There are some interesting things going here at NEDA these days. Right now a project we are working on is figuring out what % of each practice is devoted to which drills and which skills then integrating it into our YPI. The main outcome of the project is eventually to find or develop software that will allow a coach to manage practice planning with their yearly planning instrument.
It would be so interesting to know that in the last month you spent 28% of your practice time working on shooting for example. Or that you spent 15% of your practice time on movement skills.
There are a lot of interesting ways to represent the data that is formed by collecting all of your practice plans together.
Obviously the YPI document that everyone can picture is nice, and it could be filled out automatically by the program after you type in your practice plans. I think a lot/most CIS coaches already do their practice planning on a computer, this would be no different, except the program would ask you to take special care in describing the name of drills you are running.
The next interesting view would come if you click on either a date in the YPI, which would take you directly to the practice plan for that specific day. In our context, clicking on the name of a drill would bring up a detailed desription, or taking it even further, a video clip of the NEDA players executing a particular drill.
Clicking on a category name in the YPI (like "picks" or "defensive transition") would bring up a list of the days that you worked on those things or possibly a list of all of the drills that work on either of those aspects of the game.
It would be an amazing tool for the education of other coaches out there. It would also be usefull for coaches just looking to get a better handle on what they are doing in their own context without doing all of the work to go through and analize what they are doing.
There are a lot of possibilities with this software. The only question now is whether or not it already exists. Hopefully it has already been invented (and we'll find out in the coming weeks) or I might have to make this my first million dollars.
Tyler
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
4 Out Motion Game with Screens
Today's post is about a few of the little details that go into effective screening action, and a few of the things that we harp on day in and day out.
The most important detail is the concept of who decides what kind of screen will be set. In Canada's motion, the person closest to the baseline leads the action and will either call "Come get me." or "Use me." That person closest to the baseline has to determine which screen will create the biggest advantage for the team, and then communicate it with her teammates.
Sometimes this is determined by a player's offensive strengths. If that player is a good shooter, they may want to call for a down screen from the top player (Krysten, come get me!) to try to get free on the perimeter. If they see their teammate in the swing spot is a good shooter, they might go set a flare screen. (Use me Elyse, use me!) A lot of our best cutters like to set flare screens for our shooters so that they can be second cutters and get open flashing to the rim.
Sometimes you can pick and choose your screens based on your teammates' strengths, but other times you may have to set a particular screen based on how the defense is playing you. If the defender on the girl closest to the baseline is sagging off in the paint, then we don't want to call for a downscreen because the screener will have no space to roll to. In this case the player should go and set a flare screen for her teammate at the swing spot. If the defender is playing tight to the player on the baseline, then there is good spacing for a down screen.
After the players start to understand why setting a particular screen is the right thing to do, you have to iron out the details of how to correctly set the screen, and how to use the screen.
The first detail that cannot be overlooked is that you have to be a cutter first. If you pass the ball and want to set a screen, you have to make your defender play you honestly before you go to set one. By cutting first you begin to add some unpredictability.
We say "quick to set, slow to use" Which is a bit misleading. What we mean is that you want to get to the spot quickly, and we want the player using the screen not to rush through the decision making process. Once the screen gets there, you have all the time in the world to make your read. Once you do make your read though, your pace should jump right back up again as you and the screener explode on your cuts.
Those are the main points that you'll hear coming from the Burridge Gym on any given morning.
Tyler
The most important detail is the concept of who decides what kind of screen will be set. In Canada's motion, the person closest to the baseline leads the action and will either call "Come get me." or "Use me." That person closest to the baseline has to determine which screen will create the biggest advantage for the team, and then communicate it with her teammates.
Sometimes this is determined by a player's offensive strengths. If that player is a good shooter, they may want to call for a down screen from the top player (Krysten, come get me!) to try to get free on the perimeter. If they see their teammate in the swing spot is a good shooter, they might go set a flare screen. (Use me Elyse, use me!) A lot of our best cutters like to set flare screens for our shooters so that they can be second cutters and get open flashing to the rim.
Sometimes you can pick and choose your screens based on your teammates' strengths, but other times you may have to set a particular screen based on how the defense is playing you. If the defender on the girl closest to the baseline is sagging off in the paint, then we don't want to call for a downscreen because the screener will have no space to roll to. In this case the player should go and set a flare screen for her teammate at the swing spot. If the defender is playing tight to the player on the baseline, then there is good spacing for a down screen.
After the players start to understand why setting a particular screen is the right thing to do, you have to iron out the details of how to correctly set the screen, and how to use the screen.
The first detail that cannot be overlooked is that you have to be a cutter first. If you pass the ball and want to set a screen, you have to make your defender play you honestly before you go to set one. By cutting first you begin to add some unpredictability.
