— TRAINING SESSION

Set Plays Day (U14)

Block and Bank · 64 minutes · 8 drills · Generated 13 May 2026

Age group: U14
Focus: Game prep
Duration: 64 minutes
Drills: 8

Introduce the playbook: ATO, SLOB, BLOB, late-game. Reps build memory; this is the session that gets plays into muscle.

8DRILLS

64MINUTES

8AVG / DRILL

1 Passing Lines Warm-Up

4 min Difficulty: Beginner Age: u8 Court: Half

Pairs, 5 metres apart. 20 chest passes, 20 bounce passes, 20 overhead passes, 20 one-handed push passes (10 each hand).

Fundamentals warm-up every coach should run every practice. Countless turnovers prevented.

Coaching points

Step into every pass.
Fingertips on follow-through.
Receive with both hands, fingers spread.
Bounce passes: 2/3 of the way to your partner.
Overhead passes: snap wrists, from the forehead.

2 Horns — Quick Hitter

10 min Difficulty: Advanced Age: u16 Court: Half

Two bigs at the elbows, two wings in the corners, point guard at the top. Both bigs set screens for the point guard simultaneously, who chooses one. The unused big pops out for a three; the screen-roller dives.

A classic NBA quick-hitter that creates 3-4 simultaneous reads.

Coaching points

• Bigs set strong screens — wide base, hands across chest
• PG reads the defence — chooses based on who's hedging higher
• The non-screened big POPS out, doesn't crash
• Wings space — corners are the kick-out targets
• 4 reads: drive, pull-up, roll pass, kick to corner

3 Floppy Set

10 min Difficulty: Advanced Age: u16 Court: Half

Shooter starts under the basket. Two bigs at the elbows. Shooter chooses left or right, runs off the screen of one big and gets a catch-and-shoot.

Classic NBA action — gives the shooter the choice, defenders have to guess.

Coaching points

Shooter: read the defender's hips, go opposite.
Set up the screen — fake one direction first.
Big: sets a real, wide-base screen.
Shoulder to shoulder past the screen — no daylight.
The non-screener big steps up to pass.

4 ATO Pin Down

10 min Difficulty: Intermediate Age: u14 Court: Half

After-timeout play. Ball-handler at top. Shooter at elbow. Big sets a pin-down on the shooter's defender. Shooter sprints to wing, catches, shoots immediately.

Simple but effective ATO that gets a clean shot for your best shooter.

Coaching points

Ball-handler signals the play.
Shooter walks defender INTO the screen.
Big: wide base, hold the contact.
Sprint hard off the screen.
Catch in shooting pocket, rise immediately.

5 SLOB — Stack Quick Hitter

8 min Difficulty: Advanced Age: u16 Court: Half

Sideline out-of-bounds play from the wing. Four offensive players stack at the elbow. On the slap of the ball, the stack breaks — one cutter to the basket, one to the corner, one popping high, one screening for the inbounder.

A reliable late-game scoring action when you need 2-3 quick points.

Coaching points

Inbounder controls the timing — slap the ball to start the action.
First cutter: hard sprint to the rim, looking for the lob.
Second cutter: corner three.
Screener: solid wide-base screen for the inbounder.
Inbounder: catches the screen, gets free for a wing jumper.

6 BLOB Box

8 min Difficulty: Advanced Age: u16 Court: Half

Baseline out-of-bounds. Four players stack at elbow. Inbounder slaps ball; bottom cuts to corner, second cuts to basket, third pops to wing, top back-screens for inbounder.

Four simultaneous scoring options on every run.

Coaching points

Inbounder controls timing, slap the ball.
Bottom: hard cut to corner.
Second: dive to rim hard.
Third: pop with hands ready.
Top: solid back-screen.

7 Last Shot Situation

10 min Difficulty: Advanced Age: u16 Court: Half

Coach sets scenario: 6 seconds left, down 2, ball at half-court. Run a play that ends in a quality shot. Score wins. Repeat 5 times.

Game-clock training. Every team needs late-game muscle memory.

Coaching points

First action takes 2 seconds.
Get a quality shot, not a hero shot.
Know the play before the inbound.
Foul late if needed (only when down).
Celebrate the make, learn from the miss.

8 Cool Down Routine

4 min Difficulty: Beginner Age: u8 Court: Half

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.

Coaching points

Slow movements, no bouncing.
Breathe, exhale on stretch.
Don't push through pain, just to the edge.
Hold each stretch.
Debrief while stretching: what worked today?