Defense Drill #15B: 5 Vs. 5 – Sorting (“Long Change”)
ADVANCED
- Organize players in groups of 5 players (3 strong and 2 weak), either using balanced "Lines" or the Offense-Defense concept of offensive players vs. defensive players (pinnies required). Shot clocks (20 seconds) are also an option.
Variation #1 (10 min): "Defensive Long Change." Start in one end of the floor with one player on their proper-side, standing with a ball (behind the furthest restraining-line), on the far-side of the floor (relative to the benches). Start the defensive players on the bench furthest from the net, at the closest bench door to the defensive end. The other 4 offensive players should be on the opposite bench, in proper "bench order."
On the whistle, the coach on the offensive bench must hold the offensive players for an extra second or two before letting players off of the bench, which allows defenders time to get back into "the hole" and pick up their check ("match-ups") without giving up an obvious breakaway (a defender with speed should always be the first player coming off of the defensive bench). Experiment with sending players in different incremental waves, i.e. 1 defense, 1 offense, 1 defense, 2 offense, 1 defense, etc., creating situations such as a Lazy Press scenario; also with two defenders starting "in the hole" and "pressing up" to double-team the ball carrier.
The offense should be allowed 15-20 seconds to play offense; rotating to defense, with the defenders then moving over to the offense bench. If your team is playing the offense-defense transition system, just re-start the drill with 5 new offense/defense ready to go (or allow 2 reps before changing players).
Variation #2 (10 min): "Defensive Clearing Game." Same as above except defenders must try and clear the defensive zone upon gaining possession of the ball, with defenders getting a "half-point" for a clear and the offense getting a single point for scoring a goal (game is played up to 5).
Variation #3 (10 min): "Pigeon Variation." Same as the above variations except there is a "pigeon" on defense (offensive specialist). This replicates a scenario where an "offensive player" had to defend against reverse transition and is now "stuck" on defense. Coaches should identify their weakest defenders on offense and make sure that they take these extra defensive reps, perhaps even having them sit in on the defensive huddles at practice.
Variation #4 (10-20 min): "Full Transition." Same as the variations above except after gaining possession of the ball, the defender(s) must breakout and run the floor in transition, attempting to score a fast-break goal on the offense (1 shot attempt only). Otherwise, the defenders who break up the play may otherwise be permitted to attempt an uncontested breakaway in the far-end, in reward for their effort.
Variation #5 (10-20 min): "Defensive Stops Vs. Quality Shots." Coaches score a game between the 2 teams (15-20 seconds on the shot-clock), up to 20, defensive stops and quality shots both count for 1 point; goals count for 2 points.
Variation #6 (10-20 min): "No Drops/No Misses Game." For every ball that is dropped and/or misses the net during the drill offensive players will have to sprint from one side-board (or end-board) to the other (at the end of the game). For every quality shot that is generated, one sprint is removed from the total (added against the defense). If the offense has a positive number by the end of the time frame, the defense has to do that number of sprints; and vice-versa.
Variation #7 (10-20 min): "Everyone Touch Rule." Same as the above variations except all players on the team need to "touch" the ball (i.e. receive a pass) before a goal can be scored.
Variation #8 (10-20 min): "Consecutive Pass Game." This game goes up to 100. Teams string together as many passes as they want, and if/when they get a quality shot off, that number of passes gets added to their score. If the shot is a goal, that team is awarded 2x their consecutive pass total.

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