Hi coaches,

I have been thinking about getting some mini basketballs (7" diameter/ 22" circumference) to practice dribbling with for beginning players aged 6 - 10. My thought is that the smaller balls will force them to use their fingertips more to control rather than their palm due to the weight (less force needed) and size (less of the hand fits on the ball!). Not full time, but maybe as a warm up or change of pace in dribbling drills. Has anyone tried this or have an opinion on whether it would help or harm dribbling development? I certainly don't want to invest the money if it is a bad idea!

Thanks,
Greg

Greg - I like the minis for shooting. So much easier for young kids to shoot technically correct with the minis. Other than my own kids dribbling the minis in the basement, I have not tried using them for dribbling. For our teams I have always used size 4, 5, or 6 basketballs with players age 6 - 10.

Maybe I'm missing something but I didn't see benefit dribbling with the mini and preferred the bigger ones. But that doesn't mean I was right.

@JeffHaefner

Dribbling the ball between the legs and behind the back is most of the time easier with a mini ball, but I personally do not focus on the 6 - 10 year olds with those two dribble moves.

@gtleonard At the Netherlands it depends per club but 6-7 sometimes 8 year olds use a size 4 ball. Size 5 is used from 8 to 11 and size 6 to the age of 13. The size of the ball carries a certain weight and the strength of children near those age groups differentiate a lot! Using a smaller ball when lacking strength doesn't hurt their development, it actually helps them tremendously in order to do technique correct.

If you want to help your kids get better at dribbling, I personally like to start them on their knees. The ball will remain close to their hands and those eyes can directly go up. You can guide them to not slapping the ball, but pushing it that way and slowly work your way up!

I hope it helped!