by Josè Vicente "Pepu" Hernandez

Drills after the warm-up

Josè Vicente "Pepu" Hernandez started his coaching career in 1989 as assistant coach of Estudiantes Madrid. In 1994 he became head coach and led the team to eight playoff semifinals, one final of the championship and a King's Cup win (in 2000). In 2005 Hernadez became head coach of the Spanish men's national team. In 2006 he won the gold medal at the FIBA World Championship in Japan and in 2007 he won the silver medal at the EuroBasket.

Except for rare occasions, our daily working routine remained the same when I coached the Adecco Estudiantes team for many seasons. The following exercis-es that I will describe have different aims and satisfy different practices demands.

1. Conditioning We work with the conditioning coach and choose specific drills that focus on running and speed, as well as duration and intensity.

2. BeginningWe add the second level to our own warm-up in preparation to the technical/ tactical part of the practice.

3. Technical WorkDifferent working options on individual and collective fundamentals are used during the first phase of the practice. They include the following: ! Individual Work. Drills have the pri-

mary purpose of improving individual fundamentals and giving the players the ability to select the proper options

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on offensive and defensive situations. ! C ollective Work. We practice the var-

ious collective options on defense and offense.

All the drills we run until now are in prep-aration for what will be the main topic of the practice of that day (a specific of-fense, the fastbreak, defense, etc.).

In all the offensive drills, we try to em-phasize passing and continuous move-ment without the ball. In addition, I like to add rules that make it more difficult to create the execution of the drills. This forces the players to concentrate and find creative solutions as they are taking part in the drills. This is exactly what hap-

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8 -1 0 minutes. ! S tretching 4 -6 minutes. ! F irst drills. DR IL L 1 : E L E V E N P L A Y E R S

This drill req uires 1 1 players to set up as shown in diagram 1 . Three players are on offense versus the two defend-ers. After the shot, miss, or a score, one of the two defenders passes the ball to the player out-of-bounds (on the right side in this example), and they run the

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pens during a regular season game, so this type of drill should have great carry-over effect.

It is important to vary the drills through-out the week to keep the players inter-ested. A good way to do this is to vary the duration and intensity of a drill.

The beginning of our routine was always similar to this one: !Warm-up with the ball (different drills)

fastbreak with the other player, who was off the court. They play three-on- two at the other basket. The player, who gets the ball drives to the center of the court, while the passer goes in the lane, where he has passed the ball, and the third player runs in the opposite lane. The other four remaining players set themselves up with two on defense and one each on the left and right side of the half court (diagr. 2 ).

O ption R un the fastbreak without dribbling:a. The passer passes to the player on

his right side, runs in the central lane, receives the ball back and passes it to the player on the left side, who runs along the sideline (diagr. 3 ).

b. The passer passes the ball to the player on his right side, and runs to occupy the left lateral lane, while the other player on the left side goes in the central lane, gets a pass from the player on the right side, and then kicks back the ball to him (diagr. 4 ).

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Solutions on offensea. C hange the side of the ball (diagr. 5 ).b. Pass and cut in the middle of the lane,

with the cutter replaced by the other wing (diagr. 6 ).

c. Pass and go away, while the opposite wing cuts in the lane (diagr. 7 ).

DR IL L 2 : 2 -O N -1 / 3 O N 2

The initial set is shown in diagram 8 . The two players on the wing start to play a 2 -on-1 , and then they go to the opposite

basket, playing 3 -on-2 with the two of-fensive players plus the defender (diagr. 9 ). The play then continues with a 2 -on-1 , with the player who, shot or lost the pos-session of the ball acting as a defender, going in the circle at mid-court. While going back 3 -on-2 , we can add rules, such as no dribbling while playing 2 -on-1 , or only one dribble allowed per player.

DR IL L 3 : W A V E 5 P L A Y E R S 3 -O N -2 / 3 -O N -1

The 5 players start to make a wave, with

almost five passes (diagr. 1 0 ). The shoot-er and the player, who made the last pass run on defense, while the other three players are on offense, and they play 3 -on-2 (diagr. 1 1 ). The shooter or the player, who lost the possession of the ball, then goes on defense and they come back and play 2 -on-1 (diagr. 1 2 ).

DR IL L 4 : 4 -O N -3 C O N T IN U IT Y

The set shown in diagram 1 3 has four players involved, and one of them is in

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the low-post area. They play 4 -on-3 in continuity. Here are the options: ! N o dribble. ! N o dribbles until the mid court and

only one dribble per player on the of-fensive half court.

! Pass the ball to the low post. ! L imit the number of passes. ! O nly the perimeter players can shoot

from the 3 -point line.

DR IL L 5 : 2 -O N -1 / 1 -O N -1 W IT H O U T DR IB B L E S

The start of the drill is shown in diagram 1 4 . Players play 2 -on-1 , and then again 2 -on-1 at the other half court. The first defender should try to harass the pass to the offensive player as he goes to the basket. DR IL L 6 : W A V E 2 -O N -1

Three players make a wave. Then they go back to the same basket. The shooter then becomes the defender and plays 2 -on-1 (diagr. 1 5 and 1 6 ). Here are the rules: ! L imit the number of passes. ! If a basket is scored, the throw-in

comes from the baseline. ! If there is no basket scored, rebound

and fastbreak. ! N o long pass can be made to the sec-

ond offensive player. ! Three competitive groups of players. ! R un a 2 -on-1 for the second time with

the same group of players.

The second part of this article will be published in the next issue.

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