Basketball Stations: Basketball Drills for a Pre-Practice Warmup
As a beginning coach, I ignored warm-ups and used half-speed two-ball dribbling drills as a warm-up for more intense activities during practice. When I moved to Sweden to coach a professional women’s basketball team, the players were married to their warm-ups and couldn’t function without an extended warm-up period. When I was training with the club’s men’s team, I felt like more than half of practice was a warm-up. I accepted, in a sense, with my team: we arrived before practice time and the players jump roped for 5-10 minutes above the bleachers as a warm-up and then we did a submaximal exercise on the court before moving on to our practice .
In our first game, our opponent spent 25 of the allotted 30 minutes of pregame warmup using a basketball. Later in the season, I watched another player go through an extensive pregame plyometric warmup. While the Americans criticize the European players for their defensive shortcomings, the defensive footwork of the Swedish players impressed me. We usually assume that a foreign-born player with expert footwork developed his footwork playing soccer, but as I reflected on my experience coaching abroad, it seemed that his pre-game and after-game routines practice focused on footwork and led to its development.
The following season, as I was preparing practice routines and practices, I implemented a series of warm-ups to start practice: drills to focus on footwork and jumping ability. Training women, the pre-practice jumping and agility program is an attempt to increase performance and reduce injury, as researchers believe women can reduce the risk of ACL injury through a little plyometric routine.
I use three general warm-up routines: (1) jump rope, (2) stations, or (3) full-court dynamic warm-up (carioca, running back, jumping jacks, lateral jumps, high knees, glute kicks, and high jumps/ of power). ). Our warm up now lasts 10-15 minutes.
heating stations
When we do our season warm-up, we jog, backtrack, and carioca. Since we have 10 players, we work in pairs. Our approach is to teach quick changes of direction and quickness on the first step.
Station 1: Mirror Simulation (15 seconds on, rest for 15 seconds, 15 seconds on)
We teach most of our defensive ball stance and movement through this drill and later in 1v1 drills. Players face off against each other with one player starting as an attacker and one player as a defender. The offensive player leads, moving laterally, and the defensive player tries to stay head-on. The offensive player’s goal is to create space between the two, while the defender tries to stay within the offensive player’s body width.
Station 2: Mikan Drill
The first player goes for 30 seconds and then the second player goes. Drill practices baby hook shots. He starts under the basket and steps out with his left foot on the right side to shoot right-handed; grab the ball from the net, keeping it above the shoulders, and step to the left side of the hoop with the right foot, shooting with the left hand. Keep going.
Station 3: jump squats
Squat down and jump as high as possible, swinging your arms in the air. Focus on a soft landing so that you land correctly from a vertical jump and absorb the force of impact into your leg muscles, not just your quadriceps and knee joint. Squat down to a half squat, with your lower thighs parallel to the ground before jumping up.
Station 4: X-Lay-ups
Do as many layups in 30 seconds, then switch. Start on one elbow, dribble and go for a layup. Bounce and run to the other elbow; dribble and try for a layup from the other side. Continue for 30 seconds.
Station 5: partner shooting
Player 1 passes to Player 2 and closes. P2 catches, shoots and follows his shot. P1 answers the shot and repositions himself, continually moving and calling for the ball. P2 passes to P1 and disputes the shot. The partners shoot for a minute.
Station 6: McHale Drill
The left hand tilts the ball continuously against the backboard while the right hand grips the net (hoop). Do six and switch to the right side. The right hand tips the ball against the backboard while the left hand grips the net (edge). Repeat on the left side for a total of 18 tips. Change partners.
Station 7: T-Drill with 2-ball dribble
Set up the T-Drill with cones 5 to 7 feet apart in a T shape. Start at the base of the T and run forward while dribbling two balls. Move to the left cone, then to the right cone, and finally back to the intersection. Back the pedal to the base of the T. Go three times and turn. The other player practices two-ball stationary drills while resting.
These quick drills provide a fast-paced warm-up that requires little instruction and ensures players break a sweat. Our approach is to complete drills quickly: players run from station to station and practice hard on each drill. The warm-up focuses on ball control (6 and 7), quick changes of direction (1 and 7), jumps (3 and 6) and throws (2, 4 and 5), training a variety of skills in a short period. of time. hour.