Teaching Defensive Drills

"The coach chooses the defense to be used by his team, based on his, or hers philosophy and the material available. The coach can adapt the good parts of any system to fit his, or her, own philosophy.

To teach footwork use this combination closeout, slide, and shuffle drill:

1. Player stands under the basket in a defensive stance and shuffles up to the midpoint of the foul line.

2. Player slides to the right until reaching the side line.

3. Player shuffles to the half court line.

4. Player slides to the left until reaching the mid-court area.

5. Player shuffles backward until reaching the free throw line.

6. Player slides to the right until reaching the foul lane.

7. Player shuffles backward until he or she is out of bounds.

8. Player should slide in the defensive stance, keeping palms up and making sure to avoid crossing their feet. When shuffling, the player should keep one hand up and the other hand down for balance.

Player one has the ball at the top of the key. Player two stands in the foul line extended area. Player three is a defensive player guarding a chair or cone on the box.

Player one passes to player two and makes a v-cut to the basket (give and go). Player three makes an up switch into the path of the dribbler (player two). Player three must not switch to soon.

Player one has the ball on the side of the key. Player two is the other offensive player and stands at the foul line extended area. Player three is the defensive player guarding player two.

Player two comes up to set a screen on player one's imaginary defender. As player one comes off the screen with the dribble, player three up switches into the path of player one and takes the charge.

This drill requires a passer, a defender, and an offensive player. Have the defender try to deny the inside pass. If the pass is completed, the defender should attempt to defend against the offensive player’s post moves.

To develop blocking out skills for rebounding.

Line up three players on top of the free throw line. Line-up another three players just inside the free throw line. The three players closest to the goal need to block out the other three players. Each team gets a point for a rebound, first team wins. Winners stay in and switch to the other side.

This drill will help players develop skills for anticipating a pass. (Playing defense off of the ball).

This drill requires four players and one ball. Setup one offensive player on the right block, one offensive player on the left block, one offensive player at the top of the key with the ball and one defensive player two steps ahead of the two offensive players on the block toward the middle of the triangle created by the 3 offensive players. The defender should stand in the defensive "ready position" (defensive stance) with hands ready and focus on the person with the ball. The offensive player with the ball throws the ball to the person on the left block. The defender must anticipate the throw and step into the passing lane and catch the ball before it reaches the offensive player who is being passed to. Once the defender catches the ball, pass it back to the person in the middle who will then throw it to the person on the right block. Again, the defender should anticipate the throw and (while in defensive stance), step into the passing lane and intercept the pass. At first the defender should know which block the pass is being made to, anticipate the pass and intercept the ball. As the defender becomes more experienced at anticipating the pass, the passer should throw the ball to either block without letting the defender know where the pass is being made to. Look for footwork, either a slide or a cross step. Make sure that the defender steps into the passing lane and doesn't run at the player being passed to. Rotate players so that each one has an opportunity to play the defensive position.

This drill will help players develop skills for anticipating a pass. (Playing defense off of the ball).

This drill requires for players and one ball. Setup one offensive player on the right block, one offensive player on the left block, one offensive player at the top of the key with the ball and one defensive player two steps ahead of the two offensive players on the block toward the middle of the triangle created by the 3 offensive players.

Helps player learn to communicate, closeout and recover on defense.

Divide your players in to teams of three. Line up three players (defense) underneath the basket with their back to the floor. One player in the middle and one on each of the lower blocks. Line up three players (offense)   just inside the three point line. One player at the top, and one on each side of the lane even with the free throw line facing the basket. The defense has their back to the floor so that they can't see where the offense is. The coach stands out of bounds and makes a pass to one of the offensive players, who once they catch the pass, play live to score. As soon as the pass is made the defense turns and closes out the offense. The possession continues until the offense scores, or the defense gains possession of the ball. New offensive players rotate in and the offensive team changes to defense.

Works on good defensive positioning and ball handling.

Match up your players in pairs. One person has a ball and the other will play defense. Have the player with the ball zig-zag up the court. Each time the player with the ball changes directions and hands make sure that they keep their body between the ball and the defender. The defender should make a drop step with the left leg when the offensive player moves to the left and the shuffle along with the offensive player and then make a drop step with the right leg when the offensive player moves to the right.

Works on defensive positioning.

Start players in defensive stance (hold for a few seconds). On go players must move their feet as fast as they can. Player's must be talking and yelling. When coach points in a direction, players quickly move to face that direction and then back to center, keeping their feet moving the entire time. Each time the coach points in a direction the players should yell hey.

To teach players to stay in good defensive position. (So many players don't play good defense, that is they don't move their feet and keep good defensive position but rather they reach in and try to make the steal every time as their man goes by them. We teach our kids to keep in good defensive position and to get the offensive player out of the triple threat position. We will make our still on the pass or when the offensive player loses control of the ball.)

Line up three players at half court. One with a ball on offense and against two defenders. The two defenders are not allowed to reach for the ball. They must move their feet and keep good defensive position between their man and the basket using the side lines and the baselines as extra defenders. Offensive player gets to repeat as offense as long as he makes it to within 8 feet of the basket with out picking up the dribble or losing the ball. If he doesn't then we switch the offensive player to defense and one of the defenders to offense and continue the drill until all three players have had a turn handling the ball.

Basketball - Shotgun Passing Drill