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 I
have gotten lots of questions from coaches and
parents about coaching youth basketball, and
advice for coaching youngsters, let's say 1st
through 6th grades... elementary school
children. You are probably a parent coach, a
teacher-coach, a former player, or just someone
who likes kids and wants to help coach and work
with a bunch of kids. You may be organizing a
recreational league or a church league, or are
developing a program at your elementary school.
Some of the kids may have played some, and some
have never played before. Some are there because
they already love the game, and some are there
because of their friends. Some were urged by
their parents to give it a try.
Their parents will likely have varying
perspectives. A few will think you should win
every game at whatever cost, and will be yelling
advice from the sidelines. Some will be thankful
and happy that their child is on your team. Some
will be a little fearful that you may yell at
their child, or that their child may not be a
good player and will embarrass him/herself.
So what advice do I give you?
First, make it fun for the kids. Do not
yell negative things at them as this embarrasses
them in front of their friends, and is actually
counter-productive creating more stress and more
mistakes. It makes you look like a bully, and
you may completely turn the player away from
ever wanting to play again. You can yell, but it
should always be positive comments. If a player
messes up, don't embarrass him/her in front of
his/her friends. For example, if someone is
having trouble with a certain skill or drill,
rather than pointing the finger at him, blow the
whistle and say, "Some of you are having trouble
doing... blah, blah, blah... let me show you how
to do this." So maintain a positive attitude,
even if you are losing by 30 points.
Teach good sportsmanship by your example...
no yelling at the refs, no demeaning the other
team, other players, etc. Teach them to play
hard, but do not allow "dirty" play or trash
talking. Teach them to respect their opponents
and the officials. Wins and losses are not
important at this age. Teach them that you don't
have to win a trophy to be a winner.
Also, let the kids know that it is OK to make
mistakes, that you expect them to make mistakes.
Basketball is not a perfect game. All players
make mistakes, even Michael Jordan. Coaches make
mistakes, and we all know that the refs make
mistakes! You just have to keep playing hard and
learn from those errors. "A good garden may have
a few weeds."
If you have an actual team (not a large
clinic-type group), teach them about teamwork
and their responsibilities to the team... coming
to practice, encouraging each other, helping
each other, etc.
At the first practice, provide a handout for the
players and their parents. This handout could
contain some of the following items:
· Your phone number, or how they can contact and
communicate with you.
· Your game and practice schedules.
· Your goals for the team.
· A roster of all the players (if you know it).
· Let them know about any costs.
·
Your policy regarding playing time. I have
actually seen parents in the stands timing each
player's playing time with a stopwatch! I
believe that you should let all the kids play at
this age... winning is not the prime
consideration at this age. Having said that, I
also think that it is unfair to the kids that
come to all the practices for a player who
frequently misses practices to get as much
playing time in games. Explain your policy on
excused and unexcused absences.
· You could mention how parents could help (some
like to be involved), such as keeping stats,
working the scoreboard, driving to games,
providing treats, helping with uniforms,
post-game pizza parties, and maybe even
assisting in practice.
· You could briefly discuss the common problem
these days of unacceptable parent behavior at
games... yelling advice to their own child,
yelling at the refs and other team's players,
and "coaching" from the stands.
When dealing with parents, be honest and open
and show them that you really care about helping
their child... get them on your side. Make
yourself available to talk with them after a
game. Be diplomatic about any "coaching" advice
they have to offer. Rather than getting into an
argument with them, just politely thank them for
their interest... you obviously don't need to
follow their advice, but you also don't have to
be snotty about it either! Remember that most
parents are good people who care about their
kids and just want what's best for them, just
like all of us do. Do not simply choose to
ignore parents. You may be able to get away with
this if you are coaching at the college level,
but it is still churlish, inconsiderate
behavior. When coaching youth basketball, even
at the high school level, parents can help make
or break you... believe it!
If you have a son/daughter on the team... be
fair. Do not give your own child more playing
time than the others. Treat your child like any
other player on the team... do not
over-criticize and expect more from him/her. And
don't provide him/her any special treatment
either. When you are at the court, he/she is
like any other player on the team. Away from the
court, he/she is your special child and needs
your love and support, not criticism... save any
criticism or advice for when you are actually in
the gym... kids don't even want to hear about it
in the car on the way home. My daughter sure
didn't!
OK... now down to playing basketball! Let's put
together a team.
First, you probably have limited practice time
at this age. So don't try to accomplish too
much, and keep things simple. Practices for
younger children should probably be no longer
that 60 to 90 minutes because of their short
attention span. So what are you going to teach
them? What are your priorities? Others may
disagree with me, but here are some of my
thoughts.
 Teach
the fundamentals
At every practice, do ten minutes of
ball-handling and dribbling drills. Do simple
passing drills. Teach footwork (pivoting, triple
threat position, doing lay-ups, how to shuffle
and slide on defense, etc). Correct shooting
form will be difficult to teach at very young
ages, since it will just be an effort to get the
ball up to the hoop! But start working on
correct form when the kids are strong enough...
maybe 6th-7th grade. Teach man to man defense
and how to box out and rebound.
