• Business and Finance
• Family
• Computers and Internet
• Auto and Trucks
• Education
• Health
• Hobbies
• Home Improvement
• Legal
• Marketing

• Home
• Arthur's Articles Home
• Browse Categories
• Browse Authors
• Submit an Article
• Search for Articles

Home » Recreation And Sports Articles » Coaching Basketball Teaching Defensive Transition

Coaching Basketball: Teaching Defensive Transition

I recently sent out a survey to my global newsletter list asking for coaches to tell me what their most pressing basketball related question is.

Coach Anindya, from India, asked how to train his players to get back quickly on defense. I thought this was a question I should deal with as an article, because I have had this question asked before.

This is more of a team issue than an individual issue, and while I try to maintain my focus on only teaching individual aspects of the game, the transition issue relates to both the fast break and rebounding—areas I have covered in my e-books and DVD/videos. So, I decided to offer my thoughts on how Coach Anindya might help his players transition to defense more quickly.

Any of you coaches reading this article, having other ideas on how to train for getting back quickly, while transitioning to defense, please feel free to write in with your training tips.

I can't possibly cover the myriad of ways coaches teach defensive transitioning, but here is what I have used successfully.

I have covered some aspects of what we need to understand, in regards to how many players I send after a rebound, in my rebounding e-book (http://www.top-basketball-coaching.com/teachingrebounding) and my video (https://freeiq.com/teachingreboundingtippingvideo). I describe how I have four rebounders getting into place while always having one player back for quick defensive help. This demonstration can also be viewed in my DVD/Streaming Video (http://www.top-basketball-coaching.com/dvd.html).

>From my rebounding e-book, I offer this advice: "... in my offenses, I send four players to get a rebound and send one player (defensive safety) back with deep defensive responsibility. The shooter (unless the farthest player back toward the defensive end--safety), when possible, will follow his/her shot. The shooter will usually have the best idea where the rebound is headed and can often chase it down, otherwise he/she will take the high rebound position. The other three positions are 5 to 7 feet from either side of the rim and 5 to7 feet directly in front of the rim. The remaining player is back as a defensive safety."

This rebounding box would usually be made up the wings and post forming a rebounding triangle, while the shooter would move to a high rebound position between the dotted line and the free throw line. (I train a variety of scenarios moving players around the different positions, because we never know where the shot will be coming from. I have rules set for where each player will be in the triangle, depending on who is shooting and which players are already nearest the rebounding positions.)

Your team is on offense. If you lose the rebound, now your players must practice getting back on defense, the same way you practice getting a defensive rebound and beginning your offensive fast break. First of all, the operative word here is "fast". Just as you seek to achieve quick transition on your fast break, you must also drill to stop the break, while getting your players back into defense "fast".

The success of your defense really depends on the success of your offensive rebounding and in eliminating turnovers. These two big areas are where the offensive fast break by the other team begins. If you get the offensive rebound, you've stopped their break, for the moment, because you still have the ball. If you have fewer turnovers, the other team must continue to play on defense.

So, when you lose the offensive rebound, or lose possession of the ball, what do you do? The safety sprints down court immediately. The closest player to the ball attempts to tie up the player with the ball, or at least slow down the advance of the ball. That player should not leave the player with the ball, as long as that player is in possession of the ball. If he dribbles, hound him. If he passes, get back into the defensive position that needs to be filled. The defensive safety is already back to stop any deep pass, while the other 3 players sprint back up the middle of the floor to get to the top of the defensive key before the offense transitions that deeply.

You practice this the same way you practice fast breaking. Use a stop-watch and time the retreat. Do it over and over and over again, from different rebounding/ turnover scenarios. It must become spontaneous and second nature. Is anyone looking around to see what happened to the ball? All players should know at all times, where the ball is and in who's possession. When your offense has lost the ball, your transition break to defense must begin immediately and spontaneously.

After you have accomplished the "fast" in getting your players to retreat, now you will have to decide what your defensive philosophy is--man or zone-and how to get into that set. Also, once you have the full retreat accomplished, then you can begin to experiment with any pressing techniques—three-quarter court, half-court, etc.

This is just one approach to finding a solution for a slow transition problem, but I hope it poses at least a partial solution for any coach looking for help with this. Coaches, your players must have the conditioning, the will and the desire to make this work or else it won't work.

Because of the amount of email I receive, it is impossible to spend this kind of time answering each request. For this reason, I created my Coaches Mentoring Program (http://www.top-basketball-coaching.com/mentoring.html). If getting some 1-on-1 coaching time is of interest to you, please check out this program. It's really the only way I can completely work with a coach to solve a particular coaching dilemma.

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Failure IS an Option

I wrote an article on this very subject, with the same title a few years ago.

And... it was a pretty decent article if I do say so myself!

Then I lost it. Gone. Deleted in error with no backup!

