GAME- LIKE DRILLS FOR DEFENSIVE CONDITIONING
As a coach who has won multiple championships, I have often been asked the question “How can your kids compete at
such a high level night after night and never get tired!?” My response is simply “Game-Like Conditioning.”
One of the biggest reasons why the usual conditioning drills are not our preferred method is that they are not game
specific. If you walk into most gyms across in the country there is no doubt in my mind that you will see a coach lining up
his whole team on the baseline and making the players run suicides or line drills at some point during practice. Although
this is good for general conditioning as a whole it is not the best way to get in game shape. (Besides that, there isn’t one
single player on any team anywhere that actually likes to run that type of conditioning drill.)
We have found that when a game gets tough and a player starts to get a little tired, the tendency is to rest on defense.
Why? Because most players feel that being on offense is more “fun” and because playing defense can be much more
physically demanding. Because of this fact, we feel it is very important to be in exceptional “defensive” shape so our
players can continue to stay in a good defensive stance throughout the game and can eliminate the desire to rest when our
opponents have the ball.
Over the years I have used several defensive conditioning drills to replace the “suicide drill.” Our players go hard in these
drills because they can easily see how they apply to their performance during games. These drills have worked wonders for
my team and my program and I know that they will do the same for you.
Here are 5 of our defensive conditioning drills:
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Key Slides
The first conditioning drill that we implement in practice is called Key Slides. For many players the first thing to work on
when it comes to defensive stance is the ability to quickly plant their outside foot and change directions when guarding on
the ball. On teams that put a lot of pressure on the ball this can be crucial for the overall success of the team’s defense.
The team lines up on the baseline with one athlete out on the court. (This drill can be run on both sides of the court or at
several baskets to maximize practice time).
Player 1 starts below the big block outside of the key and facing the baseline. He then slides across the key to the opposite
big block and then slides his way from hash mark to hash mark all the way up the key. A total of 8 key slides take place. To
end the drill the player on his last slide opens up his stance and now sprints to the circle at half court before returning to
the end of the line.
We continue this drill until everyone has completed six repetitions. This will generally take 6-8 minutes but can be
completed by much faster if you use more baskets.
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The Shark
The Shark is a great drill to improve overall conditioning in the half court. To start, one player steps out facing the free
throw line. Player one sprints and closes out on the elbow making sure the closeout is not rushed, sloppy, or haphazard!! (A
great close out consists of chopped feet, hands thrown in the air, and hips dropped). After the closeout the athlete then
continues to slide to the opposite elbow while staying in a perfect defensive stance. Once at the opposite elbow he/she
backpedals to the baseline and then slides to the corner. Upon reaching the the corner, player one sprints to half court and
again performs another closeout (We like to put a coach or a manager with a ball at the elbow and at half court so the
players can closeout on a live opponent). After a proper closeout the athlete then slides across half court to the other
sideline and then backpedals to the end of the line.
We run this drill until each player on the team has completed The Shark four times.
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Jump and Slide
A defensive possession is not truly over until the rebound is secure. When the ball is bouncing around off the rim a
rebounder may have to make several consecutive jumps to get the ball, The Jump and Slide drill is a great drill to get some
quick and consecutive jumping incorporated into your everyday conditioning drills.
In order to maximize practice time, we perform this drill on both sides of the basket at the same time. If you are a program
who practices with two teams together (Ex: Varsity and JV or 7th and 8th graders) you can perform this drill on both ends of
the court.
Split your team into two lines, both starting just below the elbows. Players 1 and 3 will then sprint towards the basket and
jump 5x each simulating going after a rebound in a game situation (Require your players to touch the foam or the
backboard or the rim depending on their age and athleticism for their jump to count). After the five jumps are completed,
each player then drops into a defensive stance and slides to the near corner (Make sure that their back is straight and their
hips are dropped! After performing several jumps players will naturally get tired and will be tempted to rise up out of their
proper defensive stance). Once in the corner the players will now backpedal to half court and then drop again into a
defensive stance and slide until they get into the circle at half court. Once the player completes his or her repetition they
now switch lines.
We usually perform the Jump and Slide drill for a total of 3 sets or 6 repetitions (3 on each side).
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Turn-N-Sprint
At some point in every season your team is undoubtedly going to have to employ some type of full court pressure and will
get beat off the dribble. When beat off the dribble there are two ways that individual players and teams can react: 1) Give
up on the play and let the ball handler proceed to bring the
ball up the court or 2) Turn and sprint ahead of the ball and
continue pressuring the ball. This is a simple but phenomenal
drill used to teach players how to turn and sprint ahead of the
ball and again drop into a stance. This is extremely game like
and an excellent conditioner.
Player 1 starts in one corner of the court where the baseline
meets the sideline. Player 1 slides three to five times then
turn their shoulders and sprint ahead of the ball. (Coaching
point: insist that your players keep their heads on an even
plane and do not rise out of their stance when turning to
sprint.) Once ahead of the ball the defender immediately
drops down into a stance and slides again three to five more
times until they reach the sideline. The players will continue
sliding and sprinting all the way down the court. A total of six
cross court Turn-N-Sprints should be done before getting to
the other corner.
Once at the opposite end of the court, players will then
perform four closeouts down the sideline before getting to the
back of the line.
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Defensive Hell
We call this Defensive Hell because that’s what the players called it the first time we ran it. If executed with maximum
intensity this is as challenging as any drill that we have ever come across. This drill really emphasizes every movement
needed to play a great possession of ball pressure defense.
Athletes start in a defensive stance and slide in a zig-zag
motion back and forth in between the sideline and the lane
line (Six zig-zags should be performed before reaching half
court). Once at half court the athletes will then continue to
slide to the opposite sideline along the half court line (When
sliding in this straight line most players will try to slack off
and attempt to raise up out of their stance. It is your job as
the coach to make sure this doesn’t happen!). Upon reaching
half court, players will then backpedal diagonally to the
opposite corner. Once at the corner, players will execute four
closeouts along the baseline. After the four closeouts are
performed players will now turn and sprint full speed the
length of the sideline before jogging to the original starting
point where they start zig-zagging again and repeat the
circuit.
Three to five continuous circuits is an outstanding game like
defensive conditioner. Occasionally we will complete the
required circuits, rest 30-60 seconds depending on time of
the season, and then start the drill over from the opposite
corner.
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