PRACTICE PLANS SKILLS CHECKLIST

Rookie Practice Plans

Welcome to the Rookie Level practice plans. The Rookie level focuses on having fun, being active, and learning the basic fundamental skills of basketball. There are three options for viewing these practice plans.

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Rookie Practice Plan 8

Cultivating Values & Developing Wellness

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5%

Respect: Coaches

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  • Have the players define respect.
  • Discuss what it means to respect your coach.
  • Players should respect their coaches, who sacrifice a lot to spend time coaching. And coaches also should respect their players, because it is a coach’s job to serve players by helping them learn and improve. A big part of the mutual respect between coaches and players is listening to each other and getting to know each other so that there is a level of trust.

Warm Up

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5%

NBA Tag Game

(2 games)
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  • All players start on the baseline. The coach picks two or three NBA teams and tells all players to select one of the three teams. For example: Bucks, Lakers, Magic.
  • The coach stands at center court and calls out one of the three teams. All players on that team must try and run across the court to the opposite baseline without getting tagged by the coach. If a player is tagged they must sit or kneel on the court wherever they were tagged. If the coach calls out “NBA!” then all players try to cross at the same time.
  • Repeat the same process until there are only 2 or 3 players left. Those players then become the taggers for the next game.

TECHNICAL LOAD 

  • All players have a basketball and must dribble across the court. If they are tagged, they must dribble in place while seated or kneeling on the court.

Key Points

Reference the value of the day, fairness, by making sure players sit or take a knee if they are tagged and don’t try to cheat. Acknowledge players that are honest and admit when they are tagged.

Building Skills

70%
70%

Ball Handling

Dribble Balance

(3 x 20 seconds each leg)
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  • All players need a basketball and will stand on the sideline.
  • Players should stand only on their right leg with the knee slightly bent and dribble the ball with their right hand.
  • The players will then do the same thing with their left foot and left hand.

TECHNICAL LOAD 

  • Have players in pairs and designate one as the leader. The leader balancing on one leg changes their dribbles from high to low and between hands. The follower mimics the leader.
  • Have one ball between two players. One player is balancing on one leg and their partner, facing them, passes the ball. The balancing partner dribbles 3 times on each hand and passes the ball back. Repeat a few times and switch. Change the number/type of dribbles.

Key Points

Work on ball-handling while maintaining good balance and stability.

Snake Dribbling

(2 games)
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  • All players have a basketball and must stay within the three-point arc. Pick one player to be the snake. The snake starts without a basketball.
  • When coach says “Go” the snake will try and tag any of the other players that are dribbling within the playing area. When a player is tagged, they join the snake by holding on to the snake’s shoulder with one hand and trying to tag the remaining players with their other hand.
  • As more players get tagged, the snake grows until there is only one player left!

Capture the Cones Game

(2 x 4 minutes)
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  • Divide the players into four teams and assign them a corner.
  • The team goal is to collect cones from the other corners and place them in their team’s corner.
  • Players are not allowed to protect their team’s corner.
  • Coaches can move around the area and tag players as they try to take cones. When players are tagged they must return the cone they have from where they took it.
  • The game will end after 4 minutes and the team with the most cones wins.
  • Make sure players dribble at all times and encourage them to go for the cones diagonal from them.

TECHNICAL LOAD 

  • After a player has been tagged by the coach (or other taggers) they must return the cone and complete 1 lay up at a hoop before returning to the game. (Could also be 2 lay ups at 2 different hoops).
  • Players dribble with their right hand while going to collect a cone and dribble with their left hand after stealing a cone.

PHYSICAL LOAD 

  • When successfully stealing a cone and bringing it back to your team’s corner, players must do a physical activity before being able to attempt another cone. This activity could be 10 wall jumps, air squats, single leg jumps over
    a line, or pushups. The exercise could change during the Game.

Footwork and Conditioning

Red Light

(1 or 2 games)
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  • All players will start on the baseline with a basketball and the coach will stand at the opposite baseline facing the players.
  • When the coach says “Green light,” the players will dribble and jog/ run toward the other baseline while dribbling. When the coach says “Yellow light,” the players will walk while dribbling. When the coach says “Orange light,” the players must walk backwards while dribbling. When the coach says “Red light,” the players must quickly come to a jump stop and stay in the triple threat stance.
  • After a “Red light,” if the coach sees a player still dribbling or moving, the player must return to the baseline and start over.

COMPETITIVE LOAD

  • The player that reaches the coach first wins the game and leads the next round as the “coach.”
  • Two players can lead separate games on different areas of the court.

PHYSICAL LOAD

  • On “Orange Light” players must put the basketball down and complete a set number of movements such as high jumps, jumping jacks, or butt kicks.

Key Points

Make this a fun game for the players to work on their ball handling. Ensure that the players are dribbling and taking controlled dribbles as they move.

Passing

Open & Decide Drill

(3 minutes)
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  • Three players start in a line across the key. One player starts on each block and one player starts in the middle standing under the basket with a basketball. Add a defender behind the player with the basketball.
  • When the coach says go, the player with the ball will dribble up to the free throw line, jump-stop, and pivot to face the basket.
  • The defender will pick one of the other two players on either block to guard. The player that dribbled to the free throw line will have to make a quick decision to pass to the open player for a shot.
  • After a shot, the passer will take the place of the shooter. The shooter will take the place of the defender and the defender will go to the back of the line.
  • Keep a tally of how many made baskets the team scores in 3 minutes so you can compete against this number in later practices.

