Basketball Dribbling Drills for Beginners and Other Basics

Basketball dribbling drills for beginners should be simple, short and fun, and they should keep the player's eyes off the ball. This guide starts with dribbling, from feel drills a player can do at home to circle drills, sideline drills and games. It then covers the other basics new players need, with drills for shooting, passing, footwork and finishing. Where coaches teach a skill differently, the options are listed.

Rules for Basketball Dribbling Drills for Beginners

• Fingertips, not the palm. Teach fingertip control with the wrist and forearm doing the work. The ball touches all the pads of the hand but the fingertips control it.
• Heads up. Nobody argues for watching the ball. Give the player a second job so the eyes lift, such as numbers a coach holds up, a tagger or a partner to copy.
• Work the weak hand on purpose. Give the nondominant hand two to three times the practice, and work it specifically and not alternate evenly, because a one-handed dribbler is easy to overplay.
• Make it a game. Players often find basic drills boring, so hide the fundamentals inside fun and competitive drills.
• Keep the dose small. Practice the sideline moves for 5 to 10 minutes each practice, or run a stationary series of 25 named moves at 15 to 30 seconds each, about five minutes in all.

Keep it simple, short and fun.

Feel Drills for New Dribblers

The classic feel drills done for 20 minutes a day usually show a marked improvement within a few weeks. Players hold the ball with spread fingertips and no palm, and practice that hold at home while watching TV or listening to music. The drills are quick to teach.

• Slaps. Slap or pound the ball hard from hand to hand for 30 to 60 seconds, eyes forward.
• Finger grabs. Squeeze and rotate the ball between the hands with the fingertips only.
• Tipping. Tip the ball from hand to hand, starting overhead with straight elbows and working down through the chest, waist, knees and ankles and back up.
• Circles and figure eights. Circle the ball around both legs, around the back and around the head, then around one leg, then the other, then a figure eight through spread legs.
• Drops. The ball sits between the feet with one hand behind one leg and the other in front of the other leg. Drop it, let it bounce once and switch hands to catch it.

A stationary series of named moves and a copy drill follow the same idea. In the copy drill partners face each other two meters apart. One leads with a stationary move and the other copies, and they swap every 30 seconds.

Feel first, then movement.

Circle and Sideline Drills for Beginner Dribblers

The next step is dribbling with the ball off the floor. Run it as a circle. A better dribbler or a varsity player stands in the middle as the leader, the team spreads out in a circle around him and everyone follows his moves for 30 to 60 seconds each.

Circle format. The leader (1) stands in the middle and the group (2 to 8) copies each move for 30 to 60 seconds. It is a ball-handling drill, so no three-second count applies.

• Up and downs. Dribble from the waist, pound it harder until it is as high as possible without jumping, then lower it until the player is on one knee, then switch hands.
• Kill dribble. Dribble at the waist, kill the ball down as low as possible, hold, then bring it back to the waist.
• Circle dribbles and the figure eight. Dribble low in a circle around one leg, then the other, then a figure eight through both legs while looking up.
• Crossover and V-dribbles. Bounce once on one side, cross low and quick, bounce again and cross back. The front V-dribble rolls the hand over the top of the ball and builds the feel for an in-and-out move.

For moving practice use the Sideline Moves Drill. Pairs spread along the sideline, and the first player dribbles to the other sideline with the right hand and back with the left while the coach calls a move at the halfway point. The ball goes to the partner after each trip and each move is run down and back twice.

The ten moves in order are control to speed, speed to control, crossover, in-and-out, hesitation, pull-back crossover, step-out crossover, through the legs, behind the back and spin. Let players try even the hard moves when the ball rolls away.

The Stutter Drill adds whistles at the one-third and two-thirds marks where players stutter dribble in place for a count of five. Add movement only after the feel is there. See Basketball Dribbling Drills, Ball Handling Drills and Crossover Basketball.

Dribbling Games for Beginners

• Dribble Tag. Every player has a ball inside a half-court area and keeps the dribble alive. One player is it and tags another, who becomes it. A player who leaves the area, double-dribbles or stops dribbling also becomes it. The coach splits better and weaker ball handlers to opposite ends so the same kids are not singled out, and the game can be played with the weak hand only.
• Tag without dribbling. Let the taggers run without dribbling when they are struggling to tag anyone.
• Dribble Races. Teams of four or five each have a ball and marked boundaries. The coach announces the move first, and weak-hand dribbling is a good place to start. Each finisher hands off and sits behind the group. The warning is that racing makes players lose focus, so the coach has to keep instructing during the race.
• Mirror Dribbling. Half the players start in a corner at half court and half in the diagonal baseline corner. On the whistle the first player in each line dribbles toward the free-throw line, does the announced move as they meet, and continues to the end of the other line. The pair rubs shoulders as they pass and the next pair starts as the last one finishes. Players must look up to avoid a crash.
• Red Light. Players dribble down and back across the floor. On green they dribble straight ahead at full speed, on yellow they walk and dribble, on orange they dribble backward and on red they stop and hold the ball in triple threat. A player who travels, fumbles or does the wrong thing goes back to the last sideline he touched.
• Sharks and Minnows. A tag game that drills ball protection. See Sharks and Minnows.

Mirror dribbling. 1 and 2 dribble toward each other from opposite corners of the half court, do the called move at the free-throw line and keep going, while 3 and 4 wait to start.

