Here’s a basketball practice idea that really helped my team work on their man to man defense. Try these man to man basketball plays with your team for immediate results.

When I tried to use a man to man with my relatively inexperienced team I found they wouldn’t stick to their guy, and just chased the basketball. It was a shambles. But this next basketball drill got them defending properly. Here’s how it’s done.

Split your group into two teams as if you were going to play a game. Then match each player on one team with an opposition player of similar ability. Let them play a game. The catch is that they can only play defense against the man they were matched up with. For example they can only try to steal or block that one player. If another player has the basketball they have let him go by if its not their man.

I found this helped my team really commit to their defense and put effort into tracking back down court.