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Full-Court Combo Drill Works Players Hard, Develops Critical Skills
By Peter Harris, Former Head Mens Coach, Kansas City College And Bible School, Overland Park, Kan.
THE FOLLOWING FULL-COURT combination drill gives your players a great workout while developing several critical skills simultaneously.
There are three big advantages to running this drill:
1. Your players will be kept moving, thinking and will not waste time.
2. Virtually all basic skills are practiced: dribbling, utilizing screens, working through screens, shooting, boxing out, rebounding, conditioning, defensive footwork, high-speed pressure layups, avoiding fouls, defensive denial, etc.
3. The coach has no ball-passing responsibilities and remains free to evaluate his or her players' skills and effort.
Have your players set up in four lines marked A through D.
LINE A: Begins at the free-throw line with player 1 and extends diagonally toward the corner.
LINE B: Begins at the top of the key with player 2, with the others in the line waiting near the sideline.
LINE C: Begins at the opposite baseline corner, starting with player 3, with the others waiting in line out of bounds and along the baseline.
LINE D: Begins at the far wing position on the same end of the court as line C.
Players 1 and 3 each have a ball and a chair is placed at the elbow above line C.
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DIAGRAM 1: Ultimate Full-Court Combo Drill. 1 begins by dribbling upcourt while 2 harasses him or her defensively, attempting to turn and stop 1 as much as possible. 1 continues to the top of the perimeter where he or she attempts to make a pass in the direction of 4.
5 must anticipate the pass, steal it and drive hard full court for the layup. (This is a perfect opportunity for players to gauge and improve their defensive quickness and ball close-out abilities). After the steal, 4 chases 5 and tries to prevent the layup without fouling.
After 1 has passed the ball, he or she breaks around the chair screen and receives a pass from 3 for the catch-and-shoot jump shot, while 2 defends.
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DIAGRAM 2: Ultimate Full-Court Combo Drill (Continued). After shooting the layup, 5 goes to line B. 4 rebounds 5's layup, passes the ball to 9 and gets in line A.
On the other end of the floor, 2 boxes out 1, grabs the rebound, passes to 7 and gets in line C. 1, after shooting, becomes the wing defender (where 5 began the drill) and prepares to steal the pass that's about to be made from 9 to 8.
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DIAGRAM 3: Ultimate Full-Court Combo Drill (Continued). The drill continues with the same patterns and motions as the players did in Diagram 1.
As your players become familiar with the drill, add a third ball to the action and have 9 begin dribbling immediately after 1 makes his or her initial pass. Another option is to have the coach set a realistic screen at the elbow instead of using a chair.
