Coaches are always looking for a way to get an edge on the competition. 

What if there was one “trick” to help you get more out of every practice drill?

And Overloading Drills is one surefire “trick” to help you get more out of your drills and get a foot up on your rivals!

Captain Obvious….Start With POE’s

Ok. 

Starting with the basics, most coaches know they should have points of emphasis POE’s in their drills. Focus on one or two basketball skill points of emphasis for each drill. 

 And most of us would agree that this is the best thing to do. 

So let’s say you are doing a defensive shell drill. The points of emphasis might be closeouts along with boxing out after every shot.

Or maybe it is an offensive drill where the points of emphasis are setting up your defender to be screened and facing up to the basket each time on a catch.

This is a great starting point, but how do you take your drills to the next level?

Overload Your Drills

The best way to get more bang for your buck is to focus on multiple areas of development for each drill. These areas of development can be put into categories that I like to call Winning Attributes.

What are winning attributes?

Well, to me these are attributes or skills you want your players to have that will help them develop as players and the team be more successful.

So obviously basketball skills would be high on that list. 

But what other Winning Attributes or skills would be on that list?

• Basketball Related Skills
• Mental Toughness
• Physical Toughness
• Competitiveness
• Communicators
• Positive Teammates
• Leadership Skills
• Effort and Work Ethic
• Team Player

These are just a few common attributes that almost all coaches want in their players. And these are definitely Winning Attributes!

Yet how much time is spent developing these attributes? Most coaches would admit, very little!

We want players to have these attributes, but we tend to focus almost entirely on the basketball skill portion.

This is where Overloading Drills comes into play. Every drill has the opportunity to have multiple attributes being emphasized.

Get More Bang For Your Buck

So what are some things you can do to make sure each practice drill has multiple layers of Winning Attributes within them?

Well, besides working on a specific basketball skill/skills in each drill, make sure you are emphasizing multiple Winning Attributes from the list above (or your own list). 

Emphasizing these winning attributes won’t take away from the basketball skills you are focusing on, but they will enhance the overall success of your team.

Below are examples of ways to help you develop leadership, mental toughness, and effort/work ethic with your team.

1. Developing Leadership - Assign 2-4 players to be leaders for each practice. They should:
• Help get drills organized quickly, be a coach on the floor
• Keep teammates focused on the points of emphasis in the drill
• Talk to their teammates during 30 second timeouts in the drill
• If you scrimmage, allow them to change the offense or defense (in accordance with what you might usually do)
• Have leaders give you feedback at the close of the practice about what went well and what didn’t go well
• Have leaders give 30 second talk to the team and beginning and end of practice
2. Developing Mental Toughness - You may feel your team lacks mental toughness in one particular area. A couple ways to work on mental toughness would include:
• Calling “phantom fouls” during practice. Instead of trying to be a great official in a drill, be a bad official at times. Call fouls that are questionable and move on with the drill. Players need to learn how to deal with calls that don’t go their way during games.
• Have players “validate” each win they have after a drill is over. Pick a player from the winning team to shoot 1 FT. If they make it, the losing team runs 2 sprints instead of 1….but if they miss the FT, then the winning team runs the sprint with the losing team. This is just one simple way to put pressure on players and build mental toughness.
3. Effort/Work Ethic- Chart what is important to you. If effort and working hard can help you win games, shouldn’t you chart this during drills? 

Have and assistant coach chart areas that might include:

• Diving on the floor
• Winning sprints (or running harder than teammates)
• Winning their race in transition (sprinting harder than teammates)
• Boxing out (even if the rebound didn’t come in their direction)

The bottom line is, you CAN chart effort, and if this is something you care about as a coach, maybe it should be a point of emphasis in every drill.

Putting The Practice Pieces Together

So now what does that defensive shell drill look like that we mentioned earlier? It now includes:

1. Basketball Skills 
• Player Closeouts
• Boxing Out
2. Leadership
• Assigning players who are drill leaders 
• They get drills set up
• Address the team during 30 second timeouts
• Lead by example and verbally
• Communicate with coaches if there is a problem
3. Mental Toughness
• Maybe the first team to get 3 stops wins… but you start one of the teams with 2 stops
• Maybe you call “touch fouls” on one team to make getting stops more difficult
• Maybe after 3 stops they must “validate the win” by making 2 FTs..otherwise they lose
4. Effort/Work Ethic
• Have and assistant coach chart players who find someone to box out each shot
• Chart any time a players dives for a lose ball
• Chart any time a players attempts to take a charge

The point is, you now have 4 areas with specific Winning Attributes that you are focusing on. They don’t distract from one another, they only enhance what you are trying to accomplish with your team.

This is only one example of overloading drills. The ways you can accomplish this are limitless. 

The key is making sure you have an organized plan for each practice/drill for what Winning Attributes you are focusing on.

Master Of Practices

One coach who has mastered the concept of Overloading Drills is Coach Kevin Furtado. This is not new to him, he’s been doing this for years.

Each of his drills in practice has a…

• skill or basketball component 
• competitive component
• effort component
• leadership component 
• motivational component

He has used his Competitive Motivational Practice System to get the most out of drills for years. 

It has helped him turn around 4 different basketball programs as well.

Don’t Delay - Start Today

Don’t put it off. Start with one area you want to emphasize that you feel your team is deficient in and make sure it is a point of emphasis in drills immediately!

And remember, the list above of Winning Attributes is not all-inclusive. Come up with your own list and make sure you are incorporating the development of multiple attributes into each drill.

Overload your drills today to get more out of your practices!

Good Luck!

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