A layup is the first shot every player learns and the one teams miss most cheaply. The fix is rarely more layups. It is better footwork, a finish with either hand, and a second option for when a defender is waiting at the rim. The drills below go in that order.
Stage 1: the steps
Basketball Manitoba’s layup progression, written for players from age 6, and Basketball For Coaches’ technique layups build the layup from right next to the rim outwards:
- One step. Start close, shooting hand and foot forward, step with the inside foot, jump and release high off the glass.
- Two steps. One step further back: outside foot, then inside foot, then up.
- One dribble in. From about the elbow, one dribble, then the two-step rhythm.
The next stage is dribbling in from the three-point line.
On the right side, the last step is the left foot and the right hand finishes; on the left side, the reverse. Teach both sides from the first day. Every player has a ball, and Basketball For Coaches suggests only a couple of minutes per stage.
Basket height matters here. USA Basketball’s youth rules use an 8-foot basket at ages 7 and 8, 9 feet at 9 to 11 and 10 feet from 12. A child who has to throw the ball at a ten-foot rim is learning a throw, not a layup.
Stage 2: layups at a rhythm
Two-line layups
The classic warm-up: a shooting line on the right, a rebounding line on the left. The shooter dribbles in for a right-hand layup, the rebounder catches it before it bounces and passes to the next shooter, and both change lines. Then switch to the left side.
Count makes as a team: 20 in a row before you change sides keeps everyone concentrating.
Speed dribble layups
A line in each far corner. Push the ball out in front, cover the floor in as few dribbles as possible, and finish with the same hand you dribbled with. A missed layup at speed is still a miss, so slow down just enough to finish.
For continuous short finishes, the Mikan drill is the standard. Our guide to team shooting drills covers it.
Stage 3: finishing past a defender
The power layup
Gather on two feet with a jump stop close to the basket, chin the ball with the elbows out, and go straight up off both feet. PGC Basketball calls the jump-stop layup the most powerful layup a young player can learn. Coach’s Clipboard adds a pump fake before the finish, and later two defenders with pads who may bump but not block.
It is the right finish when the defender is beside you and the lane is crowded.
The reverse layup
Drive along the baseline, go under the rim and finish on the far side, so the rim shields the ball from the shot blocker. Coach’s Clipboard’s layup page gives the footwork: from the right side, off the right foot, with the left hand. Basketball For Coaches sets two cones, at the elbow and outside the block, to force the baseline route, and warns against too much spin.
The inside-hand layup
An advanced finish for when a shot blocker is beside or chasing you. Take off from the outside foot instead of the inside one, keep the body between the ball and the defender, and lay it off the glass with the inside hand. Ryan Goodson’s outside-foot layup drill uses a cone just above the block and a long inside step, then a short outside step.
The euro step
Gather, take a long first step at the defender, then a second step across and around him, and finish with the hand away from him. In our drill a chair in the lane stands in for the help defender.
The first step has to sell the drive, shoulders included, and the second has to clear the defender’s body, not just his hand. Start without a ball, just the footwork, slowly.
Stage 4: finishing short of the rim
The floater
The floater is for the big defender who waits at the rim. Attack, stop short of him, about 1.5 to 3 metres (5 to 10 feet) from the rim, go straight up and release a high, soft shot that peaks above his reach. Goodson’s floater drill uses a cone in the lane as the shot blocker and tape on the floor so the jump goes up, not forward into a charge. Basketball For Coaches runs it as two minutes of continuous attacks from new spots.
Both sources agree on working both hands and both one-foot and two-foot take-offs.
Stage 5: finishing in the post
Two moves for players who catch near the block:
- Drop step. Feel the defender on the high side, drop the baseline foot toward the rim, one power dribble, up off two feet. Our drop step power finish runs it on both blocks.
- Up-and-under. Face up, sell the shot fake, step through past the defender with the free foot and finish on his other side. Coach’s Clipboard runs it on both blocks for one to two minutes, first without a defender, then with a pad, then live.
The jump hook completes the set. Hal Wissel’s technique from Basketball: Steps to Success has the player side-on to the rim, ball protected by the body, stepping into the lane.
What fits each age
| Age | Teach | Drills |
|---|---|---|
| U8 | Steps and a high release, both sides, low basket | Layup progression, speed dribble layups |
| U10 | The two-step rhythm at speed, power layup | Two-line layups, Mikan, power layup |
| U12 | Reverse layup, finishing after contact | Reverse layup, jump hook |
| U14 and up | Finishes against a shot blocker | Euro step, inside-hand layup, floater, up-and-under |
The age tags are the ones in our library. Move a player on when the previous finish is automatic, not when his birthday says so.
Mistakes to avoid
- Only the right hand. Every finishing drill runs on both sides, every time.
- Lines of twelve. Use every basket in the gym, and give players a ball each for the progression.
- No defender, ever. Once the footwork is clean, add a chair, a pad or a coach. A layup drill without anything in the way does not teach the finishes in stage 3.
- Jumping forward. On the power layup and the floater, the jump goes up. Forward is a charge or a miss off the back of the rim.
Finding and drawing finishing drills
All of these drills are in the drill library under finishing, with coaching points, variations, minutes and age groups, and each one opens in the app to run phase by phase. If your gym needs a different setup, such as a cone in another spot or a second line, change it in the drill designer.
To fit a finishing block into a practice, the practice planner, on the paid plans, takes these drills as timed blocks. Its coach notes are advice from the sources it names, not rules.
Questions
How do you teach a layup to a beginner?
In stages, starting next to the rim. First one step off the inside foot and a high release off the backboard, then the full two-step rhythm from a step further out, then one dribble from about the elbow. On the right side, the last step is the left foot and the right hand finishes.
What foot do you jump off for a layup?
On a standard layup, the foot opposite the shooting hand: right-hand layup off the left foot, left-hand layup off the right foot. Two exceptions are worth teaching later: the power layup off two feet and the inside-hand layup off the outside foot.
At what age should players learn reverse layups and euro steps?
Once the basic layup is automatic on both sides. In our library the reverse layup is tagged from U12 and the euro step from U14, but the right moment is when a player stops thinking about the steps of a normal layup.
What is the difference between a floater and a layup?
A floater is released early, from about 1.5 to 3 metres (5 to 10 feet), on a high arc over a shot blocker, without going all the way to the rim. A layup is released at the rim. Players who only have the layup get blocked by the big defender who waits there.