This simple drill will teach kids the fundamentals of defense.
I’ve said this many times before -defense wins championships.
So, if that’s the case, then teaching kids how to defend in basketball should be one of the most important tasks you do, aside from teaching them footwork and form shooting.
Now, there are many defensive skills to teach and just as many drills to do. This can be overwhelming to research and teach, let alone learn as a new player of the sport.
Luckily, there’s a simple drill that combines all of the fundamental defensive drills into one short circuit. It’s called the Close Out, Slide, Backpedal Drill.
This was one of my favorite drills to teach my nephew how to defend and one of my favorite exercises to do to warm up.
How To Do The Close Out, Slide, Backpedal Drill
First off, this drill is simple. It’s an easy drill to learn and run through.
Second, it works on more than defensive skills -it also works on footwork and conditioning.
Here’s how to do it:
- Have a player stand on the baseline as if she is about to run a line of shuttle runs.
- You -the coach, trainer or parent- have to stand beside or near the elbow of the free-throw line. Now, have the player run up to you as if she’s closing out a shooter. She’ll have to run to the free-throw line and close out with her hands up high.
- Now, have her slide (or shuffle) to the next elbow on the free-throw line.
- Finally, have her backpedal to the baseline.
- Have each player run through this circuit 3 times.
- After, have them do the drill on the other side of the paint or free-throw box.
Benefits of The Close Out, Slide, Backpedal Drill
This drill is great for working on these defensive skills because the players, in a game, will have to move exactly how they would in this drill.
How he closes out in the drill is how he’ll close out on a shooter in a game. How he slides in the drill is how he’ll slide as he defends an attacking ball handler. And how he backpedals in this drill is how he’ll backpedal as he gets back on defense in a game.
The movements are exactly the same.
Additionally, this drill also works on your players’ conditioning because there’s a lot of high-intensity running to try to finish the circuit as quickly as possible.
Final Thoughts
The Close Out, Slide, Backpedal Drill is fantastic for working on defensive skills and movements.
It’s fun and simple, and you get to kill two (important) birds with one stone in a relatively short amount of time.
So, have your kids do the drill at the next basketball practice so they can improve their defense and conditioning, and get wins.
Do you want to teach your kids how to play basketball but don’t know where to start?
Well, I have a book that will solve your problems.
It’s called This Book Will Teach You How to Play Basketball and it was created to help beginner players learn the sport’s basic skills.
In this book, you’ll learn:
- How to shoot a basketball
- How to dribble a basketball
- How to move on defense
- Drills with sets and reps to practice these fundamentals
Click here to buy This Book Will Teach You How to Play Basketball from Amazon.
