12/9-15/12 Coaches Tip of the Week

To help with the player tip of the week, have your team play defense in the half court and you stand on thre endline behind them. Have the players place their hands behind their backs and grab a wrist when they are guarding a player without the ball.

When their man receives the ball then let them release their hands to the normal defensive position left hand up on a right handed player and vice versa on a left handed player.

As soon as the player they are guarding with the ball passes it then the defender must now put their hands behind their backs again and grab a wrist.

In the low post the players may release their hands from behind their backs as soon as the entry pass is released by a passer to the man they are guarding in the post.

Same rules now apply as guarding a perimeter player correct hand up and if the player passes the ball back out then the post defender has to now put his hands behind his/her back again.

This drill forces the players to MOVE THEIR FEET and not reach especially on help defense.

When you see a player who does not have his/her hands behind their backs when their offensive assigned player does not have the ball or they do not have their hands up guarding a perimeter player or the post player releasing his/her hands on an entry pass to the post player he/she is guarding, BLOW YOUR WHISTLE, indentify the player who is not following the rules and reeplace the offensder with a sub and have them runa lap and then wait their turn until somebody else violates the rule.

THIS IS THE BEST DRILL THAT I HAVE EVER USED TO GET PLAYERS TO MOVE THEIR FEET ON DEFENSE WHEN GUARDING A PLAYER WITHOUT THE BALL AND ESPECIALLY THE PLAYER WHO IS IN THE HELP POSITION WAITING TO HELP OUT BY CLOSING THE DOOR.

I HAVE even used this drill in games, when we were not moving our feet.