Paul Giacomelli says:
7/16/2007 at 3:06:20 PM
Dribbling speed and quickness is maximized when players can use both hands well. Therefore, the first step is to practice basic dribbling techniques with both hands.
I would suggest the following drills for this stage:
Line up your players along a sideline at least arms-extended length from one another. Each player should have a ball and assume a basic protect-the-dribble stance for right hand dribbling: knees bent, butt down, back straight, head up, right foot back, and the left arm in front of the body parallel to the sideline and floor. Direct players to dribble the ball low and hard just outside and slightly in front of the right foot. As they do this, encourage them to look around the court instead of at the ball. Do the same practice with the left hand, reversing and mirroring all relevant foot and arm positions. Encourage players to spend twice as much time practicing with the off hand.
Once players get this basic dribbling with both hands, direct them to line up and crouch with both feet parallel to the sideline shoulder width apart. Have them begin dribbling low and hard with the right hand outside and slightly in front of the right foot. On the whistle, they should use a cross-over dribble to get the ball to a position outside and slightly to the front of the left foot and dribble low and hard with the left hand. The feet do not move during this drill. On the whistles, players use the cross-over dribble to switch hands. This should be a low, hard dribble that covers the distance from outside one foot to outside the other foot. Players should keep the eyes up and be looking around the court rather than at the ball. Keep the whistling and hand switching going through at least ten repetitions. Take care to correct any carrying during the cross-overs.
Once players can perform these basic dribbling techniques, speed and quickness drills per say are appropriate.
Heres one that incorporates several sound dribbling principles.
Have players spread out along the baseline. On the first whistle, have them speed dribble toward the opposite baseline. One the second whistle, they are to come to full stop while maintaining the dribble. They should be in a protect-the-dribble stance. On the next whistle, they should resume the speed dribble with the same hand for one dribble only and then do a cross-over dribble to the other hand and continue the speed dribble with that hand until the next whistle. On that next whistle, they come to a full stop while maintaining the dribble, again assuming a protect-the-dribble stance. On the next whistle, they resume the speed dribble with the same hand for one dribble before crossing-over to the other hand. Repeat this whistle sequence using an unpredictable pattern of whistling so that players develop responsive reflexes at each whistle change. The drill continues up and down the court until all players have returned to the original baseline.
Hope this helps!
Paul Giacomelli Editor, BreakthroughBasketball.com
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