Warm-upShadow the dribbler8 min
- Pairs in a lane between the sideline and a line of cones, two lanes per hoop. The dribbler zig-zags from half-way to the baseline at half pace. The defender keeps their chest in front of the ball, hands behind their back, so only the feet can do it.
- Swap at the baseline and walk back. Third trip: the dribbler can go at three-quarter pace.
- Theme link: if the feet keep the chest in front, the hands never need to reach.
Block 1One-on-one, no dribble8 min
- Adds: a live attacker with the ball, but no dribble, so the defender's only job is to stay down.
- 1v1 on each wing, the rest waiting. The attacker catches from the coach and has five seconds to pivot, shot fake and shoot; no dribble. The defender stays an arm's length away, chest to the ball, palms facing the ceiling, and only leaves the floor once the ball has left the shooter's hands.
- Scoring: a shot the defender jumped early on is 1 to the attacker; a missed shot with the defender still standing is 1 to the defender. Rotate: attacker → defender → back of the line.
- Progress when: defenders stay on the floor through two fakes in a row.
- Regress if: attackers lean in and draw fouls. The defender's hands stay up and still for a round; only the feet move.
- Cues (questions): "Where were your palms when they faked?" "What were your feet doing when they pivoted?"
Block 2Lane one-on-one: make it go sideways10 min
- Adds: the dribble, live, at full speed. There's no basket yet, so the attacker has one clear job: get past.
- The same lanes, 1v1, one pair waiting at each hoop. The attacker starts at half-way and tries to dribble past the cones near the baseline. The defender wins by keeping their chest in front until the attacker picks the ball up, steps out of the lane, or uses six dribbles without getting by.
- Scoring: past the end cones is 1 to the attacker; anything else is 1 to the defender. Swap roles each rep.
- Progress when: defenders win more than half their reps without a reach.
- Regress if: attackers get past every time. Narrow the lane by a step, or give the defender a one-step head start.
- Cues (questions): "When they got past, where was your chest pointing?" "Did your hands help, or did they turn you?"
Water2 min
Block 3Blockout to cutout10 min
- Adds: a basket, and a start from a rebound, so nobody knows who'll be guarding until the ball comes down.
- At each hoop: the coach (or a player) shoots from the top. One player starts near the basket and blocks out; the other starts on the wing and crashes. Whoever gets the rebound throws it to the coach, gets it back on the catch and plays 1v1 live. The other player has to guard them.
- Scoring: a basket is 2; a stop is 1 to the defender, and a stop with no straight-line drive (the ball never got past the defender's hip) is 2.
- Progress when: the defender keeps their chest in front on the first two dribbles most reps.
- Regress if: the attacker scores straight off the catch every time. The defender gets to start an arm's length away instead of recovering.
- Cues (questions): "Who rebounded more, and why?" "On the drive you stopped, what did you do with your feet first?"
Block 4Three-on-three, no help10 min
- Adds: teammates on the floor, but help switched off, so every drive is still the ball's defender's job and nobody can hide.
- 3v3 at each hoop, two waiting. Live, with one rule: defenders guard only their own player and stay between that player and the basket. Nobody leaves to help.
- Scoring: a basket is 2 to the offence; a straight-line drive (hip past the defender's hip into the paint) is 1 to the offence even if they miss. A stop is 1 to the defence. Swap after each possession; the waiting pair rotates in for the team that just scored.
- Progress when: most drives get bounced sideways before the paint.
- Regress if: the ball always wins. Offence gets two dribbles a touch.
- Cues (questions): "With no one coming to help, what did you have to do differently?" "Which drive did you stop, and how far away were you when it started?"
FinisherCutthroat: one helper, one call10 min
- Adds: help comes back, with the site's one helper, one call: the defender off the ball watches the ball's defender and calls "stay" or "go".
- Cutthroat 2v2: three pairs at one hoop, two pairs at the other; swap groups at five minutes. Only the defence can score: a stop (a miss they rebound, a turnover) is 1, and they stay on defence. One violation: a straight-line drive by the ball, called by the coach. The defence comes straight off, the attackers go to defence, and the waiting pair comes on to attack.
- Scoring: first pair to 5 stops, or most stops at the end. A "go" call when the drive was contained doesn't count as a violation but costs a point.
- Progress when: pairs stay on defence for two or three stops in a row.
- Regress if: no one can get a stop. The attackers get one dribble a touch.
Huddle2 min
- "Which is harder to beat: a defender who reaches, or one who keeps their chest in front? Why?"
Coach notes
- Decision errors vs execution errors:
- Reaching for the ball on a live dribble, or jumping at a fake, is a decision error. Freeze it and ask Block 2's question.
- Chest in front but beaten for speed is execution. Give space: an extra half-step of gap, not more effort.
- Common failure: defenders sit too close to "pressure" and get beaten by the first dribble. An arm's length is the gap. Pressure comes when the dribble dies.
- Common failure: feedback during live play. Cue words only in Blocks 1–2 ("chest", "palms"); say nothing in Block 4 and the finisher, and save the fixes for the huddle.
- Why help is switched off in Block 4: a team that helps well can get away with poor on-ball defence and funnel drives to the helper. Taking help away for ten minutes shows each player whether they can guard the ball. It returns in the finisher with one helper, one call, as the site teaches at under-12. "Help the helper" stays for under-14.
- How it differs from the nearest plans: Closeout to Containment (U10) is about arriving balanced after a closeout; Pressure the Passer (U12) is about closing the gap once the dribble is dead. This plan is the live dribble in between: keeping the ball in front with no help.
Sources
| Source | Used for |
|---|---|
| Mark Cascio — How to Teach Defense with Small-Sided Games | Mechanism and cues ("palms to the ceiling", "airplane", "chest in front"), Block 1 one-on-one no dribble, Block 2 removing the score so the attacker has one clear job, Block 3 blockout to cutout, Block 4 three-on-three no help, finisher cutthroat with one violation and defence-only scoring, cue words in training and silence in live play |
| junior.basketball (original) | Warm-up shadow the dribbler, Block 2 lane and end-cone scoring, finisher format for ten players at two hoops, the stay/go rule in the finisher |
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.