Skill Development Session 8-12

Today's 7AM Skill Development Session was the last of this first week of the new school year.  Four boys and four girls participated during the Friday session.  During the other four sessions this week, there were always at least 14 players present.  I actually encouraged the players to take this morning off after working so hard during the week's first four days.

The players present today had productive workouts.  They worked on shooting, footwork, driving, ball handling, passing, and reading the defense.

Shooting
Repetitions - Players shot over 200 shots, including the following types:
     Catch and Shoot
     Mikan
     Reverse Mikan
     Jump Hooks (both hands)
     Running Hooks (both hands)
     Step Back Jump Shots
     Pull Ups off the Dribble (See Video Below)
     Pull Ups off the Ball Screen (See Video Below)

Footwork
     Drop Step and Drive to the basket (from low post, medium post, and high post)
     Rolling to the basket after screen; sealing and posting after the roll

Seeing
     Following up on ideas from yesterday's post, we worked on reading the defense and using our eyes to communicate and get teammates good shots.  We practiced getting good shots after a high ball screen.

Ball Handling - We talked about the importance of improving ball handling skills.  We can't "look up" to see teammates and read situations if we cannot reliably control and handle the basketball.
     2 Balls Stationary Dribbling
     2 Balls Zig Zag (See Video Below)

See video of players working on the "2 Ball Zig Zag" and practicing scoring off the high ball screen...

See this video for a demonstration of the Mikan drill..

   ...and see this one for a demonstration of the Reverse Mikan drill: