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Coaching Youth Basketball: Focusing on the Fundamentals
- By Jeff Haefner
The fundamentals of basketball are the foundation for every individual play, offensive or defensive strategy, and every move that your players make. The best players have perfected the basics of the game. Learning and mastering these basics make the rest of the game much easier!
My number one recommendation when coaching youth basketball is to focus on the fundamentals!
Spend at least 75% of each practice on them.
Do NOT teach your youth team how to do a full court press!
First teach them how execute offense and defense in the half court. Even if you think they know how to execute in the half court, I guarantee they don't...
Do all your players know how to read screens? Do they slip the screen when the defense hedges on the pick and roll? Do they set screens shoulder to shoulder? Do they block out after every shot? Do they always see their man and the ball when they're on defense?
If they don't know how to do these things, why in the world would you teach them how to do a full court press?
In 20 years of watching basketball, I've NEVER seen a youth team that was ready to press and had all the fundamentals down pact!
If you make teaching your players the fundamentals your number one goal, your players will enjoy practice, they will appreciate their improvement, and they will be grateful down the road.
Like any sport, no matter what your age -- whether you're a professional athlete or a youth player just getting started -- you need strong fundamentals to be successful!
Unfortunately, most people don't really understand what that means.
So what are the fundamentals?
The fundamentals include working on the little things that will make you better -- no matter what team or coach you play for -- or what offense or defense you are running.
For example, by working on the fundamentals of shooting, you will get better no matter what offense you run. The fundamentals of shooting include proper foot alignment, leg bend, hand position, arm angle, follow through, and so on. These are some of the little things that make a difference. Learn them!
The same goes for lays ups, foot work, post play, passing, jab steps, jump stops, pivoting, blocking out, and so on.
For youth players, we suggest that you focus on teaching the proper technique and fundamentals for:
These are all critical fundamentals to master because they'll make you and your team better, no matter what age level or situation you might be in.
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Comments
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Al Lively says:
10/13/2007 at 10:44:53 AM
I agree,too ,much too soon is not good.
Get a firm foundation in fundamentals to build on.
Some good free video clips of this.
http://www.coachesclipboard.net/VideoClips.html
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Tim says:
10/31/2007 at 2:16:23 PM
You are so right about the importance of fundamentals. I read awhile back that the number of international players in the NBA is increasing every year because of just this. NBA coaches acknowledged that they are more skilled in the fundamentals and better team players than the American players. I have to agree.
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Michelle says:
11/13/2007 at 10:33:26 AM
OK That just answered my earlier question about full court press....see your point, back to the half court defense it is!
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Dan Roser says:
12/11/2007 at 6:25:14 PM
great website......I never see or hear about the importance of pivoting in teaching books and websites, but feel it to be extremely important in all phases of the game. Also the team I coach (5th grade boys) has a wide range of talent and this makes teaching a bit confusing. Some are so far ahead of others any suggestions?
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Ernie says:
1/16/2008 at 2:11:51 PM
This is a great website. Thank you for all the basic info. I'm a rookie youth coach (3rd grade boys) and this is just the sort of help I need.
I'm going to read through your e-books. I am looking for an extremely basic offense for my boys. About a 3rd of them are playing basketball for the first time.
Any suggestions are much appreciated.
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Joe (Co-founder of Breakthrough Basketball) says:
1/16/2008 at 2:14:41 PM
Hi Ernie,
We answered a question similar to this at this link: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/qa/q7-youth-offense.html
It refers to 11 year olds, but the same principles apply to younger ages as well.
Joe
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Gabriel says:
9/2/2008 at 6:48:19 AM
How long could take a fundamenals teaching for young players (in terms of months)? Thanks
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Joe Haefner says:
9/2/2008 at 7:45:13 AM
Hi Gabriel,
I don't think you can put a number on how long it will take to teach fundamentals. It depends on the age level, skill level, and what you're trying to teach. Coaching is an art form and part of that is recognizing when it's time to progress to a new skill with a higher level of difficulty.
When teaching fundamentals, that never stops. Youth coaches to Pro coaches all emphasize fundamentals.
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