The way practice begins is, in general, the way practice is going to be.  If the beginning is sluggish or lethargic or if the players are not focused and have their butts in the gym but their minds outside of the building, chances are the practice will not be productive.  We have all been in situations where things do not go well early but the players keep working or the coaches keep prodding the players to work and then eventually things begin to pick up and progress is made.  That happens all too rarely to allow for the coaching staff to “hope” they (the players) will get their minds on their business and go to work.  I firmly believe in the old adage, “Teams play like teams practice.”  If we have a bad practice, I allowed it to happen.

Personally, group stretching is not for me.  I feel that stretching is a waste of my basketball practice’s sacred time.  We instruct our players that if it is their desire to stretch, and it is OK to do so, to get to the floor early and stretch on THEIR OWN TIME.  When we begin practice we have a few minutes to shoot around and do a few things to get loose but even then I expect them to use their time wisely by working on shots that they are going to get in a game or by working on things that they or our coaching staff have identified as skill areas that are lacking.  We do not accept them walking after missed shots and in general going ‘half-speed.’  The amount of this time available fluctuates depending on the time of the year, the length of that particular practice plan or the amount of time the floor is available to us.  If our practice starting time is 3:30 pm I expect our players to use the time before 3:30 to get loose by working on their deficiencies or working on game-speed shots, individually or with a team-mate.  I prefer that they not work on free throws at that time simply because it allows the player to stand around too much and walk after misses (all the while – he thinks he is working!).

BEGINNING PRACTICE PLAN:
 
3-3-3

I yell, “3-3-3” and everyone knows that signifies the start of practice.  The players move quickly to the nearest baseline and…

1) Jog/dribble 3 trips (a trip is down and back).  The players MUST touch the baseline on both ends, not close to the baseline but touch the baseline with a foot.  (If someone misses the baseline, we start over).

2) 3 backward jogs with the dribble or holding the ball (touch the baseline or start over).  3) 3 modified sprint trips with a dribble.  Jog to the free throw line extended, sprint to the next free throw line extended and jog to the baseline (touch the baseline or start over), down and back is one.

Their blood should be flowing and they should be on the verge of “getting loose.”

Coaching Point:  The players must touch the baseline or we start over.

Push-Ups

We gather at one end and do 10 flat-floor push-ups and 10 2-ball push-ups.

Flat floor push-ups are just regular push-ups on the floor.

2-ball push-ups are placing the hands on the top of a ball and doing a good deep chest dip push-up.  It develops good chest strength and good wrist and forearm strength.

Partner Ball-handling

Select a partner (we do not want the same partner 2 days in a row) and do…

1) Figure 8 dribble with 1 and 2 balls around the feet.

2) Figure 8 quick drill around the knees.

3) Wrap around knee pass - partners face each other, take the ball quickly around their right knee, make a quick pass to their teammate and do the same around their left knee and keep it going until we tell them to go to the next drill.

4) Around the waist pass, partners take the ball quickly around their waist and pass to each other and then change the hand they take the ball around the waist with and make the next pass all done in a quick manner going until we tell them to go to the next drill.

5) Rhythm dribble, partners facing each other, dribble with the right hand, rhythmically, 2 dribbles & pass to partners left hand, on the catch with the left hand the ball is quickly moved to the right hand followed by 2 dribbles and quick pass to the partners left hand.  When the coach feels it is enough simply tell them to “change hands.”  This drill can also be done by 2 right hand dribbles, pass to left hand, two left hand dribbles with catching hand and pass back with left hand.

6) 4 Dribble Cross-Over - another partner rhythmic dribble drill.  Quick, hard V-dribble outside of the dribbler’s hips 4 times on the floor, pass to teammate as they are passing to you and you pass back and forth with the opposite hand each time.

7) Bounce pass/chest pass.  Facing your partner one makes a bounce pass while the other is making a chest pass with the action being reversed on the coach’s command.

8) Right hand/Left hand, partners pass, shoulder-height to each other at the same time.

9) 2 Balls, one partner passes both balls at the same time to their teammate, shoulder height with just a little arch on the passes.

7-8-9 must be done with no mistakes; it truly gets them to concentrate on what they are doing!

2 Ball Dribble

2 Ball dribble to the opposite baseline (TOUCH the line!) on a semi-sprint and back the same way.  The partner then goes.
NEXT TRIP, dribble down forward on a semi-sprint and dribble back backwards dribbling 2 balls.  The partner then goes.
NEXT TRIP, dribble to the ½ line, step and slide dribble with 2 balls, spin-turn at the ½ line and dribble 2 balls back to the baseline.  The partner then goes.

3 Lines

Normal, three man weave except, passer MUST touch the sideline with his foot after making a pass to get good floor spacing and at least 3 passes must be made before a lay-up is taken.

If a bad pass is made, a pass is not caught, a sideline is not touched or the lay-up is missed, those three sprint back to the starting point to start the drill again – NO MISTAKES ALLOWED!

If done correctly, we run a three man, fill three lanes fast break back.  Whomever passes to the shooter in the original weave announces that he is the Outlet Man and gets quickly to the opposite side to receive the outlet pass.  The non-passing, non-shooting member of the trio announces that he is the Rebounder, gets the ball out of the net and passes to the Outlet man who dribbles quickly to the middle of the floor and starts the break.  Meanwhile the shooter is getting to the outside lane to quickly get down the floor on the break (he must sprint to catch up).

We want our outside people to get wide, on the sideline, sprint the floor and break hard on a sharp angle, free-throw line extended, over the block to the basket looking for a pass for a lay-up.  Of course a jump-shot can be shot on the coach’s command rather than a lay-up.

After everyone has participated (number of trips is up to the coach) we stay in our 3 lines, one under the basket and one on the baseline in opposite corners with players in equal lines.  The players will dribble quickly down the floor and shoot a jump shot, rebound the make or miss quickly, quickly dribble back down the floor and shoot a jump shot on their side of the floor or in the middle, rebound the shot and make a good outlet pass to the next teammate.  Outlet pass must be a good aggressive pass, no lazy passes and the outlet man must announce he is the Outlet man and the Outlet man cannot leak out.  Everyone goes once in each line.

We do these things EVERY DAY whether we are at home or on the road.  We as coaches stay on the players all year to do the drills right - we cannot allow them to get sloppy.  This routine allows us to “get loose,” “get better at ball-handling,” and we “get our minds on our business.”  All of our practices are not great, but if we are sluggish after our “get loose” drills all I have to do, 1 TIME is say if we are not loose we will start all over again.  Things usually pick up!!!