Coaching middle school basketball presents some unique challenges because your players have SUCH a wide array of talent and experience...

Some players have very little experience and they need youth level drills and coaching. Other players have already played hundreds of games and might even be good enough to play high school basketball. So we'll be sure to provide you with a mix of tips geared for both youth and more advanced levels.

Before digging into the information below, be sure to pick up our free 72 Drills and 33 Plays PDF’s (if you haven't already done so). These PDF’s serve as a great resource for middle school coaches and all levels.

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Top Resources for Middle School Coaches

For your convenience, we have compiled our top drills, plays, tips, and resources for middle school basketball coaches. This should help you sift through the huge amount of material on this website and quickly find the best stuff that pertains to you.

• Top 10 Drills For Middle School Basketball

• 8 Best Pieces Of Advice For Middle School Coaches

• Top 10 Articles For Middle School Basketball Coaches

• Best Offenses & Plays For Middle School Coaches

• 9 Helpful Products For Middle School Coaches

Top 10 Basketball Drills for Middle School Teams

Here are some of the best basketball drills for middle school players:

As you pick your drills, think of how you can constrain them to meet your team’s needs. Here’s a video explaining the use of constraints along with some examples you can use:

• 3 Team Shooting Drills

• 4 Transition Defense drills

• 3 Shell Defense Drills

• 5 Passing Drills To Reduce Turnovers

• 3 Best Rebounding Drills

• 5 Top Closeout Drills

• 3 Drills For Team Offense

• 7 Drills For Elite Footwork

• 3 3x3 Practice Drills

• 7 Best Defense Drills

For more Basketball Drills organized by category, click here.

8 Best Pieces Of Advice for Middle School Basketball Coaches

1) Keep things fun!
Don't forget that your young players are there and want to have fun. Don't make the all too common mistake of getting caught up in the pressure of winning.

To keep things fun, young players like to be active and keep moving. So be sure to plan out practices that keep things fast paced and fun. You should minimize standing in lines and use fun drills. (For more ideas, check out this eBook for fun basketball drills and tips to make practice fun.)

2) Allow your players to be successful!
Sometimes competition is not a motivator for young kids. However ALL kids need to taste success (and hopefully lots of it). Now this doesn't mean winning. It means getting better and succeeding in practice. Allow your players to run drills that they can succeed at and feel good about. Celebrate small accomplishments and successes with your players.

3) Don't neglect the inexperienced kids.
You'd be surprised how good some players can become if they just get a chance. I was one of those late bloomers that didn't get interested in basketball until late in school. Many kids just need an opportunity, confidence, and someone that believes in them.

I know it seems that some kids are hopeless, but at this level you should implement a program that gives everyone an equal opportunity to learn fundamentals and skills.

4) Teach life lessons in your practices.
A good reminder of what's important and we can all do a better job with this...

5) Make sure your players have a solid foundation!
This is a critical time in most player's lives where they really start getting lots of experience and develop habits. This point and time can have a HUGE effect on your player's success when they get into high school and college.

You should teach basic fundamentals and skills that these players can use no matter who is coaching them in the future. You must build a SOLID foundation for these kids to build on. This is better for your players in the long run.

6) Fix shooting form NOW!
If you have players with poor shooting form, take the time to fix them now. I know it's hard to do. But if they don't fix it now, it may never happen. When correcting shooting mechanics, make sure players practice AWAY from the basket. In other words, have them shoot to a spot on the floor, to a spot on the wall, or to themselves. Do NOT send them to the basket. Because if they don't see the ball going through the hoop, they will think the new form does not work and get discouraged.

7) Focus on the fundamentals.
Enough said! Don’t get caught up trying to be fancy.

8) Work with your high school coach (even if you don't like him/her!).
It amazed me how few middle schools run a system that complements the high school program. Swallow your pride and do what's best for your players. You should run a program that complements the high school coach's system and prepares your players for maximum success.

Arrange some meetings with the school coach. Learn about their system and teach your players fundamentals that will benefit them when they get into high school. Why in the world should players have to learn a whole new style of play every single year? That doesn't help them. Working with the high school coaches is the right thing to do.

Top 10 Articles for Middle School Basketball Coaches

Here are some of the more important articles we think you should read.

1. The Easy Way To Teach Basketball Offense

2. IMPORTANT: Focusing on the Fundamentals

3. 16 Best Set Play/Offense Tips (This is a Must Read)

4. Why Coaching Youth Basketball Is Like Popping Popcorn

5. Coach Smarter, Not Harder: How Coaches Can Develop Players’ Basketball IQ to Dominate the Court

6. Top 5 Tips for Better Defense on the Ball

7. Simple Trick to Reduce Turnovers

8. 10 Tips to Motivate Players

9. The Foundation for Success: Your Coaching Philosophy

10. How to Establish Control and Discipline

For more Basketball Tips & Articles, click here.

To learn more about a system that is tailor made for middle school basketball, click the box below.

