Beginner Shooting Progressions For All Ages

By Don Kelbick

QUESTION:

What is the best way to have a kid progress shooting from a low position around the stomach or chest (i.e. push shot) to a position in which the ball is set higher with the arms/hands?

ANSWER:

A lot depends on how old the kid is and whether he can comfortably reach the basket or not. The method I use is called “by the numbers.”

Start by sitting in a chair.

#1 - Hold the ball in front of you, by the seams, in the fingertips of the shooting hand.

#2 - Turn the ball and put it into a shooting tee. Hand under the ball, on the fingerpads, in the proper shooting position.

#3 - Shoot the ball as high in the air as possible while holding the follow through. The object is to have the ball return directly back into the shooting hand without having to move your hand to catch it. The only way to do that is to shoot it straight up.

Eventually, I will add a new #3, which is stand up (shooting the ball becomes # 4). Eventually, you will synchronize the body motion and the hand motion. After that happens, I will add the guide hand.

It is important to remember that it takes 3 times longer to break an old habit than to build a new habit. When frustrated or challenged, people invariably revert to what is comfortable to them, which is the old habit, so it will take a lot of repetitions. By removing the basket as an objective, players are more motivated to do the reps.

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Tips for Subbing With Youth Basketball Teams

By Joe Haefner

Check out this forum discussion on subbing for youth teams. There are some great subbing methods such as the “piece-meal” & “numbering” methods.

Subbing for Youth Teams

Here is the numbering system I used in the past:

1. I would assign a number to each player. If I had eight players, I would make sure that 1 & 2 was either a good ball handler and/or scorer. Then, I would do the same thing for 6&7. This way, you have a player who can score and/or handle the ball on the court at all times.

2. If we played 4 8-minute quarters, I would sub every 4 minutes.

3. I subbed for the next numbers in line. For example, if I had players 6,7, 8 on the bench. I would sub for 1,2,3. When I had 1,2,3 on the bench, I would sub for 4,5,6. When I had 4,5,6 on the bench, I would sub for 7,8,1. When I had 7,8,1 on the bench, I would sub for 2,3,4.

New Article (VIDEOS) - Early Specialization & Playing Multiple Sports With Pete Carroll, Dom Starsia, and Bob Braman

By Joe Haefner

If you’ve been reading articles at Breakthrough Basketball for any length of time, you probably have heard us say that athletes at the youth level, and at least through the junior varsity level, need to stay involved in multiple sports to become better athletes.

Watch Videos and Read More

Post Rules For Youth Motion Offense?

By Don Kelbick

QUESTION:

Your site is great and I’ve learned a lot from the motion ebook. Thanks.

I coach 5th grade boys and we’re 0-5. We started using the motion after the first game. The offense is still a mess, but we occasionally get a give and go for a layup that looks kinda like basketball. So while I’m extremely frustrated, I have to admit that we’re improving and the boys haven’t quit.

My only rule now is to basket cut after a pass if the point can’t pass to the wing. However, he just starts dribbling and turns it over. If the point does make the pass and the wing can’t pass it back to the point, he just starts dribbling and he turns it over. The result is usually a fast break for the other guys.

I’m looking for another rule and would specifically like to get the post guys involved in the offense. The rules I’ve seen all seem to be geared to the guards. Any rules for the post guys?

Also, do you have any thoughts on a set? We start in a 1-2-2 now, but that leaves a lot of real estate for the guards to cover against pressure and also seems to clog the lane if the give and go does work. I’m thinking of moving to a 1-3-1 and having the low post move to the weak side after a pass.

ANSWER:

The answers to your problems are child development issues not basketball issues. I would recommend that you find a couple more rules, such as what do you do if you can’t pass to the cutter and what do you do if you are the next receiver and can’t get the ball, but I think you may be missing the big picture.

You say to yourself, “some plays look like basketball,” and “the team is improving,” and the “kids are still playing hard,” and that is a result of coaching. You getting frustrated is the result of the score. I wonder how much of what the other teams do “Look like basketball,” or is it just kids on the other teams being able to do a couple of things individually. To stop that, work on defense and the game will even out. Also, in 5th grade, they shouldn’t post players, all the players should just be learning how to play.

The reason that the kids dribble and get it stolen is more a development issue than anything else. How good of a ballhandler can a 5th grader be? It has more to do with the way they perceive the world. Spacing, timing, speed, etc. are all things in life they need more experience at. There is a reason why young kids shouldn’t cross the street by themselves, because they don’t have enough life experience to determine how far away a car is, what speed it is traveling and how long it will take to get there. It is worse on a basketball court because it is all new experience and there is nothing in real life they can draw on.

