John Beilein 1 on 1 Full Court Zig Zag Drill by Mark Chapman

Written by Coach Peterman

I have coached at the NCAA Division 2 (Southwestern Oklahoma State University), NAIA (USAO), and JUCO Levels (Blinn College and Carl Albert State College) as well as high school. I just felt that fellow coaches especially young coaches need to constantly work on their “game”. Just like the basketball players that we coach. We as coaches need to improve ourselves. That is my story and why I do this blog.

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Basketball Drills

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October 17, 2013

John Beilein’s 1 on 1 Full Court Zig Zag

Most coaches have done the full court zig zag drill and our players usually check out mentally after about the first 3 trips down the floor. This drill from John Beilein, head coach at the University of Michigan, has multiple benefits and will keep your players competing during the entire drill.

A good coach is well prepared for practice and for this drill to be most effective have you player matchups set before you get to practice. If you let your players pick some will pick friends, some will just wait, and others will pick the easiest player they can go against.

This zig zag drill is different because the second half of the drill is a one on one matchup. In our practice one of the areas we stress is keeping the offensive player on the side. Since the offensive player MUST be going to the sideline when passing to the middle and the defense is protecting the middle when the ball is passed back this should be no problem to keep them out of the lane.

There are different ways you as the coach can keep score to make sure players are always competing.

1) Have a consequence every time a player gets beat to the middle or gets scored on

2) Add extra consequences for giving up offensive rebounds

3) Divide into two teams (we use green & white) and keep score for all players on your team . . . I like this one because it encourages other players to root for their teammate so they don’t have to run

4) Don’t get to play offense until you get a stop; in our program a stop only happens when a defensive rebound is secured

Coach Beilein starts the drill a little different by having the passer at midcourt throw the ball to the corner and the defender start at midcourt and close down. This may be something to add as your players get to understand the drill.

We have a new basketball coaching contributor in Mark Chapman He is doing an excellent job in providing basketball coaching clinic notes, basketball drills, and basketball plays. He is the Head Boy’s Basketball Coach at Hamilton Township High School in Columbus, Ohio.