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drill

The drop bucket

Feed yourself and drop into a hoop just inside the kitchen. Five in a row from the baseline, then from mid-court, then from the transition zone.

Players
1
Time
15 min
Path
Intermediate
Topics
Shots

The third-shot drop is the shot that gets your team to the kitchen line, and it’s a shot you can groove alone with a bucket of balls.

123nethoop5 in a row, then a step in
Not to scale: drops from three spots, each one landing in the hoop on the far side of the net.

Setup

  • A court, a bucket of balls, and a target on the far side of the net: a hula hoop, a towel, or a chalk box about three feet wide.
  • Put it just inside the kitchen line, on the far side. That is where a drop has to land so the player at the line can’t attack it.
  • Three spots to hit from: (1) the baseline, (2) mid-court, (3) the transition zone, just behind your own kitchen line.

How it works

  1. Stand at the baseline. Drop a ball out of your hand, let it bounce, and hit a drop.
  2. Five in a row in the hoop, and you move up to the next spot.
  3. A ball that goes long, or lands in the net, starts the five again.
  4. Make five from the transition zone, then go back to the baseline and start over.

Turn the dial

Easier: a bigger target: the whole far kitchen.

Harder: toss the ball a step to the side before you hit it, so you have to move to it, the way a real third shot comes.

Goes with The third-shot drop