Star Passing Drill

I happened by a youth team practice the other day and I was struck by a huge mistake this coach was making. Now let me state AGAIN that I get to make these evaluations because I have made EVERY SINGLE MISTAKE THESE GUYS ARE MAKING.  I've been where they are, I've done the dumb things they are doing. So I'm taking some license here because... well... you get the idea.

Anyway, they were running that star passing drill and finishing with a layup. The drill is fine. Nice little warmup and the kids pass the ball four times before a shot. All of that is fine. I don't like it, but that's okay. Different style.

No, what struck me was that the coach would cheer (as we need to do with little kids, cheer at every opportunity) when they made the layup. No, no, no. The layup is not the point. The point of the star passing drill IS THE PASSING AND THE LAYUP.

Here's what I saw. The kids were passing standing straight up, throwing a two hand chest pass (see previous post) catching it standing straight up, and jumping for their layup from too close to the basket.  The point of the drill is the passing: passing from an athletic position (and I would incorporate going off the dribble), catching it the same way, and shooting from the right spot on the floor. NOT THE LAYUP!