UD Footwork is the fundamental foundation we will build and drill daily withour student athletes. We will construct three specific defensive stances: on-ball stance, 1 pass away stance, and help-side stance. Once there is an understanding of each of the stances, we will teach our players how we want them to shuffle their feet when employing each stance. Upon understanding the proper way to shuffle, our players will be taught the fashion in which we want them to run step and to sprint to recover. The final piece of the puzzle is how we will closeout on the perimeter. After our players gain an understanding of the previously mentioned fundamentals, we will consolidate all of them into the daily drills we call "UD Footwork".
ON BALL STANCE
- Stress being low and wide, balanced and athletic, knees and feet outside shoulder width (use visual of a broomstick between the knees).
- Toes out at about 45 degree angles.
- Weight on the balls of the feet.
- Butt down, back straight, chest out, head up. No bending at the hips.
- Quads and torso form the letter "L".
- Hands at or above shoulder level. Deflection Hand is the hand in the direction the ball handler dribbles. "Hit the pass!"
1 PASS AWAY STANCE
- Same as On Ball Stance from the waist down.
- Deflection Hand becomes Deny Hand. Arm extended with palm to the ball an thumb down.
- Other hand becomes Arm Bar. Elbow is "L" shape. Forearm parallel to the floor.
- Chin is tucked into the Deny Hand shoulder to insure seeing both ball and man. "Bury the chin!"
- Drill the "Snap". Simulate a back cut. Throw hands like a punch; hard and quick.
SHUFFLE "Push"
- Explosive push with back leg, simultaneously reaching laterally with front leg. Replace feet - DO NOT drag them!
- Pump the arms to help generate momentum. Will also distract and take away vision from offensive player.
- Must keep width in the knees. Broomstick example or think school bus windshield wipers.
- Head, shoulders, and hips stay on the same horizontal plane. There should be no bobbing up and down.
- Initially, drill very slow and deliberate. Get used to being in a stance. Seniors or team leaders take the team through the paces and make the calls vocalizing, "Push. Push. Push. Snap!"
Drilling ON BALL STANCE and 1 PASS AWAY STANCE:
- 3 to 4 Goups. Each group has a leader.
- Begin on the baseline with butt toward half court.
- Starts with the leader, "Stance!" Group slaps the floor and pops into stance.
- Leader then calls out the commands, "Push. Push. Push."
- When the group gets to freethrow line extended, the leader calls, "Snap!" The entire group executes the Snap and continues in the opposite direction.
- Snaps are executed at freethrow line, half court, and opposite freethrow line.
- Drill ends through the baseline.
HELPSIDE STANCE
- Low and wide, balanced and athletic. Ballside foot is forward in a heel-toe relationship. This allows the defender to unlock hips and get to On Ball/1 Pass Away Stance and relative position quicker.
- Arms extended pointing to man and ball.
- Must put self in narrow triangle relationship to man and ball. 2 steps below the line of the ball to the man.
CLOSEOUTS
- Sprint 2/3 to 3/4 of the distance to the man with the ball. This will be determined by whether the offensive player is a penetrator or a shooter and by the relative speed/quickness of the offensive player.
- Last 1/3 or 1/4, chop for width. Short, choppy steps.
- Throw hands straight up, "Palms to the ceiling." This will allow the defense to lower butt and straighten back into the On Ball Stance.
- Top foot (closest to half court) should be above the offensive player's top foot. Take away middle penetration.
Drilling HELPSIDE STANCE and CLOSEOUTS:
- Players' feet split the baseline in Helpside Stance facing the same sideline.
- Ballside foot is the foot out of bounds. Should be forward in heel-toe relationship with other foot.
- On coach's call of "Pass!", players turn hips and explode up the floor executing a closeout at the freethrow line. (We prefer to have a coach on the sideline pass a ball to a coach on the floor ahead of the first group. Emphasizes reacting on the pass of the ball)
- Coach on the floor will sweep a ball either right or left. The players must execute one quick shuffle in that direction.
- Reset to Helpside Stance. Group 1 at the freethrow line and Group 2 on the baseline.
- Closeouts are executed at the freethrow line, half court, opposite freethrow line, and opposite baseline.
SHUFFLE - RUN STEP - SHUFFLE
- When guarding penetration and the defender gets beat, this is a quick recovery.
- An explosive 1 1/2 to 2 step movement to square off a ball handler.
- Turn hips and sprint.
- Emphasis on staying low in the Run Step. Head and shoulders shouldn't raise up.
- Getting back into On Ball Stance, players throw their outside hand and leg toward ball handler.
SHUFFLE - SPRINT RECOVERY
- Same as run step, but now the offense has a distinct distance advantage. Must sprint to get ahead of the ball.
Drilling SHUFFLE - RUN STEP - SHUFFLE
- Players line up in the same fashion as the closeout drill
- Leader calls, "Stance!" Players slap the floor and pop into On Ball Stance.
- Leader calls, "Push." Players begin shuffling down the floor.
- When players get to the freethrow line, execute a Run Step
- Execute at freethrow line, half court, opposite freethrow line, and finish through the baseline.
Drilling SHUFFLE - SPRINT RECOVERY
- Same as above, except players shuffle to freethrow line, sprint to halfcourt, shuffle to opposite freethrow line, sprint to baseline, then square off in On Ball Stance on the baseline.
All players are partnered with another player across from them. So in this case the numbers are partnered with the X-numbers. The two balls in the drill must travel in the same direction. Once the ball is passed, the players must sprint to change places with their partner.
Once your players know this drill, they will sprint to the half court positions! You can assign where your guys go and change it up every time.
This is a partner shooting drill. You can use it with just two at a basket, or multiple sets of partners on the same basket. I like drills that have balls flying all over the place and other players moving within the drill. It simulates game-like action in that concentration must be high and players must "read" the conditions around them. 3 sets of partners at one basket is a good thing to me.
I know it is a little late in the season for this, but this is something that you can maybe tuck away in your bag of tricks for next season. The idea behind this is players have to earn their right to be able to shoot beyond the arc. Similar to driving, players have to pass a "test", or in this case a series of tests, to obtain a license.
This is a conditioning drill I've used for several years. 20 sets of lines, suicides, horses, or whatever you call them, in 20 minutes. While at Eastern Washington University, we required all of our players to run the 20 in 20 until every one of them made their time individually. At Texas Lutheran, this drill was used as a reward for behavior we deemed to be outside of our expectations.
