Yesterday a great tip landed in my inbox from Ed Hammersmith. Those of you who frequent the Tribe Forum will know him as CoachEd – the creative voice chiming in on all sorts of topics. You also might remember him from an early Tribe Spotlight.
Here’s what he’s been doing in his most recent practices. I love this tip because it is immediately actionable. You can (should?) do this in your practice today!
I’ve been testing my kids a little on circle movement. We go 5 out and I tell only the ball handler what to do. For example… Dribble-At twice in a row, then Bounce-Off once, then Pass and Cut.
Since the four without the ball never know when they might get the pass (remember, they don’t know the sequence), I’m not only testing their reactions, I’m training them to play without thinking once the sequence is over and they receive the pass.
The kids are loving it. If they don’t react right, they hit the floor and do 5 pushups on their own. They watch the whole floor and call each other out if someone misses a reaction. They laugh at them and yell, “Pushups!”
It’s been fun to coach. Now we just have to see if it translates into better movement in games.
In the videos below, you can see Ed’s 7th grade team in action. They aren’t demonstrating the tip above, but you can see just how a well coached Read & React team can progress.
7th grade Mid-Summer 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD0DLeu8EmU
7th grade End of summer 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98VV8PQilG0
7th grade Spring 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpCgrmaMPNc
If you have footage of your basketball team (practice or game) that you want to share, the easiest thing to do is edit it, post it to YouTube, and send me the links along with a tip or a story about them. I’ll do my best to put them into a post to share with the Tribe.
