Maintain Possession of the Ball

In this entry I will focus specifically on the tactical problem of maintaining ball possession. This tactical problem occurs when player's on offense are attempting to keep the ball out of possession of the defending players; whilst the defending players are trying to regain possession of the ball.

To overcome the tactical problem of maintaining ball possession in the game of basketball, a coach and/or instructor could play numerous games that would help players of all levels learn to overcome this common tactical problem.

One game that can be played to help players overcome this tactical problem is a game called "Corner Spray".

To play this game you must first divide the players up into groups of 5. There will be 3 players on one team and 2 players on an opposite team. The objective of this game is for the 3 players to maintain possession of the ball while the 2 defending players are trying to intercept the ball amongst the other team and regain the possession of the ball. This game requires the use of 4 pylons, that will be used to mark off a square like in the image below:

 

The team that has possession of the ball is not allowed to dribble or run with the ball. They must pass only to their other teammates if they are at a corner of the square at a pylon and only 1 player is allowed at a pylon at a time. This game is played for 2 minutes or until the defensive team regains possession of the ball, than the defensive players are switched out and new defenders take their place.

A few questions that you could ask the players after playing this game to help with their understanding of this game and to help with their understanding of this tactical problem are:

1. Who should you pass the ball to in order to maintain possession of the ball?

2. When should you pass the ball? Is the player open? Not open?

3. How can the player with out the ball move to support the player that has the ball?

 

A second game that could be played to help players work on this tactical problem is a game called "Hoop Ball".

To play this game you will need to split the players up into groups of 6. This game will be played using half of a full sized basketball court. You will also need 4 hula hoops to play this game as well. 1 group of 6 players will be a team who is on offense, while the other group of 6 players will be on defense. The goal of this game is for teams to try to pass to their teammates who are standing in a hula hoop in order to score a point. However, you may only remain in a hula hoop for no more than 3 seconds. Dribbling could be allowed or not, depending on the instructor/coaches intentions. Once the ball is intercepted by the defensive team, the 2 teams switch. So now the team that was on defense is on offense, and the team that was on offense is now on defense.

The setup of this game could look like this (the placement of the hula hoops can be varied):

 

There is no time limit on how long this game is played. The coach could do a maximum points tally, for example the first team to achieve 15 passes to a player inside the hula hoop wins. This would give the players the incentive to maintain the possession of the ball for as long as possible. 

Some questions that you could ask the players after playing this game to help with their understanding of the game and to help with their understanding of the tactical problem are:

1. Who should you pass the ball to in order to maintain possession of the ball?

2. When should you pass the ball? Is the player open? Not open?

3. How can the player with out the ball move to support the player that has the ball?