Practice Bank
56 complete basketball practices. Filter by age, level, and length, and open any practice to see every drill. Browse and print free, save with Pro. Need a single play instead? Browse the Play Bank.
Showing 56 of 56
The first night of a 5-out motion offense for 11 and 12 year olds. Rules, not plays: pass and basket cut, fill, back cut when denied. 3-on-0 until every cut is…
7 drills · 3 plays
The fundamentals in one practice: a little skill work, shooting, and technique.
17 drills
For 9 and 10 year olds who can dribble with both hands and are ready to do it against someone. The middle of the practice is full-court 1-on-1, which works…
12 drills
A short dribbling practice for 7 to 10 year olds. Eyes up, push the ball hard so it comes back, and use both hands. No set water break at 30 minutes; let them…
7 drills
Press break and transition for 11 and 12 year olds. Most leagues at this age only allow man-to-man pressure, so this is about beating a denial and a trap with…
9 drills · 1 play
A two-hour defensive practice for a high school team: closeouts, 1-on-1 contain, the shell from positioning through help and recover, one ball-screen coverage…
20 drills · 3 plays
A 45-minute practice for 5 and 6 year olds on catching and passing, with a running game in the middle. Keep the partners close so the ball gets caught. Only run…
9 drills · 1 play
A 90-minute club tryout for 13 and 14 year olds: half skill drills, half competitive games, no strategy. Coach during it, because how a player takes a…
16 drills
Everything is scored tonight. A timed weave race, a shooting race, King of the Court, a 3-on-3 round robin, and a late-game final. Agree on the stakes before…
9 drills
For 13 and 14 year olds: close out, box out, then the shell, then a scored rebounding war. Rebounding lives inside the defense block because a stop is not a…
8 drills · 2 plays
A whole practice of dribbling, all of it games. The skill is pushing the ball down with the whole arm instead of slapping at it, so say that one cue and let…
6 drills · 1 play
A ninety-minute under-14 session with the structure Italian youth coaches are given, three to five times a week: ten minutes of individual fundamentals before…
19 drills
Nothing starts before noon the day after a game; that is the rule in the EuroLeague's player agreement, and it is a good rule for any team that plays twice a…
14 drills
The private arena session every EuroLeague team gets on a game day, and the way the best coaches use it: two or three of the opponent's actions walked at half…
9 drills · 2 plays
An hour of individual guard work in the European pattern: not one practice but a menu, for an off day or the hour before team practice. The balance shooting…
10 drills · 1 play
The one real practice of a two-game week, built the way EuroLeague head coaches build it. It opens with ten minutes of passing drills whose rules change without…
21 drills
Team defense built the Italian way: the individual prerequisites first, then the shell in five phases, then games that pay for stops. Tracing the ball with…
20 drills · 1 play
The fast break taught the way Italian youth coaches teach it: mentality first, then initiative, then the reads, all in advantage games. It starts with a dive…
17 drills · 2 plays
The evening of a preseason double day, when the team's defense gets installed. The tactical base goes in during the first two weeks, and those weeks run at the…
20 drills
The morning of a preseason double day, European style: the physical work and the individual work, with the team practice saved for the evening. The whole day is…
22 drills
A fundamentals practice the way the Serbian school runs one for its older juniors: passing on the move as the warm-up, the two-count stop that every start and…
17 drills
Ball-screen offense taught as a five-man habit, the way the Spanish national team and the EuroLeague clubs teach it. Close to half of EuroLeague half-court…
18 drills · 4 plays
The footwork session a Spanish club academy runs with its eleven and twelve year olds, built from games instead of lines. Stops and starts are the first thing…
18 drills
Transition defense the way it is taught in the EuroLeague, where a foul that stops the break is punished with free throws and the ball, so sprinting back has to…
17 drills · 1 play
A youth practice built on the two rules the best European academies hold until the mid-teens: nobody has a position, and nobody sets a screen. Under twelve the…
10 drills
A tryout that is really an evaluation day. At this age the goal is balanced teams, not cuts. Stations at every hoop, one evaluator each, then 1-on-1 and 3-on-3…
12 drills
A fundamentals practice for 7 to 10 year olds: dribbling, passing, shooting, and layups in one hour, then a no-dribble 3-on-3 so they have to pass and cut…
11 drills
A 45-minute first practice for 8 to 10 year olds who have played before. Names and expectations still come first, then two fast stations, a stance check, and…
12 drills
For 5 and 6 year olds on day one. Every kid has a ball, names come first, and every block is a game so nobody waits in a line. Lower the rim and use a smaller…
8 drills
Day one for a 7 to 10 team. Learn names, set three expectations (effort, attitude, listening), and teach only two things: dribble toward the rim and get in a…
12 drills · 1 play
Day one of the Flex for a high school team. Shoot the shots it creates, walk the whole continuity 5-on-0, break out the two screens and the cutter's reads, add…
14 drills · 4 plays
Shooting for 7 to 10 year olds, all of it close. Balance, eyes on the rim, elbow in, follow through. Kids move back only when they make it, and the games at the…
10 drills
Ball handling with an emphasis on man-to-man defensive concepts. This practice is conditioning heavy.
