 | Coaches Handbook Practice Structure This practice structure is intended for U13-and-older teams, and can be used to plan practices through-out the season. See the Coaches Handbook for information on fundamentals and teaching them (including practice planning), e.g. using Go-To Drills. For teams up to U12, see Youth Practice Structure. Divide each practice into
For similar approaches, see Canada Basketball - Daily Practice Plan, Coach Mac - Practice Planning Made Easy, also Youth Practice Plan Time allocations will vary, e.g. more on systems if you have an upcoming tournament. In the practice plan, show the time needed for each drill, e.g., 2-5-10 minutes (see Ray Lokar Practice Structure). It's also useful to show the practice time remaining (Steve Nash) or elapsed (Hubie Brown). See Blog posts - Drills, Scrimmages, Practice Structure. Typically start with a halfcourt or fullcourt basketball drill (e.g. Around the world layups, 5-ball, 6-ball), followed by a 4-minute active warm-up (see Dynamic Warm-up). Individual skills & conditioning (20-40%) Do shooting and finishing (every practice), mix in dribbling, passing, footwork, post play, rebounding, defensive skills, and 1 on 1. Individual defensive skills include denying cuts, close-outs, on-ball defence, and jumping to the ball. Supplement with conditioning drills as needed, especially agility. Use shooting to transition between practice drills, e.g. Alternates, Sevens, 5 ball, 63, UBC. I like one team at each main basket with 3-4 balls, first team to make 20 to 30 threes (pick a number), see 20-30 makes. See the Skills checklists, also YouTube skills playlists. Breakdowns & transition (20-40%) Break down team offensive and defensive skills using small-sided drills and games, and modified rules, e.g.
For halfcourt 3-on-3, see Kick-out (great to work on spacing, 3s, layups), Cut-throat, 3 times and out, also use close-outs, e.g. Woodley, Serbia, and advantage situations (Pasquali). Build up the fast break without defence, e.g. rim runs, rebound-outlet (see the Coaches Handbook). Use transition drills with advantage situations (e.g. 2 on 2 delay, 11-man fast break) and/or converting (Calipari 22, DeMatha 2 on 2, Lemanis 3 on 3). Fullcourt 4 on 4 on 4 is a good progression, you can go cut-throat (make-it take-it) and add pressing (see Hurley 4 on 4 on 4). Also see Pistons 3 on 3 continuous. Defensive & offensive systems (20-50%) Includes offensive transition (fast break), defensive transition (converting), and scrimmage. Defence See Blog post - Forcing-Left Pack Defence. 4 on 4 shell is a practice staple (usually every practice). Work on different aspects, e.g. defending screens, jump to the ball, etc. Woodley 4 on 4 is a very good drill (we force left), add 4 on 4 help rotations, post defence (e.g. green shell), ballscreens, and off-ball screens (e.g. downscreens). Team defensive skills are highly transferable. To scrimmage, 5-possessions-then-switch is a halfcourt staple, progress to make-it take-it or give points for stops (5 on 5 stops), then allow the defence to fast break on a stop (Stop and break, Spurs stops). See Scrimmage Ideas. Fast Break 5 on 0 trips are a staple to work on the fast break, e.g. 2 trips then up to 6 trips (see Schuring cycles). If you want to play fast in games, you have to play fast in practice. Use fullcourt 5 on 5 with multiple trips, e.g. play until one team scores (Stop and break), or play to a dead ball then re-start (see Tar Heels 5 on 5, also Circle break), or just play on, any ball out of bounds goes to the defence. Optionally outlet on a make, everything is a miss (see Transition 5 on 5). You can also use a shot clock of 16 (or 12) seconds. Offence To work on halfcourt offence and set plays, start with 5 on 0 halfcourt, then go fullcourt for timing and conditioning, e.g., 5 on 0 up and back with players starting from both ends (see Dribble-drive 5-on-0, 76ers). Also do fullcourt 5 on 0 press break. Offence can then go upcourt 5 on 0 and come back against defence (see Pistons scrimmages). For halfcourt sets plus fast break, 3 trips (halfcourt-up-back) is a practice favourite (see Pistons, Spurs one-way), also see Enfield 5 on 5. Converting The most important thing is just getting back. Most teams have one or two safeties who do not offensive rebound (see Transition basics). Disadvantage is a good drill to work on converting (and rebounding). 5-on-5 recover is a classic drill, see Oakland 5 on 4; for other good converting drills see Lemanis 5 on 5, Syracuse 5 on 5. Scrimmages that promote playing fast on offence also promote defensive transition, e.g. 5 on 4 continuous, Transition 5 on 5. Other Systems Work on other systems occasionally or as needed, e.g. inbounds plays, specials (see Ray Lokar). I like Nash zone gap (or 5 on 4 zone) to work on zone-offence fundamentals, and can then use 5 on 5 on 5 (with enough players and coaches). Dead-ball presses and Free-throw break are good to work on pressing and press break. |
