This is a guestpost by Breakthrough Basketball. Make sure to check out this great blog to find hundreds of drills!

“Rebounding wins championships, you need to emphasize it and work with kids on it.”
-Former Tennessee women’s coach Pat Summitt.

Pat Summitt’s championship pedigree validates the importance of rebounds. Winning the rebounding battle is crucial to winning the game because more rebounds lead to more shot attempts. More shot attempts lead to more wins.

The Gauntlet Rebounding drill is designed to give your team the competitive fire to compete for every single rebound. Your players will be forced to fight for position to grab rebounds. Feel free to add incentives to give your players motivation to play hard in this drill. Note: Any made shot counts as a live ball situation.

Location of players: Everybody is inside the paint ready for the shot. The coach will take the initial shot.

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Once the shot is taken, everybody fights for rebounding position. The person who rebounds the ball (player #1 in my case) will take the next shot as shown in this diagram.

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The drill will continue until everybody but one player gets a rebound. In this diagram, the only person to not get the rebound is player #8. That player is eliminated and must stay at the three-point line to take a shot.

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The same rules apply – the only person to not get a rebound is eliminated. The drill continues as such until there are three players left.

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Any of the eliminated players at the three-point line can take the shot. The purpose of this is to make the rebounding angle unpredictable. In games, shots are going to come from all over the place. Your players need to be prepared to rebound from unpredictable angles.

The first person to score wins the game. Any made shot does NOT count in this case. Any rebound off a missed shot becomes a live ball. Tipping the initial rebounder’s shot attempt could also lead to the winning basket.

The rebounder CANNOT pass it back to one of the shooters. That rebounder must learn to go up strong to finish. Any foul results in a free-throw as shown in this diagram.

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If the free-throw is made, the shooter wins. If the shot is missed, it is just like before.
Are you interested in more drills that will improve your team’s fundamentals? Breakthrough Basketball has an outstanding DVD with THIRTY competitive drills. Each of these drills will improve your team’s fundamentals. Competition will bring the best out of your players in practice.