This is fantastic. I have downloaded all of your free ebooks and published materials so far. The icing on the cake would be practice plans for youth and adults (I wouldn't have such a headache each week then!)

Alex

Thank you soooooooo much. I'm going to start coaching a team of 3rd - 5th grade girls. I haven't played myself in awhile, so this is really, really helpful. You have no idea!!!

Thank you to nice people like you who share information.

I didn't want to disappoint either child so I'm coaching 1st/2nd boys and 3rd/4th girls - these tips and practice plans are a lifesaver!

I printed out both the Drills and Plays ebooks and read through ALL of them. Great stuff.

Your site and program has excellent content, advice, instructions and suggestions.

Nothing but GREAT things to say about breakthroughbasketball.com. Thanks for what you do!!!

DAgee
11-12 year old girls coach
Southwest Virginia

Thanks a lot for all this information. Keep up the good work.

Harry
11-12 year old girls coach
Oceanside, New York

This is excellent information for me. I have been coaching 10 - 12 year olds for the past 5 years and this is the first time I've had a crew that needed to learn the basics basketball skills. These books will help me tremendously.

Thanks for this information. This is my second year coaching. However, my 9 and 10 year old team has a very wide range of skill levels. I need to get everyone involved in the games. These drill will help.

I have been coaching for 30 yrs. from age 5 to junior college in all sports and I must say that first, I can't believe how much free, useful information you are sharing and secondly, how beneficial it is. When I can afford it I will definitely purchase some of your products.

Great drills, I have been playing basketball for a while. Everytime I check out this website I learn something new. I thought i knew everything it was about basketball. Now that I have read and learned something new about the game I can incorporate it into how I play and what I teach my team. What can i do to better my man to man defense as below height average guard?

Hi Kenneth,

Be a pest and use active hands. Make things as difficult as possible.

Now, if you want to learn more about the stance and how to improve your quickness, check out this page: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/defense/man.html

Thank you very much for all of the help and iformation on what to teach youth basetball. I will be teaching the Macth-up zone and 1-4 defence. Keep up the GOOD work. With Gods Favor You are Blessed. Coach Green
Sacramento,CA

I am so glad I found your site, you are providing a great service to coaches and players alike. Coach Steve Regina, Saskatchewan Canada

I have found your material informative and helpful. I only want to get my local little dribblers board to see things as you guys do: that fundamentals are key and the all other will come with time. Plays and other more advanced terms and ideas are too much for the first few years of basketball.

its a great blessing for me the information about basketball keep it up God bless

thank you
the information is going to assist me as a coach and my young boys and girls which are the community and the future of basketball in my country and the world at large .
thanks a lot,i will get back to you soonest.
coach julian.

Thank you,

I teach ba sketball in rural areas where there was not ba sketball structures and its hard because this is a new sport in the area!

I will have fun with the kids

Thank you so much for all the great advice and drills, it makes practice a lot more fun for my boys.

Tanya
12-13 year old boys
Leimen, Germany

Running a programme with our local b'ball association called "Rising Stars" which aims to teach the basics to children aged 5 to 10 yrs so that when they start in our local comp we hope they will have an understanding of the game and enough basic skills to be confident on the court. Thank you so much for all of this fantastic info and drills, this will make things so much easier to structure and fun at the same time. Well done guys, keep it up!

Ok , I'm thinking about coaching girls basketball grades 3rd to 4th. Any suggestions
on getting started. My son is playing 3rd grade
for the first time. The problem i have with the
coaching is he is not focusing on the basics.
He spends more time running 3 to 4 plays.
At this point i feel he is missing out on the
basics.

This guy has a pretty good take on the shoulder joints being just as important as the legs in making layups:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utqRkr2ffVM&feature=related

This is a life saver!!!! I have 7 girls ages 9-12 that have alot of heart for the game but need fundamentals! I haven't played the game in a while and wasn't sure where to start but you guys have given me excitement about going to practice and teaching them exactly what they need to progress to great players over the next few years!!!! Excellent!

I'm struggling with volunteer parents who only care about winning at all costs instead of foster a better team and building up weaker players.

