I introduced the boys to the first level of the read and react on day one. For about 15min at the end of practice we ran through 5 out pass and cut. It was pretty rough. I expected them to get it right away. What I didn’t take in to account is this is most likely the first time they have been exposed to something like this. We ran it for around 15min on the 2nd day and they ran through it much better. Even the guys that were struggling the most with it started to click. I was just as surprised by their sudden understanding as I was about their lack of understanding the first day. I am, by nature, an impatient person. Ideally I’d like to be able to explain something and have them grasp it right away…obviously that doesn’t happen. On the up side, I did originally plan on spending these first 3 conditioning days working 15min each day on the 5 out first layer of R&R…so by the end of these 3 days the boys will understand the pass and cut layer. Given that I’d planned on taking 3 days for them to get it…why am I surprised that it looks like they will understand it after 3 days? Clearly while I was planning things out I had a very realistic goal, but when I got on the floor and my natural coaching desire to push them kicked in I expected more. I think that’s fairly normal.
As I’m evaluating how fast they are digesting the system and how many practices we have I’m starting to see that it’s not worth the money to buy the “complete dvd set” for the read and react system. At one point I had contemplated it. I’m interested in all the various drills you can run to enhance the player’s understanding of the system. Given the relative shortness of the 7th and 8th grade season, I’m not going to be able to go deeper than about 4 layers. I can find out information and technique for those layers on youtube. Beyond that, I can create a few different drills on my own for them. The only way I could see the dvd set being worth the price is if you are the varsity coach and you want to start implementing this over the course of years. Where I would have to start over every year..the varsity coach could bring guys into the system and not have to start from the beginning each time. Also, if he pushed it down to the Jr. High level he would be able to get deeper and deeper with it at the high school level.
I’ve been trying to make the connections for them in their heads between the drills we are doing. One warm up drill we pass, cut to the hole, catch the ball and hit a layup. In the 5 out drill we pass, cut to the hole, don’t get a pass, fill the empty spot. We did a post up shooting drill yesterday, pass in to the post, relocate, post kicks it back out..take a shot, after the post player passes out, they work to the other side of the lane, catch a pass and make a move to score. It re-enforces the pass and move concept and adds in some shooting and post work.
I think the levels I’m going to implement are the pass and cut, feed the post with a laker cut, drive and bounce off, dribble at, and the back pin. It doesn’t sound like much…but when you think about how these athletes have been trained to this point, it gets a little difficult. Most athletes at this age are trained like robots, they go to this spot…set this screen, move here…blah blah blah. There are obvious problems with this, there is no creativity, there is no taking advantage of the defense sleeping, guys are not always looking for the ball and they are not always looking to pass the ball. The players need to be aware of proper spacing…they need to not just know to do something, but why they are doing it. Once they start to make those connections the game comes alive and so many other areas open up to them. Doing the natural progression some athletes will come to this on their own…but I think using the read and react techniques they will gain a deeper understanding of the game.
Time will tell.