If the kid is going to dribble, at least tell him where to go and forget about the offense. If you are going to put the ball on the floor, take a lay-up.

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When Did Steve Nash Start Playing Basketball?

By Joe Haefner

According to an interview posted by NBA.com, Steve Nash did not start playing basketball until he was 12 or 13 years old. Yes, a 2-time MVP of the NBA did not start playing basketball until he was nearly a teenager.

There seems to be this myth circulating among parents and coaches that you need to start a child early in “Organized” sports in order to be successful. The sad thing is that the complete opposite often happens, because kids:

1. Lose interest, because sports aren’t fun anymore.
2. Get burned out.
3. Get injured – play too many games.
4. Don’t get enough playing time.
5. Get too much pressure placed on them to win.

The list could go on and on.

I’m not against organized sports. I think with the right approach, it can be very beneficial.

Here are some things I guarantee that occurred during Steve Nash’s childhood:

1. Played multiple sports – This helped him develop into a great overall athlete. Did you know Nash was a very good soccer player? I believe he still plays some during the offseason.
2. Developed a passion himself – I can almost guarantee he wasn’t forced to practice by his parents. Do you think you would be passionate about something if you were forced to do it?
3. Plenty of free play – played sports in the backyard or playground without adult supervision and instruction. Don’t you think it would be beneficial for kids to solve problems and socialize without an adult instructing them how to do everything? We’re not developing robots, are we?
4. Coaches made it fun. When I say fun, I’m not talking about hosting practices where the coaches and players skip around together singing Kum-Ba-Yah.

I’m referring to coaches:

• Being positive.
• Complimenting way more than criticizing. Try using Phil Jackson’s magic ratio of 5 compliments to 1 criticism or Morgan Wootten’s sandwich technique with a compliment – criticism – compliment. I honestly don’t even like to call them criticisms. I think using the term “teaching point” puts coaches in a better mindset to teach rather than just point out a flaw.
• Disciplining (not punishing).
• Using fun drills & games to improve skills.
• Teaching with some enthusiasm.
• Challenging the athletes through progressions while not making it too difficult or too easy.

Let’s stop all of this ultra-competitive athletics at an early age and develop KIDS the right way!

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Should You Teach Youth Players To Shoot A Basketball With Both Hands Equally?

By Joe Haefner

While listening to audio interview from Complete Athlete Development between Erin Perry (Physical Therapist) and Brian Grasso (Athletic Development Trainer), they discuss young athletes using both hands equally to perform athletic tasks and why it’s a good thing.

• Shooting a basketball equally with the left hand and right hand.
• Swinging the bat from each side of the plate.
• Kicking the soccer ball with both legs.
• Hitting a hockey puck from both sides.
• Throwing a football with both hands.

They mention that this is good for injury prevention. They go on to explain that if you continually throw or shoot with one hand, it can lead to muscle imbalances. If you constantly throw with one arm, you may get a shoulder that is stronger than the other. This can lead to injuries if the child is still growing and maturing.

Watch Eli Manning warm up before a game. There is a reason he throws the football left-handed and right-handed.

Along with preventing injuries, it should create a better athlete.

Can you imagine a basketball player that can:

• Shoot with both hands equally within 15 feet.
• Dribble up and down the court flawlessly with either hand.
• Pass with either hand.
• Finish around the hoop with either hand.

I recently read an article on ESPN about a pitcher named Pat Venditte in the Yankees organization that throws with both hands. Last year he had an ERA at 0.83 which is amazing for those of you who do not know very much about baseball. He can pick whatever arm he wants to throw with based on which side the opposing hitter chooses and he can throw twice as many pitches.

Would a player have similar benefits in basketball if he could shoot with both hands?

Most coaches try to teach passing, dribbling, and finishing with both hands. If we try to teach shooting with each hand equally in addition to the other skills at young age, would it make a player that much better?

You might be thinking, “That’s crazy. I can barely get my players to shoot well with one hand.” However, it’s still worth thinking about.

What are your thoughts?

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8 Secrets To Success & How They Relate To Youth Coaching / Parenting

By Joe Haefner

Here are the 8 secrets to success mentioned in the video:

1. Passion
2. Hard Work
3. Get Good
4. Focus
5. Push Yourself
6. Serve Others Value
7. Ideas
8. Persist

Is it a coincidence that passion is listed first?  I don’t think so and I think almost everybody would agree that being passionate about something is probably the first step in being successful.  If you’re passionate about something, it’s a lot easier to work hard, get good, focus, push yourself, serve others value, come up with ideas, and persist through the “CRAP”.

