Hitting the Circle Edge

How effective are your mid-court at getting the ball in to your shooters? 

 

When feeding the ball in to our shooters, it is really important that players are able to hit the circle edge to stop those pesky defenders! When it comes to positioning on the circle edge, there are a variety of options, depending on the positioning of the shooters:

Here is one drill that I love using to encourage feeders to hit the circle edge:

The ball starts with the feeder on the transverse line. The attackers aim to work together to the receive the ball from the feeders, with a goal of receiving the pass on the circle edge to feed into the GS who will then take a shot. After this, the ball is passed back to the feeders and the drill is reset.

If the feeders decide that neither attacker is free, they may swing the ball to each other leading the attackers to reposition themselves in reaction to this. 

 

In this drill, players should be aiming to hit the circle edge with a balanced stance - we don't want to go offside(!) - and develop their decision making skills.

 

Progressions:

 

1.    Add in GA to complete the attacking team to improve movement in the circle

2.    Add in GD and GK for added pressure

3.    Players must make a fake pass before feeding into the shooters

 

Working with more experienced players? You may want to work on hitting the circle edge in a more pressured and competitive setting. Set up conditioned games in which players can only feed the circle if they are positioned on the circle edge. Start with half court and build up to full court to encourage players to get into the habit of hitting the circle edge every time!

 

Have you got a go-to drill when developing hitting the circle edge? Comment below - I love hearing your suggestions!