Ball Handling Drills That Make Sense
A few ideas on how to improve handles
Ball handling can be a tricky thing to teach - especially if you’re on Basketball Twitter and there are a bunch of opinions being thrown at you from all angles about what is effective, what you should/shouldn’t do, and what’s a waste of time.
Here’s what I do know:
the more you do something, the better you get at it
there’s not just one way to get better at something
your players need the ball in their hands as much as possible
Along those lines, here are a few of my favorite ball-handling drills/workouts/concepts:
Kill the Grass - this is probably my favorite individual ball handling drill of all time: the mix of creativity, constraints, and reps in a short amount of time provides a lot of the tools needed to improve handle of the ball
Dribble Tag - this is just the classic Dribble Tag Drill. It gives players the opportunity to make decisions, improvise, focus on doing more than one thing at once while handling the ball, it’s fun, and it’s competitive.
You can add variations to this by changing the size of the playable area, only allowing players to dribble with one hand, having ways for students to earn their way back into the game, etc. Make it fun!
Chill Drill - I stole this from Ed Schilling. Players can do this solo or you can line them up and have them follow each other in a small group/team setting. Feel free to modify the moves and concepts as well!
Half Court Bounce Off - this was stolen from Better Basketball.
This is an underrated skill - especially in youth basketball. A lot of players give up their dribble too early and put themselves into bad situations. This works on that.
The Classics - these have stuck around for a reason! Do ball wraps, figure out 8 dribbles, the Pistol Pete stuff, dribble pounds, ball slaps, fingertip drills, etc. Just get the ball in their hands!
Two Ball Drills - 2 ball drills catch some flack sometimes, but I think they have plenty of value. You can get creative with this too: one ball high/one ball low, figure 8s, add movement and zig zags, do relays, etc.
Payton Prichard Routine - If I sent players one video of what working on your handles solo looks like, I’d send them this one.
Getting in the gym and playing tons of basketball - players can’t understand what ball handling in a game looks like until they are throw into the fire of an actual game and they have to make decisions on the fly…PLAY BASKETBALL!
Taking a basketball everywhere they go - to the park, in the house, on the bus, in the car, to sleep with, etc. You get the point.
Until next time!
Hoops Companion Master Playbook/Drill Book with almost 550 pages of plays and drills…plus you get an updated playbook with new plays each month
Hoops Companion Bundle - for just $40 ($63 normal value), you can get a few of our favorite digital products (Master Playbook, Program Audit, Forms and Templates, 2023 NCAA Tournament Playbook, Coaching Portfolio Course). That’s a steal in my eyes.
Program Audit - everything you need to do a deep dive on your team/program; the best and most practical thing Hoops Companion offers
Join Hoops Companion Extra - for just a dollars a month, you can get 5 links in your inbox EVERY weekend…and other perks. Makes more sense than blowing that money on a coffee or impulse Amazon buy!