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Archives by Tag 'Program Development'

Team Defense: Two Command Drills to Boost Practice Productivity

By adam.warner - Last updated: Wednesday, October 31, 2012

In the latest team concepts feature, Hall of Fame basketball coach Bob Hurley reveals two of his most effective defensive drills. Used frequently by the St. Anthony’s (NJ) basketball program, the following drills prepare players for a variety of game-like scenarios on the defensive end — including odd-man situations, charges, and giving a foul. These drills are a must for any basketball program.

Command Drill

In the “Command Drill”, start by having players get a ball and a partner. Give the players four commands in their stance.

Contest – This means the offense must bring the ball down and eventually take a jump shot and the defense must contest that shot. Players must get their hands up and aggressively contest the shot.

Charge – Set your man up and draw a charge.

Five Seconds – The dribbler will make a backup dribble and the defender must stay on his man tight while the five-second count is still on.

Give a Foul – Practice giving a foul.

Watch below as Coach Hurley runs through each command in the drill with a group of players.

5-on-5 Command Drill

The 5-on-5 Command Drill is similar to before, but a little bit different. Get a two-guard front, two forwards, and a center and go 5-on-5. The offense will look to pass the ball around but now the coach is going to implement 5-on-5 commands.

Drive – The on-ball defender must hit the closest line and everyone else plays 5-on-4. The defense must help each other and play out the scenario live. Stop the ball immediately. Look to push the ball sideline and baseline. This command really works on getting a defense prepared for those odd-man scenarios in a game.

Switch – The defense switches to offense in this case. Communication and rotation is critical to success here.

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD “Bob Hurley’s Practice Planning & Program Development.” To check out more videos featuring Bob Hurley, simply head over to our basketball library.

Filed in Basketball Newsletter • Tags: BasketballCoach Newsletter, Bob Hurley, Command Drill, Defensive Drills, Issue #48, Program Development

Bob Hurley: Dynamic Fast Break & Press Break Drills to Implement Now

By adam.warner - Last updated: Wednesday, May 30, 2012

In this week’s team concepts feature, Hall of Fame basketball coach Bob Hurley reveals his favorite and most effective fast break and press break drills. The drills – used frequently by the St. Anthony’s (NJ) basketball program – can be adapted for any level of basketball and focus on recreating competitive, game-like fast break scenarios.

2-on-1 to 5-on-5

This continuous fast break drill starts with a simple full court 2-on-1 break. You can start things off the backboard or via free throw, but for today’s example, we start the 2-on-1 on the break.

It’s a one shot drill (unless there’s a steal or turnover). After the play is over, the two offensive players immediately go back on defense and now go up against three offensive players and it becomes a 3-on-2. We keep adding from here and it eventually builds up to a 5-on-5 drill.

After the 3-on-2, the three offensive players run back on defense and now two more guys join the previous two defenders to make it a 4-on-3. Next up, it’s 5-on-4, and then the drill comes back 5-on-5 to finish.

Consider doing this drill for two straight minutes at practice. For instance, the white team starts off and every time they score, put points up on the scoreboard. After two minutes, the blue team goes, and after four total minutes, you have a validation.

The 2-on-1 to 5-on-5 drill is a great way to get fast break reps in at the beginning of practice. It’s also a way to get in running that’s related to basketball.

Flood Drill

This drill is a great way to prepare for the press. Offensively, start by getting two big guys at half court and on opposite ends and two guards at the elbows.

Note: We are not going to make the short pass against the diamond press because it’s too easy to trap. We want the first receiver to catch the ball near the three-point line so he has some room to operate. The inbounder can then trail behind the pass, the opposite half-court player can flash, and the opposite elbow guy can cut towards the ball.

From here, we play 7-on-5. Psychologically, we want to believe we can get shots off in a 7-on-5 format and eventually develop an attitude facing a press team.

