Observations from Australian Opals Practice

The Australian Opals recently opened their training camp to some network coaches from the Basketball New South Wales State Performance Program to provide an insight into their training regime and method as they prepare for a series of games against Olympic silver medallist Japan.

As part of the session, the network coaches were able to observe the structure, organisation and flow of an elite practice, as well as speak to coaches Cheryl Chambers and Shannon Seebhom after the session to gain further valuable insights.

Here are some brief notes and observations from the camp. Thanks to Coach Chambers for allowing the session to be observed and providing valuable professional development for the coaches in attendance.

Pre-practice –

• Use of bands and other equipment for activation and preliminary stretching
• As experienced international players, each athlete had a specific pre-practice routine to prepare for the session, supported by the coaching and medical staff as required
• Trainer-led arm-up, focusing on acceleration/deceleration, agility and proprioception
• With a 10-day camp and three games against Japan, physical preparation is crucial and this area is a structured part of each on-court session, along with weights and recovery

Early practice shooting –

This session was the second of the day, so there was a strong emphasis on shooting and skill development, rather than live play.

All shooting drills are run to a score or target, with an element of competition a key aspect of all drills. The early shooting drills all had multiple basketballs, lots of repetitions and were conducted in “teams” to foster a sense of competition and enthusiasm.

The early practice drills included –

• In pairs, teams had to make 20 shots inside the key, 20 mid-range jumpers, 20 1-bounce jump shots and 20 3’s (80 total makes as a team of 6)
• 5 spot shooting with three basketballs – if a player misses on the score of 5, score goes back to zero, if a player misses on 7, score goes back to 5
• Focus on communication in all shooting drills – call names passer and shooter, everyone counts

Positional skill work –

Given the skill focus of the session, much of the body of practice was done in separate skill positional groups, with assistant coach Kristen Veal leading the perimeter players and Shannon Seebohm working with the posts.

This positional work allowed for specific teaching points, with the session plans prepared around skill areas identified from the previous practices.

Posts – Shannon Seebohm

• Receiver finishes from “dunker spot”
• Back to basket moves – one side jump hook to the middle, opposite side drop step base-line
• Add counters to the above
• High low skill and concept around the side pick and roll – screen, roll, seal to receive high low pass from partner flashing
• Add “dummy” defence to the above for sealing technique and contested finishing
• Concepts in the dribble hand-off to a re-screen – short rolls, movement of the player at the dunker

Perimeter players – Kristen Veal

• Dribble moves off the elbow
• Reads off the live dribble with the coach providing the stimulus/constraint
• Catch and shoot off the curl – coach again providing some element of decision making by adjusting positioning on the catch – catch & shoot, catch & separate, catch & drive off the curl
• 2-ball shooting off Horns/screen for screener action – coach as second passer, varying screener popping or slipping, same with cutter
• Built to cuts off the offensive system – always 2-balls, working off realistic and cutting action
• Corner 3-point shot reads – coach adding stimulus (hand-up, hand down, long close-out, “fly by” etc to add decision making context to the shooting drill
• Same with “corner lift” 3’s
• Strong emphasis on blending decision making with the skill development and Coach Veal was active in each drill

5 v 0 scripting –

To finish the session, the team engaged in some 5 v 0 scripting, revisiting sets and concepts from the morning scrimmage and competitive settings.

The focus of the scripting was running offence at tempo and making realistic and game-like “reads” by visualising how defence would guard specific actions.

The 5 v 0 was very much driven by the players, both in terms of play calls and the communication of different actions and reads. After each rep and shot, all five players went to defensive transition spots to further rehearse and embed the habit.

General observations –

• Focus on energy and enthusiasm – high level of communication, encouragement through the playing group and staff
• Coaches provided specific detail, then “coached on the run” to ensure players got the opportunity to get repetitions without stopping and starting
• Moved quickly from drill to drill – added layers to an existing drill, rather than use time to set up a new one
• Adding context or constraint a key element of all skill breakdowns

Thanks to the coaches, staff and management of the Australian Opals for allowing the network coaches to attend and engage in some valuable professional development at such a busy time prior to the Japan series. GO OPALS.