Top 10 Offenses & Plays For Middle School Coaches

1. 3 Easy and Effective Basketball Plays

2. 4 End of Game Special Situations Plays- This article gives you everything you need to cover end of game situations.

3. Illinois - highly effecdtive baseline out of bounds play against zone. Many teams zone these situations in middle school, so having a go-to play is critical!

4. The Hybrid Attack Offense With Ryan Schultz- the Hybrid Attack offenses merges 2 proven systems - the Dribble Drive & Motion - seamlessly into 1 offense. Beyond being hard to guard, it is an excellent offense for player development. Players are taught how to play with & without the ball, making them well-rounded players.

5. 5 Plays To Punish A 2-3 Zone

6. The Simplified Zoom Offense For Middle School Teams - the zoom offense is highly effective. The zoom action is ideal for middle school teams.

7. Early Attack Offense With Ryan Schultz - playing fast AND organized can be challenging. Coach Schultz covers how to get your team to play at a rapid pace with poise. He goes over a number of actions your team can flow into at the end of the break to immediately put pressure on the defense. If you like secondary breaks, this is a great product for you.

8. 5 Baseline Out Of Bounds Plays That Get Buckets

9. 5 Sideline Out Of Bounds Plays To Score

10. Line - Press Breaker- This press breaker works extremely well against teams that pressure the inbounds pass.

For More Basketball Plays, click here:

Fore more on Basketball Offenses, click here:

9 Recommended Products for Middle School Coaches

Here are a few additional products that we highly recommend for middle school coaches. These products will help you accelerate your teaching of fundamentals and your team's success. Pick the ones that best align with your needs!

1. Coaching Middle School Basketball the RIGHT WAY (By Bob Bigelow) - In this two DVD set Bob Bigelow takes you through a variety of drills, fundamentals, and teaching points specifically targeting coaches that work with players around the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade levels. We highly recommend this DVD. It gives you excellent ideas on how to run offense, teach fundamentals, and drills to run.

2. The Coaching System With Danny Miles - Coach Danny Miles, who won over 1,000 games in his college coach career, gives you a behind the scenes look at how he ran his program in this product. He covers the offensive & defensive schemes that made his teams elite year in & year out. For those looking for an overarching system to guide every part of your team’s play, this is a great starting point.

3. Man To Man Defense With Jim Huber - In this video, Coach Jim Huber goes over every aspect of man to man defense. He starts with how to guard the ball 1 on 1 and builds from there. This is an A-Z system for how to teach man to man defense in a logical way. It’s great for a coach who’s looking to teach man to man defense throughout their program and build a defensive identity.
   
   

4. 3v3 Drills For Offense And Defense - 3v3 is the best way to teach basketball. It combines the best of 1v1 and 5v5 . This video shows 3v3 drills for every part of the game. Coach Nick LoGalbo covers offensive actions, defensive rotations, rebounding, & advantage/disadvantage drills in this video. With these drills, your players get extensive decision-making reps, speeding up their improvement. If you make 3v3 the basis of most of your practice drills, you’ll be pleased with the results.

5. How To Run Championship Practices With Ryan Schultz & How To Run Championship Practices With Nate Steege- Coach Schultz and Coach Steege share over 20 drills each that they’ve used to build state championship programs. The drills work at every level. In addition to the drills themselves, you’ll see candid footage of how an outstanding coach runs a high level practice. These 2 products are sure to make your practices more efficient & effective.

6. The Game Based Training System With Nate Sanderson - Another State Champion coach, Nate Sanderson shares dozens of small-sided games that will help develop your players’ skills & IQ. One of the strengths of this product is the progressions and regressions Coach Sanderson includes. This allows you to scale up or scale back drills depending on the age & experience of your players. These drills are fun and will rapidly increase individual skill.

7. Attack And Counter Skill Development System With Don Kelbick - Coach Kelbick takes you through the unique system he has used to train multiple NBA players. The simplicity of Coach Kelbick’s system is only surpassed by its effectiveness. He does a great job of instilling confidence and aggressiveness in his players by getting them to focus on what they do best. His covers footwork and ball handling that will enable any player to create scoring opportunities for themselves and their teammates. No matter what offense you run, your players will run it better if they adopt Coach Kelbick’s methods.

8. Cody Roberts Athletic Development Program - there’s no substitute for athleticism. D1 trainer Cody Roberts will help your team and players develop that with this high level program. The program consists of multiple workouts programs for players of varying levels. Each program comes with detailed explanations and videos, as well as tracking sheets, allowing players to see their progress. This is more than a weightlifting program - it’s an all in one system to develop athleticism that translates to the court.

9. 12 Skill Development Practice Drills From Nick LoGalbo- at the youth level, skill is everything. These dozen drills are what Coach LoGalbo calls “DNA” drills. In other words, they are the core of what makes a good player. Skills like footwork, handling pressure, and finishing are emphasized.

To get the 72 Drills & 33 Plays PDFs, just click the banner below!