"A player's ability to rebound is inversely proportional to the distance between where he was born and the nearest railroad tracks. The greater distance you live from the poor side of the railroad tracks, the less likely that you will be a good rebounder." - Pete Carril
Today's Theme... Rebounding War Drill
This drill stresses boxing out and rebounding, and running the fast break off the rebound, and has been a favorite of Tom Izzo at Michigan State. There are variations of this drill, and this describes one way to run it. You can make your own adaptations.
Setup: This is 5-on-5, so divide the team into two squads. One team starts out on defense with all five players in the paint area... two at the blocks, two at the elbows and one at the free-throw line.
The offensive team starts with all five players on the perimeter arc, or you can put them in a 1-3-1 set with three perimeter players, one at the high post and one in the short corner. Optionally, you can vary the offensive setup according to what you expect your next opponent will play.
Running the Drill: The coach, an assistant or a manager will shoot the ball up from somewhere at the 12-17 foot range. Each defender must "find" his/her man and make contact ("hit") before going for the ball.
The offensive players (except the point guard) all crash the boards for the rebound and immediately look to score if they get the rebound. If the offense seems to be taking too long to shoot, or if someone yells "set it up", start over with the coach taking another shot.
If the defense gets the rebound, they immediately look for the outlet pass and run your fast break. Once they get the ball up the floor, they too can go for any offensive rebound off a missed shot. Once the defense gets the rebound, the drill is over. Reset (as in the diagram) and the coach takes another shot to re-start the drill.
Rules and Pointers: Rebound everything, including made shots. Go after every loose ball, even if it is out-of-bounds (there is no out-of-bounds in this drill). Allow a certain amount of physical play... this is "war".
This obviously depends on the age group you are working with. Let it be aggressive and physical, but keep it under control so that no tempers flare and no-one gets injured. No "dirty play" is allowed. Make sure the defensive players are using good boxing-out technique (see Rebounding). Do not allow flagrant pushing or holding... you can call a foul if this happens, and then reset again.
Scoring: Award 1 point for a made basket. Award 1 point for defensive rebounds, 2 points for offensive rebounds, and 1 point for steals. Subtract 1 point for a turnover or a foul (but again "let them play" as much as you can). You can run the drill for 10 minutes, giving each team 5-minutes on defense and 5-minutes on offense. Or you can play to a score of 15. Losers run.
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