BOXING OUT DRILLS FOR 9-10 YEAR OLDS - TN

This is a pretty simple drill, but describing it in words may be difficult. I'll do my best.

I break the kids up into groups of two, relatively same size partners. I put one ball in the middle of each foul line, and in center of gym. There are two groups at each ball. Within each group of two, one player is offense and the other is defense. The defensive player gets in defensive position as he would be if he was playing defense off the ball in a game. Coach says go and offense tries to get the ball and defense boxes out. The coach has a stopwatch and runs it for three seconds before yelling stop. For obvious reasons the offense cannot run over and grab the ball or else the other group cannot get it, so the offensive players just touch the ball. If the offense touches the ball inside three seconds the defensive player must sprint two laps around the gym. If the offense does not touch the ball, they must sprint one lap. Do this five times with same kids on O and D. Then switch O and D and do five more times.

Have the kids keep track of wins and losses. I use this as an analogy for the game. It is a series of battles with the person winning the most battles winning the war or the game. It also makes them think more that one time not boxing out could mean the difference between winning and losing,

Some skills to focus on in the box out. Deny straight path to ball with inside arm, then spin into offensive player. Stay low pushing them out with your butt pushing against their legs, also gets over the back calls. The ball is in the air for a short time so it is important to push the offense back even just a little bit to make the offense have to regain the lost ground. The # 1 mistake among youth is just going for the ball. Make them understand that as long as they are between their man and the basket they are in good position to get the ball, if they go runnning in and it is a long rebound they have no chance.