Anyone have any suggestions about approaching coaches who are favoring their own kids or their friend's kids for playing time? We are talking about 9 year olds here, not high school or college athletes. OR, should I just let my kid sit on the sidelines and I will stay silent and watch the favored children get more playing time (this is a house league basketball team where it is supposed to be equal playing time for all)

I watched the practice today where two players ball hogged the entire practice and the coaches were encouraging this style of play. The other kids who were playing but not touching the ball were starting to fight with the ball hogs. The ball hogs would constantly yell and whine at the other kids on the team to pass it to them.

I was going to let loose on the coaches but I thought I would hold off and seek advice. Anyone have any good advice on how to deal with this situation?

Scott - That's a tough one. It can be tough to tell a coach what to do without upsetting them. You could just ask if you could talk with them for a few minutes. Be very upbeat, positive, and non confrontational. Just say, "Hey coach, I was just wondering what I could do to help get my son and even other players on the team more playing time. You're the coach so I'd like to get your advice and see if you can help me. I just want what is best for my son and want him to be happy, so I just wanted to see what you think I could do to help him?"

I think if you turn things around and make the coach feel good and respected by asking him/her for advice, you'll have better luck.

I once heard someone say "Would you rather be right? Or would you rather be effective?" Sometimes you have to swallow pride and forget about who is right or wrong to be effective.

Beyond that, if you can get a good positive conversation going, you can discuss other things. If you can develop a positive repoir and relationship with the coach, you'll have good luck. Many times life is all about building relationships. Take some time to build a real relationship with the coach and I think you'll have good luck. And if you get to that point, you can offer some of the resources on our website that talk about "coaching the right way", "equal playing time", "winning is not important at this level", etc. Tell the coach about the studies of 3on3, touching the ball more often, etc. We have tons of stuff on our website about that.

Also, the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) has excellent advice for coaches in this regard. They talk about Double Goal Coaching and really help coaches and parents see what is important.
http://www.positivecoach.org

Hope this helps.

I have parents who decided it was time to tell me that they are frustrated that we are not teaching our 3rd and 4th graders plays. About as close as we have come is working on spacing and picks. I told them that the best advice that I had gotten (that's you) is to keep working on athleticism and fundamentals. I can go on and on about how they still cannot dribble well, their shooting form needs work and their footwork is awkward. So I know they need those basics. I doubt I can be so blunt to a parent! Can you provide more information? They think their kids are gong to "fall behind."

Hi Steve,

Have you referenced these articles?

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/developmental-league.html

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/when-did-steve-nash-start-playing-basketball/

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/problem-american-basketball.html

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/should-we-teach-basketball-skills-to-kids-under-the-age-of-10/

Steve,

Also check out this guide for dealing with parents. I think it will help.
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/dealing-with-parents.html

Let us know if this helps and what else you need. Good luck!

Jeff need help,

I run a basketball development training programme for youth players from the ages of 7yrs to 23yrs. Been running this programme for a year now. I have a challenge of having to train the 7year olds with the 15yr old in one session, and the 17yr olds & 20yr olds in another session . I do teach them the same fundamental skills but with less intensity and volume for the younger ones. I want to know if that will affect the younger ones later in their development. The reason why we have put them together is because we dont have much time to break them into different sesssion. What do you advice i should do.

Isaac,

What exactly are you concerned about? Are you noticing any particular problems?

Personally, I have not run programs where ages vary greatly. But I have talked to Don Kelbick about this before. He claims that its not a problem for him. Skills are the same no matter what age and the way he runs drills, different ages can work together. The big kids do more and move faster, but they do the same drills. And sometimes the big kids help the young ones along, so the young kids benefit.

Let me know if there's any particular problem you're having and we can help you out.

My situation, as a 1st year coach, is I have 12 kids: 4th, 5th, 6th graders. They freeze up, when the point guard passes the ball to the wing, regardless if I'm teachjing a 1-2-2 offense (guards swap, 4-5 swap), or man (not yet implemented).

We have one month of practices, this week being the last, 3 times a week, only 1.5 hours each practice, and our first game is Saturday!

