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Open Basketball Practice with Gary Waters Former Cleveland State head coach Gary Waters transformed the Vikings into a winner by developing the fundamentals needed to play a pressure style of defense and a continuity ball screen offense. In this video, Waters, the winningest coach in Cleveland State history, shows you how he organized practice and gives you some of the drills he used to lead to the Vikings to a 2011 Horizon League championship. Warm ups for Basketball Practice The first 15 minutes of each practice worked on individual player development with a heavy emphasis on individual skills. Guards work on ball handling and posts work on finishing at the rim. A number of ball handling drills are used while posts work on drop steps, jump hooks, and jump shots in the paint. Part of the warmup at the beginning of practice also includes a series of dynamic stretches, jump rope, and agility ladders. These help to prepare the body as well as work on individual quickness and agility. Jumping rope is made competitive to help athletes increase foot speed. The team jumps in 30-second intervals with a goal of 100 to 120 repetitions. Transition Drills for Basketball Practice The next segment of practice is all about transition. Coach Waters works first on fast break offense before flipping to transition defense. Players spot up in transition in a full-court shooting drill. They also learn to start the break with an outlet drill where they work on a quick outlet pass. Coach Waters explains the transition offense and identifies the various scoring options. The transition segment ends with a 5-on-5 ‘get back’ drill where the defense tries to recover from a disadvantage situation in the fast break. This a great drill for developing both offensive and defensive transition. Defense Drills for Basketball Practice To build proper defensive habits, Coach Waters shares a number of on-ball defense and close-out drills. You will see the basic rotations of his defense in the 4-on-4 Step Up Drill. There are also variations of the drill that will force the defense to change its rotations to stop dribble penetration. Ball Screen Offense Drills for Basketball Practice Coach Waters teaches his players the continuity ball screen offense by demonstrating the pattern and scoring options in a 5-on-0 setting. You will then see four breakdown drills that help to build the offense and train players to use the ball screen. You’ll see the whole offense in action in two different 5-on-5 scrimmages. This is a great look inside how a coach designs a whole practice system to build a program from the ground up. Rent this basketball practice DVD today.