“Flood” basically means regular press offense. When the inbounder yells Flood, the two elbow guys turn and run down the court deep. Both go wide and keep running deep. The point guard gets to half court and flashes back right into the middle of the floor. Meanwhile, the other deep player is on the fly and you may throw it over the top to him if it’s available.

Both bigs come charging up the floor and running hard on opposite sides toward the inbounder looking to receive the ball near the three-point line. Look to hit either one. Then the flashing guard comes into the picture and we can hit him in the middle. Hit him in the middle and then let him go from there. According to Coach Hurley, his team runs a Flood often at the end of games when the opposition applies the full-court pressure.

We run it with seven guys and it works well psychologically. The defense runs a 1-3-2-1 press, which takes a lot of passes away.

Know of another fast break drill that’s been particularly effective for your own team? Send us an e-mail at info@championshipproductions.com and tell us all about it. Then stay tuned as we’ll feature it in an upcoming basketball newsletter.

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD “Bob Hurley’s Practice Planning & Program Development.” To check out more videos featuring Bob Hurley, head over to our basketball library.

Filed in Basketball Newsletter • Tags: BasketballCoach eNewsletter, Bob Hurley, Issue #37, Practice Drills, Program Development

New Cross Country DVD Jerry and Kristy Popp!

By nate.landas - Last updated: Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Take a look at this brand new Cross Country DVD featuring Jerry and Kristy Popp. Jerry Popp is a 3x National High School Coach of the Year and Kristy Popp is an Assistant Coach at Iowa State University. This recently released Cross Country DVD is called:

How to Build a Championship Cross Country Program

Get coaching and program building ideas from 39x State Championship Coach Jerry Popp
Learn 10 effective recruiting and retention ideas to build your program
Get step-by-step early season to late season training ideas
Learn how to add strength and circuit training to your cross country program
Motivate and provide feedback to you athletes to keep them enthused throughout the season
Learn what do at meets to prepare your team to run a “complete” race

Looking for more high quality Cross Country instruction, check out the DVDs below:

Coaching High School Cross Country: Training and Racing Strategies
Coaching High School Cross Country: Building a Championship Program
2011 National Distance Running Summit
Jack Daniels: The Grassroots of Coaching Cross Country

Filed in Cross Country • Tags: Cross Country DVD, Jerry Popp, Kristy Popp, Program Development

3 Valuable Team Rebounding Drills that Produce Results

By adam.warner - Last updated: Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Hall of Fame basketball coach Bob Hurley has racked up more than 1,000 wins and 26 championships during his illustrious career. In this week’s team concepts feature, learn three of Coach Hurley’s favorite and most effective rebounding drills. The drills – used frequently by St. Anthony’s (NJ) – can be adapted for any level of basketball and focus on recreating competitive, game-like rebounding situations.

Bluejay Drill

First, have your players set up at one end of the court. Get two “white team” players on the baseline and two “blue team” players at the elbows. (Also, you can put two more elbow players behind the other two as the next group on deck to participate in the drill.) Down at the other end of the court, there should be six more players doing this same exact drill. A coach has the ball on the baseline.

The Bluejay Drill is all about aggression and has nothing to do with technique. Simply, it gets guys to really go after the ball. Have a coach throw the ball to one of the elbow players. The player will catch it and if the baseline players don’t close fast enough, they can just catch and shoot it. The elbow guys must score twice and the baseline guys must score once.

Note: Often in this drill, the baseline guys will bust out and the elbow guy shoots a jumper but the defender will turn and get the rebound and lay it in, resulting in his team winning. Therefore, the shooters must go in and get the ball on a miss.

The two teammates must work together to get the ball in the hoop. It’s 2-on-2, so use your teammates and finish the play. The drill rotates players through and make sure that players take turns at the different positions.

Huggins Drill

Looking to teach your players proper box out technique? In the Huggins Drill, players start out back-to-back and sitting on the floor in pairs. When the coach yells “Up” the players get up and block each other out.

