Ball Handling Drills

Figure 8's - with dribble
Spread legs dribble the ball in a figure eight motion around and between the legs. Do this with a lot of dribbles and then with as few as possible. Stay low!

Figure 8's - without dribble
Hand the ball from hand to hand as you go around and through legs.

Drum dribble
Either standing or on one knee have players dribble ball changing hands with each touch. Start with a steady dribble then work down to super fast low dribbles. then have them dribble with one finger on each hand and with their balled up fist.

Tom-Tom dribble
Spread legs, dribble ball with right hand passing it to the left hand, dribble ball with left hand between legs and to the right hand, dribble ball with right hand now behind you to the left hand that should also be behind you, then dribble the ball back to the right hand now in front of the body, repeat.

Ball Handling Challenge
Two lines in opposite corners of the same sideline. The first person in one line is going to dribble around the perimeter of the court with their left hand. The first person in the other line is going to jog backwards around the perimeter of the court two times and back to his line. The ball handler is trying to catch the backpedaller before he gets back. This drill practices speed dribbling with the off hand and footwork.

Dribble Tag
Everyone dribbles a ball and they play tag, must be in control of ball when tagging someone, you may want to limit the area of play.

Knock Away
Everyone is in a confined area of the gym, everyone has a ball ready to dribble, when coach says go everyone must dribble while at the same time trying to knock the ball out of the other players hand. Players who go outside the zone, have their ball knock away or is not aggressive enough is out of the game.

Races
Divide into two groups for full court races, i.e. dribble down right handed and back left hand. Dribble down backwards, and back frontwards. Dribble down and shoot till you make a basket, or shoot once and keep track of points.

Bean Bag Game
Players must be able to continue dribbling the ball while picking up and dropping bean bags. Using half court place one team at center court, and one team at the corners of the baseline. Each team has one ball. Place bean bags in key circle in a pile. On coaches command one player from each team dribbles into the key, while still dribbling the players must bend down and pick up a bean bag each. They must then dribble back to their team while still dribbling deposit the bean bag and give the ball to their next team member.

This process continues until all bean bags are gone, then they are able to steal bean bags from the other teams. After two minutes the team with the most bean bags wins. Make sure all players keep dribbling all the time. OTE: Only one bean bag is able to be taken at a time.

Head's Up
Easy dribbling drill for all ages. Minimum of two players spaced 5-8 feet apart (depending on age level). Each player has a basketball and one has a wiffle golf ball or ping pong ball. Dribbling with you good hand (proper form required) you underhand pass the ping pong ball back and forth while dribbling. If you miss the ping pong ball dribble to get it and continue the drill. Switch to your off hand and continue drill.

Red Light Green Light
Everyone starts at the baseline with a ball. When the coach says 'green light', the player starts to dribble and walk. When the coach says 'red light', the player stops.

For the younger kids just learning, tell them this is not a race. When 'red light' is said, let them pick-up their dribble. As the level of play increases, different variations could be things like walking backwards, making it a race, using opposite hands, or any errors in dribbling having the player to go back to start. You can also use a whistle; one blow signifies 'green light' and two whistles mean 'red light'.

Variation of Red Light Green Light
This drill teaches kids to dribble in all directions and control the ball. Have a group of kids start at one baseline, don't bunch them too closely together. Each child in the group has a ball. When the facilitator shouts green light the children dribble forward, blue and they dribble left, yellow they dribble right, and of course red they stop. All during this drill the children keep dribbling.

Speed Dribble
Players start at 1/2 court or baseline. Each line or player has a ball. Objective is to reduce the number of dribbles. This is very good for young players. Let the players cover the required distance and count their dribbles. Have them cover the same distance and reduce the dribbles by 1. Repeat and reduce by 1 again. Continue reducing until you have increased speed.

Heads Up Direction Change
Teach players to dribble with heads up. Along the center court line space out 4 to 5 players facing you. You should be off the court at center court. Instruct your players to move while dribbling in whichever direction you move - side to side, forward and backwards. Change direction without words so they have to keep their eyes on you. As they progress change directions more quickly and move faster.

6 Cone Dribble Enhancement Drill
Six cones are set up in two lines of three. These lines are exactly parallel to each other and are approximately ten feet apart. You can set this drill up along the sidelines or on a stage as we do.

Start at the far right corner of this cone setup. The player dribbles at the first cone (the cone opposite them) as fast as they can. The ball is in the right hand. Once they reach the cone, they touch the cone with their left hand. Now, they dribble backwards toward the cone that they started by keeping the left hand up to protect the ball, their body angled to protect the ball and their head up simulating seeing the post and/or floor. Once they get to the next cone, they touch this cone with their left hand as well. Now they make a low crossover dribble putting the ball into the left hand. They proceed to dribble at the center cone, opposite line, as fast as they can. When they reach this cone, they touch the cone with their right hand. They proceed to dribble backwards toward the opposite line center cone keeping their right hand up. When they reach the center cone, they touch it with their right hand. Now, they use a low crossover dribble placing the ball into their right hand and dribble to the last cone in the opposite line. You continue this sequence until the player is back at the cone that was at the base of their feet when they started.

Explode
Player starts at free throw line extended and 3 pt. connection. Player starts jumping between legs coach then yells 'EXPLODE' player then comes off of between legs dribble and explodes to basket for layup. Make sure player stays LOW and EXPLODES. Do five lay-ups on each side of floor. Then make them pull up for the 'J'.

Next: same position on floor: player is again stationary but instead of between legs, have player standing dribbling behind the back, again let him/her dribble a few dribbles then yell EXPLODE . This drill will give game like situations and teach them to go to bucket quick and strong.

The Count von Count
The purpose of this drill is to enhance each player's dribbling ability. Many players, especially young and/or tall ones, lack a good ball handling and dribbling control when forced to keep the head up and the eyes off the ball. The drill takes only a few minutes and demonstrates visible improvements within a short period of time.
  • One player gets the ball and starts dribbling with the strong hand.
  • The other player is moving back- and sideways while holding his hands high over his head (the higher the better), forming numbers.
  • The player dribbling has to add the numbers of both hands and scream out loud the result.
  • The player showing the numbers starts doing cuts to the side or the front.
  • The player dribbling should try to constantly keep a distance of app. 2-3m to the other player.