I coached High School Basketball for 30 years. It was one of the most enjoyable things in my life that I have ever done. I won’t get into the successes that I enjoyed. Instead this article is about getting and maintaining your players fitness.
There is no doubt in my mind that fitness is the most vital part of the game of basketball. Running is the major part of that fitness. Basketball referee Ed Hightower, a good friend of mine, once told me that he averages about seven miles of running during a college game. High School and Junior High players won’t run as far because the games are shorter time wise.
Players not only have to be in shape at the start of the season but, must maintain it throughout the season, which can be up to four months in length.
In recent years, there has been a lot of discussion about running a player too much. There have been isolated incidents when a player has had a heart attack and even died from running. We even had a case when a High School official stopped during a timeout and died at the scorers bench. It is very important that any individual, player or official have an extensive physical exam before doing any type of exercising.
It would appear that most of these instances occur when the heart is overloaded with work that it isn’t use to handling. That is why running fitness has to be introduced and extended over a period of time. If a heart isn’t ready to handle a work load, you can get into trouble. In the State of Illinois, defibrillators are required in all school gyms. Individuals such as coaches and athletic directors are required to be trained in the use of a defibrillator.
Pre-season; A good way to start preparing for the up coming season of games and practice is with a pre-season running plan. Cross country and Track running is an excellent way to start. LSD (Long Slow Distance) running is a great way to start getting the body into shape. With this plan, athletes run at their own pace and gradually start to develop a line of fitness for their body. This can be done every day or every other day. Distances of a half mile to a mile are a great starting point. Two weeks to a full month of this can really be of an advantage. Keep in mind, that this should be right up to the first day of indoor practice. If you take a month or several weeks off, you will lose what you have gained.
Early practices; Start slow and gradually improve the running work load. Many coaches start with laps around the gym. those are okay for warm ups but, won’t get the job done. Basketball is a game of quick stops and goes. Your running training should be the same. Line tappers or line to line running provide this. Typical wind sprints are great as well. Keep in mind, the game of basketball has stop points. Your sprints and running should incorporate the same.
A good drill is to start with a set of five non stop wind sprints on a court. Down and back is one. After a set of five, allow for two minute rest. Then do four. Work your way down to one. As you approach one, your rest periods should get shorter. After you have finished this set, do a few slow laps to let the players recover. You can always add on or increase the intensity as your players get into better condition.
Full court skill drills using the run will also help in building over all body fitness. If they are extremely intense, do less. If you have a ton of players and they are standing around, do more.
Slide or block drills. This is a timed 45 or 60 second drill. Cut a 2 by 4 into lengths of 6 inches, no more than 8 in length. A player will need three of these. Place a block on each side of the free throw lane. Give one block to the player. Have the player stand in the center of the lane facing the coach with the whistle and stop watch. When the whistle blows, the player slides to their right. They place the block on the line and pick up the one that is there. They then slide across the lane going heel to heel to the block on the opposite side. This is repeated for the time limit. Have a player count every-time a block is placed on the line. A block not on the line does not count. Be sure you tell the performing player this before they start. Do not let the player turn and run. It must be a slide.
Jump rope; Is excellent for developing muscles. It should be done and it helps the heart and builds endurance. However, it doesn’t have the same effect as running. Players jump. However, they spend more time running than jumping.
Always explain why you are doing these drills. Be happy and positive. Do not use it as a form of discipline. You want your players to run to improve. You don’t want them dragging and not working hard because they believe it is a form of punishment. Although I love running as a form of discipline, I don’t believe you get a lot accomplished by doing it. It is good for breaking bad habits like cussing. However, to run after a missed free throw or layup, only adds to the frustration of a player. A player that gets last all the time, should not be made fun of. they should be encouraged by their team mates. Someone will always get last. It could be the same player.
Stair running or the Harvard Bench Step is a great conditioner as well. However, it is easy to injure or re injure a player with this drill. when you start worrying about reps instead of performing correctly, accidents happen. If you do these, you must take care that it is done correctly.
The good thing about running sprints, is that the coach can control the temp and amounts of running. He can stop it abruptly, lengthen it out, have them go at half speed, talk to them in between splits, or ignore them all together.
Some coaches will tell you that once they are in shape the games will take care of the players conditioning. To me, this is an easy way out for the coach. Players that come off the bench will not get as much work and their performances will fall off. During the first half of the season, you must run at every practice. During the second half, you can start reducing it somewhat. Many times after a hard practice, I would just smile and say see you tomorrow and walk away.
The day after a game, if we played extremely hard, I would have them run lightly. However, early in the season and after an easy game, we would run hard.
As a coach you will know and understand your players needs. Make no mistake though. Basketball is a running game. the better fit teams have a tremendous advantage at the end of the game if they are in better condition.
Good luck with your season.
