If you're like me, you thoroughly enjoyed watching the Olympics. The stories of the athletes are incredible. The opportunity to see different sports is fun. It is truly a great event.

One of the breakout events of this Olympics was 3x3. I talked to numerous people who were completely taken with the game.

It makes for a great viewing experience. It's fast paced and exciting!

It's also an incredible way to teach your players how to play. Make it a staple part of your practices going forward!

How To Play

The rules are simple:

1. Half court 3x3
2. Take the ball back beyond the 3 point line on a change of possession. The defense can steal the ball as the offense takes it back so they should apply immediate pressure.
3. 10 minute game
4. :12 shot clock
5. No breaks after scoring
6. Game ends at 21

That's it!

3 Reasons Why You Need To Play This Game

We've talked a lot about 3x3 recently. We discussed why it's ideal for developing players.

Some of those reasons are:

More touches

Enhanced decision making opportunities

More players involved

Easier to coach

Easy to adapt

We shared an example of a 3x3 game you can use. We covered how to teach your offensive actions through 3x3.

This game does all those things - at high speed! Here are 3 unique benefits to FIBA 3x3:

1. Increases speed of decisions -The game never stops. Most 3x3 drills reset after a basket. In FIBA 3x3, players take the ball out of the net and immediately play.

Thus, players are constantly looking for opportunities to score. When a change of possession occurs, the 3 offensive players must look to find space to create an advantage.

If they can't, they need to quickly look to generate an advantage through some action (cutting, screening, etc.).

At first, your players will struggle with this. Over time, they'll start to recognize opportunities more quickly. Their basketball IQ will grow and the game will slow down.

2. Conditioning -This game is amazing for conditioning. I would not start by playing a 10-minute game. I would start with 2-3 minutes. If your players are going hard, this will be the limit of their endurance.

If you start at 10 minutes, the games will get sloppy and bad habits will emerge. Start with short games, then extend them as players' decision-making and conditioning improve.

3. Communication -FIBA 3x3 is great for defense, too! Players are constantly changing matchups. There is a lot of switching. Players have to recognize their positioning on a change of possession and react and communicatequickly.

We usually focus on offensive decision-making. However, defensive decision-making is just as important. If your players can immediately react to what the offense is doing, they'll be in better position to stop it.

FIBA 3x3 trains those reactions.

3 FIBA 3x3 Basketball Constraints to Add for Maximum Improvement

FIBA 3x3 is not just rolling the ball out. You still have to coach. Using constraints is one way to do this.

There are many ways you can constrain your small-sided games. Here are 3 that are effective with FIBA 3x3:

• 'Change' call -As players are playing, randomly yell out 'change'. As soon as you say that, the player with the ball must set the ball down. The team on offense immediately goes to defense. Their rule is they can't guard who was guarding them.

For the defense, this forces them to communicate and get matched up.

For the offense, they have a momentary advantage while this is happening. They should look to exploit the advantage before the defense can get back to neutral.

• Shot selection scoring -Young players struggle with understanding what a good shot is. Reinforce this through your scoring system.

Make layups worth 5 points. Make open jump shots off the catch worth 3 points. Make contested jump shots or off-the-dribble jump shots worth 1.

Players will quickly adjust in an effort to win the game.

• Penetrate-pass-pass rule -Too many youth players want to dribble every time they touch the ball. Use the penetrate-pass-pass rule to combat this.

Explain that if the player who has the ball before you drives, you probably shouldn't. This is because the defense is already compacted, and so a drive would be ineffective.

If the player ahead of you drives and passes to you, you should shoot or immediately pass.

Under this rule, consecutive drives are a turnover. This is a good principle of play for players to start learning at a young age.

FIBA 3x3: The Fun Way to "Sneak" in Improvement

Too many drills feel like drills. Yes, players might know they're learning, but it's not very engaging.

With FIBA 3x3, players are having so much fun that they don't even realize how much they're learning.

Because it's fun, they'll want to do more of it. When they do more of it, they'll continue to grow and improve.

Fun and improvement? Mission accomplished.

Related Resources

The Youth Coaching System With Jim Huber

3v3 Drills For Offense And Defense

What do you think? Let us know by leaving your comments, suggestions, and questions...

Comments Most Likes First   Oldest First   Newest First Craig Hutton says: 8/14/2024 at 10:38:05 AM Great article! The reasons you gave for playing 3x3 is why we are running our first youth 3x3 league starting this September. We are using the FIBA rules. I think the kids are going to love it, which is our number one motivator for running the league. These rules make the game fast, furious, and most importantly fun! Like     login   register

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