Dribble Tag

Dribble Tag is a fun game to be that helps kids develop good dribbling skills.  The players must keep their dribble active for the duration of the game.  At younger ages this is a skill in itself.   The players are going to be moving in and around other players.  This helps players learn how to dribble in traffic without panicking.  The players will need to be looking around and figuring out where everybody else in the game is at.  This skill will help players keep their heads up while dribbling.  And the players will need an active off-hand to keep players from knocking their ball loose.  This will help keep defenders from reaching and poking the ball during games. 

All of these skills can be learned by the players in a fun game rather than having to do many drills.  The one drawback of dribble tag is every player will need a basketball and sometimes this is just not possible.  If there are enough basketballs, then dribble tag is a great fun game to play. 

The game is simple.  Each player must keep their dribble going without losing the ball or double dribbling. A section of the floor is designated as the play area and all players must stay within that area.  If a player leaves the playing area, then they are out.  If a player loses their dribble, then they are out.  The players can dribble around and knock another player’s dribble away causing them to be eliminated.  As players are eliminated and the play area is too large for the number of players left the game is paused and a new smaller play area is designated and the game resumes.  If that new area becomes too big for the remaining players, then another smaller play area is designated until there is only one player left with their dribble. 

This is a nice little changeup in practice.  At the junior high and high school level, it can get the players laughing and just having fun during a practice.  It can be used as a reward, maybe the next day in practice after a big win.  Maybe things are not going well, and all the players are down, and morale is down.  A game to remind players that basketball is played to have fun. It can be a morale boost.  It can help bring back a positive attitude into the locker room. 

At the youth level, dribble tag can end practice on a high fun note.  It can played right at the end of practice and have all of the players leaving the gym laughing and having fun.  Even if the players were not having fun, a simple game at the end can have a recency bias in their mind.  They left having fun, so the entire practice was fun.  The game of basketball is fun.  This positivity can keep players interest up and coming back wanting to get better and learn.

The game of dribble tag is a simple game but the benefits of the game is wide.  Those benefits can be achieved through drills but using a game can keep the players more interested in basketball and happier to keep coming back.