You might try teaching your post player two moves right now... a drop step to the basket and a back pivot so he can face up to the basket... he might be more comfortable with that? Just a thought.

Hey Coach Sar,

At every practice before we get into the swing of things, I have all the players do a 8-10 minute 'goove the shot' drill under the basket that includes:
- a simple lay up no dribble under the basket ((10 one side then swap sides)
- one bounce and lay up, (10 one side then swap sides),
- a Mikan style drill with the players doing 20 one bounce lay-ups alternating sides each time
- a spin out, jump stop, reverse pivot lay-up (alternating 10 on either side)
- a spin out, jump stop with baseline drop step lay-up (alternating 10 on either side)

When running through the High-low sequence with 3v0 and my bigs, I always get them to drop step or reverse pivot depending on the position they are in near the basket- and I have all the team do the post moves as they could be in the post at some stage, which gave me one memoral moment last game one of my 5'10" guards did a brilliant post fake left then drop step to score a great bucket! Made me proud, I have to say!!

I will see if I can get some pads like the ones you said or just get the other lads to give him gentle nudges, to get him used to the presence of others in the post area. I also like the idea of letting him have a play for the three and only using it if desperate! I think I will implement something like that for next practice.

Thanks for the advice once again Coach!

Coach H

If you cant find a hand held blocking pad ( ask the football coach ) you could use an old pillow or something of that nature.

Don't you love it when one of your kids do things that you teach them all the time? Lets you know that you are really getting your stuff across to them.

Use anything you can to convince the kid that he will get a 3 LOL
Can he jump? Maybe dunk? I have something for him IF he can.

Hey coach

Had a win last night against the team that beat us the other week!! It was ugly, but a win over our oldest rival school really made my, and the teams day!! They were missing a few of their playmakers but my boys stood up and played some good ball at times, some not so good but I have had a massive smile on my face all day!!
Still, there were areas to work on and I know that the team confidence will increase and they will be working harder in training as a result.
Have looked into getting some of those pads and will borrow some from the rugby coaches at school. I have also got my other big marking my 6'8" lad and just giving him gentle nudges and putting a bit of pressure on him when we scrimmage/do situations drills. He was better at getting under the basket but we could have scored a stack load more points if he had been under for more of the time!!!

We have a tournament coming up in 2 weeks so hopefully it will all come together then!!

Thanks again for your help!!!
Coach Henderson

Congratulations coach.... a win is a win is a win... you can only play who they put on the floor.... believe me, IF the situation was reversed they wouldn't be holding any pity party for you... so - CONGRATS again! Keep up the good work.

My assitant and I used to go out after every game for a "pop" and a sandwich.... while we were waiting for the food we discussed the game, good and bad points, I would write down all the things we didn't do well and I put them into the next few days practice plans. The kids knew why we were working on this and they appreciated me NOT ragging on them after a loss. (why bother doing that? It wont change the outcome!) That helped us correct our problem areas.

As for your BIG.... he is a work in progress.... YOU have to SELL him on the importance of him and to the TEAM - being around the basket more often.....have the player you have bumping him get a little more physical every few days.... work him up to what its like in games.... Convince him that he could be your leading scorer IF he would just do that.... maybe appeal to his manliness? Give him a goal of how many rebounds you would like him to get each game... start where you KNOW he can be successful and move the bar up each game.... Have some sort of reward... a certificate, gatorade etc.... maybe have a few of those things so several players can achieve that. We gave out Player of the Week certificates every week.... this is one area where you can give more than one - make up your own rules... kids like their 15 minutes of fame so to speak. We placed the certificates outside the cafeteria so the whole school could see them... and then gave them to the players at the end of the season at the awards night.

Good luck

By the way, do you have a lob play for him where he can dunk the ball?

Hi Coach Sar,

I am still smiling!! I have written down all the good points and poor points from the game and am going to have a debrief with them on Monday and see if they like the stats I have on them from the game... even shooting at 35% we managed to win, but I think that our win was more about our defensive effort rather than our shooting.
We managed to hold the other team to two points in the second quarter so that was good, but also fortuitous as their shooting was poor as well, but the main point I was very pleased with was they were shooting from the perimeter rather than driving and getting lay-ups.

