PASS- Principle to Improving Individual Defense

I believe that there are four components to improving individual defense- strength, agility, stance, and positioning. Basketball is no longer a finesse game. Strength is a key component to blocking out, fighting through screens, and holding position against the offensive player. Along with strength is agility. Improving your athleticism and quickness will help you to stay in front of your opponent, and allow you to change directions more efficiently. Using your strength and agility intelligently is the third component. Learning to be in a great stance all the time will help you to improve. This takes concentration and toughness. A good stance means that your hands are above your elbows, and your knees are bent in a line backer position with your head up. Last is positioning. You should always have vision to the ball and your man. I believe this is the component that separates the great defenders from the good defenders. Players can improve their defensive positioning by playing 3 on 3 or 5 on 5. Defense is an Attitude- there is no glory in defense, but great defense leads to easy scoring opportunities at the other end of the court. Just Remember the PASS principle to improving defense- Positioning-Agility-Stance-Strength.

2 Ball Dribbling Series

The best way to improve your ballhandling is to use two basketballs. When doing these drills it is important to keep you eyes up, use the pads of your hands, and control the basketball below your waist. Stationary 2 Ball Dribbling- same time below your waist, alternate below your waist, same time as low as you can, alternate as low as you can, right high-left low, left high-right low, push and pull(forward and back) with a ball on each side of your body, windshield wipers-side to side right to left, change hands, between the legs change hands, behind the back change hands, dribble figure eight. Do each of these for about 20 seconds each as a warm-up to your workout. As you do each of these dribble moves be sure to keep your body in a good athletic position with your knees bent and head up.

Guard Moves to 20

This is a way to make your guard moves competitive. If you are working out with a partner, then each of you start with a ball in the center circle. Play follow the leader. As you approach the top of the key make one of the following moves- cross-over, behind the back, between the legs, stutter-step, or in-out dribble. Try to do an equal number of moves with your left and right hands. The first player to make 20 shots wins. Here is a list of shots that you can shoot. Feel free to add your own shots. Lay-Up, Block Jumper, Power Shot in the Lane, Elbow Jumper, Block Shot Fake Step Through, Step Back and Go, Step Back Elbow Jumper, FT Jumper, Top of the Key Jumper, 8-10' Floater. If you hit 1 shot of each move on each side that will get you to 20 makes. If you want to add a time component to the drill, then see how long it takes to complete the 20 makes. Try to beat your time each time you workout.

2 MInute Shooting

In this drill you are going to have a shooter and a rebounder. The shooter is going to shoot for 2 Minutes at 7 different spots (Corner, Wing, Elbow, Top of the Key, Elbow, Wing, Corner). The shooter must hit 2 shots in a row from a given spot in order to move on to the the next spot. Keep track of how many shots are taken, and how many are made. The goal of the shooter is to see how many spots they can shoot from in the 2 minute time period. Be sure that you are trying to shoot your shots at game speed!