This is a great drill to work 6v6 on transition, ball movement, and team defense in one fun, fast-paced drill. A special thanks to Head Coach Scott Marr from Albany! I heard him talk about the drill in our podcast interview and had our kids do the drill in a week. They loved it, and it improves a lot of key transition skills or what he called building “Anticipation” on both sides of the ball. This is a fantastic drill for players of all ages.

Very often we as coaches have a tendency to work in ‘equal’ situations in a sort of static midfield setting. I might even call it a bit boring, but I want to offend you so early in the article. This drill is more like a game (emulating game-like situations is central to all of our drills) in that although it is a 6V6 drill, it starts in a transition setting and includes finding the ball, ground balls, transition and transition defense. and it’s a great way to include a lot of players in running, reconnaissance and conditioning.

It’s basically a 6v6 drill that starts at the midfield line. Six offensive players are lined up facing the offensive end or the cage and “behind” them are six defensive players. Coach Marr has his defenders start with their heads down so they initially don’t notice where the coach has rolled or thrown the ball. In fact, we put our defenders in front of the coach, instead of the cage, so they have their backs to the action.

From the Midfield line, the coach throws or rolls the ball to the offensive side. All offensive players go into action with the toss or with a whistle. Offensive players need to locate the ball first. Then, when an offensive player picks up the ground ball, the others must identify the appropriate passing lanes or open space. Coach Marr has his players drive or pass to an open man and immediately start the drive toward the fence.

From the midfield line, about 3 yards behind the offensive players, the defensive players also turn and run on the throw or whistle. Potentially, one of the defensive players may think he can chase the ground ball before the offense pinpoints the location; however, the drill is designed so that the defense first runs to the “hole” and then quickly identifies who is covering whom. with strong communication.

Coach Marr talks a lot about anticipation, as both offensive and defensive players need to not only think fast, but perhaps more importantly, think fast as a unit. All of this exercise is fast-paced and designed to get you in the cage quickly. The players on the field then return from outside the action area to the midfield area, while another group of 6V6s are ready to play immediately. We typically run ours in max sessions of 30-40 seconds or less and immediately kick the next bunch into action.

One tip that worked best for us (we like quick practices) was to have the next group line up immediately after the first 6V6 group is in play, so things move quickly. This is not the time to talk or be bored.

We also had a bit of fun adding some nuance to the exercise. The first thing we look for is a quick pass or two passes to shoot. If the pass shot isn’t there, we immediately have the offensive unit go 2-2-2 or 1-4-1, or my favorite, identify a matchup where we have shorty on shorty and “Reverse” to “X ” and play. This is also all done in the interval of 30-40 seconds (or less!).

In games, these kinds of hectic and unstable “Jailbreak” scenarios, is where we often find the mismatch we wanted. But we need to find it quickly as a team and possibly exploit it before the defense can change or line up the way they want to line up. But it’s really hard to coach this off the bench. So this drill can also be great for teaching players and getting players to think and identify matchmaking opportunities via “Invest” or “Set”.

When the offense does a great job recognizing or creating space in an unstable situation, make sure they get recognized. When the defense does a great job of holding together in the shaky, fast-paced 30 seconds, make sure they get recognized too. We also recommend not overthinking this drill and keeping the entire drill to 7-12 minutes in length to keep kids interested and engaged.