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Basketball Passing Drills

Medha Godbole
It is hard to imagine a basketball session without some passing drills. Here's how they help.
They created magic on the basketball court with their awe-inspiring gimmicks. No mention of basketball can be complete without 2 legendary players, Earvin 'Magic' Johnson and Michael Jordan.
Wonder what the 'mantra' behind their extremely successful stint on the court was. Guess, it was sheer determination and a hell lot of practice and training. Talking of training, ever heard of basketball training without drills? Here are a few of them.

Passing and Stepping

Players begin with a line at the center of the foul line and the other line on the out-of-bounds line. They start off when the ball is at the foul line. They face each other and then side-step down the court. At the same time, they give each other a chest pass every couple of steps. The players have to make sure that the ball does not hit the ground.

Swap or Pass?

To do this drill, players get into pairs. One of the players throws chest passes, and the other throws bounce passes. The coach can call out commands like 'switch' to indicate that the passing technique has to be swapped. The player doing chest passing will do bounce passing, and vice versa. The drill is effective for improving timing, passing, and catching.

Chasing Game

A couple of players stand on each side of the rectangle. One of them has the ball. On the whistle, both players rush off down the court. The player who has the ball throws it down the court in front of the other player. That player then has to make a layup in the other basket.
If the player (who had the ball earlier) cannot catch it, or it goes far off in front of both of them, a second pass back to the player having the ball initially is made for another layup or shot.

The Court is Full

In this drill, the coach pairs a group of children and asks them to form a single line, or 2 lines at the most. Each group then stands on the baseline on opposite ends of the court.
On the whistle, players jog besides each other using the pass the coach has assigned, either chest or bounce. The kids have to stay across or slightly ahead of their partners. The coach has to focus on the children leading their teammates with the pass.

Weaving a Score

Players fall in a group of 5 at one end of the court. Each player passes and goes behind the player who is shooting the layup, and the player who passed the ball to the shooter at that instant sprints to cover the defensive basket.
The ball is taken out of the basket by the player who is closest to the rebound. He immediately passes it to the nearest offensive player, for the initiation of 3 on 2 situation.

Circle to Pass

In this drill, players make a circle at the center of the court, which has a diameter of around 4 meters. One of the players is in the middle. The first player to start off the proceedings passes to the player in the center, and then goes after his pass.
The player in the center then passes the ball to the next player in the circle, clockwise. Consequently, the player who was in the center becomes one of those forming the circle, replacing the player he passed the ball to. The ball cannot touch the ground.
At the end of the day, a player can do these drills or umpteen more things. What is important is being constantly involved and on his toes, and lots and lots of practice.