If this holds true, why do so many coaches and parents push their kids into organized sports, make them practice, and act like drill sergeants?  I don’t know about you, but this treatment would  most likely cause me to resent the sport rather than love it.

Do you think MJ would have loved basketball if his dad was yelling at him every day to get on the court and practice?

Let the kids develop their passion and help guide them to succeed.

When a parent loves doing something and makes that same activity enjoyable for the child, the child will be more likely to pick up that same passion.  Is it a coincidence that my dad and brother were coaches before me?  I don’t think so.

What do you think?

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Should We Teach Basketball Skills to Kids Under the Age of 10?

By Joe Haefner

Personally, I don’t believe we should spend much time teaching basketball skills to children under the age of 8. Some might even say 9 or 10.

I still believe we should incorporate basketball skills, but so many coaches forget that this a crucial time to develop ATHLETES. We should play tons of games that incorporate all sorts of movements that help children become better all-around athletes for the future.  Who cares if they are the best basketball player at age 9.  We want the best basketball players at age 18!

If we ignore this, it doesn’t matter how skilled the kid is in a particular sport. If they are not athletic enough to get open, they can not shoot. It does not matter how skilled they are with the ball if they can not create separation from the defense.  This concept applies to almost all sports!

Do you need to be a stickler on movement technique?

No and sort of.

Between the ages 6 and 9. No.

When they reach age 9 or 10, they’re ready for SOME technical instruction.

According to athletic development expert Brian Grasso, kids between the ages 6 to 9 are in the Guided Discovery stage. Everything should be outcome-based with an emphasis on fun.

When working with athletes under the age of 9, Grasso states, “The entire premise of sport exploration should be based on guided discovery and nothing more –while the nervous system is at the height of its adaptability, kids should be encouraged to explore on their own, and under the ‘rules’ of outcome-based activities only.”

This means that we don’t want to be overly technical with this age group. Just give them a goal and let them do it. For example, “Johnny, try dribbling down the court with your right hand and shoot a lay up at the opposite end of the court.”

Be positive and have some fun.

At what age should I start to focus on the movement technique a little more?

According to Grasso, when the athlete is between the ages of 10 and 13, you start to emphasize technical skill a little more while still making things fun.

You don’t want to go overboard so you don’t cause paralysis analysis for the athlete, but you want to give them cues to help fix an improper movement pattern.

Other reasons to focus more on movement with youth athletes…

1. A child needs to have a foundation of moving without a ball before you can expect them to move properly with a ball.  If a kid can not stop, how do we expect them to dribble and come to a jump stop? If a kid can not jump and land, how do we expect him to shoot a jump shot? If a kid can not run properly, how do we expect to dribble while running?

   A well-known athletic development specialist named Gray Cook references a performance pyramid for athletic development. It has 3 layers.

   The 1st layer  is “Movement” which is the foundation. It refers to just being able to move and do things such as skipping, running, running backwards, climbing, crawling, shuffling laterally, hopping, landing, and so on.

   The 2nd layer is “Performance” and that refers to the efficiency of the movements. Performing movements correctly with power & athletic explosiveness.The That refers to when you get sport-specific.

   3rd layer is “Skill.”

   For example, you have to be able to jump & land (1st layer – movement) before you can jump with power. You have to jump with power (2nd layer – performance) before you can dunk or shoot a jump shot (3rd layer – skill).

2. Kids learn movements better at a younger age and should be exposed to numerous different movement activities.Children are like sponges when it comes to learning new movement skills. Research shows that if you try to teach them movement skills when they become physically mature, it often takes longer to learn these skills. That’s why it’s important for the development of an athlete to start at a young age!
3. Produce well-rounded athletes. You can have extremely-skilled basketball players who never make it to the next level, because they were not athletic. And this could be a result of them never learning how to move properly.  This can be taught when they’re older, but it’s much more effective to GUIDE them at a young age. �

   I think everybody knows at least one player who can shoot lights out, but could not create sapce to get the shot off if his life depended on it.

4. Since the young athletes are not developed, their shooting form and other skills will change drastically as they get stronger and older.Why spend a lot of time on that when they’re going to change in the future anyways? Shouldn’t we be worried about developing them as athletes instead?
5. Prevent Injuries.If an athlete is not exposed to movement patterns at a young age or does not continue to use those movement patterns, the athlete may move incorrectly which can lead to an injury. If the child learns how to move, this will be prevented.  What good is an injured athlete?

