Great drill for all ages!! I have used over years @ H.S. level and am working with my 6th grade grandson now on footwork and he can certainly benefit from this drill!!

This is an awesome drill. I learned a little about the jumpstop in a league that I coached in a few years back, but adding the running and pivots to it is a great idea. Thanks

Two Thumbs up for this drill! Adding the various running, pivoting, and ball handling was a nice feature. Can't wait to use it for the next practice. Thanks

I have coached at the CYO youth level for over 15 years. I begin every practice with the jump stop drill. To add spice after a jump stop instead of the pivot they get into a shooting position and go through the motion of a junmp shot. Thanks for the confirmation.

I am now in the thick of things teaching advanced skills to kids who just completed a three-day basketball clinic and volunteer to know and learn more. Great! Great! addition to our drills.

Sounds like a great drill for my young boys. We work on jump stops , pivoting and triple threats at all practices. This drill ties it all together. Thanks

good drill getting kids to learn direction change vs running around in wide circles.

i coach 8+9 yr olds

these drills are great. can't wait to try them out. what do you recommend with 8 & 9 year olds when doing drills or better yet when should i practice using half court and or full court. since they will be playing full court during games.

isn''t it consider travel if you jump stop then pivot or there is not a pivot foot when u jump stop?

Hi Bob,

This is a very good question and it has caused some confusion for me in the past. I have heard mixed answers from referees, because I'm not sure they even completely understand the rule.

My interpretation is that if a player is speed dribbling and jumps off of one foot and comes to a jump stop (Try picturing a big over-exaggerated jump stop), then they can not use a pivot.

If a player does NOT jump off of one foot and comes to a jump stop (Try picturing a quick, short jump stop with minimal time in the air), he can use either pivot foot as long as he lands on both feet at the same time.

I have posted the rules for traveling from the the National Federation of State High Schools web-site.

"The traveling rule has not changed. What has changed is the common use of the jump stop as an offensive move. Officials and coaches are having difficulty determining the difference between a legal and illegal move. The key to making this determination properly is first finding the pivot foot. Then, if the player moves a foot or the feet in any direction in excess of prescribed limits while holding the ball, a traveling violation has occurred. The limits follow:

1. A player who catches the ball with both feet on the floor may pivot, using either foot. When one foot is lifted, the other is the pivot foot.

2. A player who catches the ball while moving or dribbling may stop and establish a pivot foot as follows:

a. If both feet are off the floor and the player lands;

(1) Simultaneously on both feet, either foot may be the pivot.
(2) On one foot followed by the other, the first foot to touch is the pivot.
(3) On one foot, the player may jump off that foot and simultaneously land on both. Neither foot can be a pivot in this case.

b. If one foot is on the floor;

(1) It is the pivot when the other foot touches in a step.
(2) The player may jump off that foot and simultaneously land on both. Neither foot can be a pivot in this case.

3. After coming to a stop and establishing a pivot foot:
a. The pivot foot may be lifted, but not returned to the floor, before the ball is released on a pass or try for goal;

b. If the player jumps, neither foot may be returned to the floor before the ball is released on a pass or try for goal;

c. The pivot foot may not be lifted, before the ball is released, to start a dribble.

4. After coming to a stop when neither foot can be a pivot:
a. One or both feet may be lifted, but may not be returned to the floor, before the ball is released on a pass or try for goal;
b. Neither foot may be lifted, before the ball is released, to start a dribble."

these drills and workouts are really good
helps alot with our basketball training
Thanks alot!!

can you explain to me an example of a game plan for basketball?

A game plan would be a way to play against a certain team. Often, coaches have consistent philosphies of how they like to play the game offensively and defensively.

In a game plan, they make slight adjustments according to their opponent. For example, if your opponent is not a threat in the post. A coach may say we do not double in the post this game. The post defenders will play straight up.

Game plans are usually for advanced coaches at the high school, college, and pro levels. Youth coaches shouldn't worry about this stuff. They should just focus on the fundamentals during practice.

when a player hops of one foot and then lands on both can he jump in the air and shoot before he lands

Hi Harold,

From my interpretation of the rule, that would be a legal move.

However, I was informed by Don Kelbick that if you do that same move in the NBA, it is a travel.

is a pivot just a step

Harold,

It is your stationary foot that you can not lift off of the ground. You can rotate clockwise and counter-clockwise on the foot.

Once, you have a pivot foot. You can not switch the pivot foot. For example, if your pivoting (stationary) foot is your right foot, you can not switch to your left as the pivot.

Hi. My name is Mariah Skattebo and 2008 is the first year i have ever played ball. After reading your web site i now know everything i need to know about the sport i want to play. Thank you soo much.
Your truly,
mariah skattebo

This drill is knowns as offensive running. Done in our district from k-varsity...

Coaching kids 10-12. They don;t keep score but they have refs. Should be fun
Thanks
Nick

nicholas.marchitelli@dcma.mil

who made this website?

Great drill, learn this drill in high school had forgotten,this one

With the jump stop just make sure you teach it correctly because if you don't you will be teaching your kids how to travel. Personally I think the jump stop should be learned after the kids have learned to dribble with a good degree of control.

Hi,

I am a head coach of the local club. Can I print out some of your drills and give it to some of our coaches.

They are mostly parrents who havent played basketball before.

Thanks for the great site!!

Cheers
Nigel

Yes, as long as they are the free drills from this site.

After reading this website i learned everything i needed to,to make the basketball team at Ware County Middle School! The first couple of days of tryouts i wasn't impressed about my skills and work! So when i can home from school that day i looked on google.com and saw your website and went on it.
Thank you for all your help!
Diamond Taylor!

Just had my first practice yesterday with 3/4 grade boys. Will definitely try this drill next practice as I noticed a lot of blank stares when I said the word "pivot". This is a tough age level to teach advanced concepts beyond simple zone/man-to-man defense and offense is very challenging. Any tips or drills that might help are appreciated.

Hi Scott,

For pivots, explain and show. Then, let them try. It's going to take lots of time. High school seniors will have trouble with this drill if they've never done it before. Let them work out their mistakes. They'll learn slowly, but surely.

Plays and zones might hurt your player's development. Here are some articles you may want to take a look at:

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/should-youth-coaches-avoid-plays-and-patterned-offenses/

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/defense/age.html

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/developmental-league.html

Joe, Thanks for the reply! I definitely am concentrating on learning fundamentals and "how to play" the game. I was reading some different basketball coaching websites and was going to start the game concepts with, as you also recommend, man-to-man defense and a motion 3-2 offensive set (NO SET PLAYS).
http://www.coachesclipboard.net/MotionOffense.html
Just to get them positioned on the floor. I found another pretty good website that had a lot of good "ground-rules" for the 3-2 set that I'm going to use to try to keep them from getting into "crowd the ball" situations and help everyone understand off-ball concepts.
I do like the idea of having them play 3-on-3 at this age level, definitely would make game learning and teaching much easier, and probably more fun.
Also, I am pretty sure we are playing on full 10' rims....which I didn't think was a bad idea, but now that you pointed it out to me, might not be so good. I will check with the league.
Thanks!!!

You're welcome, Scott. You may want to start out with a 5-out so everybody develops ball skills and here is a link that you might find helpful for a youth motion offense: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/offense/motion-offense-youth-basketball.html