Essentials Of Offense: The Difference Between Principles & Methods
“As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble.” - Harrington Emmerson
How you play and what you run are two different things. Too often, coaches copy systems of play without understanding the principles that make the system work. This is the difference between principles and methods.
Methods are the plays and systems that teams run. Principles are the way that those teams cohesively play together. Good coaches understand what principles contribute to successful offense and build their methods from there. Novice coaches operate without principles and aimlessly switch from system to system, hoping something sticks.
My newest clinic, Essentials Of Offense, covers the base principles that make a conceptual drive and kick offense work. Check it out below:
To watch the full clinic, please follow this link.
Offense Build-Up Drills
Once you have defined the principles you want to emphasize, incorporate them into your drills. For our team, making quick decisions (and the right ones) is a principle we live by. Here are a few drills that we use to work on this principle.
Advantage Shooting Drills:
The first drill is 2v1 shooting. The players are in groups of 3, 1 passer/defender, and 2 shooters. The passer kicks the ball out, and then chooses who to closeout on. The offense makes the simple read to shoot if open, or share it if guarded.
The second drill (starts at 2:27) is our 4v3 shooting drill. The same concepts apply, but now we are working on our drive and kick reads also.
In this third and final drill, we are working on the shoot it/drive it decision, as well as re-spacing after a kick-out. Because this is a small group workout, the coaches are used as guided defenders.
Doc Sheppler Interview
In case you missed it, I had the chance to sit down and talk shooting/offense with the legendary Doc Sheppler last month. Below is the video of our conversation.
Want To Learn More?
To watch the full “Essentials Of Offense Clinic”, click here.
To learn how to run an effective drive and kick style offense, click here.
To boost your teams ability to play and score in transition, click here.
As always, I am constantly updating my website, and YouTube channel with new videos every week. You can also follow me on twitter for coaching resources as well.