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Basketball · Post Play · Ages 13-15

Basketball Post Play Practice Plan for 13 to 15 Year Olds

At 13 to 15 the post player becomes a SYSTEM: deep seals earned with early position, the move tree run at game speed against honest reads, screening as the offense's hidden engine, rebounding as a possession-winning identity, defensive craft (verticality shape, drop footwork, the no-foul wall), and the passing-hub job that modern offenses route through their bigs. The construction project stated at 11 is now visible: post bones plus guard skills equals the player every level above this one is hunting for.

This 75-minute session covers deep-seal timing, the tree at speed, screen-and-roll as a system, rim-protection footwork (shape and position only at home; live contests belong at practice), pursuit rebounding, and hub passing. The frame is honest and useful: at this age coaches stop asking how tall a big is and start asking what a big can DO, and this session is the doing, compiled weekly.

Practice Plan

Court Session: The System Big

Seals earned early, the tree at game speed, screens that run the offense, a no-foul wall at the rim, and the passing hub the modern game routes through.


Warmup · 10 minutes

Full Battery

Duration10 minEquipment1 ball

Pivots, quick-jumps with claims, two branches of the tree each side at pace, four seals, four screen-and-roll shapes, and four short-roll catches at half effort. Add ankle and hip mobility (deep squat holds, hip airplanes): bigs live low, and mobility is their gear maintenance.

Coaching Cue

Cue: "Warm the hips like equipment. Everything you do rents space from them."


Block 1: Position Earned Early · 16 minutes

Deep-Seal Timing

Duration8 minEquipmentball, parent as passive defender

The seal upgraded with its timing secret: position claimed EARLY (before the imaginary pass is even possible), the defender pinned on the high side with a wide low base and a long target hand, held through your gentle passive leans, the catch taken DEEP with a chin-and-read. Eight seals alternating sides, each finished through a tree branch. Deep catches are 90 percent timing and legs; the move afterward is the easy part.

Coaching Cue

Cue: "Win the spot before the defense knows the game started. Deep catches are pre-ordered."

Duck-Ins and Relocations

Duration8 minEquipmentball

The moving-seal craft: from the weak side, the DUCK-IN (a hard two-step slide into the lane, sealing as the ball swings, target hand demanding) and the relocation (when the first seal fails, release, re-angle, and re-seal two feet deeper). Eight reps mixed on your swing calls. Post position at this level is a moving negotiation; drill the re-offers.

Coaching Cue

Cue: "No seal is final. Release, re-angle, take a better one."


Block 2: The Tree at Speed · 16 minutes

Live-Read Ladder

Duration8 minEquipmentball, target, noodle

The full tree (drop-step, middle counter, face-up, up-and-under) against your pictures at game tempo, noodle distraction on every finish, reads named mid-move. Twelve reps. Then two "second-move" reps: the first branch walled off (your call: "STOPPED!"), countered immediately into another branch without re-gathering. Counters chained at speed are what "polished" means in scouting notes.

Coaching Cue

Cue: "First move fast, second move faster. Polish is just chained answers."

The Free-Throw Truth

Duration8 minEquipmentball

The big's tax collection: every tree finish today is followed immediately by one free throw (or short-range form shot where no line exists), fatigue honest, routine identical every time (same breaths, same dribbles). Ten finishes, ten shots, made-count logged. Bigs live at the line at this level; the routine built tired is the one that survives games.

Coaching Cue

Cue: "Same routine, tired or fresh. The line pays the bigs who respect it."


Block 3: The Team Engine · 18 minutes

Screen-and-Roll System

Duration9 minEquipmentcone, ball, 2 targets

The full screening sequence at tempo: sprint to the cone, angle set, hold through "USE!", then the read on your defender-picture: ROLL hard to the rim (target hand, catch, finish), SHORT-ROLL catch with the three-answer read (finish, corner, dunker), or POP to the elbow (catch, face, decide). Twelve sequences mixed. Screening bigs touch every possession; the read menu is what they do with the touch.

Coaching Cue

Cue: "Screen, then read your man's panic. His choice is your assignment."

Rim Wall, No Fouls

Duration9 minEquipmentball

Defensive craft, shape-and-position only: the DROP footwork (sliding back between a driving parent and the imaginary rim, chest square, arms straight UP in the verticality shape, never reaching down), the wall-up finish (both hands high as you shoot over softly, no swipe, no lean), and the rebound-claim that ends each rep. Eight reps at controlled pace. Live contests belong at practice; the no-foul shape is the home half, and it is the half that keeps bigs on the floor.

Coaching Cue

Cue: "Straight up is a wall; reaching down is a whistle. Be the wall."


Finish · 15 minutes

The Hub

Duration8 minEquipmentball, 3 targets

The passing-hub job: catches at the elbow and top with immediate reads to three targets (cutter bounce pass, corner swing, dribble-handoff shape at a cone), plus one keep-and-finish when you call "GO!" Ten catches, decisions fast and named. Modern offenses route through bigs who can catch, see, and deliver; this is that job's daily practice.

Coaching Cue

Cue: "Catch it as a passer, keep the scorer in your pocket. Hubs see everything."

The Possession

Duration7 minEquipmenteverything

A closing narrated possession chain: duck-in seal and deep catch, tree finish through noodle, sprint to a screen, short-roll read, defensive drop with wall-up, pursuit rebound, outlet. Two full chains, everything audible. End on the outlet thrown ahead: the big's note that starts the music. Log the day honestly (reads right, boards claimed, line makes) and race the log.

Coaching Cue

Cue: "One possession, seven jobs. That's the position; run the whole shift."


What to watch today: which half is growing. The post-bones half (seals, tree, boards) and the modern half (short roll, face-up, hub passing) should be developing together, and sessions drift toward whichever feels comfortable. Audit the log for balance. The finished product this age is building (position skills plus guard skills in one body) is the rarest commodity in basketball; keep both halves under construction, always.

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Common questions

What is verticality and why drill the shape at home?

The legal rim-protection position: chest square to the driver, arms fully extended straight up, absorbing rather than swiping. Drilled as footwork-and-shape at home (against a parent finishing softly), it builds the no-foul habit that keeps bigs on the floor; the live-contest timing gets coached at practice. Foul trouble is the biggest minutes-thief bigs face, and the wall shape is its cure.

How much should a 13 to 15 year old big train guard skills?

Roughly half the session, deliberately: face-up moves, short-roll decisions, hub passing, and honest ball-handling from the guard curriculum. The game's direction is one-way on this, and height finalization is still ahead. The big with guard skills has a role in every possible future; the specialist is betting everything on one growth-chart outcome.

What do coaches look for in a big at tryouts?

Motor and answers: does the kid sprint rim-to-rim, pursue boards outside their area, seal early, screen with angles, and make fast correct reads from the short roll and the post? Height gets a look; the checklist gets the roster spot. Every item on it is home-trainable, which is the honest pitch for sessions like this one.

Post Play plans for other ages
Ages 7-8Ages 9-10Ages 11-12
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