defenders who move, and receivers who have to get open.
  • Three attackers against two in the shaded area between the free-throw line and the top of the arc. No dribbling. Five passes in a row is 1 point. A pass thrown straight after a fake that moved the hands counts as two of the five.
  • Defenders win the ball: swap a defender with the attacker who threw it. Play 2-minute rounds and rotate the defenders.
  • Progress when: the attackers get to five without the defenders tipping it. Shrink the area.
  • Regress if: the defenders win it nearly every time. Make the area bigger, or allow one dribble to escape.
  • Cues (questions): "Whose hands were you passing past?" "When you got stuck, what did you do with your feet?"

Finisher3v3 no dribble13 min

121122332 pts: a basket off a pass after a fakedefence: 1 pt for a tipped pass
3v3 at one hoop, 2v2 plus one at the other; no dribbling. Rotate groups every 4 minutes.
  • 3v3 at one hoop and 2v2 at the other, with the spare player as a neutral passer who plays for whoever has the ball. No dribbling. Rotate groups every 4 minutes so everyone plays 3v3.
  • Scoring:
    • 2 pts: a basket that came off a pass made straight after a fake.
    • 1 pt: any other basket.
    • Defence, 1 pt: a tipped or stolen pass.
  • Make it, take it, from the top of the key.

Huddle2 min

  • "When did a fake get you a pass you didn't have?" "When did you fake and the defender didn't move? What then?"

Coach notes

  • Decision errors vs execution errors:
    • Passing to the side the hands are on is a decision error. Ask Block 2's question at the next stoppage, not "pass it better".
    • A fake that's only the arms (no eyes, no step), or a pass that loops slowly, is an execution error. One rep of Block 1 against a biting defender, then back in.
  • Common failure: fake, then wait, then pass. By then the hands are back. The pass goes as the hands move.
  • Common failure: the pivot foot comes off the floor on the fake. That's a travel. Keep the hips down; a passer standing up tall drags the foot.
  • Common failure: one-hand passes off one foot against pressure. Two hands on the ball keep the second option (Banchi's "plan B").
  • Judge the decision, not the outcome. A pass to the right place that the receiver drops was still the right pass.

Sources

SourceUsed for
Luca Banchi — Passing Skills ImprovementMechanism (fakes, two hands and plan B), Block 3 (bounce pass to the back cut), finisher (no-dribble game)
Shaun Roger — 2019 Skill Development Clinic Series (Developing Drill Series)Warm-up (pivot and fake until the defender jumps), fake-before-you-pass rule
Luke Brennan — Grassroots SkillsAdding a defender and movement to passing (Blocks 1–2)
junior.basketball (original)Block 2 read, Block 4 keep-away, scoring throughout

Related

More session plans, the Session Design guide this format follows, Game-Based Practice for why every plan ends live, and blank session plan templates to write your own.

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.