4 Spot Gladiator Interior Drill
The 4 Spot Gladiator Interior Drill provides an opportunity for post players to refine their skill by putting them into action on the floor. The focus of the 4 Spot Gladiator Interior Drill is around those players who have developed the basic post playing moves and technique, but need then to utilise these skills in a realistic game situation. One of the common problems found by players is the ability to be able to practice the skills they end up developing to improve their game. Players can invest a great deal of time improving their fundamental skills, but then fail at the next stage which is where they start to use these skills in competitive situations. The 4 Spot Gladiator Interior Drill looks to provide many repetition opportunities for a player in rapid succession.
The 4 Spot Gladiator Interior Drill starts with an offensive player in front of the basket with a ball.
Four defenders then set-up around the keyway at the elbow and low positions position on both sides of the key.
Two coaches (or offensive players) position themselves foul line extended on each side of the half court.
The 4 Spot Gladiator Interior Drill starts when the offensive player passes to one of the coaches and then has an option of looking to post up against either of the defensive players on the same side as where the pass was made.
In the diagram, the offensive player (Five) passes the ball to the left side of the court. The offensive player then chooses to post up against the defensive player in the low post.
The coach receiving the pass can either pass this back to Five (5) once a post-position has been established or skip the pass across the court to the other coach. When a skip pass is made the offensive player (Five) then has to cut to the other side of the keyway and again attempts to establish a target post-position.
No other defender can help in help defence. Only the defensive player who has been engaged by Five (5) moving into their area and posting up can play active or “live” defence. Once Five (5) receives a pass in the post the drill continues until either the offensive player scores or the defender secures possession (always in a 1 v 1 scenario).
The goal for the offensive player is to score. The target of the drill can be varied to make the outcome more challenging. For example, the offensive player might have to stay on offense until they score twice or make to scores in a row. This number can be increased so the offensive player spends longer within the drill and a certain type of conditioning is also added to the benefits of the 4 Spot Gladiator Interior Drill.
The aim of the 4 Spot Gladiator Interior Drill is for the offensive player to experience a number of possessions so they get to work specifically on their individualised skill set without having to wait long periods of time between possessions which happens in many 5 v 5 game situations.
Variations
If the offensive players are struggling to be able to create a scoring opportunity with the limited space. Then an option is for one of the defenders on each side to be removed so there is some additional space for the offensive player to work with. A bonus to this type of variation is the fact the defender will have to work a little harder in denying the offensive player the ball.
An option to make the dribble more challenging for the perimeter players is to add defenders to these positions if players are filling these spots. Defenders will not be able to double down onto the posit (initially), but can apply pressure to the pass going into the post. Passing into the post as most coaches acknowledge is often a poor area in a team’s offensive abilities.
The 4 Spot Gladiator Interior Drill is a good activity for helping post players become more confident and complete as a player in scoring around the basket. If run at pace the drill can provide a high volume of repetitions for a post player and improve the individuals performance quickly due to this challenging skill being rehearsed so often under close supervision of a coach.
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Coach Riches has been working within the sport, business and education industries for many years. During this time he has built an extensive number of formal and informal qualifications. A firm believer in training and development designed to help people reach their full potential, relevant o their needs and functional to their industry environment.