Joe Haefner: Hey, this is Coach Joe Haefner. In today's video, we're show you foundational drills for developing an effective crossover move. That you can use to evade the defense in tight spaces. Before we get to the drills and skills be sure to pay close attention to B.J. who is a ballhandler in the video while these are simple drills B.J. does a great job of showing how even a high level player can get the most out of these drills by amping up the intensity and pushing us out of your comfort zone.
Joe Haefner: Now lets go to the part with Coach Jim Huber and B.J. to check out the drills.
Jim Huber: What I would do at the beginning is, we're going to have B.J., I'm starting with somebody teaching a basic crossover, they're going to be in a good, athletic stance sitting down. I'm going to talk to him about three concepts. I'm going to teach him about, we want to dribble the ball as we cross it over, we want it low, below my knees, right at the beginning as we're teaching this. Below my knees so it's below the hands, they're not taking it away, and it's going to be tight to my body and it's going to be quick. Low, tight, and quick.
Jim Huber: Now there are times where it might be a high crossover over somebody's hand, we're just going to go low crossovers on this.
Jim Huber: Now I also want to talk to the person I'm working with is I want you to smash the ball to the ground. Hard dribbles. Get it to your hand as quick as possible. You're just going to go two hard dribbles. He's going to be in a good, athletic stance, sitting down. Head sitting in the middle. Two hard dribbles. Crossover. You ready? Go. Pound dribble.
Jim Huber: Cross. Good.
Jim Huber: Hard cross. Hard cross. Good.
Jim Huber: Now he's going to go one dribble cross. Here you go, one dribble cross. One dribble cross.
Jim Huber: Good. Now he's going continuous. Back and forth. Pop it back and forth. Quick. Quick. Quick. Quick as he goes.
Jim Huber: Good. Stop there. Right.
Jim Huber: Now after we did stationary, now we're going to do on the move. We're going to just start out with cones. Straight-line cones about three feet apart. Every cone is a defender. You're going to go at the cone, you're going to dribble across. Low and tight. Step by the defender. Dribble low and cross, and get your feet and hips turned as quick as possible, and make sure, stepping through that defender to get defender-body ball protection. All right? Okay?
Jim Huber: You're going to go up all the way through the cones. Come here. Stop. Go quick stop. Okay? As you stop so we don't travel. We stop on balance. All right?
Jim Huber: You ready to go? Here we go. Let's go.
Jim Huber: Quick cross. That's all right. Lose it. Lose it. I want you to lose it. Lose the ball. Good. Good. Good. Good. There you go. Good.
Jim Huber: You can do that. B.J. lost, that's fine. He comes to a stop. Come back down here, B.J.
Jim Huber: You can add this. As we know, in a crossover, we can have a double crossover. A double cross or to be a counter move to your first cross. We cross it over, they cut it off, we're going to cross back.
Jim Huber: So he's going to keep it in his right hand. He's going to double cross going up the cone acting like the first crossover gets taken away. You ready? Go. Let's go.
Jim Huber: Double cross. Quick hands. Quick hands. Good. Eyes up. Staying low. Tight. Good. Come on back, B.J.
Jim Huber: Now he's going to go on his left hand. He'll go on his left hand going at it. Right? You ready? Go.
Jim Huber: Double cross. Double cross. Pop. Good. Dribbling through it. Good. Stop there.
Jim Huber: Now the next thought I'd add to build out the crossover, now if you notice the cones, I have four cones set up. You could have more cones. I have them staggered. Now I'm going to work on B.J. really working on changing direction, changing speeds.
Jim Huber: So he's going to go at a cone, a defender, he's going to attack it. Now he's going to change directions. It's like sit there in a crossover, get your feet and hips turned, step through that defender, and you're going to change speeds.
Jim Huber: Every time you change directions, change speeds, like Usain Bolt, the fastest guy in the world at the time, first three steps coming out of the blocks. You're changing speeds, change directions, finish at the last one, come to a quick stop right on balance. You ready? Go. Here we go.
Jim Huber: Change direction, change speeds.
Jim Huber: Good. So now you can sit there and work on it. Go back again. Now we'll show it one more time. Do it again. Go even harder. Go even harder. Change direction, change speeds. Through the shift.
Jim Huber: That's all right. Lose it. That's it. Good. Good. Good. Stop there.
Jim Huber: The next thing you can add into it, if you have a defender, you're going two people together, now you might work on going in. You might have tight space. You might have a defender on you and you got free throw to free throw line, and maybe you got to get up to half court, or you got to get up into the volleyball line area.
Jim Huber: It's shaped like this, how we had it set up, to where now all of a sudden you got a defender. You got limited space. And now all you can use is a crossover. You got to come up here, try to get a change direction, change speeds, and you're trying to beat somebody using a crossover.
Jim Huber: Now you can add that, as a defender in you, to make it game like. So now you went one on 0, to one on one, and now you get used to doing it.
Joe Haefner: Hey one more thing before we go, if you are tired of babysitter camps or camps where they play way too much and they don't get any better. Be sure to check out our Breakthrough Basketball Camps. Our camps are fast paced, focused and they are structured in the way that maximizes skill development over a short amount of time. We have camps for all age levels and skill levels from youth to college. So be sure to go to BreakthroughCamps.com to check on our entire schedule or click on the links below the video or in the description.
In the video, Breakthrough Camps instructor Jim Huber covered foundational drills for developing an effective crossover move.
The low crossover move taught in the video is a great way to change directions in tight spaces to evade the defense.
These basic crossover drills are great to be worked into practice as frequently as possible. Players should not be afraid of losing the ball doing these drills, that will happen.
For the next crossover move, you begin with several cones approximately 3 feet apart.
Start with ball in the right hand and dribble at the cone crossing over from right to left at the first cone.
As they dribble by the cone, take a big, quick step with the right leg to get the leg between the cone (defender) and the ball.
Continue to the next cone and crossover left to right hand.
You can also work on a double crossover move as you progress.
Start by making a crossover move at the cone, imagine the defender stops the first crossover, so you make a quick second crossover going by the cone.
Make sure to switch which hand the player starts with the ball each time they start this drill.
Zigzag crossover builds on the first two drills.
The cones are staggered for this drill.
Players dribble at the first cone using their right hand and then uses a crossover (low, tight, quick) to the left hand.
Points of Emphasis
- You will drop step and open hips quickly as they crossover and attack the next cone.
- Change speeds during the drill. You can start slower and then explode through the crossover move and past the cone.
Have fun with these drills - done on a consistent basis, you will see improvement quickly with your crossover moves!
We also have camps for middle school, high school, and even college players. To see those, you can look at the entire Breakthrough Basketball Camp Schedule
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