Full-Court Combo Drill works players and develops multiple skills From Peter Harris, former head men's coach, Kansas City College And Bible School, Overland Park, Kansas

The following full-court combination drill gives your players a great workout while developing several critical skills simultaneously.

There are three big advantages to running this drill:

1. Your players keep moving, thinking and do not waste time.
2. Virtually all basic skills are practiced: dribbling, utilizing screens, working through screens, shooting, boxing out, rebounding, conditioning, defensive footwork, high-speed pressure layups, avoiding fouls, defensive denial, etc.
3. The coach has no ball-passing responsibilities and remains free to evaluate his or her players’ skills and effort.

Full-Court Combo Drill

Have your players set up in four lines marked A through D:

• LINE A begins at the free-throw line with player 1 and extends diagonally toward the corner.
• LINE B begins at the top of the key with player 2. The others are in the line waiting near the sideline.
• LINE C begins at the opposite baseline corner starting with player 3 with the others waiting in line out of bounds and along the baseline.
• LINE D begins at the far wing position on the same end of the court as line C.

Players 1 and 3 each have a ball and a chair is placed at the elbow above line C.

DIAGRAM 1: Ultimate full-court combo drill. 1 begins by dribbling upcourt. 2 harasses him or her defensively, attempting to turn and stop 1 as much as possible. 1 continues to the top of the perimeter, where he or she attempts to make a pass in the direction of 4.

5 must anticipate the pass, steal it and drive hard for a full-court for the layup. (This is a perfect opportunity for players to gauge and improve their defensive quickness and ball close-out abilities). After the steal, 4 chases 5 and tries to prevent the layup without fouling.

After 1 has passed the ball, they break around the chair, screen and receives a pass from 3 for the catch-and-shoot jump shot while 2 defends.

DIAGRAM 2: Ultimate full-court combo drill. After shooting the layup, 5 goes to line B. 4 rebounds 5’s layup, passes the ball to 9 and gets in line A.

On the other end of the floor, 2 boxes out 1, grabs the rebound, passes to 7 and gets in line C. 1, after shooting, becomes the wing defender (where 5 began the drill) and prepares to steal the pass that’s about to be made from 9 to 8.

DIAGRAM 3: Ultimate full-court combo drill. The drill continues with the same patterns and motions as the players in Diagram 1.

As your players become familiar with the drill, add a third ball to the action and have 9 begin dribbling immediately after 1 makes their initial pass. Another option is to have the coach set a realistic screen at the elbow instead of using a chair.