Key Points

Make sure the defender clearly guards one player and does not leave that player until the pass is made! Have the player make a quick decision and a good pass to their teammate. Next, make sure the receiver of the pass works on finishing the shots with a defender contesting. Since the team is trying to make the most shots possible, ensure that the defense contests hard.

Competitive Drills

Lay-Up Bowling

(1-2 games)
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  • Divide the players into 2 teams and have them line up on opposite baselines.
  • Each team will have 2 balls. 1 with the player in the front of the line and 1 ball on the ground near the sideline.
  • The coach will set up 3 cones about 2 or 3 feet apart near half court and towards the sideline that the team is stationed at.
  • The first player will dribble to the opposite end of the court and shoot a lay-up. The player will get their rebound and dribble back to their starting and jump stop and give the ball to the next player in line.
  • If the player missed the lay-up, they go to the back of the line. If the player made the lay-up, they will go towards the sideline and get the extra ball. The player will bowl the ball towards the cones near half court. The player will sprint to get the ball and bring it back to put it back near the sideline.
  • If the player hits a cone, it counts as knocking it over and the coach will remove it.
  • The team to hit all 3 of their cones first will win.

TECHNICAL LOAD 

  • Coach stands at half court and as the players are dribbling for their lay-up, the coach holds up a 1 or a 2. 1 indicates a direct lay-up and 2 indicates quickly making a crossover and executing a lay-up on the other side of the basket.

 

diagram

Shooting

Frequent Flyers

(2 games)
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  • Place approximately 5 cones around the perimeter and name each after a city. Divide the players into 2 groups (offense and defense). Make sure the offense has more player (3:1, 4:2, 5:2 etc.).
  • Every player on offense has a ball and will start at one of the cones. The defense will all start in the lane. When the game starts the offensive players will try to dribble in and score inside the paint while the defense tries to stop them.
  • After a made shot starting from a cone, the offensive player has “stamped their passport” from that location and will try to score from the remaining cones that they have not scored from. If a player misses a shot they can start at any cone next that they have not scored from.
  • Once a player has scored from all spots, they win the game. Change players and play again.

Key Points

Only allow 1 shot per drive. Adjust the number of defenders to make the game easier or harder.

Team Concepts

10%
10%

Tracing the Ball Breakdown Drill

(2 x 1 minute)
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  • Group the players into 3’s and have one ball per group.
  • Two players should stand a little more than the lane width apart and face each other, one with the ball.
  • The third player will start in the middle and run to close out to the player with the ball. Players stay low in an athletic stance, call ‘ball’ and use their ball side hand to trace the ball.
  • The player with the ball will move the ball around on the same side of their body for 3 seconds before passing to their teammate.
  • After passing, the player will follow their pass and close out and trace the ball with the player that received the pass.
  • Continue this cycle ensuring good close outs and tracing the ball.

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TECHNICAL LOAD 

  • The player with the ball will move the ball on both sides of their body resulting in the player that is tracing switching their tracing hands.
  • The player with the ball can add a pivot as they move the ball resulting in the player tracing switching their hands and also moving their body position with the pivot.
  • The player with the ball can use 1 dribble to gain a passing angle. This results in the player tracing the ball to use both hands for added pressure after the dribble is picked up, while moving their feet in an athletic stance keeping a good body position.

 

diagram

Key Points

Keep up intensity by encouraging the players to call ‘ball’ when tracing the ball with active hands.

Competing

10%
10%

Scramble Game

(game to 5)
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  • Divide the group into two even teams. Three offensive players start outside the three-point line at either wing and the top of the key. Three defenders match-up with each offensive player and stand about 6 feet away from the player they are guarding.
  • The coach will throw the ball to one of the three offensive players. Once the offensive player catches the pass, the game is live and the offense tries to score. The defender that is matched up with the offensive player that catches the pass must run and touch the half-court line before running back to play defense.
  • Teams alternate offensive and defensive possessions, with the offensive players becoming defenders and three new offensive teams rotating into the game. The first team to score 5 baskets wins.

TECHNICAL LOAD 

  • Add a 3 dribble maximum each time a player gets the ball.

Key Points

This small-sided game gives the offense a 3 on 2 advantage so instruct players to make quick decisions and find the open player.

Compliment Session

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Gather the players together. Players group with 1-2 players next to them and share answers to the prompted questions.

  • Ask players to share something they did well, what enjoyed about today’s practice or something positive about another player’s actions.
  • Have players switch groups and ask some players to share their groups answers. Coach can build onto the player responses.

Key Points

All compliments should be natural. Not every player has to give or receive a compliment.

Skills Checklist

PDF Skills Checklist: Preview/Download
PDF Full Skills Checklist

At the conclusion of the Rookie Level, Jr. NBA players should be proficient at each of the following skills. Judging proficiency at this level is the responsibility of the coach.

Ball Handling

    Passing

      Shooting

        Rebounding

          Footwork & Conditioning

            Offense

              Defense

                Other