Benefits of Drills in Youth Basketball

Series Summary

Basketball, b-ball, hoops—these are all names for one of the most popular games in America. Whether it’s professional play in the NBA, college games, the local high school team, a friendly round of one-on-one round, or an outdoor street game at the playground court, basketball is exciting and fast-paced, pitting player against player and skill against skill. Having strong fundamentals like dribbling, passing, and shooting is the key to the success of any aspiring player or team. Though flashy dunks, trick shots, and off the wall dribbling antics are fun to watch and have their place, they often create a “superstar” mentality that ultimately hurts the team if not put in check. What makes basketball great is the combination of individual talent and team strategy, ultimately producing a match that’s sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.

In this free video basketball lesson, an experienced coach will tell you how to get a team of youth basketball players ready to compete. He will demonstrate drills to improve dribbling, shooting and rebounding skills. And once your players have mastered the basics, get them into shape with the conditioning drills in this series, including full-court layups, zig zag runs and other fun drills.

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Sean Hobson. What we want you to understand is the most important thing about doing conditioning is being able to incorporate as many basketball skills into your conditioning as possible. It does us no good to come out and run end to end just for conditioning purposes if we're not somehow trying to translate the skills of basketball into conditioning. So what I like to do is try to take any basic skill that I can about the game of basketball, and somehow find a way to do conditioning. If you're going to shoot the ball you might as well be shooting the ball constantly on the move, in a certain time frame, in order to get a good conditioning workout. If you're going to dribble the ball or run the ball end to end, you might as well be dribbling while you're doing it. If you can find a way to pass the ball while you're conditioning, that's good as well. And try to build strength in to the basic skills of basketball is good as well. So, when you're thinking about setting up conditioning for your practice, try to incorporate the basic skills of basketball into each conditioning drill that you do. That way not only will your players be more well-rounded in the skills of basketball, they'll also get good conditioning at the same time. "