Add a job for the eyes and the hands with these tools:

• 2-Ball Dribbling. Start stationary, with both balls together or alternating, which is called popcorn, before adding changes of direction or movement. Nothing can be hidden with a ball in each hand, so young players should start with the simple parts so they do not get discouraged.
• Tennis Ball Dribbling. A player dribbles while tossing and catching a tennis ball, then tosses it up as he crosses over, then tosses it to a partner six to eight feet away.

Youth dribbling games include Run-a-way Reindeer, Wolves and Sheep, Nemo, Roller Derby and Clone Dribbling. Load a drill in steps, for example a static dribble, then a figure eight, then two balls, then movement. Hide the skill inside a game and the work gets done.

Shooting Drills for Beginners

Dribbling is only one of the basics. These are beginner shooting drills. For more see Basketball Shooting Drills and Basketball Shooting Form. Start with form, then add game pressure.

• Perfects. Three players share a basket, one under each low block and one in the middle of the key. Each shoots without jumping, with one or two hands depending on age and strength, and tries for a shot that drops through without touching the rim. After a set time or number of perfects they rotate spots.
• Spinout Shooting. Each player spins the ball out with backspin, steps into it for a shot-ready stance and shoots. Players stand near a line so they can see if the ball comes off straight, and the drill teaches the footwork and loading the ball under the chin.
• Hand-signal shooting. Partners use hand signals. Target hands from the passer mean a pass back, hands down mean shoot. Other signals can ask for a drive.
• Good Shot, Great Shot. Four spots about ten feet apart with an offensive player on each and three defenders in the paint. Players must pass or shoot on each catch and cannot dribble.

Perfects. Three players at a basket shoot without jumping, one under each block and one in the middle of the key, then rotate. It is a form shooting drill, so no three-second count applies.

Passing and Footwork Drills for Beginners

These are also beginner drills.

• 4 Corner Passing. Four lines at the blocks and elbows. A passer passes to the next line and follows his pass, the receiver passes it right back, and balls are added one at a time up to four. Basketball Passing Fundamentals and Chest Pass in Basketball cover the passes.
• Monkey in the Middle. Two passers on the lane lines with a defender between them. No lobs, and a deflection makes the passer the new defender.
• Ultimate Passing and 10 in a Row. Teams of three to five. In Ultimate Passing nobody dribbles, and after a catch a player can only pivot and pass. A team scores by passing the ball to the opposite baseline. In 10 in a Row a team wins at ten passes with no drop, travel or out of bounds, and any of those resets the score to zero.
• Partner Pass and Pivot. Pairs on the sideline. One dribbles to the lane line area, makes the stop the coach prefers, a jump stop or a stride stop, does the called pivot and passes back. Key points are not dragging the pivot foot and keeping the ball low or high on the pivot. See Pivot Foot.
• 4 Corner Pass and Pivot. Four lines each start with a ball. All four players dribble to the middle of the lane with the right hand and arrive together, stop, pivot with the right foot and pass to the line they now face. They dribble with the same hand as the pivot foot.
• Passing Tag. Runners outnumber passers inside the three-point line. The passers pass among themselves and try to lightly tag the runners, and after a catch they can only pivot. A tagged runner is out until the next round, and a passer who travels is penalized, for example by bringing a runner back.

Four-corner pass and pivot. All four players dribble to the middle of the lane at the same time, stop, pivot and pass to the next line.

Finishing Drills for Beginners

These are also beginner drills.

• Five-cone finishing. Five cones sit at the top of the key, both wings and both corners. The player starts under the rim, dribbles around the right-corner cone with the right hand and back for a layup, then does the other four cones, then repeats with the left hand. He keeps the ball away from the cones.
• Chaser Layups. Pairs go from one baseline to the other. The offense dribbles at full speed and the defender, starting slightly inside, tries to cut him off, and they switch roles at the other end.
• 1-on-1 Rip Layups. The defender holds the ball at waist level with arms extended at the wing. The offensive player, with both feet above the three-point line, rips it away and races for a layup, live on the rip.
• 1-on-1 Block Finishing. Players start with the inside foot on each block and their backs to the baseline. A coach passes to one, who front pivots on the inside foot and finishes with the outside hand while the other defends.

Five-cone finishing. 1 dribbles out around one of five cones and back for a layup, then moves to the next cone.

The layup drills guide has the full progression. See Layup Drills. For other age-based pages see Basketball Drills and Games for Kids and Fundamental Basketball Drills for Youth Players.

Where Coaches Disagree

Coaches split on a few questions.

Stay low or stand tall?

• Stay low. Keep the knees bent.
• Stand up. Dribble standing up so you can see the floor.

Where does handling go in practice?

• First. Usually the first 15 minutes.
• At the end. When players are tired.

Two balls?

• Nearly every practice. Then one ball feels easy.
• At the end of practice. It is not game relevant.

Same drills at every age?

• Scale one library. Pick from the general library and scale the pace and the number of moves.

Young players?

• Cap the dribbles. A 4-dribble maximum and no scores for ages 5 to 8.

Decide where handling goes and stick to it.

Questions Coaches Ask

More Guides From This Batch

• Floater Basketball: How to Shoot It and How to Teach It
• Flare Screen Basketball: How It Works, Reads and Counters
• Layup Drills for Every Level, From One Step to Full Court
• Basketball Rebounding Drills for Every Age and Level

Back to Basketball Fundamentals and every Player Development page.

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