Who’s Passing Up This Opportunity?

Passing the basketball is a learned art, just like shooting, dribbling, and many other aspects of the game. You have to practice the fundamentals and then also add in a mix of situations where the conditionals aren’t ideal.

Here’s a super fun drill which every team I have coached has enjoyed. It’s called the Ring of Fire.

I first found it at the site: http://www.akcoach.com/index.htm

Again posted by Coaches Ed Riley and Steve Jordan.

Below is the reprint:

Five players or more stand in a pretty wide circle, with one more player in the middle of the circle. The player in the middle has a ball, and a player on the circle has a ball.

The middle player bounce passes it to a player next to the outside player with the ball. At the same time, the outside player with the ball passes to the middle player. The middle player catches and passes to the next player, while receiving a pass from the last player with the ball.

Confusing? Kids love this drill so I am going to take the time to explain it. Imagine you have a big pie cut into 5 pieces. The center of the pie is where your middle player stands.

Now each piece of pie is numbered one through 5. At the crust of each piece of pie stands your outside players, 1-5.

Your middle passer passes to 2, and catches 1’s pass. Then passes to 3, while catching 2’s pass. Now do you understand it? If not, draw it on a piece of paper. Once the player in the middle has passed it to everyone twice, they switch places with someone on the circle and they start passing and catching.

You do this until everyone has done it. What do you learn from this drill? To pass, catch, and use your peripheral vision.”

Make sure to post comments below and to share with us your experience in using this drill during the season