My drill is a 4 corner catch drill that all of my younger teams do at the start of every practice. Our emphasis is on close flips from one player to another! The most important factor is that a player learns how to pass the ball to the next player with out failure or a bad toss!
4 Corner Catch Drill
This drill can be taught from a close range or a 30-40 foot range depending on the age of the players!
Players get in a square 4 corner positions about 10-12 feet away from each other and we work of receiving and moving the ball on to the next player.
1. We work on foot work proper way to receive with the fingers up and moving to receiving to ball.
2. We strive to get the kids to make the transfer out in front not close to their body.
3. We teach them to grab the ball like they were to take a bit out of a apple and send it to the next guy.
4. We talk a lot about no spin and that grip so very important.
When players get better at the drill we teach the reverse pivot method and the option pitch technique so they are able to make the determination of which way to send it on to the other corner.
Also we teach to move to the ball as I mentioned earlier with that in mind we incorporate the outside pivot and the inside pivot.
I always talk about the fingers on the toss if the fingers go to the head area it will be a high throw and we will not be able to handle it. Fingers to the feet when tossing it will make the ball go low and not to the chest area.
Last but not least is take 1 more step as you toss the ball so your throw will be on target after the release of the ball to the chest area!
This drill has really given our players the confidence when they get in a close encounter to make a play.