Simple, fun and effective drills for youth basketball teams and players to develop shooting, dribbling, passing, rebounding and defending skills.

We may not give youth basketball coaches (or youth coaches of any sport, for that matter) enough credit. It takes patience, positivity and plenty of energy to instruct young athletes. Did we mention patience?

Coaching youth teams is not as easy as some may think. Building fundamental skills must come first before any higher level offensive or defensive concepts. These practice drills are designed to teach the most important basketball skills: shooting, dribbling, passing, rebounding and defending.

Nearly all involve the entire team or a group of players, rather than individuals. One key with coaching youth players: have everyone moving and engaged in an activity. The more players standing, the higher the chance they’ll be spacing off.

Allowing players to make mistakes is crucial because it certainly is going to happen. Yet, coaches must urge players to continue to push through mistakes in order to improve.

A final suggestion: make these drills fun! Whenever possible, finish a drill by adding something that will get your players excited and energized. Maybe it’s a competition aspect where teams are battling for first place. Having players count made baskets out loud almost always picks up the intensity. Partner drills can also be fun for players as they team up with their buddy; just ensure the groups are fair enough and rotations happen frequently so everyone gets a chance to play with each teammate.

When your players have the fundamentals of these drills down, check out our 20 basic plays for youth basketball teams. These sets that are simple for coaches to teach and easy for players to execute.

Click on a diagram below to download it to your FastDraw library.

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Practice Drills for Youth Basketball

Transition Drill

Half Court Cone Dribbling

3 Around the Key Passing

Team Form Shooting

Guard/Post Partner Shooting

5 Spot Shooting

Pick and Roll Shooting

Schrempf Shooting

One More Shooting

Team Rebounding

Defensive Zig Zags

Tag The Cutter

Share Your Top Drills For Youth Basketball

Any drills we missed? Send us your favorite practice drills youth basketball teams and players by tagging us on Twitter. We’d love to continue the conversation and help coaches develop young players all over the world!

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A young African American boy dribbles through two defenders and tries to score.