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Session Plan · U12 · Team (7 or more) · 60 min

Go or Stay: Help Defence

Why it works

A help defender can only stop a drive if they're already standing between the ball and the basket before the drive starts. Getting there late just gives up the pass to their own player. Standing in the triangle (seeing ball and man, inside the split line) puts them there early. But the bigger problem at U12 is over-helping: a helper who goes when the on-ball defender has the drive contained gives away an open shot for nothing. So the helper reads the on-ball defender, not the ball, and the call ("stay" or "go") tells both players who has the driver.

The thread through every block

  1. Jump to the ball on every pass
  2. triangle: see ball, see man
  3. read the on-ball defender
  4. call "stay" or "go", early and loud
  5. go: stop the ball; the next defender helps the helper.

Setup. 10 players, 1 coach, 2 hoops, 6 balls, bibs. Groups of four or five at each hoop.

Prints on A4 for the clipboard: diagram on the left, rules on the right, and no block split across a page.

Warm · 6B1 · 7B2 · 9B3 · 10B4 · 10Finisher · 12

Warm-upPoint the guns6 min

12112233one finger at the ball, one at your playerjump on the flight of the pass
3v3, no dribbling. Offence passes around the arc; defenders jump to the ball on the flight of every pass, pointing one finger at the ball and one at their player.
  • 3v3 at each hoop, the offence only passes (no dribbles, no cuts) around the arc. On every pass, each off-ball defender jumps toward the ball on the flight of the pass and points one finger at the ball, one at their player.
  • Coach freezes the play at random. Any defender who can't see both fingers' targets without turning their head gives the offence a point.
  • Theme link: you can't help on a drive from a spot that isn't already in the help position.

Block 1Jump to the ball7 min

123412313your player catches: close outtwo passes away: get to the split line
Three passers, two defenders. On every pass, the defender whose player catches closes out; the other jumps to the split line.
  • Adds: the ball changing sides, so each defender has to move to a new spot on every pass.
  • Three attackers pass around the arc at walking pace, no drives. Two defenders guard two of them; the third attacker is the free passer. On every pass, the defender whose player catches closes out, and the defender whose player is two passes away jumps to the split line.
  • Coach calls "freeze" after 3–4 passes and asks a defender where they are and why. Swap defenders every round.
  • Progress when: both defenders are in position before the catch, not after.
  • Regress if: defenders are always late. The offence holds each catch for 2 seconds.
  • Cues (questions): "Can you see the ball and your player from there?" "How many passes away is your player?"

Block 2Stay or go 2v29 min

1231122on-ball still in front → "STAY"on-ball beaten → "GO, GO, GO"early · loud · every time
Ball starts on the defender's back. Baseline drives only to start. The helper (3) reads the on-ball defender and calls stay or go.
  • Adds: a live drive and the decision to help or not.
  • 2v2: one attacker on the wing, one at the top. The ball starts held on the on-ball defender's back; play is live when it comes off. Baseline drives only to start, then either way.
  • The helper reads the on-ball defender: still in front → "stay" and stay with your player. Beaten → "go, go, go" and stop the ball. The on-ball defender recovers to the open player.
  • Multiple scores: keep playing until the defence gets the ball.
  • Progress when: helpers stay as often as they go, and the call comes before the decision.
  • Regress if: helpers go every time. Freeze on the drive and ask the question.
  • Cues (questions): "Did your teammate need you?" "Did you call it before you moved?"

Block 33v2 help and recover10 min

134412312stop the ball, then close out to the passpartner sinks to cover the gap
Two defenders against three. The top defender stops the ball, the other covers whichever side gets the pass, and both recover.
  • Adds: a numbers disadvantage, so stopping the ball and recovering both have to happen.
  • 3v2 at both hoops. Two defenders in tandem start in the paint. Offence attacks from the top. The top defender stops the ball; on the pass, closes out to the receiver; the back defender sinks to cover the drive or the next pass. Three possessions, then the defenders join the offence and the next pair steps in.
  • Progress when: the defence forces two passes or more on most possessions.
  • Regress if: layups every time. Offence must make two passes before shooting.
  • Cues (questions): "Who had the ball? Who had the basket?" "When the pass went, who went with it?"

Water3 min

Block 43v3 stay or go10 min

1go3112233one helper, one call: stay or gotwo stops in a row to rotate to offence
3v3 live. On every drive the nearest defender calls stay or go; the beaten defender recovers to the open player.
  • Adds: a third attacker, so a wrong "go" leaves a real player open.
  • 3v3 at each hoop, live from the top. On every drive, the nearest defender calls "stay" or "go" before moving. If they go, the beaten defender recovers to the open player. Nobody rotates behind the helper: that's for under-14.
  • The defence must get two stops in a row to rotate to offence; a basket resets their count.
  • Progress when: stops come from a call followed by the right move, not from bad shots.
  • Regress if: the defence never gets two stops. One stop rotates.
  • Cues (questions): "Did your teammate need you?" "When you went, whose player was open, and who covered them?"

FinisherStop count12 min

1122334455stop = 1 · stop after a correct "go" = 2over-help that gives up a shot = −1
5v5 half court. Defence scores; offence just plays. Swap after 6 possessions.
  • 5v5 half court, one hoop. Only the defence scores.
  • Scoring:
    • 1 pt: a stop.
    • 2 pts: a stop that came from a correct "go".
    • −1: a help that wasn't needed and gave up an open shot (the coach calls it).
  • 6 possessions each way, two rounds.

Huddle3 min

  • One question to the group: "When was 'stay' the right call today?"

Coach notes

  • Decision errors vs execution errors:
    • Going when the on-ball defender had it is a decision error. Freeze and ask Block 2's question.
    • Arriving late to the help spot is a positioning error. Send the group back to Block 1 for one round.
    • A helper who arrives on time but upright gets driven past. That's execution: stance.
  • Common failure: helpers who turn their head to find their player. If they need to turn, they're too far from the ball side.
  • Common failure: silent help. A help that isn't called leaves the on-ball defender guessing whether to recover. Mike Kelly: even saying "I've got help" changes what the driver does.
  • Judge the call and the spot, not the stop. A correct "stay" followed by a made tough shot is good defence.

Sources

SourceUsed for
Simon Mitchell — Frankston Coaching Clinic Part 2Warm-up, Block 1
Mike Kelly — Coaching Clinic: Individual DefenceBlock 1, coach notes
Sam Gruggen — 2019 Skill Development Clinic SeriesBlocks 2 and 4, finisher
Shannon Seebohm — 2017 ACJBC Trans-Tasman Coaches ClinicBlock 3
Kristen Veal — Defence ClinicBlock 3
junior.basketball (original)Finisher scoring

Related

More session plans, the Session Design guide this format follows, Game-Based Practice for why every plan ends live, and blank session plan templates to write your own.

Unofficial resource. Drills are adapted from recorded coaching clinics and credited to the coaches named in Sources above; anything marked junior.basketball (original) was written for this plan. Not affiliated with or endorsed by those coaches or the organisations that ran the clinics. Full credit to every presenter.