How to Scrimmage in Practice

Scrimmaging is one of the most popular parts of practice for players.  They love the idea of forgoing drills and just playing.  This drill makes a coach very popular with the players but is it beneficial in preparing your team for games?  The answer to that question is yes if used correctly.  There are different ways to run a scrimmage and all of the ways that will be described below are designed to help your team become more of a team.

Types of Scrimmaging:

  1. Let them run - I like to use this type of scrimmage at the beginning of the season.  With let them run the whole idea is to split the team up and let them go up and down the court.  There are no fouls called, and the ball is pushed up the floor even after makes.  What I'm looking for with this drill is how the participants play with each other.  Do they play well together or is there a lot of "I'm getting mine" out there. The up and down action also allows for conditioning to take place in an environment that the kids don't mind.  It also helps me see how the defense responds with the constant pushing of the ball up the floor.
  2. 4v5 with chaser - This drill is great for defensive transition.  It forces the kids to identify the ball and stop it.  It shows them that in a man to man you may be assigned to someone but you are not tied to them.  Help your team when needed.  I like to run this type of scrimmage at least once a week.  It helps with the fast break on offense as well.
  3. Game situations - This is a must throughout the year.  I will split the guys up and run them through end of game situations.  
  4. Deal with pressure-There are times where I will want to challenge my team and will do so by having the defense play with more players.  I will go 5v7 most of the time and have the team break a press.  I like to have the 7 player team always be on defense and to sub freely so everyone plays offense.
  5. No dribbling-This version of scrimmaging helps promote passing and supporting teammates.  If done correctly this rule promotes receiving the pass and looking up for an open player as opposed to catching and dribbling.
  6. Run our stuff-This is something that we do throughout the year.  As we put wrinkles into our offense and defense we keep reinforcing it in game like situations.

I like to use all of the above scrimmages during the season.  I like to scrimmage during every practice.  I really think the best way to build team chemistry is by having them playing together.  It should also be noted that it is important that everyone runs with everyone.  Don't separate your team into starters and non starters.  Live game situations cannot be predicted and it is always a good idea to have all of your players be familiar with everyone on the team. 

One more thing, do we stop play during scrimmages to correct?  I don't like to.  I try to pass on instruction as they're playing just like we would in a game.  Again it's about making it as game like as possible.  However, if there is a bad habit forming during a scrimmage then you need to bring it up to the team at the end of practice and then reinforce it during the next practice.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Drill: 5v5v5 Fast Break

Image
This is a nice drill that emphasizes a whole bunch of game like situations.  Here is the list:  Fast Break Secondary Break Offensive sets Transition Defense Transition to standard defense Recognizing and attacking odd man opportunities.
Read more

Burpees (HIIT) Bakers Dozen

 Below is a great burpee workout that you can use to challenge yourself.  This challenge is called the baker's dozen.  Below is the rep range for each set and rest intervals between each set. 13 burpees 1 minute rest 12 burpees 1 minute rest 11 burpees 1 minute rest 10 burpees 1 minute rest  9 burpees 1 minute rest 8 burpees 1 minute rest 7 burpees 1 minute rest 6 burpees 1 minute rest 5 burpees 1 minute rest 4 burpees 1 minute rest  3 burpees 1 minute rest 2 burpees 1 minute rest 1 burpee 1 minute rest During the rest period you should be walking and getting yourself ready for the next set.  Don't sit down. Once completed you will have done a total of  91 burpees in about 20 minutes. It should be noted that the balers dozen method to HIIT training can be used doing different types of exercises including mountain climbers, push ups, pull ups, squats, lunges, 20 yard sprints and others. If you are in outstanding shape then you can decrease your rest per...
Read more

Layups, Layups, Layups

Image
 When we go to youth games we like watching how the kids warm up.  To us youth basketball is an easy game to coach.  As a youth coach you need to teach your kids how to play good aggressive man to man defense and on the offensive end teach them how to pass and move towards the basket.  In a pass an move offense, layups are so important.  This goes back to our opening statement about watching youth level warm ups.  Most of the teams warming up spend a lot of time shooting shots, but the good ones are always working around the basket.  We've always found it entertaining that youth teams spend so much time working on jumpers and so little time on layups.  In addition, the little time they do spend on layups is spent doing basic layups using the right hand on the right side and the left hand on the left side.  There is so much more to it than this however and kids should be exposed to different types of layups in practice.  No one can predic...
Read more