How to Create your Own Drill Bank

A Drill Bank is a fantastic tool and can be of great benefit to an individual due to the process which is involved. A Drill bank is a collection of sports specific drills that a coaches uses as a reference point while planning their sessions. The collection of drills can be for any type of activity associated with a training session.

A drill bank is one of the great development tools for new coaches in increasing their understanding and knowledge about the sport of basketball. While not exclusively a tool for basketball coaches, a drill bank is widely used within the coaching fraternity of basketball.

One of the great strengths of a drill bank is in the process of collecting the drills to feature within it. Coaches as they attempt to collect drills will find websites, blogs and other various documents that they would have never stumbled across otherwise.

For senior coaches though a drill back is a way of remembering some of the many drills that they see over their substantial time in coaching. Even within the training sessions of the senior most teams throughout the world experienced and knowledgeable coaches still utilise a core group of drills that are tried and true. Look to any film of coaches talking about their sessions or a particular aspect of their training philosophy to find proof of their affiliation with particular drills and sets of drills.

When looking to start the drill bank first develop a list of various sub-headings that you will need to find and fill drills for, these may include:

• Warm-Up
• Fast Break
• Transition
• Offense
  • Individual
  • Team
• Special Plays
• Defence
  • Individual
  • Team
• Cool Down

These categories are broad but there are still various others that you can always include such as:

• Team Building
• Health Components of Fitness
• Skill Components of Fitness

As a coach once you have started compiling a drill bank there will be at some point a realisation that the drills collected can be modified and enhanced for your team’s specific needs. It is this crucial aspect which is fantastic for helping coaches reach towards the next stage of their personal development. Once a coach starts to develop this awareness of what they are teaching on the court, picking drills apart and rebuilding them to meet the needs of their team they will forever be changed for the better. As a coach you will start to look at the smallest technical and tactical aspects of each drill, always analysing to squeeze that little bit more of benefit out of each and every drill and all your players’ repetitions.

As a point of note there are plenty of drill bank resources available already compiled for free throughout the internet. As a coach thought you are encouraged to seek out, develop and format your own personal drill bank. This activity has many benefits and only one drawback, time. When developing your drill bank there will need to be a substantial investment in time researching the drills required.

Developing a drill bank will be a very helpful activity for junior and senior coaches alike. Once a number of drills have been collected in each category they can then be grouped together for easy scaffolding to create pathways for progressive development. From this point your development as a coach will only be limited by the amount of research you continue to do.

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