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Skills without Drills – Part 11

Players: You want to bring something to the game – bring something to your team that can immediately affect the outcome of the game, but you don’t time to acquire a new skill like shooting, or point-guard-dribbling-abilities, or ten more pounds of muscle. These things take time – usually off-season time.

What can you bring RIGHT NOW?! What can you bring to today’s practice or today’s game simply by making a focused effort to actually “bring it”?

“Hand down, man down.”

Picture this, you are a point guard dribbling the ball down the floor and you see five opposing players in a stance with their arms extended and hands are up. Isn’t that a lot more intimidating that seeing five guys or girls standing straight up, not in a stance, with their hands down. Now move the ball down the floor and you get “in range” to shoot, but before you can even get into your shot the defender has one (if not both) hands extended in the air taking away your vision and rhythm.

Let’s take a look at several of the advantages of playing with your hands up:

  1. Prevents easy looks at the rim
  2. Makes passing angles more difficult
  3. Increased number of deflections…which inevitably disrupts the offense
  4. Having your hands up will create more mental engagement
  5. Intimidation

Raising your arms and getting big hands does not require any drilling to become great, all it takes is mental toughness and a willingness to make winning plays on defense.

COACHES

Read & React 5-Player Coordination Drills

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Become a More Confident Shooter

From our friends at PGC Basketball — PGC’s Shooting Specialist shares 3 FREE video trainings for scoring more points & getting more playing time!  Enter your email to get started.

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about rick torbett

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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Read & React 5-Player Coordination Drills

Enter your email address to get an inside look at teaching the Read & React Offense with the drills in this free video.