Over the summer months many players get the majority of their time on the court in pick-up games. This isn't the ideal setting for improvement - that would be drills. But drills become monotonous, and the fact is that most high school players don't want to stand around and do actual drill work. They want to get out and run and play. With that in mind, I'd like to present the concept of "Purposeful Pick-Up".
I do not advocate abandoning drill work in the summer. The specific, purposeful repetition of skills is really how you grow and develop as and athlete. But if you're going to say that pick-up is how you'll be working on your game, then you need to identify specific areas of weakness and deliberately target those aspects throughout your workout.
Some examples of "Purposeful Pick-Up":
When deciding what to focus on before you play, you need to take 3 things into consideration:
As you can see, some of these may require you to communicate with your team ahead of time. And some people you'll play with won't like it if you're focusing on a specific aspect and your team loses because of your concentration. To put it bluntly - too bad. If you want to get to the next level - whether it's playing in college, becoming a starter for your team, or just making the squad - you have to improve. And focusing on one aspect at a time is the most efficient way to do that when you're not doing drill work.
What are some other things that "Purposeful Pick-Up" could focus on? Leave suggestions in the comments section. Also, follow @CoachCW_51 for #purposefulpickup, where I'll be generating conversation about the concept on twitter.
I do not advocate abandoning drill work in the summer. The specific, purposeful repetition of skills is really how you grow and develop as and athlete. But if you're going to say that pick-up is how you'll be working on your game, then you need to identify specific areas of weakness and deliberately target those aspects throughout your workout.
Some examples of "Purposeful Pick-Up":
- All penetration will be to your weak hand.
- You will go find your man and box out on every shot, regardless of if it takes you away from the rim and the rebound.
- You'll only shoot jumpers off of a certain action
- pull-up jumper, using ball screen, catch and shoot, specific location (corner/wing/top)
- You'll only shoot off of a "2nd cut"
- This is the cut you make after you have set a screen
- All passes will be thrown with your weak hand.
- Jump stop for every pass.
- Hard hedge every ball screen.
- Deny your man the ball at all times.
- Full court pressure on the ball.
When deciding what to focus on before you play, you need to take 3 things into consideration:
- What does my team do?
- What is my role on the team?
- How am I trying to improve, thereby expanding my role?
You need to understand the system your coach wants you to be able to run, in order to know what to work on. You also need to know and understand your current role - the expectations your coach has of you. When you know those two things, you can target a specific area of your game to improve, and develop additional skills that will expand your role.
As you can see, some of these may require you to communicate with your team ahead of time. And some people you'll play with won't like it if you're focusing on a specific aspect and your team loses because of your concentration. To put it bluntly - too bad. If you want to get to the next level - whether it's playing in college, becoming a starter for your team, or just making the squad - you have to improve. And focusing on one aspect at a time is the most efficient way to do that when you're not doing drill work.
What are some other things that "Purposeful Pick-Up" could focus on? Leave suggestions in the comments section. Also, follow @CoachCW_51 for #purposefulpickup, where I'll be generating conversation about the concept on twitter.
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