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Instructional Books

The 5 Essential Skills of a Great Defender 
Book 1 - A Coach's Guide to Teaching Tough Individual Defense

 

By: Bill Winfrey

 

No matter your defensive scheme (man, zone, or match up... sag, pressure, or trap) your team's defensive success henges on how well your players perform these few critical skills that are fundamental to any brand of defense. No team defense can be great without individual players being rock solid in these 5 essential skills (Contain, Block Penetration, Deny, Close Out, & Box Out).

 

This book is an easy-to-follow coach's guide for developing great individual defenders from the ground up. It's for high school and middle school coaches, but easily adapts to youth coaches. It simplifies defensive skill development, provides clear Technique Points, and a variety of Progressive Drills to keep learning fresh and challenging.

 

103 pages / 42 illustrated drills / coaching tips & reminders (example - 3 phase drill progression: Technique, Pace, Competition)

Essential Team Defense  
Book 2 - A Coach's Guide to a Tough, Simple Defensive System 
 

By: Bill Winfrey

 

Building a great defense is just like building a great offense. You have to first have solid individual skills (Book 1), and then work hard to blend it into unit that is greater than the sum of it's parts. 

 

For players to work well in tandem with their teammates requires new skills and a different level of teaching. This book (Book 2) is about how to build the indivual parts into a greater whole... a tough team defense, from which championships and great upsets become possible.

 

It's designed for high school and even middle school programs, but can be easily adapted to youth teams because the principles are basic and thus don't change, just the level of detail will. You'll find insights and guidance on things like:

  

  • Shell Drill (3 out and 4 out) - 6 progressive levels

  • defending the pick & roll  (9 options, pick 3 that you'd like to emphasize) 

  • defending a great  scorer

  • A comprehensive team defensive strategy... an easy to teach approach of: 

    • 3 different styles of defense

    • 3 different intensities per each style

    • a new and simple numbering system - for switch defenses in loud settings more easily

  • defensive competitions - make learning fun and exciting... and much more 

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