Youth Basketball Drills - Burrall Paye and Patrick Paye

Youth Basketball Drills

by Burrall Paye and Patrick Paye

NEW, 272 pages

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About Youth Basketball Drills

Spectacular plays may make the highlight reels, but winning results from consistent execution of sound fundamentals. Youth Basketball Drills contains all the drills you need to develop the essential skills in your players. Authors Burrall and Patrick Paye have outlined drills and variations that cover the entire scope of the game in both offense and defense. The drills are grouped by skills, with variations that progress as your players learn. Explanations show you how, when, and why to use each drill.

You’ll find the information to build stronger individual players and develop a winning team. The arrangement of this book makes it a perfect reference tool—all of the details are presented in a step-by-step format. The drills are categorized into three skill development levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Each drill is clearly marked by number and by name, with an estimate of how much time it takes to execute. A list of all related drills is given to help you implement a systematic order to your workouts.

There are drills for all facets of basketball, including
• balance and agility,
• footwork,
• ballhandling,
• passing,
• cutting,
• screening,
• rebounding, and
• shooting.

Defensive skills are also addressed—both for the individual and as a team—including stance and footwork, individual moves, and team defense.

It’s important to start young players out right—executing each move and each technique exactly as they are meant to be done. Having youngsters learn and then practice the proper techniques is vital. Youth Basketball Drills will give you the know-how and practice tools to teach young players the correct techniques, fundamental movements, and proper footwork to excel in basketball.

About Burrall Paye

Burrall Paye has been developing young basketball players' skills for more than 30 years. He is considered one of the game's best teachers.

Coach Paye enjoyed winning seasons in 36 of the 37 years that he coached. During his career he was honored as State Coach of the Year and National Federation Interscholastic Coaches Association Outstanding Coach (1985).

Now retired, Coach Paye shares his expertise through his speaking and writing. He has spoken at major clinics in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. His numerous articles have appeared in newspapers and magazines such as Scholastic Coach, Basketball Clinic, Coaching Clinic, Pro-Keds Digest, and Winning Hoops. He is the author of several books on basketball, including Playing the Post (Human Kinetics, 1996).

Paye earned his master's degree in 1965 from the University of Tennessee. He is a member of the National High School Coaches Association and the Virginia High School Coaches Association. He lives in Roanoke, Virginia, with his wife, Nancy.

About Patrick Paye

Burrall's son Patrick Paye is a successful coach as well. He is currently the head boys' basketball coach at Northeastern High School in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Patrick has never been a part of a losing season as a player or coach in a collegiate playing career and 11 years of coaching at the college and high school levels. He has rebuilt two traditionally losing programs into playoff teams during his career as a high school coach. Patrick and his wife, Michele, reside in Grandy, North Carolina.

About Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules. Basketball is one of the world's most popular and widely viewed sport.

A regulation basketball hoop consists of a rim 18 inches (45.7 cm) in diameter and 10 feet (3.05 m) high mounted to a backboard. A team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the hoop during regular play. A field goal scores two points for the shooting team if a player is touching or closer to the hoop than the three-point line, and three points (a "3 pointer") if the player is "outside" the three-point line. The team with more points at the end of the game wins, but additional time (overtime) may be issued when the game ends with a tie. The ball can be advanced on the court by bouncing it while walking or running (dribbling) or passing it to a teammate. It is a violation (traveling) to walk with the ball, carry it, or to double dribble (to hold the ball and then resume dribbling).

Various violations are generally called "fouls". Disruptive physical contact (a personal foul) is penalized, and a free throw is usually awarded to an offensive player if he is fouled while shooting the ball. A technical foul may also be issued when certain infractions occur, most commonly for unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of a player or coach. A technical foul gives the opposing team a free throw.

Basketball has evolved many commonly used techniques of shooting, passing, and dribbling, as well as specialized player positions and offensive and defensive structures (player positioning) and techniques. Typically, the tallest members of a team will play "center", "small forward", or "power forward" positions, while shorter players or those who possess the best ball handling skills and speed play "point guard" or "shooting guard".

While competitive basketball is carefully regulated, numerous variations of basketball have developed for casual play. Competitive basketball is primarily an indoor sport played on carefully marked and maintained basketball courts, but less regulated variations are often played outdoors in both inner city and rural areas.

The strategies also evolve with the game. In the 1990s and early 2000s, teams played with more "isolation". Teams that had one superstar would let one player, usually the point guard or shooting guard, run most of the offense while the other four offensive players get out of his/her way. Nowadays, teams tend to play with more teamwork. The "Center" position has evolved to become more of a taller "Small Forward" position. Since teams play more teamwork, ball movement has evolved with the game, and more jump shots have been taken as a result.

There are two main defensive strategies: zone defense and man-to-man defense. In a zone defense, each player is assigned to guard a specific area of the court. In a man-to-man defense, each defensive player guards a specific opponent. Man-to-man defense is generally preferred at higher levels of competition, as it is intuitively easier to understand and avoids mismatches between players who play different positions. However, zone defenses are sometimes used in particular situations or simply to confuse the offense with an unexpected look.

Offensive plays are more varied, normally involving planned passes and movement by players without the ball. A quick movement by an offensive player without the ball to gain an advantageous position is a cut. A legal attempt by an offensive player to stop an opponent from guarding a teammate, by standing in the defender's way such that the teammate cuts next to him, is a screen or pick. The two plays are combined in the pick and roll, in which a player sets a pick and then "rolls" away from the pick towards the basket. Screens and cuts are very important in offensive plays; these allow the quick passes and teamwork which can lead to a successful basket. Teams almost always have several offensive plays planned to ensure their movement is not predictable. On court, the point guard is usually responsible for indicating which play will occur.

Defensive and offensive structures, and positions, are more emphasized in higher levels in basketball; it is these that a coach normally requests a time-out to discuss.

Youth Basketball Drills