Paint Points

Fun game

No dribbling and no shooting — a point for every catch made with both feet inside the key.

10 min 8-12 Half court

FootworkPassingTeamworkU10U12U14U16

Game guide

8-12 · 1 ball, half court

Speed

Get everyone ready

● Player / attack■ DefenceGold: ball

Illustrated steps · 5 seconds per step at 1×

Set up

Two teams of four on a half court. No basket is used at all.

A coached example. In live play, players make their own decisions; the outcome can change.

Look for: Set your cut up first — take your defender away from the key, then cut into it.

Playback options

Pause between chaptersIllustrated steps · 5 seconds per step at 1×

Coach’s notes & group organisation

Two teams of four on a half court. No basket is used at all.

The ball moves only by passing; nobody may dribble.
A team scores one point every time a player catches the ball with both feet inside the key.
The scorer must leave the key immediately and cannot score twice in a row.
Turnover or deflection and the other team takes over. First to ten.

Suggested reset

After a valid catch in the paint, record the point and move the scorer out of the key before restarting. On a turnover, the other team takes possession. Check the same ball after a stoppage; change teams at the target score.

Coaching cues

Set your cut up first — take your defender away from the key, then cut into it.
Time the cut to the pass, not the other way around; arrive as the ball does.
Cut through and out, don't stand in the paint waiting.
Passers: hit the cutter early, while they are still moving.

Adapt the challenge

Easier: Allow one dribble, and let a catch anywhere inside the arc count.

Harder: Two consecutive paint catches before the point counts.

Switch it: Add the basket back — a paint catch may be finished for two extra points.

Corners too: A catch in either corner is worth one, a paint catch two.

What this drill teaches

Cutting into space as the only way to score. With no dribble and no hoop, a catch in the key is the whole game — so setting up the defender, timing the cut to the pass and clearing out become the skills that win.

In games: Cutting is the most under-coached habit in youth basketball because scrimmages rarely reward it — this builds the cuts that get players open against a set defence.

What good looks like

Cuts set up with a step away before the burst into the key
Cutters arriving as the ball does, not waiting in the paint
Scorers clearing the key immediately after the catch

U10: cuts will be early and passes late — allow the one-dribble version. U14–U16: expect sharp set-up moves and on-time deliveries, and add the basket back for finished paint catches.

Equipment

1 ball, half court

Setup

Two teams of four on a half court. No basket is used at all.

Steps

1The ball moves only by passing; nobody may dribble.
2A team scores one point every time a player catches the ball with both feet inside the key.
3The scorer must leave the key immediately and cannot score twice in a row.
4Turnover or deflection and the other team takes over. First to ten.

Coaching points

Set your cut up first — take your defender away from the key, then cut into it.
Time the cut to the pass, not the other way around; arrive as the ball does.
Cut through and out, don't stand in the paint waiting.
Passers: hit the cutter early, while they are still moving.

Why kids love it

Cutting to get open is the most under-coached habit in youth basketball because nothing in a normal scrimmage rewards it. Removing the dribble and the hoop leaves nothing but cutting.