Around the World Shooting Drill

In designing my practice plans every day during the season, I try to spend about 15-20 minutes everyday on shooting. By working on shooting everyday, players can get bored if you are doing the same shooting drills every practice. When players get bored or disinterested, then the reps are not game quality reps. There can be a lack of focus on the drill which will not allow the players to transfer the practice shooting reps into the games. So, I am constantly looking for different shooting drills to keep players engage in different ways every day in practice.

This shooting drill is one my players enjoy because it is a competition. The players get to compete and try to win the game. The competitiveness makes the players focused and engaged with the drill. Every shot has significance. This is a drill that I tried just to change up shooting and its one that has now worked its way into a regular practice drill. The drill can be modified quite a bit to keep it new and different without changing the drill. The different variations keep the players from getting bored with the drill.

The drill is simple. Cones are placed around the court. They can be placed anywhere. The cones can be anything from 5-foot shots out to 3-point shots. The cones are the spots where the players are going to be shooting from. The cones can be moved each round of the drill.

Once the cones are set, the drill is simple. The players start at one cone. They have to make a shot at the cone before moving onto the next cone. The first player to make a basket at each cone wins. That is the drill. But what this drill really good is the ability to modify it to keep it new. While the following are not all the different variations, these are some of my favorites.

The Original

About 10-12 cones are placed around the court. The team gets in a line at the starting cone. Each player has there own ball. If there are multiple players at a cone, then they have to form a line and only the front player can shoot. All others have to wait there turn. Each player has to shoot and get their own rebound. On a make, the player moves to the next cone. On a miss, the player returns to the same cone and will continue to shoot from that cone until they make a basket. The first player to make a basket at each cone is the winner.

Over and Back

This is the same as the original drill but the cones are reduced to about 5-7 spread out across the floor. The players make a shot at each cone. But once they make a shot at the last cone, they will then have to do a return trip by making a shot at each cone for a 2nd time. The 1st player to make a shot at the starting cone on the return trip is the winner.

Teams

In this version I separate the players into groups of 2-5 players. I use both ends of the floor. Each team starts at a cone. I use no more than 4 teams. 4 teams allow each team to start at their own individual cone by starting in each corner. Each player shoots their shot and gets their own rebound as before. Instead of running back to their cone, the player will pass it to their teammate next in line. This variation helps to work on catching and shooting rather than just shooting. It adds another element of basketball in having to shoot, rebound and then pass the ball.

The teams will have to make a shot at each cone before moving onto the next cone. Depending on how much shooting I want the drill to contain, I will either have the teams do either one trip over and end the game there or I will make the teams go over and back before winning the game. Depending on whether the teams are going over once or going over and coming back will determine how many cones are setup. One trip will have 8-10 cones while over and back will have 6-8 cones.

Half-Court Runs

This variation can be done individually or as a team game. It can be run as the original or as the over and back variation. The only difference in this variation is that after each made basket, the player or the whole team must run and touch the mid-court line before starting to shoot at the next cone. This variation adds a little bit more conditioning to the game. This was a variation that I liked to use on a more relaxed day of practice. The players are not being pushed as hard because it is a less intense day of practice. I can still get the players some conditioning in sneakily while also getting some shots up.

Full Court Runs

This last variation might be my favorite of the group. It can be done individually or as a team. It can be one trip around or an over and back competition. I like it because it adds in a lot of conditioning along with the shooting. It can add somewhere around 13 full court sprints with only 7 cones on each side. The players are getting their sprinting and conditioning done through practice. This can be done with as many or as few cones as you want.

The cones are set on both ends. I normally have around 7 cones but you can take some away or add some if you wish. The players or teams start at a cone. I start them on the corner cone on both sides and both ends of the court. This puts 4 starting points to the game. The players have to make a shot at each cone to win. However, after every make the player grabs their ball and sprints to the other end. So, the players have to make a shot at every cone on both ends of the floor. After each make the players are running to the other end. They continue until they make a basket at each cone on the floor.

This is a great conditioning drill because the players are running to get the ball after each shot and then running to the other end after every make. It is a physically exhausting drill. But in getting the players tired, they improve their conditioning. The other thing it does is force players to focus when they are tired. They can not stop until they make a basket at each cone. So, they really have to fight through the fatigue and focus in the 2nd half of the drill to make those last few baskets. Learning how to focus and perform when really tired can really help improve those shots in the 4th quarter and possible overtime.

Conclusion

This is a drill I keep coming back to to bring some competition to a shooting drill. Then I have added a half-court sprint and a full court sprint to get some conditioning during the drill as well. The players enjoy the drill because it is a competitive game but each player is getting a lot of shots up while improving their conditioning. This is not something to do every practice because the best shooters will start to win most of the games but every so often it is a good change from just a normal shooting drill with no pressure. This drill forces the players to focus just that little bit more that comes a little closer to a game time pressure shot. Add this to a practice and let me know what you think.