How much time should I dedicate to practice?

I believe coaches who work with kids under the age of 10 should spend at least 20 minutes of their practice incorporating movement games/skills. The rest of the practice you can work on skills such as passing, shooting, and ball handling.

Athletes over the age of 10 should spend at least 10 to 15 minutes at the beginning of practice incorporating different movement skills through a progression to prepare their body to perform at the highest level, prevent injuries, and improve athletic ability. You want to avoid making the athletes do explosive movements without properly warming up first. We have warm up examples in this sample practice for 11 to 14 year olds.

What do you do to incorporate these movement skills into practice?

Play plenty of movement games. It’s fun and it:

1. Gets the body warmed up and ready to play.
2. Helps develop them as athletes.
3. Prevents Injuries.

Here are 2 great games to incorporate right away for ALL age levels!

1. Tag

2. Red-Light, Yellow-Light, Green-Light.

Tag is probably one of the best games you can play. It teaches the athletes to move in all directions. It teaches them how to be elusive. Elusiveness is something many players are lacking these days, because they never play these games anymore. When I was younger, we’d play tons of games (touch football, tag, kickball, dodgeball, whiffle ball) that required you to be elusive to succeed. Kids don’t do that as much anymore, so we need to make sure to incorporate these things into practice.

Another great game is green-light, yellow-light, red-light. Pick a movement and when you say green light, they go. When you say “yellow-light”, they go at half speed. When you say “red-light”, they freeze. If you were to do lunges, the green-light would be lunges at a normal pace, yellow-light would lunges at a slow pace, and red-light would make them freeze. This is great way to teach them how to control the speed of their movements while making it fun. You can do this game with running, shuffling, jogging backwards, hopping, and anything else you can think of.

Just like anything else in life, you need a good foundation in order to succeed. You need to learn algebra before you can do calculus. You need to teach kids how to move before they can become a great athlete and excel in a certain sport.  At the very earliest, I would not specialize until they’re 15 years old.

If you would like to get an idea of how certain movement techniques should be performed, I highly advise to visit this site website called Core Performance. It has a ton of free videos you can look at.

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For The Frustrated Coaches That Turn to Zone Defense

By Joe Haefner

This article is meant for coaches at all levels, especially youth, junior high, and junior varsity.

If you have ever gotten frustrated with your man to man defense and decided to use zone because it was easier to implement, I had an experience early in my coaching career where being persistent with the fundamentals and using the long-term approach paid off.

When I was a senior in college, I had an accounting internship close to my hometown and decided to become an assistant coach for the freshmen basketball team at my former high school.  I was an assistant to my Dad.  

At the beginning of the season, he had gotten frustrated because he couldn’t get the kids to play man to man defense and decided to go play some zone. Haven’t we all been there?

At the beginning of the season, we played a team called Marion from Iowa that was quite talented. We got trounced by something like 67-22. The funny thing is that it could’ve been much worse.

So my dad and I met, because we wanted to figure out what was best for the team.  We decided when we modified our short-term and long-term plans that we would always ask ourselves…

What can we do to prepare this team for the varsity level?

Who cares about wins and losses, how much we get beat by, and what any of the parents and spectators think.  What can we do to make this team better in the long-run?

We knew that we had to focus on man to man defense and fundamentals of the game.  We also had to spend time TEACHING the game rather than just running tons of drills.  

We knew even if they wanted to play zone at the varsity level, they needed to have these fundamentals pounded into them in order to be successful.

There’s a saying that goes “If you can’t play man, you can’t play zone.”

Some coaches believe that they can hide poor defenders within a zone. Sometimes, this is true, but when you face a quality opponent, they will exploit your poor defensive players.  Also, a zone isn’t very effective if you can’t stop the ball. 

So, we knew that man to man defense was the right way to go.

Day to day we saw little improvements and all of the sudden those little improvements turned into a huge improvement over the season.

Well, it comes to the end of the season and guess who we get to face. The same undefeated Marion team that smoked us by 45 points at the beginning of the year. This was a totally different game.  We were staying between the man and the hoop when playing the ball, communicating, rotating on defense, and forcing low-percentage shots.

All of the sudden, it’s the 4th quarter and we’re winning by 2 points!! Unfortunately, some balls didn’t roll our way and we ended up losing by 4 points. It was like 46 – 42 or something like that.

