Basketball Dribbling Drills - 2-Ball Dribbling Drills

By Dr. James Gels, From the Coach’s Clipboard Basketball Playbook
"Helping coaches coach better..."
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Since we only use one ball in a game, why bother with 2-ball dribbling drills? The reason we do 2-ball dribbling drills is based on the concept of "over-training". Doing difficult 2-ball dribbling drills improves dribbling skills and coordination, so that handling one ball in a game situation becomes relatively easy in comparison.

Using 2-ball dribbling drills doubles your repetitions. Good teams to do these drills on a regular basis. Coach Mike Krzyzewski's Duke Blue Devils do 2-ball dribbling drills nearly every practice. Below I have presented some of the more commonly used 2-ball dribbling drills.

Do each of these drills for 30-60 seconds and move on so you can get through them rather quickly. Daily repetition will make the difference. Players can do these drills at home too, and in the off-season. Have one of your better dribblers, or a varsity player(s) lead the drill.

The team spreads out in a circle, or in a long line, and the leader calls out and performs the various dribbling drills, while the other players follow his/her lead. In addition to stationary 2-ball dribbling drills, you can also incorporate some 2-ball drills on the move.

Coaches use/print this list of our standard ball-handling and dribbling circle drills - Stationary Circle Ball-Handling and Dribbling Drills.

See the video clips of all these drills.

Up and Downs - Pound Dribble
You can start with both balls at waist height, and then pound them low to the floor. Pound it!


2-Ball Kills
Dribble both balls waist high at the side, and then suddenly "kill" them as low as you can go. Then bring them back up to waist high and kill them low again. Also, instead of a stationary drill, you can try this drill on the move, up and down the floor. Make a jump stop just prior to "killing" the balls. Then go forward again once you bring the balls back up to waist-high.


Alternating Piston Drill
Get in a good basketball (triple threat) position and dribble both balls waist high but alternate sides. Like the pistons in an engine, one ball is down while the other is up, and vice versa. Also, instead of a stationary drill, you can do this drill on the move, up and down the floor.


One High, One Low
Dribble a ball on each side, one as high as you can with the other low to the floor. Then change sides.


Side V-Dribble, "Push-Pull"
Dribble a ball on each side. Similar to the 1-ball side V-dribble, we "push it" from behind, and "pull it" from the front, back and forth.


Front V-Dribble - Windshield
After learning the "1-Ball Front V-dribble", try it with two balls. If you bounce it waist high, it looks like a car's windshield wipers. Again, the technique is to "roll" your hand over the top of the ball, outside to inside and vice-versa.

Another variation of the 2-ball front V-dribble is to dribble both balls in front, but instead of in unison as seen with the Windshild, do them opposite - so both balls will swing out, and then both will swing in to the middle, back and forth.


Front Crossover & Hand-off
Dribble one ball in front, crossing it over back and forth. Hand the other ball back and forth in front of your waist. It's not as easy as it looks! Also try juggling two balls.


2-Ball Juggling
Keep both balls moving in the same direction in a circular motion (either clockwise or counter-clockwise). Bounce one ball over, hand the other over, bounce over, hand over, etc. Then change directions.


2-Ball Front Circles
Dribble both balls low and in front of you. Dribble them around each other in a circular motion, crossing over from one hand to the other.


2-Ball Figure 8 Drill
Once you master dribbling two balls around one leg, try this figure 8 drill. Notice that only one ball actually goes around the leg while the other stays in front, and the same ball always stays in the same hand. The ball on the right goes around the right leg and the ball on the left goes around the left leg.


2-Ball Front Crossover
Dribble both balls in front. Then every few dribbles, crossover dribble both balls to the opposite hand. After you get good at this, then try to swing one behind the back.


2-Ball Front & Back Crossover
Practice your front and rear crossover dribble at the same time. Cross-over one ball in front and cross-over the second ball behind you.


2-Ball One Around the Back
Dribble both balls in front. Then every few dribbles, swing one ball around the back to the other side, while crossing over the other ball in front to the other hand. This is similar to the "Two-Ball Shuffle" through the legs drill.


2-Ball Shuffle
This is similar to the "One Around the Back" drill, except instead of going behind the back, the ball is dribbled through the legs. Bounce it a few times, and then crossover one ball in front and the other through the legs.


2-Balls Through the Legs
Bounce the two balls twice in front of you, while moving forward. Then bring both balls around the outside of the thighs, and then dribble them both forward through your legs. The rhythm is "two bounces-around and through-two bounces-around and through" etc.

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Related pages:

• Dribbling
  
• Stationary 1-Ball Dribbling Drills
  
• Ball Handling
  
• Stationary Circle Ball-Handling and Dribbling Drills... coaches use/print this list of our standard ball-handling and dribbling circle drills.
  

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