1 on 1 Dribbling Drill With Random Traps

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Home > Coaching > Drills > Dribbling > 1 on 1 Dribbling Drill With Random Traps

Improves dribbling, handling traps, and dribbling out of double teams. Also allows you to work on defensive aspects of on ball defense, double teaming, and the timing of traps.

Instructions You can setup the drill full court or divide the court in two by putting cones on the rim line. We like splitting the court in half because it allows us to play in both directions and gives our players a bigger challenge. In this example we used cones to split the court in half. Offensive players starts on the baseline. Defensive player matches up to play 1on1. Additional defensive players (x2 and x3) are positioned around half court. These are the "trappers". Player 1 advances the ball with the dribble while x1 plays 1on1 defense trying to stop the ballhandler.

The trappers can double team when they see a good opportunity. In this case x3 decides to double team 1. The defensive player (x3) continues to double team trying to stop the ballhandler. Only two defenders are allowed to play. So player x2 stays out of this possession. 1 tries to beat the double team and advance the ball to the other end of the court.

The double team requires the ballhander to keep their eyes up, change pace, retreat dribble out of traps, and use their all around ballhandling skills to advance the ball. If 1 picks up their dribble, loses the balls, or goes out of bounds... then the play is over. If 1 advanced to the other baseline without turning it over, the player gets one point. After the play is complete, the next two players get ready. And the group that just finished can come back on the other half of the court.

Rotation Options For rotations, you can keep the same defensive trappers until everyone gets one possession on offense. Then designate new trappers. The ballhandler can get a certain number of opportunities or you can switch each possession. We normally switch ballhandlers after every possession. You can, of course, adjust how players rotate based on your numbers and needs. Offensive Points of Emphasis

Keep your eyes up
Retreat dribble out of bad spots (ex: traps)
Use change of directions moves and change of speed to beat the defenders
Protect the ball
Be persistent (this can be a tough drill for inexperienced players)

Defensive Points of Emphasis

On ball defender should be in good stance, watch defender's chest, and use good fundamentals.
Trappers should wait for good trapping opportunity. If the defender turns their back or they bring the ball to the sideline, look to trap.
Trap aggressively (when the time is right... hit hard).
Meet feet on the trap. Keep knees bent on the trap... so you can move quickly.
Keep the ballhandler in the trap.
If you get beat, look to cut the ballhandler, back tip and sprint back.

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Patrik Johansen says:
8/11/2015 at 6:09:10 AM

I agree with previous writers - nice and simple drill!
Addressing the concern regarding dribbling to much I agree and
- one way of tweaking it would be making it in to a 1 on 2 w/ pass (x2 becomes passer if x3 traps)
- making it a 2-on-2 drill (player not trapping becoming an outlet or has to move to create an option diagonal back if you prefer that)

The opportunities and teaching situations can be altered a lot from this simple set.

1 person liked this. 1 reply

Jeff says:
8/11/2015 at 9:50:48 AM

Good idea on having x2 become an outlet if x3 traps! Thanks for sharing.

Kevin says:
5/22/2015 at 11:02:47 AM

Neat drill! A couple questions:

What does "cut the ballhandler mean"?

Also, any idea how to teach back tipping? I can teach my players shooting technique until the cows come home, but i have no idea where to even start with back tipping. Do you just spin after you have been beat and slap at the ball, hoping you don't foul?

Thanks!

1 reply

Jeff Haefner says:
5/22/2015 at 12:25:13 PM

Coach - "Cut the ballhander" means you sprint as fast as you can when you are beat to get in front of the dribbler and make him stop or turn (cut the dribbler).

For back tipping, we just use 1on1 drills full court. When ever the defender gets beat off the dribble we yell at them to sprint and back tip. If they don't know what we mean, we just walk through that in slow motion. Beyond that we just use 1on1, 2on2, and 3on3 drills to teach back tipping. With that said, I have only taught that when implementing high pressure defense. I don't normally teach the back tip to our half court defense teams.

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Greg says:
5/22/2015 at 10:49:06 AM

I use a similar full court drill. Its a good way to work on ball handling skills in a practice situation, in space, when under duress. The "retreat" dribble is a very important, overlooked skill, I agree 100%

My only concern would be to make sure this doesn''t lead to over dribbling in actual game situations. . Just too much dribbling going on IMHO.

Sometimes the LAST thing a player should do is try to dribble out of or around a trap, but rather keep their head up and pass out of it. Explain this difference to the kids.

I''d suggest we coaches could still accomplish the same goal (of ball handling in space) with a single defender, narrowing the cones to maybe 1/3 the width of the court.

Just some thoughts...

1 reply

Jeff Haefner says:
5/22/2015 at 12:19:21 PM

That's a really good point! The drill above is one of my favorite drills. However I use it to develop great dribbling skills for each and every player on the team. This is how we challenge our players and keep the drills game-like. And also make sure every player HAS to handle the ball (they can't hide).

We also run no-dribble passing drills constantly... almost every single practice. Quite often our half court offense and even full court scrimmages are run with No Dribble allowed. This off sets the "over dribbling" issue... not to mention it improves spacing, cutting, ball security, passing accuracy, etc.

Great point. If you run this drill or similar drills, I highly recommend making no dribble drills and big part of your practices.

1 reply

Jeff Haefner says:
5/22/2015 at 12:34:09 PM

This drill that you mentioned is also good and we run this too...

"I'd suggest we coaches could still accomplish the same goal (of ball handling in space) with a single defender, narrowing the cones to maybe 1/3 the width of the court."

That's a good drill however I find it has a different impact. The random trap drills gives you a different look because it forces the offensive player to keep their eyes up and just gets them comfortable with traps. I find that too many players pick up their dribble and freeze as soon as the trap comes. This drill helps solve that problem.

In my opinion, teaching the back up dribble and how to handle the double team with the dribble is "step one". Then once players can do that, you teach them to also see open players by adding a second offense player or just have a coach there randomly flashing.

From my experience, somewhere around 50% of the traps are best beat with a retreat dribble and then find a good passing angle. The other 50% is best beat with an immediate pass. It all depends on the situation.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts and my logic. Seems to work for me but doesn't mean there aren't better methods.

James says:
5/22/2015 at 5:16:17 AM

Terrific drill, really like it's simplicity while being very functional. And could be used with a variety of age groups and playing levels.

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