In my 20 years of coaching, I’ve probably thought about playing a matchup zone defense roughly 100 times (and even made a couple half hearted attempts).

Yet I’ve never committed to it.!

So why do I continually come back to the idea of a matchup zone?

Because it seems to offer the best elements of both man to man and zone defense:

• Man
• The ball is always accounted for

• Zone
• You can control where your players are

Additionally, it’s confusing to play against. Should you run your man offense? Your zone offense? Screen? Cut? This can fluster many opponents.

So why didn’t I ever follow through and run a matchup?

If I’m being honest, it’s because I wasn’t confident enough in my ability to teach it. I’ll bet many coaches feel the same way. We see the upside of a matchup zone defense, but are unsure of how to get there. 

There is a solution to this problem however.. Don Kelbick’s Matchup Zone Defense provides a step-by-step formula that makes the matchup simple to play but devastating to play against!

The 3 Ingredient Recipe For A 5 Star Matchup Zone

Mastering the matchup zone can be done in a 3 part progression:

1. Teach man to man principles

Don’t let the word “zone” fool you. Your players need to know how to guard the ball. They need to know man to man help responsibilities.

You’ll start by teaching these defensive principles:

• On ball defense
• Off ball defense
• Shell defense
• 4v3 defense
• 4v3 defense
• 5v4 defense
• 5v5 defense

That’s the progression Coach Kelbick uses to teach the matchup.

You won’t go on to step 2 until your players can play man to man defense effectively.

2. Put the matchup zone in as a whole.

Coach Kelbick installs the zone in 1 day. That doesn’t mean it’s mastered in a day. But he gets the whole thing in and then practices it - A LOT!

Some coaches like to teach concepts in parts. Coach Kelbick has found that this defense is best learned as a whole. That’s true for the half court & full court components of the defense.

Yes, there is 1 drill (with 4 progressions) that he uses to teach the defense. That drill (covered in the video) teaches players the defense & the adjustments that make it so hard to play against.

However, besides that 1 drill, he works the zone as a whole to help players see the big picture work and work as a 5 person unit.

3. Let them play!

You have to play the defense to get good at it. The more your players play it, the better they get at it. The more you watch them play it, the better you get at coaching it.

Use 5v5 as a diagnostic. When players make mistakes, it’s simply data to learn from.

Learn From my Matchup Zone Mistakes

Learning about Coach Kelbick’s plan revealed the flaws in mine! When I tried a matchup zone in the past, I made mistakes at all 3 levels:

•  Not mastering man to man defense first
• Trying to break down the defense into smaller parts under the mistaken belief that would make it easier for players to understand
• Not playing it enough to get good at it

When I try it again, I’ll be in a much better position to teach it. If you follow the 3 steps above, you will be too! To learn more about the complete system, check out Don Kelbick’s Matchup Zone Defense.

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