We say "quick to set, slow to use" Which is a bit misleading. What we mean is that you want to get to the spot quickly, and we want the player using the screen not to rush through the decision making process. Once the screen gets there, you have all the time in the world to make your read. Once you do make your read though, your pace should jump right back up again as you and the screener explode on your cuts.
Those are the main points that you'll hear coming from the Burridge Gym on any given morning.
Tyler
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
The Play Action Screen
One of my favorite themes in the game of basketball is 'unpredictability'.
Right now we are working a lot on buliding a plan as you play the game of basketball. It's one of the game's invisible skills that is crucial to your success. Building a plan is used offensively and defensively to make you think about what your team's strengths are and what your opponents' strengths are. An example would be if you are defending a great shooter, then your plan would involve not giving them much room when they catch it, trailing them on down screens and flare screens, etc.
Well what you'll find when you play against really good defensive teams is that they are very good at taking your strengths away. If they know that you're going to pass the ball to the wing and have your post step out and set a pick, they will be very good at defending it. Where you have to catch them is by being unpredictable.
A play action screen would be , for example, a point guard passing to the wing, and going to screen away. The girl coming off the screen, if she's not open, would come set a pick on the wing. This action is extremely hard to defend. Sometimes the way you defend the first screen will get you out of position for the second screen. Sometimes players are caught off guard by the action.
One of my big beliefs is that you've always got to be putting the wrong ideas in your opponents heads. I've always looked at it from an individual perspective, but this is doing it as a team in the same way.
Tyler
Right now we are working a lot on buliding a plan as you play the game of basketball. It's one of the game's invisible skills that is crucial to your success. Building a plan is used offensively and defensively to make you think about what your team's strengths are and what your opponents' strengths are. An example would be if you are defending a great shooter, then your plan would involve not giving them much room when they catch it, trailing them on down screens and flare screens, etc.
Well what you'll find when you play against really good defensive teams is that they are very good at taking your strengths away. If they know that you're going to pass the ball to the wing and have your post step out and set a pick, they will be very good at defending it. Where you have to catch them is by being unpredictable.
A play action screen would be , for example, a point guard passing to the wing, and going to screen away. The girl coming off the screen, if she's not open, would come set a pick on the wing. This action is extremely hard to defend. Sometimes the way you defend the first screen will get you out of position for the second screen. Sometimes players are caught off guard by the action.
One of my big beliefs is that you've always got to be putting the wrong ideas in your opponents heads. I've always looked at it from an individual perspective, but this is doing it as a team in the same way.
Tyler
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Self Directed Athletes
One of the biggest goals of the NEDA program is to create a group of girls that will end up being 12 leaders wherever they go when they finish the program. In genereal, we as coaches do WAY too much for our athletes. In order for our little birdies to fly, we have to encourage them to leave the nest every once in a while. This means they have to get out of their comfort zone and get used to leading others. It seems very few athletes these days are natural born leaders that can just step in and be the type of captiains that you want.
The need for independant thinking athletes has undeniably increased since Canada has adopted FIBA rules. The ability of your athletes to form their own plan of what needs to be done and then communicate that plan to their teammates is what will make effective leaders. Once a game starts you only get so many chances to stop everything and get your athletes back on the same page. That is why it is so crucial for all five players on the floor to be thinking and analyzing.
One of the best drills I have seen to let the players be leaders is the "Time & Score Drill". There are so many great subtle chances for the players to lead each other. It starts when the coach asks an athlete to make two even teams. That means one player gets to lead the group while the others listen. Then the coach selects one player from each team to come get the details of the time and score situation. When the athletes come over, they are given no information, they have to ask for everything. Questions like "what is the score?" or "how much time is left" come out first. Then other questions start to pop out like "who's ball is it?", "how much time is on the 24 second clock?", where is the ball being taken out?". So the athletes really have to think about what is important in a late game situation. Then they get to go back to their teams and explain the situation. Now that they know the situation they have to come up with a plan for how to attack. Do we score quick, do we press, etc. It really gives the players the responsibilty and experience necessary to grow as leaders.
Leadership is a skill that needs work just as much as shooting or ball handling. Finding creative ways to work situations where they can improve their leadership skills is crucial.
Tyler
The need for independant thinking athletes has undeniably increased since Canada has adopted FIBA rules. The ability of your athletes to form their own plan of what needs to be done and then communicate that plan to their teammates is what will make effective leaders. Once a game starts you only get so many chances to stop everything and get your athletes back on the same page. That is why it is so crucial for all five players on the floor to be thinking and analyzing.
