Two-ball dribbling drills are extremely effective in improving your dribbling and ball-handling. Here is why...
Whenever you do activities that are more difficult than you are accustomed to, the previous activity becomes easier in relation to what you are now doing. So, if you regularly practice dribbling with two basketballs, imagine how easy it would be to dribble with one.
Here is a video of stationary two-ball dribbling moves that you can practice. The skill level for these drills vary from youth, middle school, high school, college, and all the way to pro players.
I've posted the sequence below the video. A few are repeated.
We have also posted a few sample two-ball dribbling and ball-handling workouts below the sequence.
Sequence
Front crossover
Side to side
Front to back
Combo of side to side & front to back
Alternating hands
Side to side
Rotating side to front
Around one leg – two dribbles
Figure 8
Between the legs - backwards
Crossover – 1 dribble between double crossovers
Crossover
Behind the back – 1 direction
Front – side to side
Between legs & behind back while maintaining other dribble
Between leg & crossover
One crossover & flip ball to other hand
Figure 8
Front between the legs
Low dribbling on one leg
Around one leg while power dribbling with other hand
Around one leg with each ball – low dribble
Around one leg while maintaining low dribble
One low, one high
Low figure 8
Crossover, crossover – side to side with one hand, front to back with other
Crossover & behind the back
Sample Two Ball Dribbling & Ball Handling Workouts
Do each drill for 15 to 20 seconds. Then go to the next drill. After you do this whole sequence, you'll
feel your wrist and forearms burning which is GREAT, because this is exactly what you want to strengthen
the appropriate muscles for ball handling and dribbling.
The number in parentheses behind the drill is in reference to the sequence for the video above.
Beginner Workout
Power Dribble - Waist Level
High Dribble - Shoulder Height
Low Dribble - below Knees
Alternating High & Low - Three Dribbles High, Three Dribbles Low
Alternating Dribble - Left, Right, Left, Right (5)
Side to Side (2)
Front to Back (3)
Crossover (1)
Around one Leg - Two Dribbles (8)
One Dribble Between Crossovers (9 -This one is not the exact same as 9, he does two
crossovers in a row)
Intermediate Workout
Same as the beginners workout, except you add 4 to 5 difficult variations.
Choose 4 to 5 from this group:
Behind the back – 1 direction (13)
Between legs & behind back while maintaining other dribble (15)
Between leg & crossover (16)
Figure 8 (18)
Front between the legs (19)
Low dribbling on one Leg (20)
Around one leg while power dribbling with other hand (21)
Around one leg with each ball – low dribble (22)
Around one leg while maintaining low dribble (23)
One low, one high (24)
Low figure 8 (25)
Crossover, crossover – side to side with one hand, front to back with other (26)
Crossover & behind the back (27)
As you get better, you can perform the beginner drills for 5 to 10 seconds and add more
intermediate and advanced dribbling drills to the workout.
Always be careful with 2 ball drills because while they are great to develop a good handle they do not correspond to going from A to B with speed or changing pace. Do not spend too much time doing these and disregard making dribble moves against an opponent these transfer to the game.
Great for building and developing skill and being a confident ball handler. Definitley something for the off season. Still require emphasis on game specific situations and in this regard incorporating movement of hips, knees and feet become important.
many dribbling drills shown are not necesarry,it is a waste of time and effort learning skills that dont matter.it can also distract a child''s or a player''s development.As a coach many drills can be considered "harmful",particularly if the drills are not feasible during an actual ballgame.
Agreed. As players, you do not want to spend too much time focusing on these stationary drills.
They are still great drills to warm up, improve hand-eye coordination and hand quickness. That's why we advise to do the drills for 15 to 20 seconds each. This will usually end up being a warm up of 3 to 5 minutes.
When you practice something more difficult than the skill you are accustomed to (dribbling with two balls), the old skill is much easier (dribbling with one ball).
I like two ball dribbling because it forces a player to work equally with their "weak" hand. Unless we require players to use the weak hand in drills they will become one handed players. We've all had them in our clinics and on our teams. Look at Steve Nash's story. A great right handed player who is amazing with his left hand. An injury in his youth forced him to work with his left hand a lot. I think it paid off.
Valuable individual practice on fundamentals is a must for kids. It's all about muscle-arm build-up and commitment to master the skill (footwork or leg-muscle build-up included). I believe this should be emphasized. Kids who are serious about getting ahead in the "great game" of basketball should also do game-like moves after doing the, shall we say, the dribbling drills in the video. But most kids prefer to play for fun. Very seldom do we see kids who are willing to sacrifice fun situations for something they still are not sure about. Well, kids are kids. Our role perhaps is to just help them find the right mix or sports vis-a-vis their physical attributes, etc.
RockSolidBasketball.net says:
3/18/2010 at 5:47:34 AM
Great Video! We Train Groups 2 x per week. We spend 5 minutes on 2 ball dribbling on the move. After watching the video I can see the value of doing it stationary as well. (you''ll feel your wrist and forearms burning which is GREAT, because this is exactly what to strengthen the appropriate muscles for ball handling and dribbling). Early in the week 1st Day we will work on Stationary, 2nd Day we will work on the move. Thanks Again Joe
The video was great! After being out of coaching for 6 years, this brought back memories for me of the summer I worked at the Cal Womens Basketball Camp for girls. I coached Girls High School basketball for 5 years in the SF Bay Area and I now coaching 6th-8th girls. Having these drills will definitely help them.
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