Drills To Get Them On Their Knees....

[newbiecoach 0]

Hi, me again.

Another problem that I'm having with my girls is getting them to use their knee pads. I cannot figure out what the problem is. I have one girl who is all over the floor, 2 that get down there if they HAVE to, and the rest just let the ball hit the floor. I have to admit that it is getting very frustrating!

I would really appreciate any suggestions....thanks

[Juniper1299 0]

There is a drill I like that may help get them used to being on the floor and falling down my girls have deemed it "Humility."

You start with two girls, laying on their bellies on the court. You stand in front of them and bounce a ball in front of/between them. Bounce it hard so it pops up in the air. They have to scramble to get up and usually end up having to dive to get a hand on the ball. The rule is that one of the two girls on the floor needs to get a hand on the ball. If neither of them gets to it, they all run laps or do push-ups. It gets them motivated to do ANYTHING NECESSARY to get to the ball and keep it off the floor. Plus they are already starting from the floor so they usually don't have that far to fall when they do hit the ground.

It really tires them out but for some strange reason they LOVE this drill.

Hope this helps!!

Juniper

[Naescire 0]

In my opinion you don't teach them to use their kneepads. You teach them to move their feet and/or to dive properly. I am not sure what age you are coaching and depending on how fast the ball is moving, they should rarely have to use their kneepads. If they get in the habit of falling to their knees or sliding on their knees they will probably never break it. I don't know how many players I have seen using their knee pads to slide across the floor. While it may look like they are putting forth the effort they are actually being kinda lazy and not moving their feet to get to the ball.

Watching men play who know how to dive; they dive with their full body and take the impact with their upper body. Women, generally dive and use their hip and hip/backside. In my opinion this is favorable to teaching them to drop to their knees, either way this is a last ditch effort to make a play on a ball. Use run throughs to make them hustle after the ball. Have them start in the back corner of the court, pop the ball w/your hand and then toss in the middle or to the opposite side of the court to make them run it down and pass it back to the target.

Teach them to get to the ball quick and get low or if they don't have time to get there and get low, teach them to stretch and lay out for the ball.

The drill Juniper1299 posted is an excellent drill, it makes the girls work and hustle. It provides a consequence when they don't, just like there is always a consequence in a game situation when they stand and let a ball drop.

Take this for what it's worth, just what I have observed.

[fmfjohn 0]

Newbie,

Don't check my e-mail daily, so I got this notification at the same time as your other post.

Anyway, if you are still talking about coaching 6th graders, I would really suggest that you do whatever you can do to help the girls overcome their fear of falling down - cause that's really the problem; it hurts and it makes them look "silly".

Have the one girl that "is all over the place" show the other girls how she does it. Don't "coach" it, just let them show each other. Do any of your girls "slide" across the floor just for fun? If so, let them have a contest for sliding distance. when the "non-kneepadders" see their teammates having fun, some or maybe most of them will at least try it. Let it go at that for awhile, then have another sliding contest. I guess what I'm really saying is, don't force it. They will learn it when they are ready.

I do agree that getting them to move more, faster and further is definitely the correct approach, but just like diving, kneepads have their place as "emergency skills".

I like that "humility" drill Juniper. Think I'll try it tomorrow. john

[newbiecoach 0]

Thanks for the ideas everyone. When I volunteered to coach I didn't realize how "consuming" it would be! I am really enjoying it, though.

We did that "humility" drill yesterday, Juniper, and my girls really liked it, too. We also did it with three down and they each had to get a hit. It went pretty well, thank!

Before we did that, we did relay races where each time I blew the whistle, they had to drop to their knees then get up and go again. They liked that one, too. I understand, Naescire, that they need to get more into diving and I agree with you. But it seemed that the girls were actually afraid of hitting the floor so my thinking was to get them past that. After we were done, I pointed out that nobody got hurt and they seemed relieved

They were more eager to get after the ball when we got to "humility" and our scrimmage, so I'm happy!

Have a great day.....

[Juniper1299 0]

Glad we could help!!!