Rebounding is not a jumping contest. It is three habits in a row: find your man when the shot goes up, make contact before he does, then go and get the ball. Teams that rebound well have all three, and the drills below teach them one at a time and then together.
Why it is worth practice time
Two studies of youth basketball, both by Spanish research groups, looked at which game statistics separated winners from losers:
- In all 122 games of the 2004 and 2005 under-16 European Championships, Lorenzo and colleagues found that defensive rebounds discriminated between winners and losers in balanced games, those decided by 10 to 29 points. Close games were decided more by turnovers and assists.
- In 223 games of the Spanish under-20 league, Ibáñez and colleagues found that defensive rebounds, two-point field goals and assists discriminated winners from losers in all three games of a three-games-in-a-row tournament format.
These are associations: teams that win may rebound well for reasons beyond rebounding drills. But defensive rebounds keep appearing in this kind of study, and a defensive rebound is the only way a stop actually ends.
The three habits
The coaching sources we drew on for these drills agree on the order, from Basketball For Coaches’ rebounding drills to Hooper University and Coach’s Clipboard:
- Find. When the shot goes up, look for your man before you look for the ball.
- Hit. Step into him and make contact first, then pivot so your back is on his chest. Wide base, low hips, elbows out.
- Pursue. Hold for a count, then go and get the ball at its highest point with two hands, and chin it.
Then the fourth habit, which turns a rebound into offense: outlet the ball.
Carla Berube of Princeton made the case for teaching the box out small in a USA Basketball coaches’ Q&A: 1-on-1 trains the defensive basics, box out included, before you take them to 5-on-5.
Drills for the box out
Box out and pursue
Two defenders guard two wings; the coach shoots from the top. Each defender finds his man, makes contact, pivots into him and holds, then pursues the ball and outlets it. Rated beginner, from U10.
Circle box-out
A ball sits on the floor in the middle of the free-throw circle. Three defenders face three attackers outside it. On the whistle, the defenders turn, find a man, make contact and keep him off the ball for three to five seconds. There is no shot, so the whole rep is about the contact.
It works well with young players: the ball on the floor is a target they can see, and the defense wins or loses the rep in five seconds.
Weak-side box out
This is the drill that matches the game. Two defenders start in help, away from their men, and the coach shoots from the other wing. The defenders have to leave help, find their men, make contact and pursue. Basketball For Coaches notes that misses often come off the side opposite the shot, which is why the help-side defenders matter most.
If the offense gets the rebound, roles change and new players come in. Coach’s Clipboard’s version starts with a skip pass and a closeout instead, so one defender boxes out the shooter and the other the far side.
4-on-4 close out and block out
Four defenders start in the lane, four attackers on the perimeter. The coach passes to any attacker, who shoots on the catch. The nearest defender closes out; the other three talk, find a man, block out and pursue.
Basketball For Coaches scores a similar drill by stops: the defense switches after three defensive rebounds, and only an offensive rebound breaks the streak. It makes every rep matter. Our guide to defense drills covers the closeout half of this drill.
Drills for offensive rebounding
Crash and putback
The coach shoots from one wing. The player on the weak side crashes around a dummy that stands in for the defender boxing out, takes the ball high and scores straight back up without bringing it down.
The move is the point: step to the middle to sell it, then swim or spin past on the baseline side. A player who waits until the defender has made contact has already lost.
Superman and the tip drill
Two short drills for timing and hands, both good in a finishing block. In Superman, a player tosses the ball high off the glass, sprints across the lane and catches it outside the far lane line before it lands. In the tip drill, a line beside the basket keeps the ball alive with one-hand tips off the glass until the last one goes in.
Put it together: rebounding war
For older teams, the rebounding war combines everything. Five defenders start in the lane, five attackers outside; a coach shoots, every defender finds a man and makes contact, four attackers crash while the point guard gets back, and a defensive rebound becomes a fast break the other way. Coach’s Clipboard’s scoring gives a point for a basket and for a defensive rebound, two for an offensive rebound, and takes one away for a turnover or a foul.
It is physical, so keep it clean: contact with the body, not the hands. The drill is tagged U16 and up in our library.
What fits each age
| Age | Teach | Drills |
|---|---|---|
| U10 | Find and hit, two hands on the ball | Box out and pursue, circle box-out |
| U12 | Box out from help, outlet | Weak-side box out, Superman |
| U14 | Box out as a team after a closeout | 4-on-4 close out and block out, crash and putback |
| U16 and up | Live rebounding into transition | Rebounding war, tip drill |
Canada Basketball’s athlete development model lists box-outs and transition defense balance among the defensive concepts to introduce in the Train to Train stage, roughly 11 to 16. Younger players can learn the box out earlier as a movement; the team version comes later.
Mistakes to avoid
- Watching the ball. The first look goes to the man, every time.
- Waiting for contact. Step into him; do not let him run into you at full speed.
- Holding with the hands. Move the feet and keep the back on him. Holding is a foul and a bad habit.
- Bringing the ball down. After an offensive rebound, go straight back up. After a defensive one, chin it, pivot to the outside and outlet.
- Rebounding drills with no score. A box out nobody counts is a box out nobody does in a game.
Finding and drawing rebounding drills
All eight drills are in the drill library, under rebounding and defense, with their coaching points, players, minutes and age groups. Open any of them in the app to watch it run phase by phase. To fit a drill to your gym, for example to move the coach to the other wing or add a third pair, change it in the drill designer.
To make rebounding a theme for a few weeks, our guide to planning a multi-week practice block shows how to build a drill up from walked to live to scored. The practice planner, on the paid plans, lets you set rebounding as a practice’s focus and fill the plan from these drills.
Questions
What is the best rebounding drill for basketball?
For most teams, a live drill where the defenders start away from their men and have to find them on the shot, such as the weak-side box out or a 4-on-4 closeout and box out. Static box-out drills teach the position; live ones teach the habit.
How do you teach kids to box out?
In three steps: see your man when the shot goes up, step into him and make contact first, then pivot so your back is on his chest and hold for a count before you go for the ball. Start without a shot, with a ball on the floor as the target.
Does rebounding really win games?
Studies of youth championships point that way. In under-16 European Championship games, defensive rebounds separated winners from losers in games decided by 10 to 29 points, and in a Spanish under-20 league they discriminated winners in all three games of a tournament format. These are associations, not proof of cause.
How do you practice offensive rebounding?
Crash from the weak side, move before the defender makes contact, and score on the way up without bringing the ball down. A crash-and-putback drill with a dummy as the boxing-out defender teaches the move, and the tip drill teaches the timing.