When I write about individual defensive concepts, people shake their head in disbelief or do not understand some concepts. In this video, check out the on-ball defense by #10. When she defends the ball in the back court, she illustrates the use of a crossover step (at :18, :36, 1:02).
When I coached in Sweden, we played Telge Energi early in the season on the road. We arrived early to the game and I sat and watched Telge warm up. For some reason, one girl caught my eye. She did a dynamic warm-up along the sideline, incorporating skips, hops, jumps, bounds and sprints.The player was Sandra Jansson, #10 in the video clip above.
When I watched her play, she defied the American sterotype of European players: the stereotype is that Europeans cannot play defense. This is back when people referred to Dirk Nowitski as “Irk” because he (supposedly) did not play defense. However, she had great footwork. When I watched her play, her defense was better than most American players. Americans believe that European players have better footwork because of soccer, but, in this case, I thought it had something to do with her warm-up, as I figured she must do even more drills during practice.
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great video. the best defender on the ball i have ever seen is Bobby Hurley. find some video of him to see an incredible crossover step. however, i dont like using that term. to me, its just running. i guess technically its a crossover step. I teach my guys to step slide and run slide. we drill sprinting and running while guarding the ball everyday playing fullcourt 1 on 1. i dont have to say crossover step. when you think you need to slide, then slide. if you need to run, then run. watch bobby hurley to see the best.