I just started that last season and you are right it works great you just give more things to work on thanks

I coach 5th graders and I can't tell how right you are about fundamentals. I had the same group last year and tried to teach plays, what a disaster. Now we focus one practice on ofensive fundalmentals and one practice on defensive fundamentals. We are 2-0 It really works

I've coached AAU and travel teams for 15 years and early on came to the same conclusion. Teach the kids how to play - using every available minute - and then let them play. Too many coaches want to run complicated set patterns and spendd all their time teaching that. This turns the kids off and doesn't develop them.

I do the same fundamentals everyday for 25 minutes and it is amazing how much we have improved in these areas. Keep up the good work!

I am a basketball official who just took over a 12 & under and 14 & under girls YBoA team. I am having a ball teaching fundamentals. The girls and parents are appreciative of the patience I have to show them what they need to know before running a complicated play. Thanks for the tips and reassurance that I am doing the right thing.

I am a basketball official who just took under 14 & under 14 girls in sports school in egypt Thanks for the tips but we want drills ball handing photo Thanks

asatre

let me blaze

Great idea will start this tomorrow!

love it, the time we have for pratice is one hour two time a week. so what are some good fundamantals of the game i could teach,ages 12 & up to 18 boys & girls

I have to agree with this article. I started coaching 5th grade girls basketball a few years ago. My first season was just a mess. We had 1 hour for two days to practice. I had those poor little girls so confused. To this day, when I see them, I still apologize for putting them through that terrible year. Thank my lucky stars none of them stopped playing basketball. But I agree with this article, when they are young stick to the fundamentals...winning is secondary.

what are some good drills for jr high... ?

this is the best thing I've heard since mircle whip. And thanks for the extra practice time.

I am a parent and not a coach and my Daughter (first grader) and I meet for 45 min. before each game and do what drills we can. How can I ask my coach to treat the 20 min. pregame warm up as a learning opportunity without insulting him? All the team typically does is shooting drills and I think they should be doing man defense and man offensive drills.

Paul

Hi Paul,

That's a tough situation. You have to be careful with your approach. Some coaches feel insulted when you tell them to do something for various reasons.

First thing I would do is compliment the coach on what a good job they are doing. Second, bring up the suggestion. Tell them you don't want to step on their toes, but you thought it might help.

For example, "Hey, great job. These kids have improved soooo much in the last few weeks/months. You know how getting enough gym time is a struggle every week? I actually found this article while browsing on the web about time management. They suggested working on fundamentals and treating it like a practice for the pregame warm-up....."

You may word it differently.

I'm ready to do a 180 on this subject. This is my first year as a coach of a girls 5th grade team. I used to think the team should relax while warming up before a game. Don't try anything new. Let them ease into the game without too many things to think about.

I've found there is lots of socializing during warm up. The last thing they thing about is getting ready to play. I'll try this this weekend and see how it works.

Thanks,

Thanks for the info......I have a problem with keeping my 7/8th grade girls focused and my 5/6th girls jusjust t don't seem to get it....but they are great athletes....(a little frustrated)

any suggestions?

I have use this drill before. We have loss the first two game, so it was time to try something new. The drill work now we use it before every game.

Hi Talisa,

At that age, players naturally lose focus. Be patient and keep reminding them to stay focused. This is a never-ending battle and you'll find that even NBA coaches have trouble keeping their players focused.

Always teach the game to your players. Be patient with their learning curve. It will come around. Also, don't forget to explain the reason you do certain drills and skills. Players are more likely to buy in to what you are teaching when they understand why they do it.

Thanks Joe,
Well i have a game tonight...wish me luck...my 5/6th girls are playing......I'll keep you all posted:)

I have a question. My name is Henry and I coach a 7th and *th grade church basketball team. I had to pull players from my other 7th and 8th grade team(including my 12 year old son), to help the team. We are not executing our offenses properly. How can I get my church team to run the offenses properly during game time. I have a handful of offenses that I run(motion offenses/simple zone offenses). I've been coaching for over twenty years, I haven't encountered this problem at this level. Some of the young men on the church team seem to want to do their own thing. Thank you......Henry

i will try this for our first game March 22. I get frustrated that practice goes by so fast and there is so much more that i would like to teach. Thanks

Good thread. We don't bother showing our rookie 4th/5th grade girls an offensive pattern.

Instead, we spent 5-10 minutes a week on a simple "box" out-of-bounds play, as a bite-size introduction to screens and cuts. If the motion is symmetrical (two backscreens, or two side screens) they learn it fast and everyone can take any spot. We scored 26 points from our "box" in a seven-game season last year.

Great advice and thread. My Junior team 13 and 14 yos work on fundamentals and basic sets before games and it shows during the game. Last week we won 42 - 10, because we were able to go over man to man and 2-3 zone in a matter of minutes. So far we are 2-0.

Not really enough time to instill and implement an offense so I just taught them a box set and 4-1 set just to make it simple.

Shaheed
Riyadh, KSA

I am a first time coach with first time players and have tried to focus on correct shoot techniques...dribbling etc.....they are too young for "plays" but I need to teach them positions etc...and am at a loss?!?!!

Thanks

Hi Tracy,

You can find many of the basics at this link: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/basics/basics.html

Tracy,

Do you happen to have our Motion Offense eBook?
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/pr/motionoffense.html

In the eBook we have a section that explains how to teach youth players skills and start developing a basic motion offense at the same time. It's a very efficient way to develop young players. Check out this blog post for a small piece of the explanation:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/coaching-youth-basketball-with-limited-time-1-practice-a-week/

Let us know if you have more questions or if this is still unclear.

Thanks for allowing me in on your secrets. I see we share alot of the same ideas on development of the player as they progress in the game. A good base is key in the building of a player and it protects the integraty of the sport. Thanks again. I can't wait for more.

5th and 6th grade level....we have 2 practices of 1.5 hours a week for 3 weeks total of 9 hours before our fist game. then two a week of 1.5 hours total of 3 hours per week with games on Saturday. Your idea is great but they games are packed back to back where we play we only get a 5 to 10 minutes of warm up time.

How do you optimize practice when you hardly get any time to start....plus our league has raised the bar and our league put in zone and full court press....so we basicly have to coach high school basketball to a little league.

How do you optimze practice

Coach Keys

Hi Coach Keys --

We've got the same practice hours as you guys. Here's one way we keep things simple for our 6th girls JV team, and the teams in our varsity conference do likewise: Out of a 1-2-2 passing game set, we call "orange" and the wing sets a ball screen for the point guard to drive. This should spring your ballhandler to make a shot or low-post pass from the side, against both man or a 2-3 zone (screen on the defender at elbow). If they play zone and the two guards spread out to block passing lanes, we call "blue" and flash someone to the wide-open (!) high post. That's all. We practice team offense only 10 minutes a week so we can focus on funadmentals.

You are right. I was thinking of something along those lines for my team. I coach 8, 9 and 10 year old Little Dribblers; and I find it can be frustrating when we have have to skip fundamentals. Thanks for putting this together for us. GO LONGHORNS!!!

My team this year is currently 0-5. But i can not agree more tht teaching the fundamentals is what is important. We have lost every game by no more than 8pts, but teaching the kids nd parents about sportsmanship is what youth basketball is all about. My 10 and 11 year olds hold their heads up high at the end of eery game that is gratifying enough for me and makes coaching worthwhile.

You are absolutely right. I have coached middle school for 8 years now and have learned that no matter how much we work we have trouble taking those things into games. I am gonna start this tonight and will let you know the results. Thanks for the advice!