One of the best drills I have seen to let the players be leaders is the "Time & Score Drill". There are so many great subtle chances for the players to lead each other. It starts when the coach asks an athlete to make two even teams. That means one player gets to lead the group while the others listen. Then the coach selects one player from each team to come get the details of the time and score situation. When the athletes come over, they are given no information, they have to ask for everything. Questions like "what is the score?" or "how much time is left" come out first. Then other questions start to pop out like "who's ball is it?", "how much time is on the 24 second clock?", where is the ball being taken out?". So the athletes really have to think about what is important in a late game situation. Then they get to go back to their teams and explain the situation. Now that they know the situation they have to come up with a plan for how to attack. Do we score quick, do we press, etc. It really gives the players the responsibilty and experience necessary to grow as leaders.
Leadership is a skill that needs work just as much as shooting or ball handling. Finding creative ways to work situations where they can improve their leadership skills is crucial.
Tyler
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Man to Man Pressure
Today we did some work on full court man to man pressure. I will explain the main concepts we have used individually and then how we integrated them into a team of 5.
We have done a lot of individual work in the past on what we call "mirror" drills, where one player has to mirror the movements of the other player. Fundamentally, this is individual defence. We gave them two different ways to guard a ball handler in full court defence. "Channelling" is sometimes referred to as "forcing" by a lot of coaches. This is when the defender tries to influence the ball carrier to only go in one direction (in this case a sideline is preferable). We use the word channelling because as Mike McKay would say "you can't really force a great player to go one way or the other." The other option, "turning" is used when you think you are quicker than the ball handler and you can beat them to a spot and get them to turn.
We taught these concepts emphasizing the various footwork that you need to match the speed of the offensive player. If the ball handler is walking or jogging, the defender can usually slide or backwards gallop with them. If the ball handler starts to sprint, the defender will have to use a cross over step.
To integrate the individual play into team play, we used a one on three drill. The offensive player would start in the corner of her backcourt with the ball and a defender on her. The defender would start in position to channel the ball handler. The second defender is at half court, guarding an imaginary offensive player, and the third defender is in the middle of the back court, also guarding an imaginary player. When the offensive player starts to dribble, the ball defender must try to either channel her or turn her. If she plans to channel, she gives a verbal signal to her teammate on the sideline (Channel!, Kelsey, I'm channelling!) as well as a visual signal of an open palm to that teammate. If she plans to turn her player, she gives a similar verbal signal to her teammate in the center of the court and uses the "hang loose" signal with her other hand as a visual. When either trap is accomplished, we taught them a "jump switch" where the trap stays for one second, then the trapper will switch players with the ball defender, and the ball defender will run back and rotate to the open player.
The next step in the progression is to play four on four full court with the ball out of bounds on the endline. We set the four offensive players up in a box formation to make it easier to understand the trapping and rotation by the defense. We worked on influencing the guard to catch the ball going towards to corner so that it was easier to channel her to the sideline when she caught it. If the ball defender decided to channel her, the sideline player would come for a trap (we weren't specific about when or where) and the other two girls would rotate. If the ball defender decided to turn her player, then the her teammate would come to the sideline and do a blindside trap.
The main problems that we had were in communication (this takes a lot) and rotation. Specifically, girls defending weakside players were not close enough to the ball to be able to rotate if there was a trap.
I love the way we taught the pressure because it is completely strategy independant. These concepts of turning or channeling will fit in where ever you play under any system. So to me, the girls added some things to their toolboxes that they can take to team and fit in right away. Basketball Canada has a really good approach here of focusing on teaching concepts.
Tyler
If I had more time I would have written a shorter post.
We have done a lot of individual work in the past on what we call "mirror" drills, where one player has to mirror the movements of the other player. Fundamentally, this is individual defence. We gave them two different ways to guard a ball handler in full court defence. "Channelling" is sometimes referred to as "forcing" by a lot of coaches. This is when the defender tries to influence the ball carrier to only go in one direction (in this case a sideline is preferable). We use the word channelling because as Mike McKay would say "you can't really force a great player to go one way or the other." The other option, "turning" is used when you think you are quicker than the ball handler and you can beat them to a spot and get them to turn.
We taught these concepts emphasizing the various footwork that you need to match the speed of the offensive player. If the ball handler is walking or jogging, the defender can usually slide or backwards gallop with them. If the ball handler starts to sprint, the defender will have to use a cross over step.
