Kristian Ferrell
Basketball practice plans are essential for coaches to improve the skills of their players and achieve success. A well-structured practice session should include a dynamic warm-up, skill work, team strategy, scrimmage, and a cool-down period. The duration of each segment can be adjusted based on the available practice time. For example, a 60-minute practice might include 10 minutes of warm-up, 25 minutes of skill work, 10 minutes of team strategy, 10 minutes of scrimmage, and a 5-minute cool-down.
Creating an effective practice plan involves combining technical learning with its practical application. Coaches should focus on teaching players the correct skill movements and when to use them. This can be achieved through various drills and games that improve individual skills like ball-handling, dribbling, and shooting, as well as team strategies and defensive techniques.
Additionally, coaches should emphasise the importance of teamwork and trust among players to foster a cohesive team dynamic. By planning practices efficiently, coaches can maximise their impact on their players' skills and overall performance.
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What You'll Learn
Warm-up and body movement
For youth players, dynamic warm-ups are critical for developing balance, coordination, and body control. These can include dynamic leg swings, where players stand on one leg and swing the other leg forward and backward before switching sides. This targets hip and knee joints and improves joint mobility and blood flow. Another exercise is Carioca, which improves lateral movement, agility, and footwork. Players face sideways and cross the trailing leg in front and then behind, continuing in a sideways direction.
Arm Circles are another effective warm-up exercise. Players make small, controlled motions with their arms, gradually increasing the size of the circles. This gets the blood moving and works the shoulders, triceps, and biceps. Players can do 10 circles in one direction and then reverse for another 10.
Lunges are also popular for dynamic stretching and can be a building block for other exercises. They mimic the running movement essential in basketball and most sports. Players lunge forward with one leg, bending both knees and keeping their trunk upright. They then repeat on the opposite leg, ensuring the knee is stable and doesn't fall inward.
In addition to these dynamic warm-up exercises, coaches can incorporate low or medium-impact basketball drills, such as dribbling or ball-handling, to make efficient use of practice time.
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Skill work
Skills work should make up the bulk of the practice. It's important to first assess the overall skill level of your players. This will help you understand how much time to dedicate to individual skills versus team skills. For example, if you're working with younger kids, you'll want to focus more on fundamental skills.
Fundamental skills include dribbling, shooting, rebounds, passing, ball handling, free throws, and layups. You can also include more specific skill-builders, such as left-hand and right-hand form shooting drills and crossover dribbling.
- Have players stand on the sideline with a basketball (or shared between two). They should bend their knees and begin dribbling back and forth, swinging the ball from right to left below the knees for 20 seconds. Then, they should dribble at knee level for 20 seconds, and finally, they will dribble the ball higher and swing it from side to side for the last 20 seconds.
- Players can pair up and stand a short distance apart, facing each other. One partner will be the leader and perform a crossover dribble at different heights. The other partner will try to mirror the leader.
To improve shooting skills, you can have players practice free-throw shooting after an aerobic, running drill to simulate the fatigue of a real game.
It's important to keep practices fun and engaging, especially for youth teams. Try the skill-fun drill technique, where you teach a skill and then follow up with a fun game or drill to work on that skill. You can also incorporate competitive games or drills that take players out of their comfort zones to observe how they perform under pressure.
Additionally, you can ask players to share something they did well or something positive about another player's actions to boost morale and encourage a positive team dynamic.
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Team strategy
During the team strategy block, coaches can focus on defensive and offensive strategies. For example, zone offense and defense, formations, and rotations are all aspects that can be covered during this time. It's important to work on both individual defense techniques and team defense strategies to support teammates and limit opponents' access to high-percentage shooting areas.
When teaching team strategies, coaches should select drills that teach by progression. This means breaking down the specific skills within a strategy and teaching them in a step-by-step manner. For example, when teaching an offensive set, coaches can start with screening, then catching, and finally finishing with layups.
Teamwork and trust are also crucial aspects of team strategy. Coaches can encourage players to share something positive about another player's actions or their own performance to build trust within the team. Additionally, defensive teams should be encouraged to move their feet, play active defense, and contest all shots.
The amount of time spent on team strategy can vary depending on the overall practice time. For a 60-minute practice, 10 minutes can be allocated to team strategy, while a 120-minute practice can include up to 20 minutes for this section.
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Scrimmage
When structuring a basketball practice, it is important to first assess the skill level of your players. This will determine how much time is spent on scrimmaging and the type of scrimmages played. For less experienced teams, small-sided games are often preferred, such as one-on-one or two-on-two, played on a half-court. This gives novice players more space to work with and allows them to be more active than they would be in a traditional five-on-five game.
To increase the intensity of scrimmages, coaches can divide them into a series of mini-scrimmages with an emphasis on defense and defensive stops. This can be done by using multiple short scrimmages of 5 or 6 baskets instead of a single long scrimmage. Breaks between scrimmages allow for changes and individual corrections without interfering with the flow of the game.
Additionally, coaches can incorporate validation through free throws to improve players' skills and build mental toughness. After a team wins a scrimmage, they must validate their win by making a successful free throw. If they miss, they can either continue playing until another team takes the lead or both teams can complete consequences, such as sprints.
Finally, scrimmages can be modified to suit a specific playing style or focus on a particular skill. For example, the "no dribble" drill restricts players from dribbling the ball, forcing them to focus on passing and movement without the ball.
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Cool down
Cool-down
The cool-down is an essential part of basketball practice. It acts as a reset for the next practice session or game, helping to prevent muscle soreness and improving relaxation. A good cool-down should return the heart rate to its resting rate, lower lactic acid and adrenaline levels in the body, and reduce soreness. It also helps to cool down the body after an intense workout, improving recovery.
Cool-downs usually last between 3 and 10 minutes and include a shower, gentle movements, and stretching exercises. Static exercises are more appropriate for the cool-down as they help muscles relax and realign muscle fibres. Some examples of static stretches include:
- Sumo squats: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand in front of your hips. Bend into a squat position while pushing your hips back and keeping your knees facing outwards. Bring the dumbbells down to the floor between your legs and then stand up again.
- Ankle rotations: Point your toes towards the ceiling and then slowly rotate your foot in a full circle.
- Shoulder and mid-back stretch: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, reach your hands over your head, and lock them in place. Keeping your core tight, lean back to target your mid-back and the front of your shoulders.
- Calf stretch: Put one foot a foot or two in front of the other and bend your front knee, keeping your back leg heel down. Gently lunge forward to stretch the calves and hold for 10 seconds. Repeat five times and then switch legs.
Cool-downs can also include shooting practice, which helps to lower the heart rate and simulate shooting while fatigued in games. Running through offensive sets at half-speed is another good option to change the pace. Additionally, players may find yoga exercises beneficial instead of static stretches.
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Frequently asked questions
The length of a basketball practice will vary depending on the age group and level of the players. Youth teams tend to practice for 60, 90, or 120 minutes.
A rough rule of thumb for high school teams is to spend half the time on individual fundamentals and half on team skills. For younger kids, skew the time towards fundamental skills. A dynamic warm-up and body movement should take up the first 10-15 minutes. Skill work should make up the bulk of the practice. Team strategy and scrimmage/SSG should take up a significant portion of the practice, with a cool-down period at the end.
Defensive drills are important and typically run for around 10 minutes. You can use 5 different drills, each for 2 minutes. For shooting drills, instead of taking shots from all over the floor, practice shooting from locations that usually produce shots in your offense. For example, if you are running a basic 3 out 2 in motion offense, have your players in 3 lines around the perimeter with the ball in the middle.
