Tuesday, September 1, 2009

UCF General Defensive Philosophy




A lot of championships have been won by teams that have not been the most talented. So, how are you going to win your district, conference, etc. if you are not the most talented team? By influencing your opponent defensively. We know we are not going to “pitch” a shutout. But we can determine who scores, where they score and how they score, we are going to make it hard on them.

One of the keys to our program is to have a plan for everything. Bear Bryant (legendary Alabama football coach) said: “Have a plan for everything, an objective, you just don’t go out day to day and coach. You have a plan you believe in, and you have to be strong enough not to compromise.” We make a master practice plan prior to the start of the season to plan when we will teach each element of our system. We have a checklist for each area of our defense and each skill needed to execute that area of our program.

We want our system to be simple and efficient. Ernest Hemingway was once asked, “How did you learn to write?” Hemingway replied, “By writing every day.” That is the mentality we take to our program on a daily basis. In doing so, we plan to outwork, outprepare and outfundamental our opponents.

In the teaching of our defense, we really concentrate on developing sound defensive techniques. Regardless of your team defensive system, it is essential that players master the proper defensive techniques. It is only when your players can get into, stay in and move in the various defensive stances will your defensive system be executed to its fullest.

There are basic four ways as to why games are lost:
Turnovers
Bad shots
Failure to blockout
Lack of pressure
Our defensive system is predicated on these four variables. We know that most games are lost, not won. We simply want to get the offense to do something they don’t want to do.

No comments:

Post a Comment