Tip by Makenna Slack. Milan, MI.
Elimination! - A great warm up or cool down drill for any age. I came up with this drill coaching a National 13U team that had a hard time coming to terms with their mistakes. I needed to find a way for them to not pass blame but also be okay with the mistake.
I then later introduced this game to my Varsity squad and they loved it. This game can be played 6v6, 5v5, 4v4, etc. For this example, we will go with 6v6. The team plays a normal rally off an inserted ball. The player that makes the 'mistake' such as a missed attack, shanked ball, etc. is eliminated from the court leaving their team with 5 players.
If the team wins a point then that player will come back in, if not then the next person will be eliminated (6v4). A team wins by completely eliminating all players from the team. When we have a single player left we usually let them use three contacts. This game is great because it makes the players constantly adjust and keep up with the flow of the game. It creates the mindset that yes it was my mistake but I depend on my team to get back in.
It also creates a ' taking on adversity' mindset. Many times players will come back from one player standing to winning the game. You can also add in things such a 'block' for a jailbreak where all players come back in. The jailbreak can be adjusted for whatever team skill you would like them to focus on. This drill has stuck at all ages and we continue to come up with different versions! I hope this will help you in your gym!