Basketball Point Guard Practice Plan for 11 and 12 Year Olds

Meet the pick-and-roll: the read that runs basketball at every level above this one. Two defenders, one ball, and you choosing what happens.

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Finger-count dribbling at speed, two-speed lines with bursts, four snake-past-pressure trips, and six passes off the dribble to moving targets. The battery is everything so far; run it at game tempo and move to the new world.

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The screen's first law: use it SHOULDER-TIGHT. Dribble at the cone screen, set the defender up with a step away, then cut past brushing the cone's edge, ball in the outside hand, turning the corner downhill. Eight reps each direction. Space between the guard and the screen is where defenses live; brushing tight is where they die. Grade the tightness like it is the whole drill, because it is.

The counters that make the screen honest: REJECT (when you, the trailing defender, cheat over the screen early, the kid crosses back and drives the opposite way) and RE-USE (when the drive stalls, back out and come off the screen a second time, tighter). Four of each off your honest cues. The screen is a conversation; these are its comebacks.

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The real reads, one defender at a time: you now play the screen defender (the big) showing one of three pictures as the kid turns the corner: DROP (you back up: rise into the open middle shot or keep coming downhill), SHOW/HEDGE (you jump out high: snake behind you to the middle), or HELP-ON-DRIVE (you slide to the ball: the pocket pass fires to the "roller," a chair or bucket target behind you). Twelve reps, picture varied honestly, read called aloud as it happens. This is the play that runs basketball; twelve honest reps a week compounds into fluency.

Full possessions chaining it: bring the ball up (token pressure), call the play, use the screen tight, make the read (corner, snake, or pocket), and finish: layup, pull-up on "DROP!", or the pocket delivery to the target. Six possessions. The chain is the position at this age, assembled and audible.

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Transition decisions: on your "REBOUND!" call the kid attacks up-court at speed and reads your late picture: "LANE!" (finish the push with a layup or a hit-ahead pass to a target) or "WALL!" (throttle down audibly: "settle, settle!", back it out, call a set). Six reps mixed. Great point guards push everything and settle on evidence; the throttle-down call is as much a skill as the burst.

Leadership as behaviors, drilled: a possession where the kid must (1) call the play before half-court, (2) direct one "teammate" by name ("Sam, corner!"), (3) deliver an assist or make the read, and (4) give the first loud word after a dead ball ("next play!"). Run four possessions with the checklist graded aloud. Captains are made of repeatable behaviors; hand over the list early.

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What to watch today: hunting a pre-decided answer. Kids fall in love with one read (usually the corner drive) and force it against every picture. The read drill's honesty depends on your pictures being varied and your grading being loyal to them: the RIGHT read is the only celebrated read, even when the forced drive scores. Point guards are paid in correct answers; counterfeit ones cost more later.