Basketball Drills - Dribble-Tag Drills
By Dr. James Gels, From the Coach’s Clipboard Basketball Playbook"Helping coaches coach better..."
This drill for youth players will improve dribbling and ball-handling and kids seem to like it. It is similar to the kid's game "tag."
Set-up:
Every player has a ball, and is restricted to a half court area. All the players must keep their dribble alive the entire time.
The Drill:
Start the game with one player as "it". While maintaining the dribble, each player must try to tag another player, who is then "it". Players try to avoid getting tagged and becoming "it". They must stay within the half court area and must continue dribbling. If a player leaves the area, or double-dribbles, stops dribbling, or gets tagged, then he/she is "it".
This drill helps develop ball handling, and to avoid getting tagged, players must keep their heads up and have vision. If you have a large group with some good ball handlers, and some not so good, you can put the better dribblers on one end, and the other group on the other end, so the same kids don't get picked on all the time. You can vary this drill by making them use the opposite (weak) hand only.
Here’s another variation:
Each player has a ball and is confined to within the 3-point arc. The same rules as above apply in that each player must continue dribbling, and must not double-dribble, stop dribbling or leave the playing area. This is an elimination game where the players dribble around and try to flick the other player's ball away.
Once you lose your ball, or stop your dribble, double-dribble, or leave the area, you are "out", while the others keep dribbling. Eventually you will get down to a smaller number of players. Then change the playing area and make them stay inside the lane or "paint" area, until you have one remaining - the winner!
