A jump stop is a stop on two feet at the same time. The player takes a small hop out of a dribble or a run and lands with both feet together, about shoulder-width apart, knees bent, chest up, ball tight at the chest. The alternative is a stride stop: one foot, then the other.
Why coaches use it
Because a player who can stop under control can still do something. A player who skids to a halt on one foot has to travel, fall or throw the ball away. The jump stop lets him stop in traffic, look, pivot and pass, and it is the base of the power layup, which finishes off the same two-foot landing.
It is also the safer landing. The injury-prevention warm-ups behind the FIFA 11+ teach two-foot landings that are soft, on the balls of the feet, with hips and knees bent and the knees not buckling inward. A good jump stop is the same landing with a ball.
How it is done
- Small hop. Basketball For Coaches gives the cue directly: do not jump high.
- Land together. Both feet at once, knees bent, head up.
- Protect the ball. At the chest or the hip, elbows out.
- Then pivot. Pick a pivot foot and keep it down.
How a stop is ruled, and which foot may then pivot, depends on how the player lands and on your league’s rulebook, so check the travelling rule you play under.
For the youngest players, red light, green light teaches the stop as a game. The jump stop, pivot, pass and four-corner pivot drills add the pivot and the pass.