Competition Shell
Defend every possession from the start: a foot in the paint, pressure the ball, deny one pass away, help two passes away, and finish every stop with the rebound. Each offensive rebound costs your team a point. 8 to 16 players, 1 basket, about 15 minutes.
Add it to a practice plan
What it needs
- Players
- 8 to 16 players
- Baskets
- 1 basket
- Court
- Needs a half court
- Time
- About 15 minutes
- Equipment
- basketballs, pinnies to tell the teams apart, scoreboard or score sheet, timer
- Type
- Team work, intermediate
Set it up
Four defensive players start with a foot in the paint. Four offensive players start outside the three-point line, one in each corner and one at each slot. The coach starts under the basket with the ball. Make as many teams of four as you want; teams that are not playing wait to rotate in.
Run it
Play 4-on-4 shell. The coach passes to one of the four offensive players and the possession is live. The goal is to earn points up to a target score or within a time limit. The only way a team can score a point is on defense, so the goal is to be the team on the defensive side. A stop is any change of possession: a defensive rebound, a steal, a charge. If the offense gets an offensive rebound, the possession keeps going until there is a score or a stop, and then the points are added or taken away, 1 point off for each offensive rebound. If the offense scores, it becomes the defense and a new team rotates in on offense. The defense stays on defense and earns points for every defensive possession.
What to coach
Defend every possession from the start: a foot in the paint, pressure the ball, deny one pass away, help two passes away, and finish every stop with the rebound. Each offensive rebound costs your team a point.
Score it
Only the defense scores. A stop is 1 point, a steal is 2 points and a charge is 3 points. Each offensive rebound costs the defensive team 1 point, even if the offense then scores. For example, if the offense gets an offensive rebound and the defense then draws a charge, the defense earns 2 points: minus 1 for the offensive rebound and plus 3 for the charge. Play to a set number of points or a time limit.
Make it harder
Raise the target score, shorten the time limit, or allow skip passes once the defense moves on the flight of every pass.
Use it in practice
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Where this drill comes from
Ball Coach wrote this drill for its practice planner's drill library. The curricula below shaped how the library organizes practice; no text or diagram is copied from them. The diagram is drawn by Ball Coach.
- USA Basketball Player Development Curriculum: progressive teaching and practice-planning methodology
- Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA Instructional Curriculum: small-sided games, random starts, decision-making, and load/de-load methodology
- NFHS Coaching Basketball: high-school fundamentals, offense, defense, and practice organization reference