16 drills
For 11 and 12 year olds: ball handling first, then guarding the ball. Full-court 1-on-1 ties the two together, the shell walk-through adds help side, and a…
9 drills · 1 play
The practice for the week everyone needs a break. Every game still has a ball in it, so they practice dribbling and shooting without noticing. End on cheering…
6 drills · 1 play
A short layup practice for 7 to 10 year olds. Footwork first without a ball, then from the block, then off one dribble. Youth games mostly come down to who…
6 drills
For 9 and 10 year olds: layups with the correct foot and hand on both sides, then finishing with a defender chasing. Expect the left side to be ugly at first…
10 drills · 1 play
For 9 and 10 year olds who can guard the ball. Adds the next layer: point at your player and the ball (pistols), help when you are two passes away, and close…
12 drills · 2 plays
Defense for 7 to 10 year olds, two rules only: move your feet, and stay between your player and the basket. Stance, mirror slides, a closeout, then 1-on-1 and…
10 drills · 1 play
Mark Gottfried's actual practice plan for the day before a game, from Tuesday, February 19, 2008: practice 61 of Alabama's season, 3:00 p.m., with the next day…
27 drills
Drills that will push players to their limits. This is not an easy practice.
14 drills
A full shooting practice for a high school team: form, game-speed spot shooting from each player's real spots, off the dribble, off screens, reading closeouts…
16 drills · 1 play
For 7 to 10 year olds who are still learning to catch. Show a target, step into the pass, and pass to a spot the teammate can catch. It ends with no-dribble…
9 drills
For 9 and 10 year olds: pass, then move. V-cuts and give-and-go cuts get taught first, then used in no-dribble 3-on-3 with five passes before a shot. The last…
12 drills · 1 play
Week one of preseason for a high school team. All of the conditioning has a ball in it: a consecutive-makes layup line, full-court dribbling, the weave, 3-on-2…
23 drills · 1 play
For 13 and 14 year olds who will see real presses. Two breakers (against the 2-2-1 and the diamond), 3-on-2 and 2-on-1 continuous, then live from made baskets…
11 drills · 3 plays
Shooting and layups for 5 and 6 year olds, all close to a lowered rim. The goal is lots of shots and lots of makes, not range. Balance, eyes, elbow, follow…
7 drills
Shooting and ball handling fundamentals, then fun games that use both.
14 drills
A 90-minute shooting practice for 13 and 14 year olds. Partner shooting, closeouts, pull-ups, shots off screens, a team race, and drive-and-kick with the…
12 drills · 3 plays
Shooting for 11 and 12 year olds. Technique first, then scored and on the move. Shots stay inside the arc for most of this group; the drive-and-kick block uses…
9 drills · 2 plays
A shooting practice for 9 and 10 year olds who have their form down. Range still stays inside 15 feet. Catch-and-shoot, a shooting game, free throws, and a…
12 drills
Finishing, footwork and technique: contact layups, spin moves, up-and-unders, rebound and outlet. It ends with No Miss Continuation and Isolation Pressure, the…
12 drills
The playoff week practice. Shoot the shots the package creates, walk it, then run every play against live defense with the clock set. Defensive specials and two…
13 drills · 5 plays
A 90-minute handles and man-to-man practice for 13 and 14 year olds. Two-ball work, full-court contain, King of the Court, then the full shell progression…
12 drills · 1 play
A two-hour high school tryout. Measured stations first, then the competitive segments that show the most: full-court 1-on-1, 3-on-3 with a dribble limit…
20 drills
Games that still teach, for 7 to 10 year olds. Dribbling games, a shooting game, a numbers game, and a themed 3-on-3. Good for the last practice before a break…
8 drills · 1 play