Talk about 'ironic'........

Well, moving forward (hint) - over the years I have come into contact with a vast array of different people from all walks of life. Some extremely rich, then those quite the opposite. Some very well-known - others who will never want their '15 minutes of fame'.

Business people, colleagues, employees, friends...... the list goes on and on.

They ALL (just like you and me) have one thing in common. Failure.

Yep - we are ALL failures at something. Or we have all failed at one to or another..... And it's more than likely we will all fail again at something.

Hands up all of you who have NEVER failed at ANYTHING?

Relationships, work / employment, exams, dieting, keep fit & exercise, decorating, gardening, keeping pets, D.I.Y., money, puzzles, competitions, cooking, gambling, auditions, interviews...and just about everything!

It doesn't have to be a massive 'failure' - sometimes these do happen, but anything which goes wrong, you mess up, you can't do..... Is failure.

Most marriages end up in divorce.

Most new small-businesses in the real world, collapse within their first two years.

Most people trying to make money on the internet - don't.

The KEY here, is what you do when it happens? How do you deal with it? What happens next?

The solution is a simple formula I have been telling people for years. Whether it's friends, clients, staff, peers....... Whether I do it as part of a motivational course, or just straight-forward advice.... The formula is exactly the same.

How you apply the formula can vary from 'Passive Pre-Event Style'.... up to 'Aggressive Post-Event Style.

What am I talking about?

It's like flicking a switch inside you...... from the passive ' I know all the steps'...... to the more aggressive ' I've GOTTA DO IT NOW....'

Have you ever seen the classic comedy film 'Airplane' ?

The Cabin Crew carefully explained all the safety procedures to the passengers.

But when 'disaster strikes' - all hell breaks loose! Everyone panics! All the instructions go out the window!

OK - it was a movie. But the similarities to real-life are commonplace.

We often know what we SHOULD DO - but we find excuses to ignore it.

If you simply 'give up' and do nothing - what are you expecting as a result?

"It wasn't my fault...." ... maybe it wasn't.

"The system doesn't work"..... So what?

"Someone told me to do it"..... and if they told you to jump off a cliff?

"The computer made a mistake"...... oh really?!

"Someone criticised me"...... Get over it.

"I'm just not good enough"...... Choose not to be.

OK - time for a few sayings........ And hey!... these weren't written by someone for no reason!

'Try.....try.....and try again.'

'If you always do what you've always done, you will always get what you've always had'.

I really like that last one - perhaps the 'exact' wording is slightly wrong, but the underlying meaning in rock-solid (and it may take a minute or two understand where it's going).

If you prefer to make excuses and simply quit - fair enough. Your choice.

But if you simply aren't happy with this option..... Then there are 3 main stages you must address.

Firstly, you have to simply accept it. Admit to yourself that you have failed. Sounds easy doesn't it? But in reality it can be far harder than you think.

This part is vital because it can mean a change in attitude. YOURS.

Stop blaming others, making excuses and simply giving up. This can be a major change in mind-set, but is important before you can go to the next step. Accept that 'it' hasn't worked. 'It' went wrong. 'It' is a dead-end. Don't personalise / humanise it. The 'acceptance' stage normally cannot be successful until the initial anger of the failure has subsided.

Next - another key step is to Learn from it.

Analyse the situation. Review what happened. Make notes. Discuss it with people / friends / colleagues.... But do so clearly and with an open-mind. Try to develop new methods, routines, rules.... which will avoid a recurrence of what happened last time.

Note - if during the 'learning' stage, you start to point the finger at others, or blame the system etc., this means you haven't successfully passed the first stage - Acceptance.

Once you have learned from it - the final stage is simple. MOVE ON.

Move forward - don't keep looking back, don't let things hold you back. Because once you have accepted it, learned from it - then nothing should be able to hold you back.

Take what you have learned, apply it, use it - get on with it!

A little warning here. Sometimes it simply won't work. You will get through the stages, do everything right - only to fail again. If this happens, just go back to step 2 - and start again.

Remember one of those sayings earlier? ..... Try, try and try again.

SO, the formula is simply.

F + A + L + M.

Fail.

Accept it.

Learn from it.

Move on.

You can use your own variant to suit your needs. And this applies to business (both online and offline), plus everything in life.

However, do you remember the second 'saying' from earlier on?

'If you always do what you've always done, you will always get what you've always had'.

Successful people - whether they are millionaire business people, or perhaps those who seem to be 'lucky in love', to people who overcome adversity, injury, accident or disability -all have one thing in common.

They don't quit when the going gets tough.

They accept, learn and move on from failure.

There is a phrase.... 'Failure is not an option'.

I disagree. Failure isn't something you should strive for (obviously) but if you know how to deal with it when it arises, then it's not necessarily the end of the World!

© Copyright 2005 - All Rights Reserved worldwide.