Happy Friday Coaches! Week 1 almost in the books! A great group of incoming players mixed with some 2nd year athletes! Lots of teaching and learning! As always, practice is OPEN for visitors!
Today’s shout out is a heads up to a coaching clinic available online from Coach Kevin Furtado. Coach recently ran a Legends of Coaching Clinic in Georgia. He had some of the very best coaches in the business! The clinic up on CoachTube! Go here to get some great stuff from the best of the best!
A second shout out is to my great coaching friend Marc Hart! His clinics have started back up again with weekly sessions with some great coaches and great topics! Check it all out at System Basketball!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
“Hard things happen in life. How do you handle it? Ultimately, this will define who you become.”
-Kara Lawson
This weeks basketball share includes a couple of thoughts from our first week, a tweak on a favorite transition/disadvantage drill, and being prepared for tryouts and early season basketball!
Let’s Go!!!
Week 1 almost in the books! Last week I talked PRIORITIES! Week 1 for us is focused on introducing vocabulary, evaluating how all the pieces could fit together, introducing our DDM, and how we move from offense to defense and defense to offense. My “Drill of the Week” has been our 4 v 4 and 5 v 5 change series. Half court defense with attention to detail follow by a “change” call. Offense drops the ball and defense becomes offense going the other way. You can play this as “guided” defense with lots of teaching and increase the intensity to 100% live. Focus for defense is:
A. on the ball
B. off the ball - GAP or HELP
C. 2 passes away - one foot in paint vs two feet in paint
D. transition defense: STOP BALL, STOP RIM RUN, FIND SHOOTERS
E. Trailer defender finds TOP or works weak-side.
F. Force middle early in transition. This forces the offense into the trailing defenders before we settle into our “NO MIDDLE” philosophy. Baseline attacks in transition are HARD TO GUARD.
We love playing the transition game of continuous disadvantage. Starts with a free throw, then 2 v 1, then 3 v 2, 4 v 3, 5 v 4 and 5 v 5. Our tweak is that we put 2 minutes on the clock and play through the transitions. This amount of time will give you 4-5 possessions of 5 v 5 that will allow you to play time-score, late clock, and special situations. Instead of stopping at the last 5 v 5 transition, it’s a great wrinkle that I really like. One of my great coaching friends Mike Neighbors does a great job in this video describing his version of the drill.
Tryouts, first week of practice, preseason! We’re all either in the middle of it or it’s fast approaching! This first week of practice has reminded me that planning is SO IMPORTANT! Fundamentals, offense, defense, special teams, player development etc. BUT…..BE FLEXIBLE. Each team is different. There may be a player that surprises you. A team strength you didn’t know you had, or a weakness that needs to be addressed in practice plans moving forward.
A young coach-teacher saw me planning a lesson at a recent ALL SCHOOL MEETING. He asked “don’t you have it all canned and ready?” I replied that I like keeping it fresh, addressing needs, and tweaking my math curriculum to fit the needs of the students in front of me each day.
I would advise all basketball coaches do the same thing! Each team is different, players needs are different, team dynamics are different. Adjust ACCORDINGLY!
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Reach out anytime on X (Twitter) @KurtGuelsdorf. Love talking hoops, sharing ideas, and learning from all the great coaches out there.
Practice starts soon! All our practices are OPEN and you are welcome to visit!
Pay it forward always!
Good Luck Coaches.