Man to Man Pricinples: Winning the Loose Balls

In our latest segment covering man to man principles we are covering a topic that does not apply to the defensive side of the ball exclusively but is so vital to a solid defense that we want to include it in our discussion of defense.  The topic is loose balls.  During a game there will be many opportunities for you team to grab a loose ball bouncing or rolling across the floor.  How many of these balls your team will track down can be the difference in a tough ball game.  The question is how do you as a coach teach your kids to get to loose balls.




Aside from preaching constantly to your team to be prepared to go after the loose balls, it is also not a bad idea to have some drills prepared for practice that will give your players a chance to get used to the following:
  1. How to handle and approach bouncing or rolling balls.
  2. How to beat players to loose balls even if they are quicker than you by using your body as much as possible.
There are a lot of drills that coaches can introduce to get this done but 2 of my favorites are the following:






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