When I was riding home, I just got goosebumps all over, because it felt so good to see that team which had such little confidence at the beginning of the year learn that they could compete with anybody by playing the right way.

Four years later, the same group of kids ended up beating that same Marion team for the first time! I believe Marion was ranked 6th in the state at the time.

Was part of that rooted back to when we pounded the fundamentals in them when they were Freshmen? I like to think so.

Stay persistent and focus on the fundamentals of the game. It may not pay off today. It may not pay off this season. It may not pay off next year, but it will pay off in the long-run.

If you would like to learn more about defense and how to build your defense from the ground up, take a look at our Man to Man Defense System.

What Is The Right Age To Focus On Wins and Losses and Start Playing Zone?

By Joe Haefner

On a page where we discuss defense at the youth & junior high level, I recently received these two questions from a junior high coach:
 

Do you believe there is an age where it is appropriate to play a zone?

Is there an age where you should start playing Win-Loss basketball?

These are very good questions and these are the conclusions I have come to:
 

Conclusion #1 - Zones should NOT be allowed until the second half of the Freshmen year in high school (typically 14 to 15 year olds).

Even at the junior high level (12 to 14 year olds), I’m very skeptical of playing zones for development purposes. Some coaches may argue this, but when I coached at the high school level, I dealt with so many kids that played zones at the lower levels that formed some terrible habits. We would spend entire seasons just trying to break bad habits that were formed by teams that trapped, played zones, junk defenses, and pressed when they were at the youth level. Sometimes, we never could break the habits.

When I was coaching a freshmen team, we scrimmaged against another team in the area that was in a league that did not allow teams to play zone until the second half of the season. I thought this was great.

1. Coaches get to spend more time on the fundamentals and building the player’s foundation, because they don’t have to worry about preparing for zones, presses, junk defenses within the first 10 practices.  Without a solid foundation, it doesn’t matter what you do, you are not going to be as successful.  
2. Coaches are forced to teach man to man principles before they go unto zone defense. So many coaches skip man to man principles and go straight to zone. As skill level and strength increases, these zones are ineffective because they don’t know man-ball principles, can’t stop the ball from dribbling by them, and some other bad habits (swarming the ball, going after every steal, etc.) that helped players get more turnovers at the youth level do not work anymore.

In other words, the zone that works at the youth level and junior high level won’t work at the high school level, because an effective zone defense at the youth level is not an effective zone defense at the varsity level for reasons listed above.

Conclusion #2 – I believe Win/Loss basketball should start around 7th grade (Age 13).

However, I think it’s a much lower emphasis on wins and losses than a high school varsity team. Your focus would still be on the developmental portion.

When you get to high school varsity, is when I believe that it truly becomes a win-loss philosophy. At the same time, some years you may be a better zone team, but it’s still a good idea to teach man to man defense, because you don’t want to have a player that doesn’t make it at the college level because he doesn’t know how to play man to man defense. It could literally cost them thousands of dollars through scholarships.

If you focus too much on the win-loss at youth and junior high level (and some would even say the junior varsity level), it could be detrimental for different reasons:

1. Undeveloped kids don’t develop because they don’t get any playing time. That’s why it’s key to get everybody fairly equal playing time. You have no idea who is going to be the best when they get older. A 5’10 kid who already matured may dominate now, but the 5’8 skinny kid who hasn’t hit puberty yet and grows to 6’8 by the time he is a senior may be the best chance for success as they get older.  How is he going to get any better if he’s not playing?
2. Tactics that work at this age (organized presses, zones, traps) won’t work at higher levels, because the foundation (fundamentals) has not been developed. On average, these presses are NOT run correctly. They just swarm the ball and the player that is 1 pass away, because the players are not strong enough to throw down the court and have not developed the ball handling skills to quickly react.

The truth is that COACHES and PARENTS are WAY more concerned about winning than kids under the age of 13. Most kids just want to play. They want to have fun. They are thinking about their own little world, not winning. And even if they think about winning, it’s not nearly as important to them as it is you. By the time, the game is over, they are just thinking about where they will get some pizza. Kids move on really fast. But parents and coaches dwell on the loss for days and hours. That’s too bad.

Trust me. A high school coach would much rather have you work on fundamentals and build a great foundation. If they have a great foundation, it’s relatively easy for them to throw in an effective trap, press, or zone. Not the other way around.

High school coaches please leave your comments on this as well, so youth coaches understand your perspective as well.