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Save Practice Time With 5 Great Combination Drills
By Coach Randy Brown

All coaches know how valuable practice time is. Most high school coaches have limited practice time due to limited facilities and multiple teams needing space. One idea for those in this situation is to incorporate combination drills into your practice regiment. Not only can these drills save time, but they can add to individual and team skill development through repetition.

Drills to a coach are a lot like the pens in their desk at work. Open the drawer and you'll see all kinds of different pens. Not only are they different, but you favor some over other and honestly, you have WAY to many. What are you going to do with all those pens, Coach? Notice the next time you reach for a pen and I'll bet you grab the same one, a favorite pen instead of the dozens of others. Like drills, we are comfortable with certain drills and have probably used them in practice for years. Odds are that you will continue using those pet drills over the next few years as they have been good to you.

In your entire catalog of drills, how many combination drills do you have? How often do you use these multi-purpose activities? Are some of them staples for you that you use every day? These are good questions to answer for yourself as you examine your practice drills.

In this article I will refer to some of the best "combo" drills I've ever seen in my many years of coaching. I will refer to them by name, but not break them down technically. On my web site, you will be able to access each of these, or ask for clarification for your own purposes.

The Best Combination Drills I've Seen:

1. All-in-One Shell Drill--The traditional Shell Drill can be just the beginning of defensive instruction. By adding various elements to it you can make it the best defensive combo drill in your catalog.

2. The Ultimate Post Drill--This drill combines a dozen parts of complete post play. This is the best I've seen for post players.

3. 11-in-One Defensive Drill--This drill's root can be traced back decades. I first saw it in 1978 at the University of Iowa with Lute Olson. This drill combines about 6 separate drills into one.

4. 11 Man Fastbreak--This coaches favorite can be changed to fit your needs. It remains one of the best "pass, dribble, and shoot" drills ever.

5. 3 Times and Out--This drill reveals the toughest players from the others. Teams of 3 can be created by the coach differently each practice. Each team must get three stops in a row before leaving the drill, as the offensive units change on every possession.