Defensive Footwork Drills

As promised a while ago drills to follow up on the defensive footwork technique we are talking about:

(The names of the drills are inconsequential, you can call them anything you want that your kids can easily remember.)

Mirror Slides

Kids get into pairs. They face each other seperated by a line. (We use the foul line but any line will do.) One partner is the leader, the other is the mirror. The leader slides in a direction while the mirror does their best to match them move for move as simulataneously as possible. We force them to play between two set points, so they have to work on change of direction.

Mirror Images

Players get into groups. One player is on offense with the ball, one player is defending the ball. The remaining players are staggered behind original defender. They are all in defensive stance too. As the ball moves side to side or forward, the on the ball defender practices footwork. They "mirror images" all try to match the on the ball defender move for move.

Footwork Chase

Players get into 2 lines, each one beginning at the elbow and going to the near baseline. The first two players in each line face each other. In a defensive stance they move together working on footwork as they move to the other foul line before jogging back. The coach can vary the movments: all slides, slide to sprint (or any variation), make it a race, create a leader and a follower.

Triangle Slides

Players work with a partner. One with the ball pivoting, one in a defensive stance on the ball. As the offensive player pivots to protect or attack, the defensive player must make a quick 2 footed movement to take away the new angle. All the offense can do is pivot, the defense simply has to keep taking away the new lane created by the pivot.

Full Court 1 on 1

Players work with a partner. One on offense the other on defense. Have the player with the ball advance up the court while being pressure by the defense. The particular route or movement may be determined by your defensive philosophy but the key is to work on the defenses footwork. This drill can have several layers: offense just making the defense work, half speed, live one on one, etc.

These are just a few basic drills for footwork. Any thing you can think of is probably just as useful. Simply make sure that the focus is on proper defensive positioning and footwork not neccessarily the end result.