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Between-the-Legs

Dribble the ball between your legs to switch hands while protecting it with your body — a safe, controlled way to change direction.

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What the camera readsWeight-shift feintFilm from the front

The between-the-legs dribble is a crossover with one bounce through your legs to the other hand. Because your front leg stands between the ball and the defender, it protects the ball better than a front crossover when a defender is tight, for example bringing the ball up against pressure. The camera reads your body: a low, athletic base with one foot forward, and your side-to-side shift as you change direction. The bounce itself is a handle the camera can't grade.

Set up

1

Get into a crouched, bent-knee stance with one foot forward and one foot back. The front leg is your shield.

Low, split base.

2

Dribble with your fingertips, not your palm, and push the ball down with your forearm and wrist.

Fingers, not palm.

3

Keep the dribble low, below your waist, and close to your body.

Short, hard bounces.

4

Keep your head up and eyes forward, not on the ball. Hold your free arm out in front as a guard.

Eyes up, off arm up.

Move

5

Start it like a crossover, but send one firm bounce through the gap between your legs instead of in front of you, so your front leg stays between the ball and the defender.

6

Catch it with the other hand's fingertips on the far side and keep dribbling without a pause.

Hand to hand, no stop.

7

Stay low through the whole move, then explode out of it in the new direction.

Low in, burst out.

Feel it

It should feel tucked away: the ball never leaves the space behind your front leg, your knees stay bent, and you're ready to go either way. The timing is the hard part at first, so go slowly until the bounce lands in the same spot every time, then speed up.

Fix-its

  • The ball hits your leg or foot Get one foot clearly forward so there's a gap to bounce through, and slow down until the bounce lands in the same spot every rep.
  • You stand up as you do it Stay crouched with your knees bent from the first bounce to the burst out. The move only works if you can explode out of it.
  • The dribble gets high Keep it below your waist. Pound the ball hard and short.
  • You look down Eyes forward. Feel the ball with your fingertips and practise with your head up until you don't need to check it.
  • Your free arm hangs down Hold it out in front as a guard so a defender can't reach in while the ball switches hands.

Drill

  1. 3-dribble through the legs: in place, pound the ball hard 3 times, cross it through your legs, pound 3 times, cross back. Repeat, eyes up.
  2. Scissors: start with one foot forward, cross the ball through your legs and hop to switch your feet, then cross straight back. Switch feet every time the ball goes through.
  3. Down and back: dribble the length of the sideline using between-the-legs moves, right hand going down, left hand coming back.
  4. Triples: in place, chain crossover, between the legs, behind the back, in that order, and keep cycling.
  5. Put 5 to 10 minutes of dribble moves like these into every practice.

Sources

Last checked 2026-10-26.

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