TEACHING IN THE GRID PT1

NT Midget Girls Coach David Wright asked me how I would teach players to deal with full court pressure or pressure in the backcourt.  My answer to him was to teach in "The Grid".  The next several blog posts will provide coaches with a definition of "The Grid" as well as some helpful examples of how to use the grid to develop ball handling against pressure, passing, neural activation, practice space utility maximization, spacial awareness, defensive footwork, playing in small space and vision.  Wow, that a lot!!!  Yes, the grid is a multi-functional basketball development resource where the developmental outcomes are only limited by your imagination.

THE GRID Many team sports divide the playing area into a grid when teaching the game to younger players. The same idea can work for basketball in helping players understand the concept of space. The court is divided horizontally into four zone Baseline to foul line extended Foul line extended to half court line Half court line to foul line extended   Foul line extended to the baseline. Vertically the court is divided into the three lanes Right lane Centre lane Left lane This creates a court with 12 rectangles.

Finding space This exercise while simple, helps players of all ages become more spacially aware, and helps give coaches and players language to describe areas on the court.   When the coach asks the 12 players on the team to find space each player can find one of the 12 rectangles created. You can do activities to help the players explore the space: Dribble around the perimeter of your space Find the centre of your space Find the part closet to the far basket, side line, centre circle Dribble in  a figure of eight in your space

Small sided activities or drills This example demonstrates great use of space, while also reinforcing lanes and grids on the court to players.  The grid also provides safe boundaries in which the players can do small drills or activities; for example:   1.      Two ball partner passing 2.      Pass and replace with pressure 3.      Partner mirror dribbling 4.      1 on 1 in two spaces 5.      Three player dribble protect