Newsletter #173

Today's Theme... "Live" Shell Drills 

Most of us are familiar with the defensive Shell drill for teaching man-to-man on-ball, helpside, deny and help and recover positioning.  If not, first see Defense Shell Drills, Half-Court Drills.

After running the basic positioning drills, use these competitive variations of the shell drill.

4-on-4, 5-on-5 live shell - Play until one team scores five baskets.  Switch defense to offense whenever there is a defensive stop.  Losers do push-ups (or run). We often go 5-on-5 (with a post player) when drilling against baseline dribble-penetration and double-teaming the low post.

4-on-4-on-4 (5-on-5-on-5), three stops - This is a great competitive, tough, half-court drill. We have three 4-player teams (or 5-man teams if you have 15 players).  A team can only win when it is on defense. One team starts on offense 4-on-4, while the other is on defense, man-to-man.

If the offense scores, the defense is "out" and steps off the court, the offense becomes the defense, and the sidelined 4-player team becomes the new offense. The defensive team tries to get 3-consecutive defensive stops... it has to be three in a row.

Once a defensive team accomplishes this, the drill is over and the other two teams do push-ups (or run). We may repeat this drill for two or three "games".

4-on-4-on-4 (5-on-5-on-5) live shell - Using three teams again, this is a quick moving half-court drill. We start with one team on offense, one on defense, and one waiting on the sideline. The first team to score five baskets wins, and the losers do push-ups or run.

The offense stays on the court until they are stopped. If the defense fails to stop them, the team waiting on the side becomes the defense. If the defense stops the offense, they now become the offense, the offense goes to the sideline, and the sideline team becomes the defense. We may play two or three "games" depending on how much time we have.

Keep the drill moving and make sure the sideline team steps quickly onto the floor. In fact, we even allow the offense to get a quick basket even if the defense is not yet "ready"... this teaches them to get ready and "transition" very quickly.