This drill encompasses the competitive nature of your young athletes as well as involving the fun aspect in basketball. This drill will have your young athletes competing head-to-head to try and score in a one-on-one setting. Practicing this drill in your practice will get your athletes excited and ready to play.
The players will create two lines on the foul line extended – one of the lines (offensive) will have the balls, while the other line (defensive) won’t have any. The drill starts by the player with the ball dribbling to half court (touching the half court line), while simultaneously the other player runs to the baseline and touches that line. Once both players have touched their respective lines, they will now play one-on-one . When every player has gone in the lines, you can switch up the offensive and defensive lines.
The goal of this drill is to teach players how to attack a lone defender who is protecting the basket. As coaches, encourage your defenders to not just wait in the key until the offensive player drives to the basket. Allow them to practice their closeouts towards the oncoming offensive players. Likewise, the offensive player should be attacking the defense at full speed and keeping their head up while driving to the basket.
The video posted below has a similar concept to this drill, except for the fact that the players are running in the same direction. In this drill, the offensive players run to the half-court line, while the defensive players run and touch the baseline. Same concept; however, the defensive player will not be chasing the offensive player, rather, meeting them at the basket.
Feel free to take a look at the video below and it may be used as a variation to this drill as well.
| DESCRIPTION | Make two lines at the foul-line extended – One line has basketballs, the other does not. The player with the ball starts the drill by dribbling to half court. At the same time, the player in the other line runs to touch the baseline. The players are now playing 1-on-1 against each other.
Note: If the player with the ball touches the line before the other player touches the baseline, they do not have to wait for the defender to meet them at half – they can just drive to the basket. (Forces the defensive line to be quick.)
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| SKILL FOCUS | Ball handling, movement, finishing |
| AGE (STAGE) | 6+ (FUNdamentals Stage) 9+ (Learn-to-train Stage) |
| PLAYERS | 2+ |
| EQUIPMENT | 2-3 basketballs |
| VARIATION: Body Fakes | Have another line located at the top of the key. The players in that line also run to touch the half-court line while the other two are touching the lines mentioned above. When all players have done so, it is now a 2-on-1 live play |
| Key Teaching Points | Encourage the defender to leave the paint to play defense – don’t just have the defender wait for the offensive player by the basket
Encourage the offensive player to attack the defender at full speed
Ensure the offensive player is keeping their head up when driving to the basket
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