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Team Skill Development Workout – Part 1

This workout is designed to give your entire roster a great workout. It should only take a little over an hour to complete and the players will be gassed by the end. Utilize both ends of the floor by splitting your team in half. Communication is enforced in every drill below.

**Water breaks are gauged on the player’s body language and wind. I also incorporate free-throws throughout the workout in between drills based on the flow of the workout.

Dynamic Ball-Handling Warm-Up

One aspect I like incorporating more into workouts is a dynamic warm-up of different varieties to get the players loose and create a light lather before starting the workout.

The players performed the following exercises to the volleyball spike line (2nd line) then started accelerating so the 3rd to 4th line was always a sprint. The players pounded the ball as hard as they could during the stretch/exercise phase.

1. Walking Lunges (FWD) – Alternating legs – Dribble the ball between the legs before switching the lunge.

2. Walking Lunges (BKWD) – Repeat ‘1″

3. High Knees (FWD) – Right Hand – Keeping the ball at waist level

4. Butt Kicks (BKWD) – Left Hand – Keeping the ball at waist level

5. Side to Side Rocks – Players started facing the (bottom) sideline and pound knee dribbled as they rocked back and forth side to side lunging. After 8 seconds, coach yells “Go” and they start slide dribbling to the spike line before turning and sprint dribbling out.

6. Side to Side Rocks – Same as above, players facing same sideline, now repeat left-handed.

Spend approximately five minutes getting the players loose while also working on wrist/hand control with the hard pounds.

Dynamic

Circle Movement Shooting

Players at the top of the key perform a self-pass and rip through dribble with the outside hand and make an (outside) 1-hand pass to the shooter who is moving to the corner. I really believe in improving players’ ability to make strong and on target 1-handed passes.

On the catch, the player performs a 1 dribble baseline jumper. The next time through the player performs a quick shoulder/2 inch jab baseline before taking 1 dribble middle for a jumper.

Each player must make 6 total shots before you can switch sides.

Screen Shot 2015-07-28 at 9.04.19 AM

Closeout Push-Step Shooting

1st player(s) in line start without a ball. They make a 2 step closeout to the wing (you can use a cone/chair/spot as point of reference if you wish). After closing out, the player performs an explosive push-step towards half-court simulating cutting off a middle drive.

The player then curls for a pass from the next player in line. The passer then closes out as the drill continues. After shooting and getting their own rebound, players switch sides.

-Catch & Shoot= Make 5 each
-Catch & Rip Middle= Make 5 each
-Catch & Rip Baseline Step-back= Make 5 each

Push-Step Shooting

 

Elbow Closeout-Slide Shooting

Players start on the baseline and take two long steps and break down to an elbow closeout. After coming to a choppy stop, players perform an explosive push-step and then 3 slides (should take them outside the arc and bigger players to the sideline).

Immediately push off with the outside foot and curl to the elbow area for a shot. The pass must be on time and on target from the next player in line. The passer then closes out to the shooter simulating a late contest as the drill continues. After shooting and getting their own rebound, players switch sides.

**Make sure the players closing out to shooters do not closeout under shooters’ feet.

elbowcloseout

Transition Draft Drives

Series 1 (Frame 1)– Players start at half-court and take one advance dribble before passing ahead to the wing. The player on the wing will then drive left off the back of the cutter and severing the angle off the hip/top foot of the coach playing token defense, for an elbow jumper. As soon as the cutter (passer) clears, they are coming back to the wing as the next attacker; the line at half-court must pay attention as the drill moves quickly.

**As the players start to catch the ball, have their hips and feet pointing to the rim so they can peek first and attack quicker.

Series 2 (Frame 2)– Same set-up and action as in Frame 1. This time after attacking the elbow, we put a secondary defender in which the players had to change between the legs and finish with a 2-foot floater or jump shot outside the paint.

Goal is for each player to make 6 in each series on both sides.

Drafts1

Full-Court Handle & Finish

This drill was initially designed to work around volleyball nets that were on the court, so I used them to our advantage to get some conditioning, ball-handling, and finishing work in. You can use a coach or chair at each spot to simulate a defender if you wish.

Players started FT-line extended with a combination of any 5 stationary moves they wanted as long as they were hard pounds. On the fifth, they sprinted out and attacked the volleyball standard (poll) and performed an inside-out. Attacking right off the poll, the players extended out and finished at the rim in as few dribbles as possible. If the players failed to keep the ball on their outside shoulder I attempted to knock it out…players who performed it correctly I would give them a light tap to provide an uncomfortable feeling. Here are the finishing moves we did:

Right Side
1. Right hand lay-up
2. Stride between the legs at the 3-point line to a right foot/right hand reverse lay-up.

Left Side
1. Left hand lay-up
2. Stride between the legs at the 3-point line to a quick stop Westbrook inside the elbow jumper.

Each player had to make 4 total of each move above.

FullCourtHandle

5 Spot Shooting

We finished off the workout with some 5 spot stationary shooting. Each player had to make five mid-range and two 3-pointers at each of the five spots.

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Rick Torbett has taught thousands of coaches to win more games through his innovative approach to the game. He has created powerful training for coaches at any level so they can coach their best and win more games.

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