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By Brian
McCormick
Hard 2 Guard Camps
Even some playground players dislike the And1 Mix-Tapes and Tour; a
DC baller criticized the phenomena in SLAM. Coaches everywhere agree.
All summer, while working camps throughout the West Coast, I listened to
coaches, many who haven’t seen them, blame the tapes and the playground
game for this generation’s lack of fundamentals. Too much emphasis on
the Iverson Cross and the Nike “Freestyle” commercial tricks, and not
enough time spent mastering left-hand lay-ups, or mid-range jump shots.
While I feel the coaches, I see the And1 Tour as this generation’s
Harlem Globetrotters, and I have never heard any coach accuse the
Globetrotters of hurting basketball. Just as the Globetrotters combine
basketball and entertainment, so too does the Tour. The Globetrotters
entertain and please the crowd because of their exceptional abilities,
just like the Tour. The Tapes and Tour generate basketball interest,
arriving on the scene between Jordan’s reign and the dawn of Generation
Next: Kobe, TMac, VC, KG, etc. As the NBA searched desperately for the
next superstar, and as NBA games deteriorated into defensive slugfests
in the seventies and eighties, the Tapes illustrated basketball’s fun
side, the game’s individualism, an artistry.
The Tapes encourage players to play; kids are excited to grab a ball
and practice until they master the moves. Only a shortsighted coach sees
this enthusiasm negatively; when harnessed, this enthusiasm creates a
more willing student. At summer camps, I run impromptu lunchtime ball
handling clinics. Most camps teach ball handling poorly, and typically a
couple players see me handling the ball or doing tricks, and ask for
help. Other players see the workout, and the players having fun, and
join in. The lure is not simply improving; usually, it is the promise of
learning some moves to use in one-on-one camp competition or to learn
the slip-and-slide, a move where the player rolls on the ground while
maintaining the dribble. I’ve had a dozen twelve-year-old girls doing
ball-handling drills, willing to skip lunch to play on the asphalt and
do twenty-five minutes of skill-building drills in order to learn the
slip-and-slide move. Maybe their motive is skewed; however, the result
is players wanting to spend more time improving because it is fun and
they have a goal to achieve. Is the half hour of drills a waste because
the player spends the last five minutes doing tricks or because the
motive is not necessarily centered on improving for improvement’s sake?
I want players I train to watch the tapes to see the mentality the
players have with the ball. The And1 players possess supreme confidence;
they know nobody can take the ball from them. This knowledge allows them
to make moves and do tricks that embarrass the opposition. I want young
players to focus on the mindset, not the actual moves. I will spend a
little time working on tricks or moves they will likely never use in a
game (basketball is supposed to be fun), but the mindset is the aspect
of the tapes I use. If a player can build his handles to the point where
he can do these tricks and moves, he will naturally gain confidence.
Then, the games become easy; players will have the confidence that
nobody can guard him, and that is the confidence I try to breed in the
players I train or coach. I want players to be hard to guard, and to
know they are hard to guard.
Two years ago, I worked with an U9 boys’ team in Los Angeles, and my
co-head coach and I stressed ball handling and individual moves. We
spent almost half of each practice on individual offense, and to keep
the ball handling drills fun and fresh, one of the exercises was follow
the leader, led by Ahmed, the other coach. Ahmed was and is a great
player and has all kinds of handles and confidence with the ball. He led
and the players followed, doing the same moves and tricks, building the
ball handling ability through the drills, but more importantly,
instilling a confidence. U9 AAU basketball is largely based on pressing
and trapping, forcing turnovers and shooting lay-ups, but we were more
or less immune to pressure; the players had the confidence that allowed
them to dispel pressure easily, as it was nothing compared to the drills
and competition in practice.
Basketball is largely based on three physical qualities: balance,
quickness and control. By using the slip-and-slide or the straight-leg
cross or another move as the goal, a player naturally has to acquire a
greater level of balance, quickness and control, thus making a hard
crossover or a through-the-legs dribble that much easier and more
effective. And, the goal, the “playground” move, makes the work fun and
keeps the player motivated. Ball handling is different than shooting; if
a player needs to improve his shooting, a coach can give him drills and
a percentage for which to shoot, like 80% from the free throw line or
thee of five from the three-point line. However, with ball handling, it
is more difficult to measure ones improvement and to give the player a
goal for which to shoot and thus stay motivated. The “And1 moves” give
the player a recognizable and attainable goal with which to measure
progress and remain motivated. And the practice with the ball will allow
the player to make better, tighter moves, to protect the ball better and
to confidently attack the defense.
Brian McCormick, author of THE ART OF BALL HANDLING: GETTING A
HANDLE ON YOUR GAME (www.basketballsense.com),
is the head coach of the Visby Ladies in Visby, Sweden and runs Hard 2
Guard Camps in Sacramento, CA.
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