Drills play
Drill: Dribble Knockout
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 5 steps
About this play
Ball protection and awareness in traffic, in a game where nobody sits out, which is why it beats cone dribbling for kids: the eliminated players keep dribbling in a side zone instead of watching. Six to twelve players, a ball each, inside the three-point arc, with cones marking the zone. On go, everyone keeps a live dribble and tries to flick the other balls away, protecting their own with the off arm and the body and a low dribble. A player whose ball leaves the zone, who stops dribbling, double dribbles, or steps out is out and moves to the side zone to keep working. As the numbers drop, the coach moves the cones in to the lane. Last player dribbling wins and the round resets. Three to five minute games, two or three rounds. Mistakes: turning the back and hiding, reaching with two hands, a high dribble. Progression: weak hand only, or three zones where a knockout moves you up a zone and getting knocked out moves you down, so the groups sort themselves by ability. Youth. I picked this up from the Jr. NBA's dribble knockout and Basketball Australia's under-12 drills; look them up for the three-zone version.
