These days there are so many things a young player can learn. A young player can spend a lot of time developing a lot of skills and not see much translation into games.
Over the years, I’ve seen the following skill sets immediately transfer to the game over and over again. And this is where we start with most youth players at Training Zone in Herriman.
5-Minute Warmup
You can find similar variations to the same warmup, but the goal is to practice and develop the ability to do any core dribbling moves with both hands.
We’ve found if a young player can do this warmup well, we can teach them almost any dribbling and footwork move. But if they struggle with this warmup, they’ll struggle to learn anything else.
For really young players, the initial goal should be to do all 10 reps of each move with both hands. Next the goal is to finish the warmup under 5 minutes. From there, it’s pushing for a faster time.
5 Minutes — 10 Reps each hand
- 10 Straight Pounds — 10 Low Straight Pounds
- 10 Circle Pounds — 10 Low Circle Pounds
- 10 V Dribbles — 10 Low V Dribbles
- 10 Push Pulls — 10 Low Push Pulls
- 20 Narrow Crossovers
- 20 Wide Crossovers
- 20 Behind Crossovers
- 20 Pound Between
- 20 Between Cross
- 20 Continuous Betweens
- 10 Single Leg Circles — 5 each direction
- 20 Figure 8s
- 10 Seconds Spider
Point Guard Series
Years ago I attended a University of Utah camp, and they were talking about the drills they had Andre Miller work through every day. Today we call it the Point Guard Series.
The focus is building the ability to beat a defender in the open floor with a single move, or a single combo move. If young players can master this, they’ll have a huge jump on the competition.
10 times with each hand. Sometimes we’ll just rep against a defensive target, other times we’ll take a jumper or layup after it. Sometimes we’ll play live 1v1, but the idea is the same.
Single Moves
- 10x Fake Cross or In-Out dribble
- 10x Crossover dribble
- 10x Between
- 10x Anchor Between
- 10x Behind Cross
- 10x Behind Wrap
- 10x Stop and Go
Combo Moves
- 10x Fake Cross + Anchor Between
- 10x Fake Cross + Anchor Behind
- 10x Fake Cross + Wrap
Pocket & Drop Work
When players have really mastered the 5-minute warmup and Point Guard Series, we start building their ability for Pocket Dribbles and Drop Footwork.
We’ll cover this in more detail in a different post. Initially we just build basic pocket and drop footwork.
Then a player has all the tools to start building more advanced skills and footwork — and they’ll see amazing translation into game situations.
How This Shows Up in Group Training
At Training Zone, our Group Training follows this framework:
- Beginners spend a lot of time doing things that build their ability to complete the 5-minute warmup.
- Intermediate players build the Point Guard Series skills and basic Pocket and Drop footwork.
- Advanced players expand on those foundations.
Obviously we’re working on other skills — finishing, pivots, etc. — but these three skill sets guide the initial work for younger players in Herriman and the surrounding area.
Come try it for free
Anyone can come try out a training session at no cost. We’ll put your athlete through the same foundation work we use every day.