Another drill that appears on my cringe list, is a drill I unfortunately have used many times in the past. And typically it’s been a simple add on to a mass group drill - the hip swivel. See below:
Now don’t get me wrong, I still use this type of drill and love the energy it creates in the gym. However the hip swivel is a very detrimental movement to continually train - especially when trying to building great on-ball defenders.
Dropping the hips when defending on-ball is one of the hardest habits to replace and one of the hardest to recover from. Just take a lot at the defender below trying to force the offensive player wide, but the act of opening his hips yields him in the dust.
The replacement of the hip swivel in the mass defense drill is such a simple change as well. Instead of doing the hip swivel, we now do a single slide and back. I even challenge the defenders to try and beat me back to the starting spot.
Still keeps the high energy, the group camaraderie and can train useful footwork. A simple change but one that will do a lot of good for our defenders. Please no more reps of practicing opening the hips.
See you next time!
