Anatomy of a Practice: Basketball

I've used a few different formats for basketball practice, and it certainly varies with age.  For the very young (kindergarten) set, I typically focus on fundamentals for the first half to 2/3 of practice, and then talk a little about offense and defense.  The offense and defense portion literally is stuff like "here's our basket" and "stand between the person you're guarding and the basket" on defense.  There is very little strategy involved.

Practices for the kids as they get older are much the same, although the offensive and defensive portions get more sophisticated.  I always teach defense first - the kids work harder when they have offense to look forward to at the end of practice.  That, and if the other team can't score, they can't win...

So, what does a typical practice look like?

After stretching, the first 10-15 minutes is always ball fundamentals.  Speed dribble drills, crossover dribble drills, Butch Lee, etc.  For the older kids, you can begin to introduce behind-the-back and between-the-legs switches.  To do this before 8 or so though is kinda silly...

Next is either defensive work (agility drills or rebounding drills), and/or passing drills.  Passing drills always involve a partner, and sometimes involve a third person for defense.  Of course, Monkey in the Middle is also a possibility - even for the older kids.  

Now that the kids are getting a little tired, it's time for defense - defensive techniques and strategy.  Always teach man-to-man before zone defense.  More about defensive strategy details in a future post...  Unlike football, I think zone defense in basketball is a more difficult concept to master.  

Finally, it's time for offensive strategy and techniques.  I prefer to implement a "base" offense first, and then introduce set plays later - along with perhaps another base offense if you see a lot of different defenses (older kids).  You'll need at least 1 inbounds play to start the year, so keep that in mind (for older kids).  Offensive strategy - like defensive strategy, involves a lot of walking through first, then live action afterwards.  Obviously as the season goes along, there's less walking and more doing...

Practices shouldn't probably go more than 1/2 hour for the 5-6 set, and 45 minutes to an hour for the 7-8 year olds.  Good luck organizing your practice!

Skill of the Day: The Triple Threat Position

The triple threat position is one of the basketball fundamentals that should be taught to all kids at an early age.  It is really nothing more than getting the ball in position to either shoot, dribble, or pass.  However, once this skill is learned, the player becomes much more complete on offense, and more consistent.

The ideal triple threat posture is to hold the ball with both hands in the middle of the body just below the chin.  Most often, the player's feet are positioned so that a quick shot could be taken (dominant foot slightly in front).

There are a few specific drills you can run to reinforce the technique, but I find its better to teach the technique, and then work it in to other ball-handling, shooting, and passing drills.  Each time a player receives the ball (rebound, pass, etc), they should get the ball to the middle of their body and prepare for a move in any direction.  After dribbling, this position allows the most flexibility for a pass or a shot.

If your team is having a lot of turnovers - especially from steals - working on the triple threat position may help keep the ball controlled on offense.  Another benefit is in teaching shooting technique - if you start from the triple threat, the young player's shot is often much more consistent.

The kids may find this slightly awkward at the beginning - but if you watch a college or pro basketball game closely, almost all players use this technique.  It's an excellent habit to start.

Drill of the Day: 3 on 2, 2 on 1

I am still wrapping up the current football/soccer seasons, however I couldn't help but think ahead to one of my favorite drills (for basketball).

3 on 2, 2 on 1 is a fast break drill which teaches decision making, and stresses quickness.

Setup: You'll need a full-court with hoops on both ends. Line up at least 3 kids on one end across the baseline - they start out with the ball. Two kids will start out on the far end of the court playing defense. Line extra players up behind the 3 along the baseline - they will make up the next group.

Drill: The three players head down the court on a fast break. The defenders attempt to stop the break. After a basket is scored or the defenders get the rebound (or the coach calls time), the defenders take the ball down the court the other way for a 2-on-1 break. The defender is the middle player from the original 3. The two remaining players from the 3 stay on the far end of the court to play defense as the drill continues.

In thinking about this post, it could work for soccer, too - maybe kids 7 or 8 and up. For the basketball version of the drill, I'd recommend it for 7 and 8 year olds, but it might be a little rough for younger kids. An alternative for the younger kids may be to remove the defenders.

Encourage your offensive players to make quick decisions and take the best shot available to them. On defense, you can stress how you'd like players to react to fast breaks. The most common reaction would be to have one defender commit to stopping the ball, and have the other pick a passing lane and/or choose an offensive player to guard. On a missed shot - stress to both sides the importance of getting the rebound.

Good luck with this one. It's fun to see it in action when it keeps rolling...

Anatomy of a Practice: Flag Football

The 6-8 year olds are 6 games and 7 practices into the 8-game season, and we've established a pretty regular routine. Here's a brief overview of how we spend 45 minutes once a week.

Stretching and Running - Each practice starts up with a brief warm up period, followed by some sprints. Keep in mind, these are little kids, not high schoolers. I'll usually have them do 2 sets of sprints, and then we'll get started with the rest of practice.

Next up is route running practice. I have installed a basic route tree, with 9 patterns. We spent much more time on this for the first few weeks as the kids were learning the routes. Now, we go over them as a review, and to try to run them more precisely. I'll talk more about the routes and plays later on.

Now that we're probably 15 minutes into practice, it's time for a break. I like to stop every 10-15 minutes so that the kids aren't distracted by needing a quick rest of being thirsty. There's plenty of other distractions for them.

