My son who is 10 has done rec leagues for a few years. He said that he wants to focus on basketball to be his thing. He wants to make the travel team next year.

I want to practice with him for an hour a day. Shooting, passing and dribbling. Conditioning also but I want to do that with dribbling drills and footwork drills..

I found that the drill, fun drill pattern is the way to do things from reading. A drill and a game that reinforces the drill.

But looking at drills, not many can be done without a group of friends. What are some drill, fun drills that I can do with just he and I?

Don't worry, once he gets solid fundamentals I plan on inviting his friends to practice with us. I want to focus on 3v3 at this age. More touches means more skills being reinforced. And a better chance to learn "court vision".

Some of theses are for younger kids but here are a few ideas.
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/fundamentals/7-fun-ways-for-parents-to-practice-skills-with-their-kids.html

Couple others:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/drills/competitive-shooting-drills.html
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/drills/beat-the-pro.html

And some spots shooting games too.
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/store/shopexd.asp?id=123

With my son, I tried to mix in the drills with a game of HORSE or some other game. So, I'd have him do some Mikans, play a game, do some dribbling drills, play a game. Not sure setting the one hour per day is realistic with a 10 yr old, but you know your son better than we do.

If he's trying for a travel team, the goal would be to motivate him to practice on his own. So, if you have him doing mikans or two ball dribbling drills with you, mention that he should practice on his own. Next time you're hanging out, see if he's gotten better and make a big deal out of it. I found that saying, "I can tell you've been practicing on your own" goes a long way towards that motivation.

I'd work on his off hand every time, even if it's for 10 min. Dribbling with off hand, doing mikans with off hand. If your son can get comfortable with using both hands, that will pay off big time.

Passing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B3M920t1Fg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcMn6ltj8Z0

Dribbling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df4hM5igvN0
you can hold up fingers and ask son to tell you how many so he keeps his eyes up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Kp1ZTCMSsQ
Not really a partner drill, more advanced, but you could pick a few out of this. Any two ball dribbling drills are good, just have to limit the time and play a game in between.

Mikan Drills. Can limit the time, but I'm a big fan of the Mikan with varations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycNqi-VTL5Q
Only thing I don't like in this video is the guy doesn't catch the ball at its highest point on the basic Mikans.

HORSE - add the swish element once you've played a few games. Swish only on all shots. This really helped my son's shot a lot since we weren't trying to bank it off the roof, into the tree, off the squirrel, off mom's car and into the hoop. Mom appreciated it also. We also added off hand only shots for one game. Maybe PIG instead of HORSE for that one. You can add anything to HORSE, must dribble with off hand before shot or whatever skill you want to add for that game.

Shooting - I found the best drill was to pick spots on the court and just keep shagging balls while my son shot. We used two balls, so he'd shoot, I'd throw one back and get the rebound on the shot. X amount of shots from each spot, end on a make. This can get a bit tough for 10 yr olds, but you're trying to build muscle memory. The more shots the better, but for a 10 yr old, maybe 10 shots from 5 spots, ending on a make before moving to the next shot.

1v1 - great way to teach basic skills of feeling some contact or beating me to the spot on defense. I'd keep the games close at age 10. I'd win some, he'd win some. I used 1v1 to teach him more about feeling contact and playing a bit more physical. Probably not a wise move since he's 16 now. Get your wins in now while he's young

Read the replies a few days ago. Just wanted to say thanks.

The recent update:
Watched the boys HS basketball team kill it tonight. Off to the CT state quarter finals on Wednesday (class S). The point guard we have is insane. He dribbles like you wouldn't believe, finds the open man and can shoot the 3 from NBA land. 6' tall. Smart player. One kid tonight overplayed him in the 4th quarter when it was close and he got the kid in foul trouble. Took the kid from 1 foul to 4 fouls in a matter of 2-3 minutes. It was comical. I say it is comical because it is not the first time I have seen him do this.

What's funny is the #2 PG would be a #1 on any other team in the group of local HS teams we typically play against.

I don't know how the #1 is not getting recruited.

Anyway, my kid is getting wicked into basketball. Even shot around for 45 minutes before the game outside. What sucks though. He has a friend in 4th grade that is the "good" basketball player. He is convinced that he will never be that good. Now I have to convince him that he can be better. He doesn't seem to grasp that the reason that the kid is good is because he practices.


I'm essentially worried that he wants to get good but has no desire to actually put the work in.

Love the pic, Coach Rob!

Ha! Yep, that's when you know the pupil has passed the master in 1v1. I haven't tapped out yet, but I'm close.