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Archives by Tag 'Skill Development'

Pair Passing: The Perfect Drill to Open Lacrosse Practice With

By adam.warner - Last updated: Tuesday, May 14, 2013

McDonough girls’ lacrosse coach Chris Robinson demonstrates an effective drill that’s ideal for teams to open up practice with. This competitive series is a terrific way to build individual skills, particularly when it comes to passing proficiency. Follow along as Coach Robinson leads his team through the drill series before finishing with an exciting team competition.

Pair Passing – Overview

Coach Robinson is a big believer in starting practices with this particular pair passing drill (rather than shuttle lines) because it gives players more opportunities to touch the ball. It really helps them build their skills.

First, we’ll have the players work on passing with both hands. Each player will get a partner and start about 7-8 yards apart. Players will begin using their right hand and make 10 passes each while moving their feet. It’s important to get in some nice clean passes. After you get 10, switch over to the left hand.

Tip: Always try to do things in practice equally with the right and left hands to help develop skills and get your players to become multi-dimensional.

Alternating Hands

Next, players will catch with their left hand and throw with their right. Look to implement a little face dodge in between as well. After 10 reps, it’s time to catch right and throw left. Try to get a nice little wrist snap with each throwing motion.

Now, it’s time for “Pass Under.” Start with your strong hand. Here we want to simulate passing under the defense, so we need to drop the head of the stick and bring it down to knee level. Once here, look to pass up to shoulder level

Tips: Move around a bit. Don’t stay stationary. Also, make sure you pass with both the right and left hands. Try to push the pace a bit. It’s okay if you make mistakes. The goal is work hard and get better.

Next up, move in closer for “quick sticks.” With this, the ball should barely stay in the stick. It’s simple touch passes back and forth with no cradle involved. Move the ball back and forth as quickly as you can and be sure to go right and left.

Contest

To add a little competitiveness to the drill series, try to see which group of players can get the farthest apart without dropping the ball. If you drop it, you are out of the drill. You can have the players throw and catch however you’d like. Mix it up in each practice if you’d like. After each successful catch/throw, players should keep backing up.

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD ”Skills & Drills to Develop the Complete Lacrosse Player“ with Chris Robinson. To check out the latest skills and drills videos for lacrosse, click here.

Filed in Lacrosse Newsletter • Tags: Chris Robinson, Drills, Inside the Crease, McDonough Girls Lacrosse, Passing Drills, Skill Development

New Basketball DVDs featuring Tara Vanderveer!

By nate.landas - Last updated: Thursday, January 31, 2013

The Stanford women have been a dominating force in the NCAA since the mid 1980′s under legendary head coach Tara VanDerveer. In these two Basketball DVDs, you will see why the Cardinal have had so much success. From warm-ups to shell drills, Coach VanDerveer demonstrates over 25 of her favorite practice drills. Whether you are looking for a passing, shooting, ball handling, rebounding, offensive, or defensive drills, it’s all here.

Tara VanDerveer: 30 Practice Drills for Building Champions

Learn over 30 daily practice routines and drills that Coach Vanderveer has used to become one of the top women’s coaches in college basketball today
Learn how to build your offense while focusing on individual player development
Utilize partner drills to work on passing, closeouts, and pick-and-roll situations
Use breakdown drills to install various aspects of your offense

Tara VanDerveer: 30 Skill Development Drills for Building Champions

Includes an extensive post player workout that will incorporate every game aspect a post player needs to be successful
Discover a perimeter player workout that will develop your dribble penetration ability and teach you how to create space between you and your defender
Learn drills you can use to break down your offense and develop your entire team’s offensive skill set

Purchase the Tara VanDerveer’s Drills 2-Pack and save $10!

Filed in Basketball • Tags: Basketball, Skill Development, Tara Vanderveer

Essential Tips and Drills for Developing the Complete Basketball Player

By adam.warner - Last updated: Wednesday, June 27, 2012

In this week’s player development feature, De La Salle (CA) HS head coach Frank Allocco reveals his secrets to developing complete high school players and putting together a winning basketball program. Coach Allocco also breaks down a pair of basketball drills that are particularly effective at maximizing development time. The renowned basketball coach has now sent more than 50 players to the collegiate level. Look to apply these exclusive tips and drills with your players as you get ready for the upcoming season.

