Youthbasketball123 is a website designed to provide ideas, drills by grade, books, teaching tools, basketball jokes, guest blogs, basketball quotes, and so much.
Google Search “Kindergarten Basketball One Hour Practice Plan”
The ages we are using for kindergarten basketball is 5-year-olds and 6-year-olds.
Good Luck! This will be challenging, but so much fun. Check back regularly for more ideas!
A friend asked for ideas for a 1-hour kindergarten basketball practice plan. Here are a few thoughts.
Coaching Tips
Have Name Tags: It is important to be able to call a player by name. Have name cards ready to go and when you meet the player and parents, place the name tag on the players chest, where the coaches can see it. Use a player’s name as much as possible. Kindergarten practices are usually only one hour each week. We recommend that name tags be used until they are no longer needed.
Each Player Should Have a Ball: We mean this literally and figuratively. Kindergarten basketball is an organized play date filled with chaos. Keep it fun. We feel the best way to keep it fun, is to keep the players busy and engaged. When each player has a ball, a coach can limit the time is waiting in line to complete a drill.
Week #1
Free Time (5 minutes): As the players come in, just let them do their thing. Free gym, they will shoot, dribble, run around, etc. Once everyone is there I would call them together. Introduce yourself and other coaches, then get going.
Team Huddle (2 minutes): Blow the whistle and instruct the player to run a designated area of the court. Have the players place the balls at the feet. (One drawback of each player having a ball is they will want to dribble it every time a coach speaks. Train the players to place the ball at their feet.) BE BRIEF! Introduce yourself and the coaches. Take attendance. Explain to the players the next drill.
Dribble Laps and Ball Drills (10 – 15 minutes): This is a fun segment for a coach to direct. It gets the players moving. It teaches THE MOST IMPORTANT skill for this age. Line the players up around the outside of the court. Whenever a coach needs the players attention, remember to command the players “BALLS AT FEET!”
For each of the dribble laps, have the players start walking, proceed to jogging, then the chaos happens when you direct the player to go full speed. Full speed should be the shortest segment of all. After the players have gone full speed, blow the whistle to direct the players to STOP!
Right Hand Dribble Laps: Have players go in same direction dribble the ball with right hand. Walk, jog, sprint. Blow the whistle and have everyone freeze.
Stationary ball drills: As the players are spread around the outside of the court introduce a few drills for a few minutes:
- TOSS AND CATCH (3-5 minutes) Toss the ball in the air and catch it. After a few tries introduce Toss, CLAP your hands and catch. The final variation can be Toss, clap hands, let the ball bounce and catch the ball below the waist.
Left Hand Dribble Laps: Once the players have spent some time on the toss and catch. Point in the opposite direction and have the players dribble with the left hand. Like all dribble laps follow the progression of walking, jogging, and sprinting. Blow whistle to start the dribble laps.
Once the players have completed the dribble laps, blow the whistle and complete the following stationary drills.
- Circle rolls.: This drill players will stand with their feet together and roll the ball in a circle around both legs using the fingertips and fingertip pads. This is a very simple drill. Encourage players once they get the hang of it to increase the speed. After completing it in one direction, players should stop and roll the ball in the other direction.
- Figure 8 rolls: This is a little bit more challenging of a basketball drill, but one that many players can complete. Players should spread their legs wide and they are simply going to roll the ball in and out of the legs in a figure 8 pattern. Once players are comfortable executing this drill encourage them to go a little bit faster. After completing the drill on one direction, attempt it going in the other direction.
Alternating Dribble Laps: This time players alternate dribbles right, left, right, left
- Stationary dribble drills: DRIBBLES right hand have players dribble waist, low, shoulder. Mix up the heights 15 – 30 seconds. Repeat with left hand then try alternating hands. 1-2-3 switch: Crossover: Have the players dribble 3 right dribbles (have them count to themselves) crossover and do 3 left dribbles repeat for set time. Dribble March: Same 1-2-3 format, but on the crossover dribble have the players lift a leg and dribble it between legs. It might sound to advanced, but I bet more than you think can do this.
Water Break (2 minutes)
TEACH SHOOTING (10 minutes): Sit the players down explain to the to AIM FOR THE TOP CORNER OF THE SQAURE. Divide the players evenly at all the available baskets. Have at least one parent or coach at a basket. Practice Block Shots from each side.
AROUND THE WORLD (10 – 15 minutes): 6 different shots from 6 different spots. ALL BASKETS shoot the same shot. ALL REAL CLOSE the goal is to have players have success. (1:30 per spot) A coach should keep track of total makes for each spot and record the numbers on a shooting progress chart. The chart should be used each week to evaluate progress.
This is a great way to end practice. Stress to the players the goal is improvement. Hopefully all the players will have a chance to make at least one basket. This will help to motivate them to come back next week.
Divide the player evenly at each basket. Have coaches set up two cones. The players should stand between the two cones when shooting. This is very helpful at this age. Blow the whistle to start the drill. Set the time for 60 – 90 seconds. 60 seems to work a little better from our experiences.
Count the makes: The player or a coach can count the makes. The player may actually enjoy counting out the makes more than actually making a shot. Remember the goal is to keep the session fun. At the end of the drill, call out to each basket the number of makes. Add the numbers out loud and record the score on your progress chart.
Sprint to the next basket: This is CRITICAL FOR FUN! Once you have recorded the scores, point in the direction of the rotation. Tell the players on the whistle to sprint to the next basket as fast as they can. When the player get to the basket, have the coaches move the two cones to the new spot. Once all baskets are ready, blow the whistle to start the new spot. Repeat the process.
Spots. There are 6 spots, it might be better at this age to only have 4 spots (eliminate the wing shots). Evaluate the players to determine which option would be best.
- Right Block: Backboard aim for the top corner of the square. Coach rebounds and counts for makes.
- LEFT WING: No backboard. Aim for the center of the basket.
- STRAIGHT: No backboard
- RIGHT WING: No backboard.
- Left Block: Backboard aim for the top corner of the square. Coach rebounds and counts for makes.
- Cone Layups: ALL right side (sorry for the lefties) Set up a cone at a GREAT angle for the layup at the free throw line extended. Dribble in an make a layup.
If there is time, introduce the following drill.
FULL COURT LAYUPS (5 – 10 minutes): Set up players at each baseline (2 side courts or one main court) Have the players dribble the length of the court and take a layup. Players on the other side do the same. (1:30)
BREAK: Bring the players together (or socially distanced) and yell something Hard Work, Your town, Basketball. A coach could yell WE LOVE: and the player can YELL BASKETBALL! That might be fun.
If you found this useful, please check back regularly for updates to our Coaching Kindergarten Basketball page.