Age group: U12
Focus: Footwork
Duration: 38 minutes
Drills: 6
Pivots, stops, and balance. Underrated work that pays off everywhere — offence, defence, finishing, rebounding. 45 minutes that fixes most problems.
Players cross the court doing different animal walks: bear crawl forward, crab walk sideways, inchworm forward, frog jumps, spider crawl.
Full-body dynamic warm-up that's actually fun. Activates hips, shoulders, core, gets kids laughing.
Player dribbles full speed from baseline, performs a stride-stop (1-2 step) at the foul line, then a jump-stop (both feet at once) at half-court, then a stride-stop at the far foul line, finishing with a layup.
Footwork is what separates good from great. This trains both stops to the point of muscle memory.
Two players face each other across the lane. Offence makes lateral moves; defender mirrors. No fouls, no contact — pure footwork. 30 seconds, then switch.
Builds defensive habits without the pressure of getting beaten.
Post player on the block, ball entered from the wing. Catch with two hands, sense the defender's position, drop-step middle, finish with a power layup off two feet.
Fundamental post move that works at every level — the bigger the player, the harder it is to stop.
Classic finishing drill named after George Mikan. Player alternates left-hand and right-hand layups under the rim continuously, no dribble.
Builds touch around the basket and trains the off-hand for live finishes.
End-of-practice: 30 seconds each, toe touches, quad stretch, hamstring stretch, calf stretch, lunge stretch, cobra back stretch, shoulder rolls. Total 4 minutes.
Most coaches skip it. Don't. Recovery starts here. Players who stretch consistently miss less practice from soreness.