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There are 3 basic types of passes: the chest pass, bounce pass, and overhead pass. To make a chest pass, start with the ball at chest level and pass the ball with both hands to another player without the ball hitting the floor. Ideally, the ball will reach the receiver at her chest level. To make a bounce pass, start with the ball at about chest level and pass the ball so that it hits the floor approximately two thirds of the way between you and the receiver. To make an overhead pass, start with the ball in both hands directly above your head, with elbows bent. Pass the ball toward the receiver by extending your arms and releasing the ball at about head-level. This pass should reach the receiver at, or above, chest level. Keys to passing: · Step in the direction you are passing. · Follow through with your wrists to put some speed on the ball. For chest, bounce, and overhead passes, hold the ball with hands on both sides, and palms facing each other. As you make the pass, your thumbs should rotate in toward each other and down toward the ground. This will put a nice backspin on the ball. · For basic passing, try to pass the ball so the ball travels on a straight-line path to the receiver, without a lot of arc. (When making more advanced passes, sometimes there is a benefit to using a certain amount of arc.) · When passing to a receiver that is moving, aim the ball slightly ahead of the receiver so that she can catch the pass in stride. This sounds very simple but takes a lot of practice - the 3-person weave is a good drill to practice this, and is described below. When receiving a pass, keep your eyes on the ball and your hands up at about chest level, ready to catch. By keeping your hands up, you are communicating to the player with the ball that you are ready to receive a pass Passing Drills: Basic Passing (Novice): With a partner, stand about 10-12 feet across from each other (one on each side of the key, for example). Practice making chest passes back and forth to each other. As you warm up, take a step away from each other and make a few passes to each other. Keep taking steps out until you are about 20-25 feet away from each other or until you start losing accuracy and distance on your passes. Repeat with bounce and overhead passes. (You will not be able to stand as far away from each other when making bounce passes. Conversely, when making overhead passes, you should be able to stand further apart than when making chest passes.) Basic Passing with 2 balls (Intermediate): With a partner, stand about 10-12 feet across from each other, each with a ball. Designate one player as a chest passer and the other as a bounce passer. Pass to each other simultaneously. Do this several times then switch - the player that was making chest passes will now make bounce passes, and vice versa.
3-person weave (Novice/Intermediate): Start with 3 players on the baseline. One player starts with the basketball in the middle (under the basket). The other two players start on the right and left sides at about where the 3-point line meets the baseline [links to terminology page]. As the drill starts, the player in the middle (#1) chest passes to the player on the right (#2). After #1 makes the pass, she runs to her right, behind #2, and then turns and runs forward, ready to catch the pass. #2, in the meantime, passes to the player on her left (#3) and then runs behind her and then upcourt. #3 then passes to #1 and runs behind her. Repeat all the way down the court. |
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