Team Offense
With a limited number of practices, find out who
can dribble and handle the ball... they are your
point guards and wings. Put them in a simple
"3-out, 2-in" set (a point guard, left and right
wings, and two post players), or bring one of
the posts up to the free throw line... hence a
1-3-1 set. Or use a 4-out, 1-in set.Teach them
the numbering quickly... 1 is the point, 2 is
the right wing and 4 the right post, and 3 the
left wing and 5 the left post (the even numbers
are on the right side and the odd numbers on the
left). The only reason to put them into a set is
to try to maintain some spacing on the floor...
so all five don't end up in the right corner!
But tell them that they must not stand still in
their position, but cut and move. Don't teach
any plays except maybe a simple out-of-bounds
play. They will not execute plays at this age
anyway. Let them just "play".
I have a "first shot mentality" with kids this
age... in other words, the player with the first
open shot within his/her shooting range, should
take the shot. This has several advantages. If
they do too much passing at this age, they will
eventually throw the ball away or commit a
turnover, and you don't get a shot. So shoot
early, and crash the offensive boards for second
and third chances. It's a little like ice hockey
at this age... the team with the most "shots on
goal" usually wins.
"First shot mentality" also takes the pressure
off the kids (some kids are afraid to shoot,
afraid to miss). If you teach the kids that you
expect them to shoot when they are open, and
that you don't expect them to make all their
shots (even Michael Jordan only makes half of 'em)
they will play more relaxed and better. Let them
know that you don't expect them to make every
shot... but that you do expect them to shoot
when they are open, and everybody rebounds
(maybe one guard back). Teach them that part of
being a good "team" player is taking good shots.
So nothing fancy on offense... just a simple
set, spacing, cutting, an early shot and crash
the boards for more shots. If they are quick,
fast break for easy lay-ups too.
Team Defense
I believe all young kids should first learn to
play man-to-man defense before learning zones.
With the really young kids, just teach on-ball
defense. With 6th graders, start teaching
"on-ball", "deny" and "helpside" concepts (read
"Basic Defense"). Now having said this, you
could probably win most of your games by using a
2-1-2 (or 2-3) zone defense because at this age
most baskets will be made inside the paint. If
you pack the paint with your defense, you will
shut them down... there is little outside
scoring at this age. Our town's recreational
league does not permit zone defenses at the
younger ages. Double-teaming is not allowed,
except in the paint. The kids will become better
defensive players if they learn to move their
feet and learn to play good man defense. Even
playing man-to-man you can clog the paint. Just
tell the kids that the paint is the "blood and
guts" area that they must defend... that's where
most scores will occur. So whenever there is an
offensive player in the paint, a warning bell
should ring in their heads that this player is a
threat to score if he/she gets the ball... so
deny this pass. When an offensive player dribble
penetrates, other defenders should collapse on
him/her and "help". Also, when a player dribbles
around the right corner (they always do), don't
let him/her penetrate along the baseline... stop
it there and trap.
Full-court press
First, full court pressing probably should not
be permitted with younger kids. But if you are
permitted to full court press, use former Oregon
State legend Ralph Miller's "pressure defense".
I have used this with middle school kids and it
works great, and is very easy to understand and
teach. You will get steals and turnovers in the
backcourt that you can quickly convert into easy
lay-ups. It is simply a full-court man-to-man
defense, so it flows easily into your half-court
man-to-man defense. Simply, you pressure the
ball handler, and the other players try to deny
a pass to their man. Oftentimes the young
inexperienced guards will throw the ball away,
or make some other turnover, but just applying a
little gentle pressure. Don't let them dribble
the ball uncontested up the floor... apply a
little harassment. Don't teach a lot of trapping
and gambling... just everyone plays good
man-to-man pressure. Now, this is important...
if they see the ball advancing quickly up the
court (a good dribbler, or a good pass), then
everybody sprints back as fast as they can to
the paint (the old "blood and guts" area) and
tries to stop them from getting the lay-up.
Then, after stopping the lay-up, everyone can
fan out and pick up his/her man. So when you are
beat on the press, you must sprint back. Tell
them that if they don't sprint back, you will
assume that they are tired and will sit them
down for a rest! By playing full-court defense,
they will tire easier and actually want rest,
and this is good for getting all your players in
the game.
Substituting
Try to figure out who your best players are.
When you substitute, always have two good
players out there... someone who can dribble and
get the ball down the floor, and someone who can
rebound and play tough defense "in the paint". I
often have my assistant make most of the
substitutions. You are too busy trying to
"coach" the game to keep track of everyone's
playing time... your assistant can be a big help
here. Discuss with your assistant before the
game who your starters will be, and your general
substitution pattern (who plays what positions,
etc), and then let him do it... you can always
over-ride him in a given game situation. With
young players, let everyone on the team have a
chance to start at least one game during the
season. I tell the kids, "it’s not who starts...
it's who can finish the game". My players don't
seem to care who starts because they know that
they are all going to get to play. Believe it or
not, I have even had some say, "Coach, let
Jessica start this game, because I started the
last one"... kids can be so neat!
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