I have a lob play for my big, but he can't jump and dunk the ball!! I have been working on him and getting him to do backboard touches, standing jumps and getting him to the idea of lob plays but with a lay-up/floater finish. I think that he has a bit of a complex about the fact he is so tall and everyone expects him to be able to dunk a ball... I will work on this over the season and hopefully he will get there!!

I have got the rebounding ebook from Breakthrough BBall and am using one or two drills from there to try to get him to jump more. He did get a few offensive and defensive rebounds but he didn't really jump for them as he was about half a foot taller than everyone else!!

My school has an agreement with a local basketball team and they sometimes send players down to help out. They have got a 6'9" import from America who is pretty good so I might see if he can come in and give Joe some pointers and a bit of inspiration, perhaps...

I have the kids get onto FIBATV and FIBATVEurope and watch various clips from games as 'homework' after practices and get them to look for various things that we have been doing during the practice which hopefully will help them get more into the game as well. I would show them the flashiness NBA but that is not quite sorted yet is it? When the NCAA starts up, I will get them to check out some games as well. There isn't much basketball on TV over here in the UK, so I hope that I can get a subscription to an online basketball channel and have lunchtimes watching games or clips of some at least. I wonder if the head of sport will stump up the money for it??

Coach Henderson

Great defense will win you a lot of games when your shooting is not at its best...... Their shooting was poor for a reason... YOUR DEFENSE! So, don't put yourself down..... Build on this .....

Don't spend too much time talking about the past game.... take that time to correct things and make what you do well BETTER. Save the stats for after practice - most of the things they are going to look at are their shooting stats anyway.... YOU have to get them to believe in what you think is important... and they will know that by what you do in practice. Remember this.... what you allow them to do in practice, they will do in games.

My kids knew what we were all about.... 1- Controlling the tempo (Take them out of what they do best.
2- Play great defense 3- every loose ball is ours 4- we WILL take a charger every time they drive the lane 5- get a good shot every time down the floor. 6- Be a good free throw shooting team ( know who your best ft shooters are and make sure they have the ball in their hands late in the game if you are protecting a lead ) 7- ( we were a small team ) hold your own on the boards and limit second shot opportunities - the first shot doesn't usually beat you, its the SECOND or THIRD.

Just a few of the things that I felt were important for us to be successful.

Hey Coach,

Well, so far, both my u18's and u16's are 4-2 with a good win (56-24) at a local school that beat us 36-14 first time round with my u16's! I have worked hard on our defensive strategies- full press making the passing hard and forcing the dribbler sideline- no middle court drives allowed- and aggressive man2man once they get into the edge of the volleyball court lines. Also worked on the rebounding- got some blocking pads from the football coach like you said and have been working my bigs under the basket. they are responding and my 6'8" lad is getting more into the idea of getting under the basket and jumping being strong and has started scoring more at the post.
The 4-out 1-in offense is working better now that I have started toughing up my bigs and worked on their positioning and movement we have been a better team- it took a while for the teams to get into the idea of having one big on the opposite post to the other big in the lane but it has really worked and they are working better together as a team!

Have got the Christmas break now so I will be watching the coverage of the College hoops that ESPN America are putting on over here and taking notes of the colleges that use the 4-out 1-in offense (like Villanova)- the more I see it used the better ideas I have of using it!

Thanks for the support and I hope to have more good news for you in the new year when the season starts up again. Have a merry Christmas and all the best for the new year.

Coach Henderson

Coach Henderson,

I like the way you are implementing your plans... keep up the good work... and have a very Merry Christmas too.

If your kids can watch some of the better teams, that would be great... they might be amazed with what they can do..... I'm glad that your big kid is beginning to respond..... maybe by the end of the season he might want to dunk the ball..... :-)

Enjoy your break.

BTW, do you know of a Keith Heneman over there? I think he coaches a girls team.