Basketball: 50+ Games and Drills for Physical Education

From the first ball contact to team games, the basketball exercises and game formats in this collection are suitable for physical education and sports clubs. Learners can practice running free, passing, dribbling, securing rebounds, and shooting at the basket, mostly directly in the game. In this way, technique, tactics, and game understanding are developed primarily through active gameplay. Quickly organized, the games are suitable as individual activities or as building blocks for an entire lesson unit.

What is included in the material

• Game and exercise formats for ball familiarity, passing, catching, and running free, dribbling, shooting at the basket, and layups, as well as holistic game formats up to streetball, blitz tournaments, and emperor tournaments, each with duration, required equipment, game description, graphics, and usually variants
• Practical tips for arriving at the gym, warming up, dividing into teams, simple starting rules, and wheelchair basketball
• Didactic considerations comparing "passing before dribbling" and "dribbling before passing" with focus, advantages, and possible difficulties
• Content overview with all games, organized by area

Tips for using the material

• Arrival as movement time: Upon arrival, learners can take a basketball and independently dribble, throw, and experiment. Small prompts such as changing baskets after every score or shooting in pairs with a rebound can also motivate more reserved learners.
• Game-based warm-up: Many games for ball familiarity, passing, and dribbling are suitable as a warm-up if they start quietly, offer many ball contacts, and have almost no waiting times.
• Simple rules at the beginning: Many game formats can be played with or without dribbling. Initially, it is advisable to play without dribbling, not run with the ball, allow the star step, and maintain an arm's length distance from the person with the ball; this way, running free, catching, and passing are emphasized, and dribbling can be added later.
• Passing or dribbling first: Both approaches are didactically justifiable. If the learning group already has basic ball skills, a game-oriented approach is advisable, where technique develops from game situations.
• Introduction to the big game: The holistic game formats can be revisited repeatedly during a series of lessons.
• Variants: Through the variants, the games can be adapted to different skill levels, for example by dribbling with the weaker hand, using a larger or smaller playing field, or limiting the time the ball can be held.
• Change teams frequently: If the teams are regularly reformed, everyone can play together once and gain diverse experiences.
• Wheelchair basketball: Numerous game and exercise formats are also suitable for people in wheelchairs. If the walking error is addressed in class, the two-push rule can also be introduced.

These competencies are promoted

• Passing, catching, and running free in game formats where running with the ball is not allowed
• Ball control while dribbling, also with the weaker hand and with an upright head position
• Shooting at the basket and layups from different positions and distances
• Reaction and orientation in space through commands and signals while dribbling
• Game understanding through interplay, numerical advantages, and quick transitions in the holistic game formats

To complement this, there are technique cards for shooting, layups, passing, and dribbling, basketball station cards, certificates for blitz or emperor tournaments, and a similarly structured collection for football.