Ball Slaps & Taps
Get young hands comfortable with the ball and improve fingertip control before dribbling.
- Duration
- 5 min
- Steps
- 3
- Equipment
- 1 item
- Difficulty
- Beginner
How to run it
- 1
Slap the ball hard with each hand alternating for 20 reps.
- 2
Tap the ball between fingertips at chest height, circling it around your head, waist, and knees.
- 3
Figure-eight the ball between your legs slowly, 5 times each direction.
Coaching points
- Use fingertips, never palms.
- Keep eyes up — look straight ahead, not at the ball.
- Make it a game: count taps without dropping.
Equipment
- Basketball
Why it works
Ball familiarity comes before ball control. The nugget: you can't dribble without looking if your hands don't 'know' the ball. Slaps and taps build the fingertip strength and feel that lets a young player later dribble with their eyes up — and eyes-up dribbling is what lets you see open teammates and defenders in a game. Skip this and you raise a kid who stares at the ball and misses every open pass.
Ball Slaps & Taps
Purpose: Get young hands comfortable with the ball and improve fingertip control before dribbling.
▶How to run it
- 1Slap the ball hard with each hand alternating for 20 reps.
- 2Tap the ball between fingertips at chest height, circling it around your head, waist, and knees.
- 3Figure-eight the ball between your legs slowly, 5 times each direction.
✓Coaching points
- ✓Use fingertips, never palms.
- ✓Keep eyes up — look straight ahead, not at the ball.
- ✓Make it a game: count taps without dropping.
▢Equipment
★Why it works
Ball familiarity comes before ball control. The nugget: you can't dribble without looking if your hands don't 'know' the ball. Slaps and taps build the fingertip strength and feel that lets a young player later dribble with their eyes up — and eyes-up dribbling is what lets you see open teammates and defenders in a game. Skip this and you raise a kid who stares at the ball and misses every open pass.