To integrate the individual play into team play, we used a one on three drill. The offensive player would start in the corner of her backcourt with the ball and a defender on her. The defender would start in position to channel the ball handler. The second defender is at half court, guarding an imaginary offensive player, and the third defender is in the middle of the back court, also guarding an imaginary player. When the offensive player starts to dribble, the ball defender must try to either channel her or turn her. If she plans to channel, she gives a verbal signal to her teammate on the sideline (Channel!, Kelsey, I'm channelling!) as well as a visual signal of an open palm to that teammate. If she plans to turn her player, she gives a similar verbal signal to her teammate in the center of the court and uses the "hang loose" signal with her other hand as a visual. When either trap is accomplished, we taught them a "jump switch" where the trap stays for one second, then the trapper will switch players with the ball defender, and the ball defender will run back and rotate to the open player.
The next step in the progression is to play four on four full court with the ball out of bounds on the endline. We set the four offensive players up in a box formation to make it easier to understand the trapping and rotation by the defense. We worked on influencing the guard to catch the ball going towards to corner so that it was easier to channel her to the sideline when she caught it. If the ball defender decided to channel her, the sideline player would come for a trap (we weren't specific about when or where) and the other two girls would rotate. If the ball defender decided to turn her player, then the her teammate would come to the sideline and do a blindside trap.
The main problems that we had were in communication (this takes a lot) and rotation. Specifically, girls defending weakside players were not close enough to the ball to be able to rotate if there was a trap.
I love the way we taught the pressure because it is completely strategy independant. These concepts of turning or channeling will fit in where ever you play under any system. So to me, the girls added some things to their toolboxes that they can take to team and fit in right away. Basketball Canada has a really good approach here of focusing on teaching concepts.
Tyler
If I had more time I would have written a shorter post.
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Christmas Vacation
Oops, I forgot to put up an away message before I left for the Christmas break. Anyways, we're back now and just had our first practice this morning. For today's post I'm going to put up today's practice plan. There is a lot there and we didn't get to all of it. A lot of it is a roadmap for where we want to be by the end of the week. Feel free to post or email any questions you have.
We didn't have time to cover anything in red.
Tyler
We didn't have time to cover anything in red.
Tyler
January 9th
7:20 Welcome back
· favorite Christmas gift
· favorite Christmas memory
7:30 Warm-up Ladder Drills – anytime coaches drop ball you stop and attack
* run through * two in, diagonal up - two beside
* lateral two in, diagonal two back,
* carioca – three down, two back
* 3 crossovers down, 2 slides back
7:40 Movement Prep
7:48 Transition Pyramid
Kalisha Kelsey
Christine Vanessa
Zara Yinka
Kaitlyn Jenny
Ali Takima
Krysten
7:55 Shoot - 3 player 2 ball shooting
Kelsey Takima Krysten Christine
Kalisha Kaitlyn Jenny Vanessa
Krysten Zara Ali Tyler
· 1 minute x 3 (record ….)
8:00 Defensive Footwork – Mike
· review hip turn, crossovers, slide (5 minutes)
· review turn and channel (10 minutes)
o Who are you? Who are you guarding?
o Communicate the movements
· 1 on 3 – rotate from face of from behind
· introduce full court pressure – TOMORROW !!!
o guarding ball out of bounds
o quick traps
8:15 Attacking pressure – global players
* 1 on 1 dribbling – RIP to start
- crab and go, spin, pop back to square
- 2 up, 2 back and ATTACK. Get shoulder to hip. Create space and look to get D on your back
* 1 on 2 dribbling
- pull back and take on slower
- pick-up and step through (fake high, step low)
- pick-up and throw off leg (close to sideline)
* 2 on 3 dribbling
- fake high, pass low OR fake low, pass high
- spacing – circle cuts, ‘J’ cuts with double teams
- give and go’s
* 2 on 2 with parameters TOMORROW !!!
8:30 Press break review – Hard, linear cuts
· inbounds to 1 or 2 – pass to other guard cutting hard middle
· inbounds to 1 or 2 – pass back to 4 who passes to 5 – 2 flashes hard sideline, 1 cuts double middle
· inbounds to 1 or 2 – pass back to 4 and take on
· inbounds to 3 (fake to 5) – 2 cuts hard first then 1 cuts double middle
· inbounds to 5 – 1 cuts hard middle, 2 fills in behind for double middle
8:39 Scrimmage – 5 on 5 – working on pressure and attacking pressure
· Christine take offense, Mike/Tyler take defense
· Start off free throw
· Turnovers – 4 and your team loses
8:50 Shooting
Four player, 2 ball – down screens
· HARD cuts, details
· Curl, pop, fade
8:55 3 on 3 on a side – down screens
Mike watch screening defense, Tyler watch rebounding, Christine watch reads – coach on the fly
9:05 Shooting
· free throw shooting – 4 minutes
9:10 Stretch and off to school
· book meetings starting Thursday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
· game versus Dawson this Friday at 4:30 at Westdale
· Saturday testing
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