All the fundamentals (layups, bounce pass, chest pass, jump stop, dribbling, etc.) have been taught repeatedly. I have a 2-1-2 zone defense. Only 2 kids are athletes, 2 others are my 4-5. My 3 spots is wide open for taking, hence the situation highlighted above, of them freezing. Also, at this age, I believe there's no pressing in our league, and I have to try and play all the kids.

Advice on how to handle the freezing? (aside from a long list of other issues...)

Roman - I hate to answer a question with a question but... Why are your players freezing up? Is it because they're only 10 and don't know what to do? Is the offense too complicated? Too many options? Do they lack confidence? Is there too much defensive pressure on them? Can they pass the ball far enough?

Every kid develops differently and experience and confidence building might be the only answer. Here's a good quote from one of Don Kelbick's posts on our forum. It might shed light on the issue that we all face with young kids...

"Just about everyone who gets involved with youth sports has good intentions. People want only the best for their kids. When a father gets on the sideline, he thinks he becomes Phil Jackson. But they don't have the knowledge or training that Phil Jackson has. Then again, I don't think that Phil Jackson would be very good with your son. The operative word in "Youth Sports" for too many people is 'Sport" where it should be "Youth."

Read some of the comments on this site, discussions of offenses and defenses for 8-year olds, discussions of discipline of other people children, etc. People expect more of kids on playing fields than they do in their own homes. How many 9-year olds remember to put their socks in the hamper? But, they are expect to remember both zone AND man-to-man offenses. When in the home, adults look at their kids as kids. Put them out on a basketball court (or soccer field or football field, etc) and they cease to be kids, they become players. The ideal they are held up to is what they see on TV.

Youth sports is not about sports, it is about child development, just as school is. However, most of the people (MOST NOT ALL!) who deal with your kids have had special training, not in the subject matter, but with how kids learn and how they develop. That is where they are expert, not in the subject matter."

Joe, to answer your question, they're 4th, 5th, and 6th graders, and it looks like I've been approaching my 1st year of coaching wrong, based on the responses on this site - focus on fun first, and the rest will develop.

Seems wrong, I was always taught discipline 1st, but I started to play late too, in 7th grade. I mean, I learned many a day by shooting, shooting, shooting, dribbling, dribbling, dribbling - constant repetition!

Hi Roman,

I believe in discipline. I always like to be very disciplined the first week. Then, I loosen up a little bit and have lots of fun.

You just need to keep their age in perspective. Youth players won't be able to focus for very young. Need to be active with minimal speeches.

Joe & Jeff-

I wish I knew about your site 4 years ago. That is when I started coaching my daughter's youth basketball team (4th grade). She is now playing for her school in the 8th grade and I now understand what a crappy job I did as a youth coach.

If I could do things over I would have stressed the following:

Lay Ups - Every girl should have been able to make both left and right handed lay ups, even contested ones. We practiced this, but I didn't stress it enough. I am seeing 8th grade girls I coached in youth league shooting with the right hand on the left side. I also see them wanting to stop and take a set shot on a fast break. They just aren't comfortable shooting lay ups.

Left-hand Dribbling - Again, we practiced but I didn't stress. Dribbling with the left hand when going left. Every time I see one of my former players get the ball stolen because they dribble with the right while going left I hang my head, ashamed.

Dribbling & Looking Up - These poor girls still look down at the ball when they dribble. How did I handle this as a youth coach? I limited the amount of dribbling they could do in a game - two dribbles then either shoot or pass. Why? It was easy. Maybe running some drills every practice would have helped these girls more. Nice job, coach.

I could go on and on, but the story is the same. I've probably set these girls back a couple of years in their basketball skills because of my failure to develop the fundamentals.

Anyway, just wanted to say that you guys are spot on with the priorities you share for youth coaching.

ALL CURRENT YOUTH COACHES: Avoid my experience. Winning is not important at the youth level - development of skills is the priority. Get yourself and your kids involved in a program that stresses development - it's the best thing you can do.

