The Breakthrough Basketball Newsletter for Coaches -- Issue #18: December 4, 2008

I am coaching a group of 7 to 9 year olds and am looking for suggestions on how to teach them to spread out on offence (a set offence is too complicated) and on how to get free of the defence to receive a pass.

I am coaching a group of 8 to 9 year olds and am looking for suggestions on how to teach them to spread out on offence (a set offence is too complicated) and on how to get free of the defence to receive a pass.

Use cones to teach spacing. I do an offense called train where I place a cone near the elbow , the corner near the baseline and one near the 3 point line on the wing, same side as the one in the corner. Two players stand by two of the cones and then when the point gaurd yells train they run in a clockwise motion around the outside of the cones with their hands ready to catch a pass. I instruct the point gaurd to pass to one of the players as they are on their way toward the basket. They must stay spaced. Once they understand, you could then go to tape on the floor. We practice this on both sides. There are two players on each side and a point gaurd. Sometimes I will instruct them to do a certain number of passes before someone can shoot. This drill works very well and when we scrimmage they run it also.

Quick question guys and gals. I am coaching a group of 13-14 year old kids. I have 1 hour a week to coach my basketball team. Two of the players(my least talent players...Man, I hate saying that) are upset because I don''t include them in the offense and when I include them in the offense, they have no clue as to what we are doing because they are not paying attention or they sit their on the court or bench and mope, so I have to explain everything all over again..burning practice time. What more can I do?

I walk through the play, one play a week (1-2-2 offense) and then I build on that one play the following week. I walk through at a slow pace and then I slowly build up to game speed, but nothing. I even let my two least talented players start off practice..and nothing.

They cry because they don''t get the ball. They cry because they don''t get minutes. I am starting to hate the coaching field and I have been doing this for 8 years now. I need some advice. Is Dr. Phil opening today?...LOL.

Some input would help out greatly. Thanks guys and gals.

what is the elbow on a basketball court

I am coaching 8-9 yr olds. I usually coach by myself. I had shoulder surgery not to long ago. How do I teach them proper shooting form being unable to properly use both of my arms. I want them to have good form and not create bad habits

Brian, I think it is time to lean on some of those great friends you've made over the years or an older youth player that you know. Ask someone to donate 10-15 minutes of time at your practice for demonstration until you are rehabbed.

Kenny ask yourself these following questions:

Will these kids benefit from your extra efforts off the court for their issues of focus?
Do they have parents or guardians that can intervene with off court activities?
Are these two kids getting any benefit from your on court efforts?
Are the others kids getting full benefit of your coaching effort?
Is the TEAM better off without these two kids?

Hi Brian,

The elbow is where the free throw line meets the lane line.

For the shooting issue, I would advise to either use a player who uses really good form or take Kidd's advice on bringing an older player or friend in to help.

Hi Kenny,

I would avoid trying to teach too many plays, especially in-depth plays. When I coached, I used to run plays and patterned offenses. I noticed after 3 or 4 passes, the kids would freeze up, because they couldn't remember what to do. As a result, we wasted hours in practice when we could have been working on fundamentals. Even the smartest kids had this problem. Instead, I would teach them how to play. Teach them how to cut, teach them how read a screen, teach them proper spacing, teach them skills, etc., so it doesn't matter what coach or offense they have when they are older.

As for the two kids, do your best. you have to also understand that they may have issues outside of basketball, and you should try to make the experience as fun as possible. Be patient and try to help them. Who cares if they never play at the high school level. Coaching is more than x's & o's and wins & losses. It's about making the kids better people.

A little tip with youth players, don't do anything for too long. They lose focus. I try not to do half-court drills any longer than 5 minutes and I try to keep full court drills under 10 minutes. Teach a skill, do a drill, and move on.

Thanks guys for the input. For Kidd:
1. No. They do not even seem to care about basketball, but I am the only coach that is willing to put up with them.
2. No. The Parents don't even come to the games or practices.
3. No. A good example. We were working on Ball Side/Help Side defense by using the Shell Drill (Defense). I put one of the two players in question on my team and the other player on the offensive side. The minute I tried to correct his defensive stance, he started getting upset and got into a lazy defensive stance. Like "I am going to show the coach I don't care." Then he wanted to call his mom. I was like ????

4. To be honest, I feel like I am cheating my other players. Because they show up on time. Or if they are late, the make up by going all out in practice. They run their extra laps/pushups or whatever, without complaining. They are coachable. And I feel like when I have to talk to the two players, I am cheating the rest of the team.

5. Probably. But it is Recreation basketball; all kids have to play if they sign up. Plus, I am limited with players. I have a roster of 9, but only 6-7 kids show up...and those two are apart of the 6-7 that show up.

Thanks Joe, I will do my best. I will just teach a skill, do a drill, and move on. I just get tried of the "I don't care" attitude. The other day in practice we were doing a layup drill, these two players were throwing the ball at the rim! They are 8th graders, very smart, and very capable of doing a decent layup. I am not asking for a finger roll layup at the rim. I am asking for a basic layup.... and they were out there playing around. And then come game day and we lose by 20-30 pts, the two players are the first to complain about the loss. "I didn't get a shot" "They did not pass the ball to me." I am telling you, it is a rough buisness.

