2017 Southland Conference Coach of the Year;
2017 Eddie Robinson Award (Allstate Sugar Bowl Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame);
2x Tommy Joe Eagles Memorial Louisiana Major College Coach of the Year (2017, 2019);
2017 Louisiana Sports Writers Association Coach of the Year (2017);
2017 NABC District 23 Co-Coach of the Year;
2017 Southland Tournament Champion (2017);
3x National Post-Season appearances;Without exception, great players possess great footwork. T
eaching proper footwork, however, is often a frustrating, time-consuming task for basketball coaches at all levels. One of the things that separates the best coaches from the rest of the pack, is their ability to use simple concepts to teach a skill that can be hard for some players to grasp.
New Orleans’s Mark Slessinger is a master of using ‘old-school’ teaching techniques to help his players learn tough-to-grasp concepts.
In this instructional basketball coaching video, Slessinger shares an array of teaching tactics and his favorite drills for teaching players the proper footwork for any and all live-game situations.
With an emphasis on getting to the free-throw line and getting your opponent in foul trouble, this highly valuable coaching lesson on post footwork can be applied to guard play as well!
Let Coach Slessinger be your tour guide on this immersive video ‘master class’ on how to best teach basic footwork concepts and the practice drills you can use to improve your players skill around the rim during games.
TEACH the Process
In basketball, simplicity is the name of the game as it pertains to teaching players how to use proper footwork. Simplicity in teaching leads to a clear understanding of fundamentals and why proper footwork is essential to success in almost every aspect of the game.
Coach Slessinger explains his approach to teaching and why implementing a simple approach is critical to proper learning. ‘Proper learning’ leads to players who possess the ability to play faster than their opponents and make decisions at a quicker pace.
Slessinger demonstrates how to incorporate heavy basketballs and pads as practice tools to produce top-notch post players and guards who can finish through any tough, physical contact.
Basic Footwork
Post players need to master fundamental footwork to gain an advantage on their defenders. Coach Slessinger offers an in-depth look at his ‘go-to’ teaching system called ‘Compact Phrases of 3’ ; this is a process of teaching players key skills in sets of 3 – for example, your post players must master post moves such as a drop-step, a baby hook, and a jump hook taught as a 3-part set.
Another example of the ‘Compact Phrases of 3’ that Slessinger shares is in teaching ‘catch, chin and look’ – which forces players to instinctively slow down the decision-making process when they catch an entry pass in a compact place and yet remain focused on being explosive to the rim, ideally creating an ‘And-1 situation’ with the finish.In ‘Power Pivots,’ Slessinger shows how players learn to front pivot and reverse pivot while using a strong dribble.
In ‘Power Ups,’ Slessinger shows how players learn to focus on going up and getting a rebound as they explode toward the rim. By teaching execution in this way, players learn to be strong as they chin the ball and work on finishing through contact.
Footwork and Guard Play
Expanding on the post footwork to include how to best teach guards these same skills, is a sure-fire method for improving the quality of the entire program’s footwork. Coach Slessinger showcases how teaching proper footwork in tight spaces allows your guards to use these same footwork skills as a way to either get open or attack the rim.
In a drill he calls the ‘Dunk-Spot Drill,’ Slessinger shows how guards work on making an I-Cut or Out-Cut to get open, reverse pivot and attack the paint. He then throws a defender and post player into the drill and demonstrates how you now have a great drill for making decisions and using proper footwork to finish around the rim.
Slessinger shows how to make this drill even more dynamic, by adding V-Cuts and L-Cuts into this drill and focus on players using either a reverse pivot or front pivot to work on getting past defenders.
There are many variations and options you can create with these drills – all of which reinforce proper footwork with game-like pressure.
Footwork is everything in basketball. Teaching footwork, however, can be more difficult than it appears to be and players often have difficulty using proper footwork when they are moving fast and at game-action type of speeds.
Coach Slessinger offers all the perfect solutions to teaching footwork in this highly valuable video. His insight and teaching pay close attention to detail and will help you to produce players who use the best footwork possible.
This is a must-own instructional session for coaches at all levels of competition. Coach Slessinger is a coach whose team consistently finishes in the Top-5 in Free-Throws Made and Free-Throws Attempted each year – these are the successful by-products of players who use flawless footwork!
Customer Review: 5 Out of 5 Stars. ‘This is a great video! I love Coach Slessinger’s attention to detail and how he teaches footwork. It’s highly effective teaching that allows your players to pick up on using the proper footwork right away!’
56 minutes. 2024.