Getting On The Boards!

One of the most difficult skills to coach in basketball is rebounding. It is one of those skills taken over by attitude. Players with a "nose" for the ball and a willingness to battle are better rebounders than those who are less aggressive- even if they both have great box out technique.

Here is my thought on coaching rebounding.

You want to break down the fundamentals of boxing out. How to locate your man, how to make contact (go out and get your man), how to create a wide low body to have leverage, how to release and get the ball, then what to do with the ball once you've got it.

Every player can learn these skills and do them well during practice, but why don't they do it during games? I think it is because we don't have patients.

Boxing out takes discipline. Players have to be willing to take their eye off the shot when it is released, find the man, make contact and stay in contact until the ball is coming off the rim. All the while their natural instinct tells then to go get the ball- follow the ball. This is the way the rest of the game is played. Players move immediately on a pass, they move when their opponent dribbles, they cut to the hoop, the drive past defenders, and they dive for loose balls. But in boxing out you have to be patient and not move toward the play immediately. You actually move slightly away from the ball. This is takes training to be good at.

Here are some of my favorite drills I use to work on boxing out:

1. Shadow "Boxing"- Basically the rebounder slowly works on the techniques of boxing out with out a partner. The coach will point in the direction he or she wants the player to turn/step through and box out. This is how the player can get comfortable with the footwork.

2. Partner box out. Now add a partner and the rebounder must react to the direction the offensive player moves. Take it slow at first.

3. Live shot box out. Now the defender must rebound the ball off a live shot. The coach must stop the play every time the defender fails to do it correctly- even if they get the rebound. The reason for this is to get the players thinking about always doing it right to it becomes a habit.

4. 3 on 3 game- same as the live shot but now the they play a game. The offensive team gets 2 points for a rebound and the defense gets 1 point. The game goes to 5. This makes the defenders really focus and work.

5. Criss cross box out- Here you will teach your players to not chase but to protect their area. So the offensive players (start 3 on 3) will be bunched up and when the shot is taken they will attach the basket from different angles. The defenders must find the offensive player in their region and seal them off. This drill takes discipline. When I coaches high school boys basketball I use to have my players on foul shot call a play that meant the our closest rebounders to the board (this is when we were shooting) would cross hard. We were always good for a few cheap rebounds using this play. The reason is the inside rebounder always chases and doesn't defender their side.

So try these 5 drills out. Really the drill doesn't matter as much a the focus on discipline and technique. The one thing you don't want to discourage though is a players will and aggressiveness to go get the ball. So you as the coach have to balance the two.

Let me know what you think.

Play Hard,

Lee

PS: A great set of drills to improve athletic footwork to help boxing out are in my newest DVD set called Ground Breaking 2. Check it out at www.GroundBreaking2.com