Canyon Middle School
Team: Gladiators- Have fun
- Improve basketball skills
- Have fun
- Be attentive to your body during skill practice
- Hone block-out and trap
- Introduce 2-3 zone defense
Defender mirrors the offensive player's movements without contact — feet active, hands ready, head up.
Pair players of similar size, facing each other. Coach stands behind the defender.
Coach yells: "Shot! Left!"
Defender boxes out using the called side:
→ Right call: right forearm + right leg
→ Left call: left forearm + left leg
Coach yells "Shot!" + points the direction
Defender reads the visual cue instead of the verbal one.
Add cue: "Hands up!"
Same as Stage 2 — then "Go get it!"
Defender boxes out, then attacks the ball aggressively to secure the rebound.
Steal the pass — not the ball
- Come from the blindside
- You can jump only once to try for a tip
- Do not trap a ball that was passed out of a trap
- Trappers block vision — that's the job
- Goal: force a bad pass for a teammate to deflect or steal
Setup: 2 teams, 4 defenders + 4 offense. Offense forms a circle on the outside; all 4 defenders start in the middle (2 trappers + 2 stealers).
- Offense passes the ball around the outside.
- The 2 trappers close on whoever has the ball — interlock feet, one hand high.
- The 2 stealers read the trap and look to deflect the next pass.
- Once the ball is passed out, the stealers become the new trappers — roles rotate as the ball moves.
- Deflection, steal, or bad pass = teams switch sides.
Cut off every drive · No offense in the key
- One foot inside the key — that's your home base
- Zones overlap — no gaps for the ball to slip through to the rim
- Reposition every time the ball moves — slide as a unit, the whole zone shifts
- You can step out to cover a player in your zone — but NEVER cross the 3-point line
- Trap as a team when the ball gets stuck on the wing or in the corner
- Win condition: zero offensive players get into the key
Formation (2-3):
- X1 & X2 — both at the top of the key, splitting the FT-line area. They pressure the ball and bump the wings.
- X3 & X5 — wings, cover the elbows and short corners on their side.
- X4 — anchor, protects the rim.
As the ball moves: the whole zone slides toward the ball. Every shift, every defender resets to one foot in the key.
Trap trigger: ball caught on the wing or in the corner — nearest two defenders trap, the rest cover passing lanes.
Goal: zero drives reach the paint