Watching football and catching up with everything else. Went through notes the other day and this good drill caught my eye. I'm a big rebounding guy because I've seen from experience the difference good rebounding can make for a team. Therefore, I'm always on the lookout for a good rebounding drill. If you have one you'd like to share, definitely email me or post it on the X's and O's forum. This one is from a Nike clinic in Springfield, MA with Dino Gaudio, head coach of Wake Forest.

Connecticut Rebounding Drill

Setup: So, you need any 3 players to start as defensive rebounders. I have them setup in a triangle, but the players may find a better setup. Allow them to experiment to try to see what works best. Everyone else lines up in the 5 spots as shown. You can use forwards down low, wings, and guards up top, but changing it up is fine too. You can have a couple of coaches from different angles firing up shots to keep the variety.


The coach calls out 3 numbers. Say 1..3..4. That means 1 person from the 1-line, 1 person from the 3-line, and 1 person from the 4-line go for the offensive rebound. At the same time as the coach calls the number, and it must be the same time, one of the other coaches fires the shot. The 3 X's in the middle must find-hit-get. They must get 3 straight defensive rebounds to get out of the middle. The 3 offensive rebounders who fail on the 3rd straight defensive rebound become the new 3 in the middle.

Coach Gaudio emphasis on offensive rebounders is to never go for offensive rebounds by laying on the defender's back, which usually results in a foul. Instead, try to hit a shoulder or spin off. For this and many more great rebounding tips, take a look at Dino Gaudio's DVD on Winning the War on the Boards.