Drills & Strategies to Teach Aggressiveness & Hustle
In this article, you can find:
- How to Emphasize Aggressiveness and Hustle
- What Behaviors to Emphasize
- How to Use Points During Practice
- Drills and Resources
- Hustle Stats to Track and Reward
Over the years, I've come to believe that being aggressive is personality-based. Some players are just naturally more aggressive. Some aren't.
However, no matter a person's disposition, I think there are ways to get your players to play more aggressively.
I have also found that keeping things really simple helps. Sometimes players just don't know what to do...they want to play hard but don't know how...
So here are some techniques that teach any age players to be comfortable with being aggressive so that it almost becomes second nature to them:
Verbally reward all plays that include aggressiveness and hustle.
Catch players being aggressive or hustling - stop any play in practice to tell them they did a great job. Get excited about it!
It is also important that youth players understand what "aggressive" and "hustle" mean. By stopping practice to compliment these hustle plays, players will begin to understand what your expectations are in practices and games. Youth players need examples of what positive aggressiveness looks like on the court.
This also creates a positive team culture as players learn to cheer on their teammates for tremendous effort.
Even if you have to start with something small, this can help get them going in the right direction. You can focus on things like:
- Taking charges
- Diving on the floor and securing a loose ball
- Saving a ball that was going out of bounds
- Offensive rebounds/Boxing out
- Defensive rebounds/Boxing out
- Attacking the lane when it's open
- Exceptional hustle play
Another important technique is to have teammates run over and pick up players who dive on the floor or are knocked over taking a charge. All four teammates should sprint over, help the player up, and high-5/congratulate the teammate who made a hustle play. Do this during practice and games.
Use points during practice.
If you take anything from this article, this may just be the most important tip.
During scrimmages, we would give extra points for certain behaviors we wanted more of. You could mix a few of them or just focus on one of them for the day.
Here's an example of how I have used points during scrimmages:
+2 for any offensive rebounding
-1 for a missed block out
+1 for getting fouled on a shot
+2 for special hustle plays
+1 for diving on the floor for a loose ball (only when necessary - reduce points for unnecessary diving)
No matter how you choose to use points to emphasize aggressiveness and hustle, the bottom line is...
Reward and praise the effort...not the outcome or the talent.
Your players will transfer the effort and behaviors to game time.
Use drills that require aggression.
There are many loose ball drills you can incorporate into practice. Just use your common sense and tailor the drill to the age and skill levels of your players.
You want to take care not to use any drills (or part of a drill) that may cause injury...for instance, youth players are not ready to take a charge or have multiple players diving after a loose ball.
Here's one fun Loose Ball Drill that a lot of youth and high school players love! It improves three key areas:
- Hustling after every loose ball
- One-on-one offense
- Guarding the ball
Instructions:
- Line up 2 players on the baseline (low post).
- Coach takes the ball and throws it down the court hard.
- Players must sprint hard to the ball.
- The 1st player to get the ball is on offense and the other player must run back and defend in the half court.
- Players then go 1v1 until one scores.
You can also emphasize keeping the ball out of the paint and defending with hands straight up (no reaching in).
We also have a few free resources you can take a look at:
- Man in the Hole Drill
This drill instills aggressiveness, hustle, and conditioning. - Sampson's Take a Charge & Loose Ball Drill
This drill works on taking charges and diving after loose balls. Again, take care with what age/skill level you use this one with. - 3 Best Rebounding Drills
This video teaches players to make contact and correctly box out no matter what angle or side the opponent is coming from.
Track hustle stats and emphasize them.
Whether you keep stats on paper or use technology, showing kids the stats can help motivate them. Again, you can make a big deal out of these stats by emphasizing them in an exciting manner.
Maybe the day after a game, you announce improvements in these as a team. And if you feel that it works for your particular team, you can highlight individual players as well.
You could even graph these on chart paper and display so players can see the team's progress. Of course, this may depend on your particular group of players:
- Gathered loose balls
- Charges
- Deflections
- Forced jump balls
- Defensive rebounds
- Offensive rebounds
High school teams that have banquets at the end of the season should consider having awards that also reward effort and not just talent (such as most charges taken).
In conclusion, sometimes you just have to find out what makes each player tick. Some will never be super aggressive...it's not their personality. But in time, you can find certain things they will do well and will get aggressive with.
Embrace their strengths, encourage what you want, but realize you may never change some personalities. Find out what they are good at and foster those things.
Related Products & Articles
10 Tips For Getting Your Basketball Team Focused, Motivated, And Playing Hard!
The Attack & Counter Skill Development System
What do you think? Let us know by leaving your comments, suggestions, and questions...
|
|||||
Facebook (127k Followers)
YouTube (141k Subscribers)
Twitter (31.8k Followers)
Q&A Forum
Podcasts