By Jon Sanderson MS,CSCS,MSCC,USAW1,TPI,NASM-CES
Head Strength & Conditioning Coach-Michigan Basketball
Below are 3 really effective agility drills that emphasize Defensive movements.
When doing these drills emphasize with your athletes to stay low in defensive stance and to explode from cone to cone.
I would recommend doing these drills prior to any traditional conditioning drills (i.e. lane drills, 17’s, conditioning ladders etc.)
Diagrams created with FastDraw
Defensive Close out Drill– Start in the middle of the lane and closeout to cone #1 and slide to baseline.
Reset in the middle of the lane and proceed to Cones #2-4.
Cone Defensive Slides– Start by sliding to the first cone, advance forward then slide to the next cone.
Repeat until the course is finished.
T-Drill w/ Defensive Slide– Start with a sprint to the middle cones, defensive slide to one of the outer cones, then slide to the opposite outer cone, and then back to the middle.
Finish with a backpedal to the finish cone.
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Jon Sanderson has been the head strength and conditioning coach for the University of Michigan men’s basketball team since 2009.
Regarded as one of the basketball strength and conditioning coaches in the business, Sanderson is the only strength and conditioning coach in NCAA history to participate in a Final Four as a player (Ohio State in 1999) and a coach (Michigan in 2013 & 2018).
Before joining the Michigan staff, Sanderson spent three years (2006-09) working at Clemson as the men’s and women’s basketball strength and conditioning coach, as well as the director of the Littlejohn Coliseum weight room. During Sanderson’s time at Clemson, the men’s basketball team won 20 or more games for three straight seasons — a first in program history. Also, during those three seasons, only North Carolina and Duke had more wins than Clemson in the ACC.
Prior to his time at Clemson, he served as the head strength and conditioning coach and sports nutrition coordinator for Olympic sports at Marshall University (2003-06). Before heading to Marshall, Sanderson was a strength and conditioning intern at North Carolina, working with the men’s basketball program (2002-03).
Throughout Sanderson’s career with the U-M basketball program, he has trained 11 student-athletes that have gone on to play professional basketball in the NBA, including MDarius Morris, Manny Harris, Tim Hardaway, Jr., Trey Burke, Nik Stauskas, Mitch McGary, Glenn Robinson III, Caris LeVert, D.J. Wilson, Derrick Walton, Jr. and Moritz Wagner.
