Two Cone Ball Handling is a great warmup drill early in practice to get some fundamental skill work in while getting the players moving. It is a simple drill that does not require a lot of space to work. The drill has the ability to work on all change of direction dribbles. It can increase difficulty by going from single moves to double moves to triple moves if needed. These different levels of difficulty can have the post players doing single moves while guards may be doing double or triple moves at the same time in the drill. Even with the different players doing the drill differently, nothing about the drill has to be changed.
The drill itself is just two cones in a line with the players starting on one end of the cones. There should be some space between the players and the first cone. This distance should be the same for the space between the 1st cone and the 2nd cone. On the basketball court I have the players start on the baseline with the first cone at the foul line. The 2nd cone is about halfway between the 3-point line and half-court line. This puts the full length of the drill at about 30 feet. If the space is not available then this can be reduced down to 15-20 feet. With the reduction of length, the players will not be moving as much as the longer drill.
On a standard court, there could be 4-5 lines using the entire width of the court. A sixth line could be added but with 6 lines things can get really crowded with the players going around the cones. Four lines gives more than enough room between them so there is never a chance of players of running into each other.
In the diagram above, there are 8 cones all labeled by a C. The x’s on the diagrams represent the players. The players will stay in their line using only the two cones in front of them. There is never a need for the players to ever change the lines they are in. All lines can be doing the same dribbling work or each line could be doing different work depending on who is in each line.
The players will start dribbling towards the first cone. At the cone, the players will make their change of direction dribble and go around the cone. For instance, if the players are doing a single move, then they will start dribbling with their left hand in the above diagram. They will dribble left handed to the cone. At the cone, they will do a change of direction dribble like a crossover to dribble right handed around the cone. Once around the cone, the players will continue to the 2nd cone with a right handed dribble.
At the 2nd cone, the players will dribble around the cone keeping the ball in the hand they are currently using. So, continuing with the example before, the players have the ball in their right hand as they approach the 2nd cone. The players will simply dribble right handed around the cone. The players do not do a change of direction dribble at the 2nd cone. Instead of a change of direction dribble, the players should be trying to get to and around the cone as quickly as possible. They should sprint dribble to the cone, slow down and controlled going around the cone, and sprinting out of the turn back to the first cone.
Once back to the middle cone, the players will do another change of direction dribble before continuing back to the start of the line. The player will give the ball to the next player in line and the 2nd player will repeat the drill just as the 1st player did.
In the above diagram and continuing with the example, the player will be dribbling right handed as they approach the middle cone. They will do a change of direction dribble around the cone. This will be a right handed to left handed change of direction dribble. Once around the cone they dribble the ball to the next player in line.
In the drill with a single move, the players will do both a right handed to left handed change of direction dribble and a left to right handed change of direction dribble. Both hands are being used during the drill. This is ensuring the players are working on both their strong and weak hand during the drill. This is getting maximum skill development for the players in a drill.
Players can do double and triple moves at the middle cone to make the drill more difficult. Double moves are 2 change of direction dribbles and triple moves are using 3. High school guards can do the drill doing different combinations of double and triple moves. By changing the combinations of double and triple moves, the more skilled players can continue to be challenged in the drill. Even though it is a simple drill, it can be used for all ages and skill levels.