I'm looking for some tips and drills to help a few players control their dribble better. They are very athletic boys, 8,9,10 years old. The problem is when they get going they tend to dribble the ball way above their heads and lose control of it. They are very receptive to coaching, but sometimes they get caught up in the moment of the game and get out of control. We've lost many an open layup to these occurrences.

We start each practice with balllhandling drills, so I'm going to be stressing the low dribble to them even more tonight. It's frustrating because the talent is there, but they just need to get used to the game more. One of them is in his first year playing. Freak of an athlete, but plays way too fast many times.

Once they get proficient with their dribble you can go to competitive ball handling drills that simulate games situations. I don't know if these kids are ready for it yet. But here's a couple examples of the drills...

1 on 1 step dribble. Have a defensive player lean on the offensive player, have offense use side step dribble to advance the ball. They need to have the ball behind them or it will get stolen. This gets player comfortable dribbling with someone in their grill.

1 on 1 escape type of drills. On "go" the players try to score off the dribble. You place the defender on the hip of the offense player. On "go" the are live 1 on 1. Again gets players comfortable with someone on their hip.

1 on 1 tight space. Choose a narrow area of the floor and play 1on1.

1on2. Try go bring the ball up the floor and score with 2 players on you.

Those are just ideas. It takes tons of practice, lots of two ball drills, weave, zig zag, back up, and all kinds of stuff (moving, stationary, etc).