Hi Bill,

Thank you for the kind words and thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Most coaches/parents figure things out and learn from their mistakes by the time they're done coaching. I know it took me a few years to figure things out. And that's after I researched and studied. Most parents don't have time to do that.

That's why we put together this website. We wanted to help youth coaches get started on the right foot.

I am a first time coach who knows relatively nothing about basketball and was thrown into a 10yo team of girls. I was unable to get a response to set up any practice time so what is your suggestion as to how to coach them during a game. Can I set up some sort of play module or what??? Any help is appreciated.

I'm not sure what you can do without some practice. In games, I'm not big into strategy or schemes, especially at the youth level. The only thing you can do is provide positive reinforcement when they do things right. When they do things wrong, you can talk do them on the bench and provide instruction (trying to shout and teach during the heat of the game doesn't really work).

My first suggestion is to get some practice time scheduled. My next suggestion is to find a mentor with basketball experience. Then you and/or your mentor can study as much info on this site as you can.

Enjoy your column. My daughter began playing basketball when she was 7 years-old. She played Upward and spring rec until she got a badly sprained finger at age 10. She has had to take a year and a half off so it would heal. She was still having pain when she moved it after a year. Her orthopedist says she can go back now. My question is, has she missed to much to catch up to her peers who have been playing all along? What advice would you give her to prepare her to try out for her schools middle school team one year from now? Should she do fall and summer rec or try club in the fall? Any advice is appreciated. She loves basketball.

First, I would not be overly concerned because she is still so young. Steve Nash (2-time MVP) didn't play basketball until he was 13. Dirk Novitski started around the same time. Bill Russell and Michael Jordan were no good as sophomores in high school. So I wouldn't be too worried about "getting behind" just yet.

With my own children I'm more concerned with their athletic development, coordination, and mental development. I know that if they are athletes, coordinated, and hard workers, then they have a real good chance to be as good at basketball as they want to be (even if the never play bball until middle school or high school). So my advice would be to worry less about catching up and more with a good well rounded athletic development. Play soccer, gymnastics, swimming, martial arts, and flag football seasonally. Get a good skill development trainer for basketball. Play some bball games seasonally. A good skill trainer will do more than playing games all summer. A good mix is the key.
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/regional-training.html

Thank you Jeff, I appreciate the encouragement and the link. She is also on a swim team so she works on other skill sets. I have one more question. She went through puberty about 1 year ago and is 5'2" It does not look like she is going to be tall. Could she still be a good player if she is not tall?

Thanks again,

Maria

I guess it depends on how you define "good player". She can certainly be a very good high school, college, and even pro player. Of course the taller the better, but there are many other things that make up for a good basketball player. If you are short, you better be skilled, athletic, and a smart player.

I could not agree more with your sentiments about promoting skills development and fundamental until kids are closer to 13 or 14. The biggest problem in youth sports today is over-coaching younger kids. Good intentions (usually); bad result. The feeding high school issue is also a big problem. It may be good for that coach (who may not even be there in 3 or 4 years) but it is often bad for the player who is not exposed to another offensive system. The concept of a role player has no business in youth sports. In any event, there is no point in a player learning a structured offense if they have no ball handling skills, poor footwork, bad shooting mechanics, no court awareness and no vision. Retention with kids is somewhat of an oxy-moron but fundamental skills are much easier for them to understand and can be practiced at the schoolyard or in the driveway. The bottom line is that youth coaching should be about building a foundation for the future success of the players. It should not be about living out a Bobby Knight fantasy.

OH MY GOSH! I CAN NOT READ ALL OF THIS! THIS IS JUST TOO MUCH TO READ! AND I WILL JUST GET TRIED READING THIS BASKETBALL STUFF! I WILL HAVE TO READ IT FOR LIKE 5 DAYS! AND SAVE SOME OF IT!

MadH-

How right you are, teach ALL kids ALL the fundamentals of the game. The center of today might be the point guard of tomorrow.

Teach everyone the fundamentals and how to play... and then let them have FUN!

