Drill3 phasesRuns 5 s
Circle Trap
Three passers stand around the free-throw circle, three defenders inside it. Whoever catches the ball is trapped at once by the two nearest defenders while the third reads the passer and jumps the lane. The ball handler may not dribble: pivot, fake, pass out.
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
- Ages
- U12–Adult
- Minutes
- 8
- Players
- 6–12
- Coaches
- 1
- Balls
- 1
- Equipment
- No equipment: players and balls only.
Run it, tilt it, change it to fit your practice. Free to start. No account, nothing to install.
Coaching points
- Trap with your feet: get there on the pass, knee to knee, so the ball cannot split you.
- Hands high and behind the elbows; no reaching or slapping down at the ball.
- Interceptor: read the passer's eyes and shoulders and jump the lane he looks at.
- Ball handler: stay low, keep the ball away from the trappers, fake a pass before you make one.
- Every pass is a new trap: sprint out of the old one.
Phase by phase
1Phase 1
Coach passes to 3. The two nearest defenders, X1 and X3, trap him with their feet: wide base, knee to knee, hands high. X2 is the interceptor and sits between the other two passers.
- C passes to 3
- X1 cuts to the right elbow
- X3 cuts
- X2 cuts to the nail
2Phase 2
3 stays low, pivots and fakes before he passes, and finds 1. The new trap is X1 and X2; X3 sprints out of the old trap and becomes the interceptor.
- 3 passes to 1
- X1 cuts
- X2 cuts
- X3 cuts to the nail
3Phase 3
1 gets the ball out to 2. The two defenders nearest 2 close the trap, the third reads the passer. Count deflections; a steal or deflection swaps that passer into the middle.
- 1 passes to 2
- X2 cuts to the left elbow
- X3 cuts
- X1 cuts to the nail
Variations
- Six players alternating attacker, defender around one circle; the coach passes to either team.
- Score it: one point per deflection or steal, switch offense and defense at half time.
- Set the circle where your press traps: near the end line, at half court, or in the corner.