Thursday, November 12, 2009

4 Corner Slide Relay

Here's another great defensive drill that is also great conditioning. This one is much easier to explain verbally. Hope you enjoy the video.




Was this video helpful? Let us know if there are other topics you'd like us to cover; Shooting, Ball Handling, Motion Offense, Out of Bounds plays, etc.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Caterpillar Slide

This one is a little more complex, but a great read and react drill that really can be used for all ages. We call it the Caterpillar Slide and it's an awesome defensive/conditioning drill. The high school kids in our Pre-Season IDP always start groaning when they see us start to set it up.

Players are partnered up (by quickness preferably) and form two lines side by side. Cones about 2.5 feet apart are set in a line. Have at least two more cones than the number of groups. The first player in each line stands next to the first cone and gets into their defensive stance. When the coach shouts "Go", both players defensive slide as fast as they can away from the cone. When coach yells "Stop" both players sprint to the next cone and the next two people in line take their spot at the first cone. The drill continues until eventually the whole group is in the drill.

After finishing at the last cone (after coach yells "Stop"), players go back to the start of the line, switch sides and wait for everyone else to finish (the break is very necessary). Once everyone has completed the drill we run it another time to focus on sliding the opposite direction.

The first time we run it our coaches pause at each cone to allow some recovery time. The second time through we go quicker to really accentuate the conditioning benefits. Make sure to vary the time between "Go" and "Stop" commands so players don't anticipate and they also get the read/react benefits as well. Let us know if you have any questions in the comments section below.

Home Court Defensive Slide Drill

Here is the Home Court Defensive Slide Drill we talked about at last week's Coaches Clinic. This is a great warm up drill as well as an opportunity for you as a coach to watch defensive technique. Are players staying balanced and in their stance? Are they taking short aggressive strides or slow long ones? Who is competiting the hardest?

Players are lined up from shortest in the front to tallest in the back. Either put your fastest player in front or someone you are trying to challenge to increase speed/effort. Players are in their defensive stance and on the coach's command make three hard slides out in a particular direction and then back to the middle. The goal is to try and beat the player in front of you.

This is definitely a short burst drill though. Use it as a warm up to get the competitive juices flowing in practice and get the kids thinking defense. It's also a great reaction drill for younger players.

In the video we have a group of high school boys and girls from our pre-season IDP but the drill is effective for all ages. We used as the first of three different defensive conditioning drills we used to break up scrimmages (those drills will be posted as well).

I hope this is helpful. Leave questions in the comment section below and we'll be happy to answer them.