IT'S NOT THE HOURS YOU PUT IN,
IT'S WHAT YOU PUT IN THOSE HOURS

TRADITIONAL TRAINING:

The overwhelming majority of contemporary trainers unknowingly adopt a style of training known as Behavioralism (think of Pavlov's dogs). The characteristics of this style include:

-Simple drills without defense

-Only one solution to a defensive action

-Repetitive practice

-Abundant coach talking

-Obsession with "correct" technique

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The results:

-Robotic players

-Inability to self-correct

-Slow decision making

-Limited ability to adapt to new situations

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RDB TRAINING;

At RDB we use a Decision Training approach. The emphasis is on the development of physical, technical, and decision-making skills during every drill. The characteristics of the RDB style include:

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-Competitive drills with defense

-Develop anticipation and pattern recognition

-Practice a variety of game situations

-Abundant coach questioning

-Technique within game settings

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The results:

-Savvy players

-Ability to analyze and evaluate self, team, and opponent
-Fast decision making

-Thrive in chaotic situations

ON-AIR DRILLS

Most of current skills training is over reliant on practicing skills without the presence of defense or "on air." Defenders are simulated by chairs or cones. By reducing the complexity of the task, training is geared towards temporary success instead of permanent learning.

Where this comes back to bite players is in live game settings when confronted with living, breathing defenders. Getting past a chair is a different skill than getting past an actual defender.

CONTEXTUAL INTERFERENCE

The concept of contextual interference is simply the fact that an athlete's environment effects their performance of some skill. In basketball the primary obstacle to performing a skill is, of course, defense. 

Shooting casual,wide-open shots is a different skill than sprinting off a screen with a defender trailing you and maintaining focus as a defender jumps to try to block your shot.

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Would you rather be good without defense or against defense?

CONSTANT FEEDBACK

Providing continuous feedback on performance appears to increase learning but falls into two traps:

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(1) Overloading the player with too much information about multiple aspects of a skill. This prevents the player from focusing on the key aspects of the skill.

(2) Players learn to rely on the coach for feedback instead of learning to evaluate their skills independently.

BANDWIDTH FEEDBACK

At RDB we use bandwidth feedback, which focuses on one or two key aspects of a skill. The aim is to only provide players with as much information as they can process at that time. 

We also teach players how to self-evaluate through the extensive use of questioning. This method increases cognitive involvement and athlete independence.

IDEAL TECHNIQUE

Traditional coaching obsesses over the "ideal technique." Every deviation from that technique is considered wrong.

However, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, James Harden, Kevin Durant, Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, and Larry Bird - are all great shooters without having identical 'ideal' techniques.

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Clearly the focus on one ideal technique is misguided. 

DYNAMIC SYSTEMS

"Dynamic Systems Theory" uses the concepts of attractors and fluctuators to account for individual differences in a technique. Attractors are elements of a technique that will stay essentially the same regardless of the situation, while fluctuators can have a large degree of variation.

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For instance a player needs a shot-release that will consistently guide the ball straight (an attractor), while the player's alignment towards the basket may vary considerably (a fluctuator). Understanding the difference, increases the player's accuracy and maintains adaptiveness to different environments. 

BLOCK PRACTICE

In blocked practice, players perform a single variation of a skill for multiple repetitions in a row. For example, shooting the same type of shot from the same location with no variation.

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While this may be useful at the very beginning of teaching, ultimately this kind of practice switches the brain to autopilot which decreases game performance.

MIXED PRACTICE

Mixed practice consists of performing multiple variations of a skill with no exact repetition. For example, shooting shots with different; angles, distances, footwork, timing, defensive reads, etc.

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This kind of training forces the brain to constantly solve new problems. As a result, cognitive involvement is increased - leading to permanent improvement.