Chris Oliver and 'The Sandbox'
Episode 105: Practice in context, scanning & a conceptual offense incubator
Chris Oliver joined the podcast this week to wrap up a three-part series on practice. Not coincidentally, this was also the first week of practices for the high school team I coach. (I’ll admit it — our podcast guests are often chosen with my own coaching needs in mind.)
Listening to Oliver’s insights on practice, then heading to the gym hours later, was both exciting and affirming. Oliver is one of the coaches who’s influenced how I approach teaching the game, or maybe more accurately, confirmed what I’ve always believed: that playing the game is the best way to learn it.
🎥 Chris Oliver: A simple Context Template to guide practice (0:39)
Over the years, I’ve fine-tuned this approach, and coaches like Oliver have encouraged me to keep experimenting with new methods. The quest for the “perfect” practice plan is endless, but Oliver and others have shown coaches like me that it’s okay to break from tradition and keep practices fun.
Hearing Oliver’s perspective on practice structure and player development was a pleasure. Enjoy the episode!
Supporting the IBCP
Maybe some day I will look to monetize the Idaho Basketball Coaching Podcast, but as they say, you get what you pay for. 🤣
In all seriousness, if you feel there is some value in the podcast and newsletter, one way you can support the cause is donating to my program’s current fundraiser. Money will help us travel to the Idaho Falls area this winter for one of Idaho’s largest tournaments. It also helps us keep our summer program costs to a minimum for our players.
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The ‘Sandbox’: A Conceptual Offense incubator
The Sandbox: A portion of practice that encourages players to explore actions and concepts creatively within a structured, penalty-free environment.
Learning through Play: Mistakes are viewed as part of the learning process, allowing players to develop solutions and improve decision-making in real-time.
Tool for Growth: The Sandbox serves as a formative assessment, helping coaches identify areas for improvement, adjust future drills to reinforce core concepts
A new addition to our practices is “The Sandbox.” It’s so new that it’s still in development. Inspired in part by David Riley’s interview on Slappin’ Glass, the Sandbox is a mindset I want to instill in players and coaches alike.
The core idea is that coaches set up an action or constraint for players to explore. There’s structure and instruction, but also room for creativity. Mistakes are part of the process — there’s no penalty for them. Coaches can adjust in real time.
Inspiration for Sandbox activities can come from anywhere. It might be an idea from a game, a clinic, or a concept we noticed during a 5v5 transition drill. Right now, I’m reviewing key parts from our early season practices. For instance, a broken play during our 3v3v3 Split Court drill inspired a concept we could add to our offense: a Flare Screen leading into a Get in our Single Action.
In the next practice, we turned that broken play into a Sandbox activity. We added our “Clide” concept — clearing the corner on a wing Get — and let the players explore it for about 10 minutes. We’re currently calling this “Draymond Action,” based on a 2v1 Curry-Draymond drill that uses Gets.
In the video, you can see a lot of what Mike MacKay calls “wobbling,” which is part of the learning process. Mistakes are acceptable; players need to understand that actions won’t always work perfectly or that a pass might be fumbled. They need to learn to keep playing. And as the drill progresses — we ran it for 10 minutes — you start to see players experimenting with Keeps, Slips, and Twists. Some of these came from coaching suggestions, but many emerged naturally as the girls continued to play.
Beyond introducing concepts, the Sandbox also serves as a tool for what educators call “formative assessment” — a check for understanding that guides future teaching. For example, we noticed players taking banana routes off the Get. In our small-group shooting drill the next day, we focused on sprinting to the ball after the pass and using straight-line drives with a token defender at the rim.
🎥 Chris Oliver: The use of Coaching Interventions in Practice (0:59)
At this early point in the season, we’re using the Sandbox to introduce a lot of new concepts and actions, but that won’t continue all season. Later, we’ll use it to fine-tune core ideas by adjusting constraints. With the Draymond Action, for instance, we didn’t specify defensive coverages but made it a game to encourage active defense. Next week, we’ll incorporate specific defensive coverages for the players to navigate.
One final note: I think our players are getting used to the Sandbox as part of practice. At our last session, a player began a comment with, “During the Sandbox time….” I loved hearing that!