For the next 10-15 minutes, it's usually a drill or two. In earlier practices, we did basic throwing and catching. At this age, it's important to stress the mechanics of throwing, and watching the ball all the way in on a catch. I also try to stress catching with hands (if they can), versus catching against the body. This will help them later on, but may lead to a lot of dropped passes in the present. In practices later in the season, I've also run center-quarterback snapping drills, as well as some flag-pulling drills. As you can imagine, pulling flags is vitally important...

After another quick break, the last 15-20 minutes is on offensive and/or defensive strategy. We've installed a zone defense scheme (more on that later), because the kids struggled with 1-on-1 responsibilities. We've also had some difficulty running plays correctly, so it was important to me to get 2-3 plays down. I'm not sure we did, but it was worth a shot.

Running through all of this can easily consume an hour. If the kids seem distracted, move on to the next activity - or - if they are acting up, you can always have them run more.

Football is a strategy-based sport. There's a lot of teamwork involved... be sure to use practice time wisely to give yourself and the team the best shot at success during the games.

Anatomy of a Practice - 4/5 Soccer

I've gotten a bunch of questions about practice over the years. Practice. Practice?! For those of you who follow the NBA, it's inevitable that Iverson's "Practice" rant just entered your skull. For those who'd like a recap -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUYjD7A75HQ Sorry. Several of the questions involved what is done during a practice, and why. I figured I'd take a few paragraphs to explain my philosophy on preschool and kindergarten soccer practices, which are never dull.

These kids can handle about 20-30 minutes, and that's it. Occasionally you'll get a kid who is really (really) into soccer, and he or she can keep going, but everyone else is pretty much spent - maybe even way sooner than 20 minutes. At this age, they can also handle about 2 or 3 instructions - so your drills must be simple, and direct.

Before practice, be sure to inform your parents to bring their kid AND a properly-sized ball. For this age, it's usually size 3 (this will not be confusing to someone who works at a sporting goods store). My practices for this age change very little week to week. The kids fall into the routine, and the session is much more productive, and less time is wasted.

I like to start with some basic speed dribbling after warmups (which are brief, if at all - more on that some other time). This will involve lining the team up along one line (or between cones, etc), and having them dribble the ball to another landmark and back. Doing this a couple times will take about 5 minutes. An interesting twist on this drill is to have a whistle and get the kids to stop and start on the whistle. This allows them to get practice controlling the ball and stopping the ball at different speeds.

Next is usually dribbling around cones. A series of 4 cones is set up in a line - each about 5 yards apart. One group of kids starts on one side, and one on the other. Having kids going each way makes them look up, and not at the ball all the time. Sometimes I'll "race them" around the cones if things seem to be slow. This also takes about 5 minutes, and then it's time for a water break. When it's hot, I may decide to take water breaks more often - both for health, and so it's not an issue during the next drill.

In the middle of practice, it's time for a partner-passing drill. Here, two kids pair up using one ball, and pass to each other about 10 feet apart. I let them sort of wander around the field here, because it's inevitable a few passes will not be that accurate. The focus, though, it on good passes right to the partner (which the partner can stop and send back).

Next is usually a "fun" activity. One thing we do is a "race the coach" dribbling drill to a landmark that's 50 or more yards away. This gives the kids a chance to continuously dribble for a longer distance (and they love it). They always win. Another idea is to set up a 10 foot - by - 10 foot box with cones and play "Takeaway". This is a drill where you try to kick away your teammate's ball while keeping control of your own. Chaotic, but also a favorite.

After a quick drink, the final 5-10 minutes are spent on either offense or defense. If we're focusing on offense, I'll do anything from just plain kicking at the net to dribbling and kicking, or passing, dribbling, then kicking. Adjust to your kids. If it 's defense, we usually focus on guarding the goal, turning the ball around (to go our way) or goalie work. Some leagues in this age group don't have goalies, so read your rulebook! As a note, I do always work on defense at practices during the year before offense. Most kids are already wired to score goals... but read your team.

In summary (about 5 minutes each)...
- Speed or straight-line Dribbling
- Dribbling Agility
- Passing
- Something Fun
- Offense or Defense

A few parting notes. Remember, you're the coach - set whatever rules you want. For me, everyone wears shin guards, no one talks or fiddles while I am talking, and everyone is expected to do their best.

Drill of the Day: "Monkey in the Middle"

From time to time I'll share drills or practice activities which I've found to be successful... I'll mainly focus on drills for the littler kids, but I'm sure there's ways to adapt any drill to various ages.

"Monkey in the Middle" is very popular with the 6-7 year old crowd, and it is effective at teaching both defensive and passing skills in soccer and basketball. This is a great thing to do when practice isn't going that well, no one is paying attention, and you're getting frustrated.

The drill: Have all team members stand around in a circle - this works best with 6-10 kids. Designate a "monkey" to go in the middle of the circle and steal or at least alter the path of the ball as it is passed to the members in the circle. When the monkey makes a steal (or deflects the pass for younger kids), they replace the passer on the outside of the circle, and the passer becomes the new Monkey. No passes to the person right next to you on the circle, and if you throw a pass someone has to run to get, you're in the middle... If a child holds the ball too long, warn them to keep it moving, or move them into the middle.

This will seem a little chaotic, but the kids really like it. This is a great drill for stressing fakes, quick decisions, and accuracy for the passers, and defensive skills (blocking passing lanes, watching the ball, etc) for the Monkey.