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OFF-ball DefenceAREASOFEMPHASISGUIDELINES FOR COACHES• Full court, half court and transitionteam defence have the same basicconcepts. All OFF-Ball defensivesituations are based on samefundamental OFF-Ball concepts and theprinciples will stay consistent.Fundamentally, whether its full court orhalf court team man to man defencethis will be the case. The principles forfull court man to man defence and OFF-Ball positioning are the same but thespacing is greater and morechallenging. Ultimately OFF-Balldefence is superfluous if there is noON-Ball defence pressure andcontainment. The various phases ofteam defence in the full court willrequire techniques such as run andjump and trapping to be continuallydeveloped.Defending the fast break or fast breakdefence is also often referred to astransition defence. In the transitiondefence, containing the ball, sprintingto the line of the ball and to the basket(home) defensive position are the keydrivers. Rotations are simply longer withless set position and greater ballmovement options because of thespace available to the offense. Theability of defence to hedge and recoverto put doubt into the ball handlers mindis also more important in transitiondefence.Coaches of all levels are encouragedto develop and implement an effectivetransition defensive strategy. Defencetransition can be a controlled positionalsituation or simply a scramble situation.In the controlled fast break defencefrom a missed shot the teamorganisation is for players (normallythree) to rebound offensively, alsocover the outlet/dribble nearest playerand finally to protect the basket with thefirst player to get back. This is normallyreferred to as safety. These becomenominated responsibilities based onpositions and they are all OFF-Ballresponsibilities.Scramble transition defence is theteam defence off the ball when the fastbreak defence cannot be established(e.g. when there is a passing turnover).Encouraging players to recognise theimportance of an immediate defensiveemphasis at the point of transition is akey component for us to raise standardsof all OFF-Ball defensive abilitynationally. Improving this aspect willremove the ease of scoring in theopen court typically seen at junior clublevel; the results will be improved halfcourt offensive and subsequently OFF-Ball defence.The national system for scrambletransition defence is concerned withearly ball pressure and containmentwith the establishment of the first helpline position (home) or safety position.Transition defence principles are acrucial aspect for an effective strategyin controlling game tempo. This strategyrequires junior players to come throughthe levels of competition with an earlyunderstanding of rotations andresponsibilities to the ball you man andhelp line principles.Using the full court in training can bemore challenging for juniors and willrequire effort and technical execution ofthe concepts and principles; includingbasic adjustments for the ball you manposition. The challenge initially requires131