Developing Complete Players

For Coach Allocco, he credits his main success as a coach from studying the game, getting better at it, getting as much knowledge as possible to become a better coach, and learning new techniques to teach kids today.

In reaching the modern kid, it’s harder to motivate them. You have to stay on top of finding ways to keep them going. At De La Salle, the school doesn’t have great talent. Therefore, the school takes great pride in taking those kids and growing them. It’s astounding to see the differences from freshman year to senior year. The school has had more than 50 athletes play college hoops. That’s why they refer to their workouts as “The Farm.” That’s where the program grows players and gets them to being college level players by the time they are finished.

The most important things you can do to develop a great program:

Create great habits. Do everything perfect and the right way.
Keep your workouts simple. Emphasize technique and execution rather than dazzle them with things you know.
Be a program of reptitions. You can’t get enough reps.
Sell your team on no regrets. The season is a race of repetitions until March. How many reps can you get in from the start of year to the state championship?
Be a program that makes kids better — as people and players.

According to Coach Allocco, the last two years, De La Salle has probably had the least amount of talent that they’ve ever had, yet most recently went to state title and regional title games. Simply, the kids were solid fundamentally on the offensive and defensive ends.

Remember, either you’re a program of players or a program of player development. De La Salle takes a lot of pride on focusing on player development and making kids better.

Two-Ball Dribbling

Player development drills are crucial in developing your high school players. What can you do to adapt these next drills to your style and ensure they work well within your offense?

Start with players standing just behind the three-point circle and holding two basketballs. Put their toes on the line with feet parallel. This two-ball drill is the best way to develop the weak hand. Start by pounding the dribble. Think about maintaining a good stance with your butt out and shoulders over the toes. Get into a good athletic stance.

Begin with shoulder length dribbles. Stress pounding the ball and think of your hand as a suction cup. Next, switch to the waist level and then bring things down to the ankles. Alternate high and low. Get away from your comfort zone and try to make mistakes. Move to the waist level and then down to the bottom. Finish by going one high & one low.

Next, bring your feet together and dribble on the side. Start low and go high and then alternate the dribble. Next up, spread your legs and take the ball and dribble with your left hand and take it around our right leg (making a figure eight). Switch hands. Then do a figure eight with both hands. Finally, dribble with one hand and do a half-spider with the other (where you dribble using the front and back of hand).

Big Man Drills

Try this drill in pairs with two kids and use all baskets in your gym. While one player is working on this big man dribble skills, the other player is doing the Mikan Drill. The Mikan Drill really helps develop your hands around the basket. Meanwhile, the other player is working on dribbling and ball handling to make himself better. He’s not just standing there and waiting.

With the Power Mikan, shoot the ball, grab it high in the air, and go up the other side. Reach up to the rim. Next, do five tips in a row and then tip the ball in. Go with your right and left hands.

Tips: The key here is getting a ton of reps in a two-hour time. Our concept is that we want to catch those teams with seven or eight college players. We can catch them through repetitions.

The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD “Frank Allocco: Developing the Complete High School Player.” To check out more videos focusing on player development concepts, click here.

Filed in Basketball Newsletter • Tags: BasketballCoach eNewsletter, De La Salle Basketball, Drills, Frank Allocco, Issue #39, Practice Planning, Skill Development

7 Amazing Offseason Exercises to Build Power

By adam.warner - Last updated: Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The offseason isn’t always about sunny days at the beach and taking a complete break from lacrosse. It’s also about staying in shape, improving your conditioning, and building strength. It’s that extra work and commitment during the offseason months that really pays dividends for individual players and teams. Follow along with renowned strength and conditioning specialist Rob Rose as he leads you through a number of power & core workouts that are particularly effective for lacrosse players.

Jump Series

With the jump series, we’ll go through four main sets. Focus on your form/technique and don’t let your knees come beyond your toes. Also, drop your butt back and have your knees follow your toes. Go for five jumps in each set and five jumps on each leg when necessary.

Set 1 – Jump Squat

Keep your head up and chest up. Place your hands on the back of your head. Get full extension of your hips. Your toes should be up and make a 90-degree drop. Land on that same line you started at.

Set 2 – Quick Jump

You will drop down and get the arms involved and then quickly drive them up. When you hit the ground, you will land with your arms back and then drive up again. Do five in a row. Get high in the air but land in the same place.

Set 3 – Ankle Flip

There shouldn’t be a lot of bend in the knee. It’s almost like constant hopping in place. Be quick off the ground, have a slight knee bend, and keep a shorter arm movement.

