Drills ain't Skills, Skills ain't Drills

by Coach Robert

“Back in my Day”

But what does it truly mean?  There is a sect of teaching in basketball that dates back to WW2 where a military style of grooming athletes was the accepted norm.  This style of teaching relied on the notion that if you just repeat a maneuver over and over again then it will magically appear in the game.  Sadly, that magic bullet does not exist.  

When I was in high school my coaches drilled certain movements until we were ready to pass out yet we still lost every game.  Oh, but at least we knew where to be on the court!  Often I asked myself as a teenager why our drills did not translate to success on the court during games.  Sure a jab step if repeated over and over will give you some gracious insight on how to use a jab step more effectively, but too bad we never trained jab steps!  I am being Facetious.

“Drills Still”

Today, coaches and players are guilty of drilling too much and desiring drills instead of understanding.  Perhaps these players and coaches are unaware that basketball is a mental pursuit, its physical components are so minuscule that if you try to focus on them your efforts will be futile mainly because physical elements change from game to game.  Meaning one minute a body is here and the next minute they could be over there.  One minute your opponent is 5'7" and the next, 6'5.  There is no way you can drill for that.  One minute your opponent is slow, the next he/she is quick.  I can go on and on forever--like a drill.  My point is drilling does not teach understanding because it focuses on sophomoric assumptions that this particular move will work against everybody in every situation and it does not.  No maneuver works in that way in basketball.  

What’s the Purpose? 

Maneuvers are supposed to serve a purpose on the court, that is all. Nothing more, nothing less.  They are meant to perform some sort of physical action that can be used like a tool not a Tylenol.  That tool may not fix the problem at all, but if you choose the right tool at the right time then you can create a little magic.  Until the next possession.  

Once you understand enough tools and how they all work together to systematically fix problems, then you are considered highly skilled.  Drills however teach that if you go here when the defender goes there you will be successful.  But this can't be farther from the reality of basketball.  Oh, and that cone that doesn't move will become a living, breathing, and thinking person during the game.  Do not rely on the person acting like a cone because they will not!

The Damage is Done

Drills have removed the mind from basketball, simple and plain.  It has stopped athletes from thinking.  Perhaps when drills were first integrated it was a way to get players to not overthink, but now they have become a broken crutch.  Players seek drills and when those drills do not work in a game setting the players lose confidence in it and themselves, discarding the drill as well as their heart.  I have seen way too many kids come home from a 2-week drill-based basketball camp and use a certain fake over and over, and once it gets stopped the player forgets the fake in a month.  What good was the 2 weeks at camp then?

Another detrimental effect drills have on basketball is how they create players who in time give up entirely on skill development.  Once youth players realize the drill ain't working, they abandon all future attempts at working on their game.  They become rebels without a cause.  A ne're-do-well in basketball.  They begin to scoff at others' pursuit of being a student, and give in to frivolous tendencies like pick-up with dads or acting cool on the sidelines.  

90% mental, 10% physical

The solution to drills is to teach skills.  Skill is knowledge that allows you to solve a problem.  For instance, a life skill would be patience, listening, and learning.  Patience is important because at times, in the journey of life, being rash can get you into many more problems.  Listening is a great life skill because it will allow you to respond appropriately.  Learning is a vital life skill or you will never change circumstances about yourself.  Likewise, a basketball skill would be how to protect when dribbling or how to defend “the Turn.” Knowing how to protect when dribbling is important so you can maintain your dribble and not become overwhelmed when a defender pressures you.  Using the Turn solves the problem of not knowing what to do when looking for a scoring opportunity on offense.  

Realize that drills cannot teach these skills because they are knowledge; knowledge that must be understood before you can experience the value of them. The physical aspect of this knowledge will be so insignificant that if you tried to drill the physical aspects alone you would be shocked at the ineffectivity of the charade.  

Basketball is a game of knowledge and those who push this ideology away and force a physical drill will continually fail and feel miserable the entire time.  Drills will not make players take a greater liking to you as a coach, and coaches are dumbing players down by forcing their bodies to move without teaching their minds to think.  Sure players who are accustomed to drilling will look at you like you have three heads when you teach them how to use “the Turn,” but demonstrate to them by using it against them.  Show them that their attitudes of arrogance, accidental basketball, and inexperience are why they cannot and will never prosper in basketball.  

The NBA is a long road and most never complete the journey in a lifetime. Basketball will humble them if their limited abilities don't.  The ones that go on to play professionally seek knowledge and I pray that will never change.  

Shalom.