Posting Up

The first point I would like to make about posting up is the distinction between posting up and post players. Post players, or what I refer to as "bigs", are a rare and special commodity in our province. I say this because a true "big" is a phsyical specimen with a unique skill set designed for being superior in size to most of their opponents. They play close to the basket, and have different roles then most players.

The issue is that we don't have a lot of "bigs" in our province. The best NB boys players this year were a 6'4 point guard from Riverview and a 6'7 forward from Nepisiquit. THey'll both play at Acadia next year and neither will play the post. The point I'm trying to make is we will often see kids in our programs who are taller than the rest, and suddenly we teach them to be a post. Then they get to high school and aren't bigger anymore, or they have no options to do anything beyond their club/school because they wouldn't be a post at another level. My feeling is that we need to make our kids skilled face up players and if we are lucky enough to ever get a kid who is 6'6 - 7'0 who will be a legitimate "big" kid then we can worry about their interior game at that point.

That being said, one of the skills everyone needs to have is the ability to post up. Posting up is the skill of putting an opponent on your back to seal them away from the ball. This allows the offensive player to cleanly catch the ball, while maintaining contact they can exploit when they've made the catch. This skills allows people to catch by the rim uncontested, get an inbounds pass, or simply create space to catch to play 1 on 1. THe key is to post up a player not an area.

H0w do you teach kids to post up?

1 - The first step is to teach them to be comfortable and mobile with contact. Have them low in a stance, doing some pushing and pulling for space.

2 - PLayers need to learn that lower and wider allows them to hold space vs. contact and maintain position. Have one player position themselves as low and wide as possible to be strong and balanced. Have a partner (with increasing force) try to move them off a spot.

3 - Place a ball on the floor. Have both partners (using only their legs) fight to be closer to the ball then the other player without touching the ball. See how long one player can keep the other away from the ball using their back, butt and legs.

4- Once that is done have kids work in groups of three. Start with guided defense and work up to live play. One partner can have the ball and be trying to throw a straight line push pass to his partner. The third defender is trying to deny the ball into the offense. The reciever must post and position their body between the ball and the defender before they can recieve the pass.

What sort of footwork do kids need?

The basic footwork and body position is a step over or "swim move". The offensive player is low and tight to the defense. They then swing their inside arm out and around the defender knocking away arms and pinning the defenders torso. They step quickly over the closest foot of the defender, pinning the knee with their backside. They repeat this process until they have created an unobstructed line between themselves and the ball, with their defender on their back/hip.

Why post up?

The post up has many purposes.

The big one is that is takes the skills, footwork, and speed/agility often needed to beat an opponent and turns it into a game of who is stronger. So if a player were having trouble recieving a pass vs. and opponent of superior speed, agility or defensive aptitude they could use the post up as an equalizer.

The second advantage of the post up is it has contact already created. On any good attack of the defense, the offensive player has initiated contact and sealed a player off. The post up allows most of the work in initiating to be accomplished prior to the catch and it is only a matter of maintaining contact while keeping a hard angle in the direction you wish to move.

Finally it is a chance to be physical with an opponent. If you've got a player that is particulary fast or talented that you want to make work hard one defense, then a post up nullifies their speed and skill and requires them to exert a great deal of energy dealing with the contact. The other teams star cannot rest on defense if they are constantly being posted up, regardless of whether or not we intend to attack them with the ball.