All times are UTC - 6 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 15 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
  Print view Previous topic | Next topic 
Author Message
PostPosted: 06 May 2013, 12:46 

Posts: 1
I have a group of 14-16 year old players who are having a difficult time passing the basketball during the games. This pass weekend, we literally threw the ball away on countless occasions and needless to say, we didn't fair well. What can I do as a coach to help them develop better passing skills? Thanks.


 Profile  
 
PostPosted: 06 May 2013, 13:35 
User avatar

Posts: 3139
That is a learned skill.... something that you have to work on every day. It takes a lot of patience and repetitions... I had a few varsity teams that were terrible at this skill, no matter how much we worked on it.

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/drills/basketballdrills.html#passingdrills

There are some drills there... and find some, or make up your own, passing and catching drills while you are moving.


 Profile  
 
PostPosted: 06 May 2013, 13:54 
Site Admin
User avatar

Posts: 1280
I think Coach Sar taught me this but my favorite drill for this is 3on3 full court no dribble. You play a regular game except players aren't allowed to dribble. I like to play real short games (to maybe 3 so it stays intense) and require them to defend full court. Teaches players to look before they pass, meet their pass, catch in triple threat, use pivot, learn how to get open, etc. You can also do half court, 4on4, or 5on5 no dribble. Give a big motivation to win the game. Usually I deduct points for turnovers because I hate turnovers. Worked wonders for us and was a great teaching tool.

_________________
Jeff Haefner
http://www.BreakthroughBasketball.com


 Profile  
 
PostPosted: 09 May 2013, 11:33 

Posts: 900
I'm also a big advocate of the 3 v 3, 4 v 4 type drills with passing. We do one called 10 good passes. Half court, no dribbling allowed and I let them play within reason. In other words, the defense needs to be aggressive here since there's no dribbling allowed. Obviously, if you're on offense, you will have to move to get open and the passes will have to be sharp. First team to make 10 successful passes wins. Other teams do 10 push-ups while reciting, "I will make better passes".

Another important factor is the person receiving the pass isn't aggressive enough. Teach your players to come towards the ball aggressively when receiving a pass.

_________________
CRob


 Profile  
 
PostPosted: 10 May 2013, 12:32 

Posts: 41
I think all youth teams have this issue to varying extent. Some of it is fundamentals and more work there will help. Also, I found it is not until they get a little older that they get decent at pass fakes and those certainly help cut down the turnovers.

Really I think the nub of it though (and this also applies to layups and seemingly easy shots that get missed in games) has to do with playing at game speed. I follow a lot of the advice on this site and elsewhere for my practices about making drills competitive, creating game-life situations, and scrimmaging, but nothing can quite replicate the game-like environment where everything is about 10 % faster than even your most competitive practices, not to mention there is the nerves factor which also contributes to passing mistakes and other mental errors, especially early in the game.

Doing more passing drills in practice will help but getting good and sufficient game experience IMHO is probably most important in reducing those silly passes and turnovers.


 Profile  
 
PostPosted: 10 May 2013, 17:53 
User avatar

Posts: 3139
If you want to make your drills / scrimmages a little more difficult, add an extra defender - that will make your offensive players work that much harder to make good passes.

Jeff / Joe ... Do we have my Man Maker Drill on here??


 Profile  
 
PostPosted: 11 May 2013, 05:40 
Site Admin
User avatar

Posts: 1280
Man Maker Drill. Is this the one you had in mind?
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/playcreator/view.asp?id=167&type=drill

_________________
Jeff Haefner
http://www.BreakthroughBasketball.com


 Profile  
 
PostPosted: 11 May 2013, 08:22 
User avatar

Posts: 3139
Thanks Jeff -

That's the drill.... and there are a few comments on that site that gives you a few more ideas.

Our kids loved this drill.... the defenders anyway.... but the offensive players loved making them look bad by breaking the pressure.


 Profile  
 
PostPosted: 01 Jun 2013, 19:21 
User avatar

Posts: 314
If you cant pass and you cant catch, you cant play this game. there are more mistakes made in catching and passing the basketball that any other skill taught. I do progressive passing skill daily at practice starting with half court to full court. If you watch some of the NBA teams, this fundamental is at times screwed up and these guys are making millions. I consider this one of the most important fundamentals to teach and drill.
Good Luck Coach mac..


 Profile  
 
PostPosted: 02 Jun 2013, 09:08 
User avatar

Posts: 3139
Mac -

It's been a long time.... good hearing from you..... your comment has to be an "age" thing - another "seasoned: friend of mine says the same thing. If you cant pass or catch the ball, you cant play. So, like I said before, its something that you have to work on every day. JMO


 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 15 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

All times are UTC - 6 hours


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: