Triangle Shooting Drill

The Triangle Shooting Drill is a good drill for incorporating shooting and conditioning work. The Triangle Shooting Drill keeps players moving. It can be used as a warm-up activity at a very low impact or utilised as a way of putting pressure onto players to perform a technical skill at pace.

The Triangle Shooting Drill can be used as a warm-up that still has a sports specific functionality. If used as a warm-up activity obviously the intensity and variations such as adding defenders need to be limited. Concerning intensity, maybe starting the drill off at forty to fifty precent of full pace maybe a useful tempo. This however can be increased if other activities are performed before hand or as the drill progresses and players become more and more loose.

Another useful time to implement the Triangle Shooting Drill is as players become confident in their ability to perform a range of individual offensive technical skills. This is because players can be instructed to catch the ball at pace and then perform the skill in a controlled and specific manner. The focus on performing the technique at pace can sometimes be a very challenging one for developing players.

For younger players the challenges in performing the skill at pace such as passing to a fast moving target, catching a pass at full pace or seamlessly linking all elements of the technical skill together are a common issue. The Triangle Shooting Drill however will give a number of high repetitions to each player in a short period of time that will help in players gaining confidence in their ability to perform the required skill.

Players start in a line.

The first athlete (1) sprints hard to reach the marker then moves around the cone heading back to the basket.

To increase the fitness component the cone around which the players have to run can be moved further down the sideline increasing the distance players have to cover.

As the lane runner reaches the three-point line a pass is made by the next person in the line who after the pass heads towards the marker.

Example Skill Variations:

• Execute lay-up
• Perform jump shot (three point, elbow and low block).
• Perform individual offensive move (e.g. jump stop, shot fake and step through)

Multiple players can start without a ball increasing the pace and speed of the reps involved in the drill.

Some of the other variations that can be looked at are having two players start at a time. The front player can be the offensive player, while the trailing player can be the defensive player. Once the players round the cone, the drill then becomes “live” and competitive.

Alternatively, the defender instead of trailing can be on the opposite side of the floor. The defender will have their own cone on the opposite side of the floor to run around then try to stop the offensive player. Both players would start on the baseline at the same time and run up opposite sidelines in the half court.

The Triangle Shooting Drill for players who are learning a new skill and now need to be pushed to work it up to a game pace level. Used in this way the Triangle Shooting Drill can be effective and worthwhile for implementation during a training session.

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