Coaching tips from Pat Colliton in Fairfax VA

This is Pat Colliton from 6528 Heather Brook Ct., McLean, VA and I am back to offer a little more coaching advice. The drill I want to talk about today is the lay-up drill. Teams from the first grade all the way up to the professional teams use this drill for the first ten minutes of practice. Most teams use this as a “warm-up” drill and as such, don’t get much out of it.

I look at this drill a little differently and instead use it to stress four fundamentals of the game. This is especially beneficial for the young kids you coach.

If you push the drill all the way back to half court, you force the kids to work on their dribbling and ball handling (Fundamental # 1). You will need to remind or teach them to use their fingertips to feel the ball. They should not have the ball in the palm of their hand as this just leads to the eventual carry. They also need to keep the ball below their waist when they are dribbling. The lower the better.

The second part of the drill may seem basic but at a young age, it is crucial. They need to make the lay-up (Fundamental # 2). My favorite expression in basketball is “The backboard is your friend.” Shooting off the glass is a lost art. You need to teach them that they must be under control and use the backboard on ALL lay-ups. Honestly, at least in elementary school, the team that makes its lay-ups usually wins.

The third part of the drill is critical. You need to teach the kids right from the beginning about low block rebounding (Fundamental # 3). The player needs to get to weak side low block, get a wide base and get ready to get the ball BEFORE IT HITS THE GROUND. This shows that they are ready to rebound.

The final stage of the drill is the chest pass (Fundamental # 4) that goes back to front of the line. You need to teach them to step into the pass so that it gets where it needs to go. Another thing to remember is that it should always be chest to chest.

A couple of final thoughts; always be positive and compliment them when they do anything correctly. Repeat the principles globally when someone gets it wrong. In other words, compliment the individuals and correct and instruct the team.

So now, in the first 10-15 minutes of practice, you have covered and worked on four basic fundamentals of basketball. The rest is gravy.

My next blog will talk about a few games that all kids love. This is Pat Colliton signing off from Fairfax, Virginia.