2 Drills Players Love
I’m a big fan of using structure and competition in every practice and in every drill. Players get better when they are challenged and push and things don’t come easy. I’ve included a list of 2 drills that bring out competition and focus on offense and defense.
3-3 Offense/Defense Drill
I like to set this drill up with 12 players. If you have 9 that is fine but understand that the players will get extremely tired. It’s not a bad thing that they are tired but if you are working with younger players this drill can tire out some players sooner than others.
3 lines are formed near the top of the key. The players at the front of the line step out and are on defense. Those players remain on defense until they get 3 stops. A stop consists of a missed shot and rebound, a steal, a turnover, taking a charge, 5 second call…etc. The offense is trying to score and doing all they can to score without limit to dribbles or amounts of passes. They must play by the rules or the defense gets credit for a stop. Some coaches do this drill making the defense get 3 consecutive stops and that works but 3 stops gets a good flow going between the groups.
If the offense scores the ball then they go to the back of the line and the next group takes over. The team that is offense when the 3rd stop is made is the next to go on defense. Coaches should make sure the teams of 3 are as balanced as possible and score must be kept. The offense gets 1-2 points per basket (2 points being for a 3 pointer) and the defense gets 2 points per stop. The level of points to win is determined by the coaches. Great game that brings out the competition in every player. There is nothing like watching these kids compete after they have given up 5-10 straight baskets. They have to fight to get out of defense.
8 Spot Drill
This drill is great to use as a competitive shooting drill amongst players and is most effective when practicing at a gym with multiple hoops and support. Set up 8 spots on the court and I don’t even care where they are. These 8 spots should range in distance from 5 feet to the 3 point line. Each player must make shots from all 8 spots before the drill is completed. The coach will blow his whistle to start the drill. Each shooter is given a rebounder and only 1 basketball to do the drill. The player who hits shots from the 8 spots first yells out. The rebounder then becomes the shooter and the drill starts over. I had coaches who would do this in tournament fashion so that the winners of the drills played each other. Other coaches would time us and the players with the best times would compete for a small prize.
Both are simple but great drills to bring out competition and game speed.
