Pass From Behind Runners

This drill practices taking running in shots with the assist pass coming from behind the shooter.

This is useful in situations where a defender is caught out of position, for example when the ball is intercepted while the defending team are trying to get it to their attacking teammates, or when a defender overcommits during a 3-1 setup.

Another situation is where a defender tries to prevent the ball being brought into their division and stands between their opponent and the halfway line. Their opponent can then make a run to the basket and receive a pass from the other division.

Set up with a queue of players in front of the basket. All players have a ball apart from the first player in the queue, who shoots first.

1. The shooter starts a run to the basket.
2. The next player in the queue is the assister. They pass their ball to the shooter, who looks over their shoulder to see where the ball is coming from. It is very important that the assister passes to space in front of where the shooter is going to be. If they pass too far back the shooter will need to twist to catch the ball, and this will interrupt their shot.
3. The shooter receives the ball, does a running in shot, and collects their own ball.
4. The shooter joins the back of the queue, bringing the ball with them, and the assister becomes the next shooter.

If there are not enough balls available for everyone to have their own, the shooter can collect their own shot and then pass it to the first person in the queue without a ball before joining the queue themselves. At a minimum, one ball per post is possible, but having at least two reduces the time spent waiting for the ball to be passed back and allows far more shots to be taken in the available time.

See also the variant with two posts facing one another (coming soon).