Coaching Youth Basketball - Chapter 19

Chapter 19 - Solving Rubik's Cube
Solving Rubik's Cube? This is where I take all of the stuff I have given you and put it into a nice, neat package for you. The following is a learning session schedule for your next LS that incorporates (take heed, I just used a 50 cent word) everything we've gone into up till now. Also you need to follow the suggested time guide. This way you will get the most out of your allotted gym time.

Warm-up - 4 minutes
2 Ball Dribbling - 5 minutes - First they the dribble length of the court and back. Then divide them into 2 or 3 competitive teams and they do a 2 ball relay suicide. The first kid gets done and hands the ball to the next team mate in line, and so on. Losing teams do 2 laps.
Ring of fire - 5 minutes - see Chapter 9 for the Ring of Fire drill
Water break - 2 minutes and they need to be on the baseline at the end of the 2 minutes
Short spaced drill - 5 minutes - see Chapter 12 for this drill
Backwards racing drill - 4 minutes - again see chapter 12 - to make it more interesting, divide them into 2 or 3 teams and have them compete in a relay. Losers do 2 laps, winning team gets a tootsie roll pops.
Gym time is so valuable that you really do want to get the most out of the time you have, so time everything you do. So far you have spent 25 minutes of your LS. Most of you will find that you only have an hour of gym time, so you are close to halfway through.

lay-ups - 7 minutes - Have them start at half court and they have to do their lay-ups at 1/2 speed. You will find you are constantly reminding them to go off of their correct foot. Spend 4 minutes having them do it with their natural hand, then 3 minutes with their opposite hand.
Water break 2 minutes
Shooting - Pass drill - 3 minutes - you will find this in Chapter 13
Screening - 5 minutes - Divide them into groups of 3. One person has the ball, one is the defender who guards the ball handler, and the last one is the screener who sets the screen on the defender. Keep on reminding them to roll to the basket after they set a SOLID SCREEN.
Now you have 18 minutes left in an hour long LS. This is where I would spend 5 minutes on an area that you feel they totally screwed up on.
The last next 8 minutes I would let them do a no dribble scrimmage.
The next 3 minutes let them dribble while scrimmaging.
The last 2 minutes will be something new. Blow your whistle and yell baseline. Once there yell ball count. This is where they have 30 seconds to collect all the balls for you and put them into your ball bags. This saves you lots of time and energy.
Yell baseline, then tell them what a great LS they had and thank them for paying attention. Now you pass out your tootsie roll pops to those that won them.
You have just finished an hour LS. If your LS's are longer than this, then spend more time on your drills, especially lay-ups. Also spend some time on your defensive foot work, like the Electric Slide drill.

You have now solved Rubik's Cube. Everything has come together for you. At the end of this LS you don't even need to go to your local watering hole, because this can be simple and SIMPLE IS GOOD!!!!