Tips: Get your elbows out, feet wide, and look to hold your positioning for about five seconds. Drive the hands and get your hands up.

4-on-3 Blockout Drill

Start out with three teammates (the defensive team) in the lane and standing next to each other while facing out. Meanwhile, there are four other teammates (the offensive team) spread out around the perimeter.

The coach will throw the ball out to any one of the offensive players. When he does, the defensive players come out and guard the ball. The second guy takes the next pass, and the third guy sits on the help side. As the ball gets moved, always look to guard the two most dangerous and then split the distance with the other guy. When it moves from the corner to the nearest up-top guy, the defenders change up their positioning. The middle guy now goes to play the ball and the others work the passing lanes. In other words, when the ball moves, there should be constant defensive rotation.

First, work on movement and getting proper positioning on defense. When the coach says to shoot, the player with the ball grabs it and immediately takes the shot. The defensive players must block out everyone but the shooter. Therefore, it’s key that the defenders communicate effectively. As soon as coach yells “shot”, a fourth blue team player comes into the play and blocks out the shooter. Be sure to switch teams from offense to defense.

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD “Bob Hurley: Practice Planning & Program Development.” To check out more rebounding drills, click here. To check out more videos on program development, click here.

Filed in Basketball • Tags: BasketballCoach eNewsletter, Bob Hurley, Practice Planning, Program Development, Rebounding Drills

Hubie Brown: Secrets to Beating the Zone

By adam.warner - Last updated: Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Legendary basketball coach Hubie Brown is a master tactician – particularly when it comes to zone defense. With Brown as your guide, learn effective offensive strategies to beat tough zone defenses, no matter if it’s a 2-3, 3-2, or 1-3-1 look. These are some of the same offensive tips and schemes that Brown implemented with his teams during his Hall of Fame career, including most recently as the head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies from 2002-05.

A Quick Play to Beat Zone Defenses

This play is designed to beat most zone defenses, especially 2-3, 3-2, and 1-3-1 schemes. If implemented successfully, opponents should be getting out of a zone defense alignment in a heartbeat.

The Set-Up: 4 and 5 start out at the top of the key but spread out and just inside the 3-point line (elbow extended). 1 has the ball at the top of the key, while 2 and 3 are on opposite wings.

Keys to Remember

*When you leave an area, replace

*You must have a short pass and a long pass to make the offense work

*You must be able to reverse the ball

The Action: The point guard passes the ball to the big guy on the left (though he can pass to any of the two big guys if he desires). When running the big men in the transition game, Brown likes to run them to the middle of the paint. When it comes to zone stuff, he prefers to run guys to the same exact spot every time.

After the ball is passed to one of the two big guys, we run an X. The opposite big guy cuts toward the paint immediately and looks for the immediate pass in stride down low. If he doesn’t get it, he goes to the low block and the PG replaces his spot up top.

The ball then gets skipped to the player in the corner. The passer then makes an X-cut down the lane and looks for the pass. The big guy on the low block will now cut up the lane and the opposite wing player should fill the spot up top.

The player with the ball in the corner now has a short and long pass available. The skip pass goes back up to the top player on the opposite side.

Options with the Zone Offense

If it’s a two-man front (i.e. 2-3 defense), you should step right up into the two guys. This will give you two more options. If it’s a 3-2 zone, always step into between the point and the wing.

Meanwhile, any time against the zone where you throw the ball into the post, (don’t forget: post players should be set up on the first lane line, don’t be on the block), leave an area and replace. The player now has options with the skip across for the 3, a cutting player down the opposite side of the lane, and more. If you screen the zone up top, the opposite player then cuts diagonal to the box and opposite wing guy drifts to the corner.

*Now watch as the squad runs through the drill at full speed run with all of the different options.

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD “Hubie Brown’s Secrets of Winning Basketball – Volume I.” To check out more Hubie Brown videos, including Volume II of Secrets of Winning Basketball, head over to our basketball library.