Kenny,

You are in a very difficult situation. I have been in a very similar situation. Looking back, I don’t think I handled the situation very well. I never was able to get aligned with the troubled players with bad attitudes.

I don’t know the true personalities of the kids you are working with and I suppose those details matter. So take my suggestions with a grain of salt. Many times it all depends on the specific kids in question.

From what I hear, it sound like the only way to handle this is “outside” of basketball. Clearly those two players have had a tough up bringing. They have terrible attitudes and no doubt that being teenagers makes things worse.

It’s obvious those players are not helping the rest of your team. But the truth is that those two players probably need more help in their life than the rest of your team combined.

Truthfully, if they don’t care about basketball, there’s nothing you can do in the context of practice. If they don’t care and don’t want to be there, you have lost almost all your leverage and influence.

Usually, basketball coaches have lots of influence on their players because players want to be there. They dream about basketball and coaches usually have tremendous influence. This situation might be different. Why are those kids really there? Do you truly know why they are there?

Here are just some thought provoking ideas on things you might be able to do “outside” of basketball to bring these kids around:

- Try to develop relationships with these kids outside of basketball. If you can develop a trusting relationship, then they might actually be able to sit down with these kids and explain why their actions in practice are not acceptable and why their actions hurt everyone on the team.
- Participate in other things these kids are interested in. What do they like outside of basketball? If they skate board, watch them at their skate board competition. Genuinely help them out as human beings. Show you care. This can go a long way in your influence.
- Have separate practices with just those two players to build them up and develop good behavior. This can be risky but in some situations, it could help.
- Help them get involved in another activity that you think they would really enjoy and benefit from them. Help them for no particular reason or ulterior motive.

Ultimately, if you can get aligned with these players and truly find out why they are acting this way, maybe you can get them to change their behavior. That’s the challenge. They probably won’t tell you truly what’s going on in their life until you develop a trusting relationship with them outside of basketball.

Hopefully, they can learn that they are in control of their life and there are better ways to get what they want. Here’s a good article for players. Maybe you can copy it into Word and print it for them (so they don’t see these posts about them).
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/players/10-basketball-tips-playing-time.html

You might not have time to do all these things I suggest. It’s not an easy thing to do and you can’t help everyone. All you can do is try your best.

Also, when you’re in practice, remember to use the “sandwich technique”. First you compliment them, then tell them what they did wrong and what they need to do to correct it, then follow with another compliment.

For example, "Way to hustle back on defense, John. When trying to take a charge, make sure to get there a split second earlier, otherwise they''''ll call the foul on you if you''''re still moving. Keep playing hard. Great job."

I learned the sandwich technique from Morgan Wooten. But I’ve also seen this same concept reinforced in child development books. In parenting books, they call it the “2 for 1 rule”. For every negative response you make in your disciplinary role, make two other positive responses to the child in the next half hour.

The experts claim (and they are right) that it’s too easy for adults to constantly correct children and occasionally discipline them. Adults think this will change their behavior. However, the opposite is true! The relationship starts to suffer and the adult actually ends up with less influence. The less positive the relationship becomes, the less the child is inclined to listen and do what the parent or adult wants.

Parents and coaches forget to compliment the good things they do. They just take that stuff for granted. This is called positive reinforcement. It’s usually not done enough!

I don’t think you should condone their terrible attitudes. They are only hurting themselves and at some point they need to learn some life lessons. But maybe the sandwich technique will get them to respond better.

Hope this helps and good luck!

Thanks Jeff, and the rest of you guys/gals for the advice. I will try different ideas and see what happens. Thanks again.

i''''''''m looking for info on plays to beat a 2-2-1 half court press,i coach 8-10yo''''''''s and teams like to send 2 players up to half court to kinda press us.any one can reply. thankx

Hi Coach Jackson,

First of all, I would advise to find another league that does not allow trapping and pressing. Youth players have far more important to learn. For more on this, you could visit: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/defense/age.html

In the past, I've used a 2-1-2 formation against the half-court press. Two guards in the back court. One player a little bit past half court and above the top of the key and two players on opposite wings. The two players in the back court pass it back and forth a few times to get the press moving side to side to open up gaps.

After a couple of passes, they either try to enter the ball to the player in the middle or one of the two players on the wings. If the guards can break the press with the dribble, that's okay as well. Unless, you have a really good point guard this can difficult to do.

If the ball goes to the middle, the player secures the ball and looks to the wings to start a 2-on-1 advantage. If that is not open, the player should hold the ball calmly and look to pass the ball to one of the guards and set up the offense.

If the ball is passed straight to the wings, they look to attack the basket.

Another way to beat the pressure is to fast break after missed shots and made baskets, so the defense doesn't have time to set up.

can you pls send some drills for young basktball learners through PDF format????

What do you do about guys that do not come to practice and are seriuous about the team?

DO you have any drills for defense, passing, and rebounding.

Hi John,

If you do not come to practice, you put yourself above the team and I would not consider this person to be serious about the team. For me, it's pretty simple, if you don't come to practice, you don't play. If they miss a lot of practices, they are not a part of the team.

For basketball drills, check out this link: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/drills/basketballdrills.html