(Rental)-1 On 1 Exercises To Improve Individual Skills

Will Wade: 1-on-1 Exercises to Improve Individual Skills

The best coaches help their players develop the necessary skills to be a playmaker on the basketball floor. That is exactly what LSU head coach Will Wade does in this video. He shares 10 different 1-on-1 practice drills that work on skill development on both sides of the ball. The drills help individual players develop as a complete basketball player.

Coach Wade knows a thing or two about competing. He is a former VCU assistant and head coach where he led the Rams to the 2011 Final Four and to the 2016 Atlantic 10 championship. Wade uses 1-on-1 drills as much as possible to create a competitive atmosphere in practice, force players to work on their overall game, and to expose weaknesses and build confidence in his players.

Competitive 1-on-1 Drills

Coach Wade’s 1-on-1 drills cover a number of different teaching points. They can be used on a daily basis and can be customized to emphasize offense or defense or to fit to a certain team. Wade likes to give the offense a slight advantage in some of the drills to teach players how to finish at the rim. The drills also force defenders to hustle to stop a would-be driver.

Coach Wade also includes a couple drills that focus on post play. The entire team is involved in learning how to maximize scoring chances. Posts learn to keep good position and seal defenders on ball reversals. Perimeter players learn how to quickly and easily feed the post.

All of the 1-on-1 drills work both sides of the ball, but Coach Wade does have a few that give special emphasis to defense. Those drills include:

• Alley Ball Drill – helps develop full-court pressure defense. Players work to pressure the ball and turn it as many times as possible before playing live 1-on-1 at the other end of the floor.
• The Gauntlet – players learn to fight through a series of screens before having to play live 1-on-1 defense.
• The Turf Wars Drill – motivates players by rewarding them on the offensive end for their defensive effort.

Philosophical Building Blocks

Wade’s philosophy and team culture is built upon the idea of toughness. Players must buy in to the program philosophy and Wade discusses how he goes about getting players to commit. He will share a number of statistics that he emphasizes and how he demands effort on those numbers in practice.

You will also see four different techniques designed to improve your offensive rebounding. Like defense, getting rebounds is about being aggressive and attacking an opponent. These are the types of things that Coach Wade emphasizes in his program. They are exactly the kinds of things you can emphasize in your program in an effort to become successful.