Youth Man-to-Man
Stance, closeouts, help side, screens, the shell drill, and transition defense, each as a full possession.
The first thing a young defender learns, shown inside a whole possession: the stance (feet wider than the shoulders, butt down, back straight, hands active…
The on-ball defender does not just stay in front; he decides where the dribbler goes. This play runs the no-middle rule through a whole possession: on the wing…
One pass away in a pressure defense: the defender is up the line between his man and the ball, a hand in the passing lane, his back to the basket, seeing ball…
The other way to play one pass away, and the one most youth coaches should start with: the gap, or pack line. Off the ball every defender sags a step toward the…
Two passes away, the defender is not next to his man; he is in the lane with one foot in the paint, in the pistols position, one hand pointing at the ball and…
When a player passes, his defender's first move is a jump toward the ball, not toward his man, so that the cut his man is about to make goes behind him and not…
A gap defense and a help-side defense both concede the catch, so the closeout is where they pay for it: sprint two thirds of the way, chop the feet for the last…
Help is a loan, not a gift: the helper stops the ball and gets back to his man on the kick-out, and if he does not recover, the defense has traded a drive for…
When the help defender leaves his man to stop a drive, somebody has to cover the man he left, and that second rotation is what separates a team defense from…
The help defender's two legal weapons at the rim: verticality, where he gets to the spot first and goes straight up with both hands, giving up his space to…
Guarding a player on the block through a whole possession: where the post defender stands depends on where the ball is, and he moves on every pass. Ball above…
The simplest way to guard a ball screen, and the one most youth teams should use: call it early, and switch. The screener's defender yells the screen as it is…
The deny concedes one thing, and this play shows the offense trying to take it twice: when the defender is up the line denying the pass, his man cuts behind him…
Most youth points come in transition, before the defense is built, so this play starts with five defenders scattered and the offense running, and shows the…
A defensive possession is not over until the defense has the ball, and this play runs a whole one to the end: the ball swings both ways, the offense gets the…
The shell drill is every rule in this series run at once, four-on-four, and this play runs it the way it is coached: the ball swings around the perimeter and…