Coach Klop's One-Hour Individual Improvement Program
Individual improvement in all the fundamentals of basketball are the keys to success for a young player. The following one-hour program is designed to cover all of the important fundamentals that a young player must work on to become a good player.
Ballhandling Warmup / Maravich Drills (5 minutes)
- 1. Wraparound: The player passes the ball around her waist, going 10 times in each direction.
- 2. Figure 8: The player passes the ball in a figure 8 motion between her legs, working up to the highest speed possible. Player goes 10 repetitions forward and backward.
- 3. Combo Wraparound: The player combines figure 8 with waist and neck wraparounds, tryinng to move the ball quickly while maintaining control.
- 4. In-Place Dribble: Player stands in one place and dribbles in a figure 8 movement between her legs. The player should keep the ball low, head up and concentrate on ball control with her fingtertips.
- 5. Machine Gun Dribble: The player pounds the ball low in a "patter" dribble motion, alternating left and right hands, trying to dribble as low to the ground as possible and keeping the ball on the fingertips.
Dribbling Skills (10 minutes)
- 1. Speed Dribble: Players dribbles up court as fast as possible with left hand and returns with right hand, concentrating on low dribble and keeping head up.
- 2. Crossover Dribble: Player changes direction with crossover dribble, protecting ball with off arm and body, and keeping ball at knee level or lower.
- 3. Inside-Out Dribble: Using left hand, player dribbles hard and plants right foot as if to initiate a crossover dribble, but continues to dribble with left hand. This "fake" crossover forces the defense to shift its weight to respect the dribble fake, while the offensive player goes the same direction. Use left hand up and right hand back in full court.
- 4. Reverse Dribble: Player changes direction with reverse drop step, pulling dribble back while spinning to change direction. Ball must be kept low and protected from defense.
- 5. Behind-The-Back Dribble: Player changes direction while wrapping the ball around the back of her legs. Ball must be kept low to maintain control.
- 6. Stutter-Step: All of these skills can be enhanced by using the "stutter step" dribble. Player uses short, choppy steps, "chattering" shoes on the court while executing the various dribbling skills previously described.
Passing Skills (10 minutes)
- 1. Two-Hand Chest Pass: Player may work with another player or pass against the wall. The hands are placed on top of the ball and thumbs must be rotated under to get backspin rotation on ball. Good follow-through, stepping into the pass and good speed on the ball are important fundamentals to develop in passing.
- 2. Bounce Pass: Similar technique to chest pass, but the ball bounces up to teammate. Pass should be caught just below the waist.
- 3. Two-Hand Overhead Pass: Player puts ball over head and snaps off the pass. This pass is used to outlet the ball long down the court.
- 4. Baseball Pass: Players steps and throws a long pass just as she would throw a baseball.
- 5. Post Entry Pass: Player steps around defender and uses low bounce pass to enter the ball into post. This pass also is used without bounce. Use ball fakes low and high to "sell" this pass.
Shooting Skills (25 minutes)
If a player is working alone, she should pass to herself by spinning the ball out, using two-foot stop while squaring up for the shot. This simulates a catch-and-shoot situation that occurs in a game.
- 1. Seven Spots, 10 Shots: Starting in baseline area, spin ball out and catch and shoot 10 shots - five shots going right, five shots going left. Move to the wing, elbow and top, then opposite side to finish this drill. Shooting percentage should be 60 percent or higher in practice.
- 2. Seven Spots, 10 Shots off the Dribble: Using the same spin pass technique, the player now uses one or two hard dribbles to get the shot off. Work in the same seven areas that were used for the catch-and-shoot series.
- 3. Twenty Layups: Driving from both sides of the floor, the player must take 10 left- and 10 right-handed layups. Use reverse layups driving the baseline, as well as hard drives from wing and elbow areas.
- 4. Three-Point Shots, Seven Spots: Using the spin-out for catch-and-shoot, player must take three-point shots from each spot around the court. The goal should be 40 percent, or higher, in practice.
Defense and Conditioning (10 minutes)
- 1. On-Ball Defense: Use short, choppy slides and stay low to simulate on-ball defense. Slide three of four strides, change direction and slide against until reaching half-court. At half court, use smother technique as if ballhandlers has picked up the dribble.
- 2. Off-Ball Defense: Get in low denial stance to simulate denying of passing lanes. Go out and back three times, being sure to use short, choppy steps, keeping weight on back foot, getting hand in lane and keeping head up to see passes thrown.
- 3. Closeouts: Start in lane in "pistols" stance and close out to wing. The player should spring two-thirds of the way, then break down into short, choppy steps with hands up and weight back to complete closeout.
- 4. Finish: Two "pro sprints" or suicides, trying to complete them in 30 seconds or less. Shoot 20 free throws to finalize workout.
Entering his third season with the WNBA's Seattle Storm, Gary Kloppenburg brings nearly two decades of coaching experience to the team. Prior to joining Seattle, the 1981 UC-San Diego graduate served as an assistant with the Continental Basketball League’s Rockford Lightning and the Quad City Thunder. The son of former Sonic assistant Bob Kloppenburg, Gary’s other professional coaching experience includes a stint with Panteras de Miranda of the Venezuelan Professional Basketball League, where he led the team a runner-up finish in 1999. “Coach Klop” was the head coach at Lassen Community College in Susanville, Calif,. and put together a record of 122-30 between 1988-93. In his final two seasons, his teams amassed a mark of 70-2 and won back-to-back California State Titles in 1992 and 1993. Gary’s other experiences include advanced scouting for the Toronto Raptors and conducting basketball clinics in Greece, Belgium, Iceland and Japan.
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