Promoting Passing 8-9 yr. olds

A good game to play is called "4 passes to score" - Basically you play in the half court or within the 3 point line depending upon ability. You have 2 teams, the objective is for each team to try to get 4 consecutive passes. Players may not dribble or run with the ball. The team without the ball must try to get the ball off the other team, however they can only do this by intercepting the pass, they may not take the ball out of their opponents. The team without the ball must stay 2 steps away from the person with the ball. Have your players man up. When a team gets 4 passes in a row they get 1 point. The first team to 7 points wins. To make it harder add the rule - "you can't pass to the person who just passed it to you" and/or increase the number of passes to get 1 point.

After scoring a point the team with the ball places it down on the spot and the other team picks it up.

Teach your players to recognise spaces on the court and move to them. Explain that when a player moves into a free space, they create another space for another teammate to fill.

I hope this helps.