Alternative Basket Target Stations

Five aiming stations with baskets made from gym equipment: buckets on the floor and on a bench, a hanging hoop, a tape square on the wall and a lowered basket. Students work on shot arc and accuracy, which is ideal when there are not enough hoops.

How to play

1. Set up 5 stations: buckets on the floor at 6, 10 and 13 ft; buckets on a gym bench; a hula hoop tied to the wall bars at about 6 ft; a tape square on the wall with a bucket below; a lowered hoop.
2. Make 5 groups of 5 with 2 soft balls per group, one group per station.
3. Students take turns shooting with basketball form: ball on the hand, elbow under, follow-through up.
4. Buckets are worth 1, 2 or 3 points by distance; on the wall, the ball must hit the square and land in the bucket.
5. While two shoot, the others retrieve, pass back and keep score; roles rotate after every shot.
6. Each station lasts 3 minutes and groups rotate on the whistle; at the end, each group adds its total.

Rules

• Shoot from behind the cone at each station.
• Nobody retrieves until the shooter has released the ball.
• If a bucket or the bench moves, put it back on its mark.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: every station has an accessible shooting mark and the hoop can be lowered to about 5 ft.
• Visual impairment: a classmate claps by the target and buckets are high-contrast colors.
• Higher skill: move their shooting line back about 3 ft.

Learning goals

• Adjust power and arc to targets at different heights and distances.
• Use the wall as a backboard to direct the ball.
• Take on the roles of retriever, passer and scorekeeper.

Equipment for a class of 25

• soft balls: 10
• lowered basketball hoop: 1
• buckets: 8
• hula hoops: 1
• gym bench: 1
• wall bars: 1
• masking tape: 1

Teacher tip

Explain that a basket needs a ball coming down from above: that is the bucket's secret. Set up before class and tie the hoop securely.

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