Home / Defensive drills / 3 man defensive shell drill and closeout
1. With younger, more inexperienced players. I will sometimes run a 3 man shell instead of a 4 man shell - with an offensive player at the top of the key and at either wing.
One disadvantage to this approach is that the player defending the top of the key only plays on-ball and on-the-line, up-the-line defense when the ball swings around the perimeter.
The advantage is that this approach is that it simplifies defensive responsibilities for younger players. Most 4-man shell drills make a distinction between a player defending 2 passes away (this defender usually has 1 foot in the lane) and a player defending 3 or more passes away (this player usually straddles the power line - a term I use with my teams that describes the imaginary line that cuts the court in half).
Power Line
For younger teams, making this distinction can over-complicate things. Running a 3 man shell and having all players defending a man 2 or more passes away from the ball straddle the power line is a good way to make the game simpler. At the younger levels (and even at the high school level) very few teams will be able to take advantage of you having all of your weak side defenders in this position. If you go against an opponent that screens your weak side defenders and throw skip passes to their men - that is a good sign that you are facing a coach who is specifically trying to exploit this piece of your defense.).
2. One wrinkle that I think every coach should consider adding to their shell drill, if they haven’t already, is to start the shell drill with the defenders on the baseline. The coach starts with the ball. The drill starts with the coach throwing in to any offensive player on the perimeter. On the coach’s pass, the defensive players sprint out to their defensive positions…what those positions are - on-ball, denial (on-the-line, up-the -line), or help (pistols) depends on the recipient of the coach’s initial pass.
Adding this closeout component to the shell drill ensures that the defense is active at the beginning of the drill. It also forces players to be aware, as their initial positioning (the spot that they sprint to) will depend on where the coach’s pass goes.
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August 29th, 2008 at 8:07 am
Coach,
I’m coaching a 2nd and 3rd grade team.
Do you recommend a zone or man-to-man…or both?
Most of the kisd have only played clinic league (without true rules) or not at all.
Thanks,
Craig
September 11th, 2008 at 6:03 am
Hi Craig,
For little kids like 2nd and 3rd graders who don’t have experiance, it is better to
use Zone then late Man-to-Man.
Have a nice day.
Oury
September 11th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Oury,
The comments are much appreciated!
However, I would steer away from zone at this age. Defensive fundamentals are taught best out of a man to man framework - getting youngsters into the habits that are developed through man to man does them a great service.
Zone defenses certainly look more organized - but do very little in terms of teaching the game to kids.
IMHO, Schemes of any type at this age really have very little effect on the outcome of games. With this age level, coaches can really focus on fundamentals - stance, passing dribbling, shooting , TRYING…the odds are there will be several coaches down the line who forget to work on this stuff - so you’re doing them a big favor by laying a foundation.
September 30th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I agree with Coach Stinson. It’s easier to play zone, but not better. If you really want to teach players good fundamentals, they need to learn how to play man defense.