Sunday Session #1 – Agility and Running Lines

I’ve started indoor sessions with a local club and will be posting the details of those sessions so the players present (or not) can make greater sense of what we did.  As much as possible, I will try to add some supportive video content and will reflect upon where I’d tweak the session if I ran it again.

Main Outcomes

• Develop fast-feet, evasive / reactive footwork
• Understand purpose and key elements of unders / overs running lines (referred to as ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ cuts)
• Practice timing, angles of runs, accuracy of passing in a dynamic environment

TIME	OBJECTIVE / ELEMENTS	ACTIVITIES
0-10 Mins	Quick Introduction…Session Objectives Perfect personal skills to make attack more efficient Basic Pass In front Shoulder height No arc / fast Target up / follow through to target Agility to Beat a Defender / Create Space Basic Running Lines (and communication) Unders Overs (Combos?)	Partner / Tri / Square Passing Grip ‘Snap’ out Follow through to target ‘Spiderman’ or ‘Turn the knob’ 10 push, 10 spin (perfect) (*if time, deck and pass from ground)
10-15 mins	Passing in Lines Quality! Transfer in one step Targets up, Follow through to target	Passing in Lines … 3s or 4s Start from the ground, SH follows Dynamic Recovery (half and jog back) Straight Leg Walk (on toes opp.) High Knee Pull (on toes opp.) Fence Climbers Lunge Walk w. twist Pick Grass Inch Worm
15-30 mins	Agility ‘Dynamic’ body position On toes Sudden movements	Circuit: 1. Up and Backpedal, 2. Side stepping, 3. Swerves
30-45 mins	Unders and Overs Fix defenders Sudden, angular movement into space Communicate intent: “Unders / overs – NOW!” Unders = late run, flat short pass; wider space between passer and strike runner Overs = early run, slightly deeper, leading wide pass; wider channel between receiver and 2nd receiver	Unders and Overs Stations  2 v 2 (dummy defenders), started with a SH pass Advanced:  working on S-lines
45-50 mins	Fitness Blast	Station 1: Tuck JumpsStation 2: Mountain ClimbersStation 3: BurpeesStation 4: Body Squats
50-65 mins	Dynamic Running Lines Depth at which run is started and pass is made (TIMING!) Width in which to strike Calls: Hands, Hold and Go, Unders, Overs, Decoy	3 v 2 (w. bags), allow attackers to get set before SH passes so they can take time to manipulate defenders’ alignment and make the desired unders / overs cut.
65-70 mins	Break and De-Brief	(Touch introduction)
70-90 mins	Touch Hands at the ready Quality passing On toes, ready to change direction Sudden movements	Two-handed touch; attacker places ball between legs, defender can ‘mark’ but rest must retreat 5m Ball must be rolled back where touch was made 5th touch = turnover Balls dropped backwards = play on Offloads made within 1 sec. of touch do not count against limited touches; offloads thrown away aimlessly = automatic turnover Restarts and Penalties = 10m retreat and tap kick

Reflection:

Way more people than expected showed up – which was great! – but I felt there was too much standing around at the start.  The agility circuit should have instead been stations so that people were constantly moving instead of waiting in line.  I adjusted this for the next two drills so that there was an advanced group and two novice groups working at their own pace.  I had three team leaders graciously offer to monitor each drill while I floated around and dropped ‘teachable moment’ lessons, and offered quite a lot of feedback to units after they completed.  I don’t think I talked to the group as much as I used to, which is a goal of mine, preferring to allow them greater time participating and opting instead to continually yell the ‘key elements’ as described in the outline above.  With the greater numbers, and wanting to ensure everyone had a solid run-through for each skill component, we didn’t have time for touch … though I doubt it’d work with 40 people in a b-ball gym, even if teams rotated off.  Faced with that again, I think I’ll try and just keep the final skill scenario as dynamic and game-like as possible.

Unders and Overs Lines in a Game

Luke McAllister (NZ 12) runs an unders line off Dan Carter (NZ 10), and Jerry Collins runs an overs line off Luke McAllister.

Beating a Man 1 on 1 with Jeff Wilson, legendary All Black

Deadly Sidesteps of Danie Gerber

John Bentley’s Triple Swerve (first is text-book)