Set 4 – Scissor Jump

This is a split-squat jump, so your knees never go beyond the toe. Your back knee is just off the ground. Keep your knees and toes in line with your arms back and chest down. With your arms up, get a full extension of the hips. Start with your left leg out in front, jump, and then switch to the right leg in front and land that way. Keep it quick. Then go right back up with the other one.

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Power Med Ball Push-Up

Set 1 – Med Ball Walk

Here you are simply walking over the med ball and keeping the core tight. Keep your shoulders over your hands. Your hands should be directly underneath your shoulders. Walk across the ball. While one hand goes up on top of the ball, the other hand is on the floor. Up and over is one rep.

Set 2 – Push Up

Push up, come up over the ball, and then push up on the other side. To make it easier, spread your feet out.

Set 3 – Power Push Up

Do a push up, and make sure that the ball doesn’t roll anywhere. Keep that same technique and form. Power up over the ball. If you start with right hand on the ball, power up over the ball, and land on the ball with your left hand. Repeat.

Notes: Go for 10 reps in each set. You can also use a basketball if you don’t have a med ball.

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The previous clips can be seen on Championship Productions’ DVD “100 Conditioning Drills & Exercises for Lacrosse” featuring Rob Rose. To check out similar workout and conditioning videos, click here.

Filed in Lacrosse Newsletter • Tags: Drills, Inside the Crease, Robert Rose, Skill Development, Strength & Conditioning for Lacrosse

2 “Must-Have” Drills to Boost Stick Handling and Ground Ball Skills

By adam.warner - Last updated: Tuesday, May 15, 2012

This week’s player development feature emphasizes ground ball skills and individual stickwork. The following drills will get your players a lot of touches on the ball, tons of repetitions, and should help them build a strong aerobic base. The drills are first diagrammed on the whiteboard and then carried out on the field by the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team.

Baseline Escape Drill

This drill replicates situations when you are getting pursued on a ground ball. It’s different than facing uncontested ground balls, as now you have some pressure from behind or the side. It’s also about being able to scoop and escape from a variety of different ways and then finding your teammate.

The four players involved are the Roller, Scooper, Chaser, and Baseline. Start this drill at the top of the box or midfield line. Get your roller up top and then the rest of the players almost stacked together.

The roller has all the balls. His job is to roll balls toward the scooper and to control the placement of balls (mixing it up quite a bit). The scooper’s job is to scoop the ball up, but he must feel the pressure behind. Then he must explode on the ball, listen to his baseline teammate, escape, get his hands free, and then throw a possession pass. Making that first pass after the pressure is really critical. Meanwhile, the relationship between the two is crucial to success and escape. The scooper often powers through it with communication from his baseline man (saying things like, “Roll right” or “Pressure on left hip”, etc.).

The baseline man is movable and vocal. The decision now is: Can I throw this ball without being checked? Can I throw it without having to pass through the chaser’s stick? If he can’t, look to split dodge or turn to elude the defense. Then it will be easier for the player to make the pass to the baseline man. The scooper now reads the chaser and can make jump cuts and backdoor cuts to get open.

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Around the Clock Drill

Get a line of players ready to go. Next, get a coach with a ball and a stick, plus some spare balls back behind the players. “Around the Clock” is a rapid fire drill designed to get a lot of repetitions and touches.

Have the coach set up in the middle of the field by himself and with a ball. He will start by rolling out an uncontested ground ball towards the first player in line. This player will then come up with the goal to pick it up as fast as he can, move his feet, and get the ball back to the coach. The coach will adjust his position and then roll out another ground ball, this time to the next guy in line.

Like a clock, the coach will move all around the field, switching from the left to the right, or moving out in front or to the side. Players should get the ball in and out of their stick as fast as possible. The great thing about this drill is that it allows for creativity on the player’s part. Look to implement a variety of different stick skills and maneuvers, like goosing, rollaways, and more.

Tip: Get your hands in a good position on the stick. Your top hand should be at the top of stick and your bottom hand should be at the bottom of the stick. Come up with a nice cradle, get in a protect position, and quickly move the ball to the next open teammate.

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The previous clips can be seen in Championship Productions’ DVD “18 Drills to Improve Individual Skills” with Kevin Corrigan. Check out more skill development videos by visiting our DVD Library.