This helps alot thanks! I'm 16 and I am teaching a basketball camp over the summer and I wanted to know what I should teach younger kids becuz I've played for 11 years but have played varsity ball so much haha I wanted to get back to the basics so thanks! =D

Abby -

Basics & fundamentals is the right place to begin.... Remember to make sure that they have fun also.

You are young but they should look up to you as a role model. Good luck

Thanks for great information. Youth sports is about developing skills and fun.

I am coaching a 5th grade girls team. We only started with them this past January. We finished up a tournament this weekend and got beaten pretty handily. The major issue is that most other school districts have in-house programs that start in 3rd grade (we are a parent volunteer program), so we are essentially two years behind in teaching our girls the fundamentals while the teams we play are very well organized at this point, run set offensive plays, and generally beat us in every facet of the game. I am a competitive person and find it frustrating that we are having difficulty being competitive. An additional problem is that we have a lack of gym availability in our school district and are limited to practice 3 days a week for 90 minutes each day.

I have read various articles on this website and others regarding how to coach youth basketball, but feel that I need more than this to catch up with our opponents. Our ultimate goal is to have the girls be ready for 7th grade when our school's in house program starts, but we don't want the girls to get discouraged by constantly losing.

Any advice on what direction to take is greatly appreciated.

Michael -

I know that this is tough on you and the girls.... heck, everyone wants to win... but you have already set out your goals.....

"Our ultimate goal is to have the girls be ready for 7th grade when our school's in house program starts, but we don't want the girls to get discouraged by constantly losing".

It is hard to catch up with people teams that have 2-3 years on you.... I know what you are saying, I was there too..... teams around us were practicing well before the season started - it took us till Christmas time to catch up.... talked to my AD about it and his reply was, "Don't you feel better about following the rules?" I said NO, I want them to follow the same rules we have, or our teams to play by their rules. Bottom line, this is where you are at.

I think that you should sit down with the girls and parents, discuss your goals and objectives. Your goal is to get them ready to play in the house program... thats great! Keep teaching them fundamentals, make them as fundamentally sound as you can.

Who cares if they win 30 games a year and are BEHIND your players fundamentally when they reach the "House Progams?"

Maybe you can break down your goals into smaller objectives, something your kids can achieve and feel good about themselves. At your level its not about Ws and Ls... its all about FUNDAMENTALS..... your players and parents need to understand this..... back you and your team/players and cheer for the good things they do.

Good luck and I hope things work out for you and your players/team.

I can understand the frustration and desire to compete. Been there and I am still there at times.

Since I can't stand sacrificing long term development for short term wins, here's one of the ways that I deal with the problem...

I continue teaching fundamentals and avoid teaching plays and "systems" to help win short term. I then track stats and sometimes set goals. With a really young team this year, here's what I did...

We often play teams that are older and/or much better than us. You just never know at this age level so we'll try to be prepared to make it a positive experience regardless of their level and ability.

Since the score of the game might not be favorable, we are track some stats allowing each girl to have some success on the court. We track...

- Rebounds
- Loose ball recoveries
- Successful passes

So even if they don't score a point, they still can see some tangible positive results. It also encourages them to hustle.

Kids just want to see improvement. If they just see a little improvement each week and each month, even when losing according to the scoreboard, they stay positive and encouraged.

If you want to get them ready for 7th grade, don't worry about winning now. Give them a foundation by teaching fundamental skills like crazy. And make things lots of fun.

Michael,

This is what I would do...

Develop a great man to man defense. If your team can learn to defend, it will keep you in games. This doesn't mean that you have to spend 45 minutes every practice on defense. You could probably get away with working 15 to 20 minutes on it at every practice, but you emphasize it during games and practices. With the middle school teams that I coached, if I didn't see 100% effort on the defensive end, I calmly took them out of the game and asked them why they think they are sitting next to me. I would just tell them that their effort on defense wasn't acceptable. If you want to play, our team needs more from you.

As they mentioned above, keep working on fundamentals.

Here is an article that might help as well...

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/youth-planning-success.html

This reader also shared a story that may be similar to your situation. He went from not winning a game in 6th grade to winning the conference championship in 8th grade...

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/youthdefensestory.html