Coaching Youth Basketball: Focusing on the Fundamentals

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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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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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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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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Dan says: 3/7/2019 at 11:57:34 AM I would suggest switching the kids positions. At this age there should not be predetermined position labels. Are the shorter kids the guards? Taller kids the post players? Who knows what growth spurts are in their future. Split time between all players at each position. The tall kids will get excited to bring the ball up, the shorter kids will get excited to do post moves and rebound. Like     login   register

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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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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How long could take a fundamenals teaching for young players (in terms of months)? Thanks

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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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I'm a 7th & 8th grade girls coach and totally agree with you on teaching fundamentals at this age. 75% of my practices are focused on skill building. Unfortunately, the 5 & 6th grade coaches at the school don't. Their practices consist of goofing off and scrimmaging. You know the old "kids this age dont' have long attention spans" and "just getting them in the gym is enough at this age" In fact they criticize me for not scrimmaging enough. I feel like I should approach them about the lack of fundamentals and that is going to hurt the kids' development in the long run. I don't want to start a fight but its hard to stand by and see the kids being cheated. Any advice on how to handle this situation? Thanks

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Brian - Your question was posted on our forum and has received some good responses:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=96

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I agree with the theme of the article, which is teach fundamentals first, teach them 75% of practice, and save full court press for later. Well said in that regard.

However I do not agree with the statement "Do NOT teach them full court press."

Why would you purposely not teach them any aspect of the game?

Pressing is a part of the game. You will teach them press-break of course in case the other team presses... they deserve to know how to run a decent press also.

Even if it is not used every game or the whole game, this is part of at least introducing to them the experiences they will build on later.

I coach a middle school team that is very talented but also very short. We play a lot of teams with guys that look 3-4 years older than ours. If we sat back in a half-court set we would get demolished on the boards, regardless of how much I drill boxing out. We win because we use our quickness and the defensive training that I stress (huge part of fundamentals) to pressure the ball and create turnovers.

Thank you for a good article about fundamentals and for letting me share my point of view.

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Hi Eric,

You bring up some good points there. The problem really lies with youth basketball teams that don't focus on the fundamentals and all they do is press. They use a ploy that takes advantage of players being weaker, smaller, and not able to mentally process things quick enough to break the press. In essence, it's a swarm the ball defense that would never work at the higher levels of basketball. Personally, I don't believe in organized pressing before high school. I think for the long-term development of the players it's best to work on the fundamentals and concepts that will help more when they are older.

However, if you want to extend your man to man defense and pressure the ball at the middle school level, I don't think that's a big deal.

This discussion is further discussed at this page: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/defense/age.html

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Hi,

I am in charge of a basketball "club" at an elementary. We don't have funding so it's just 10 kids (grades 3-6) for 1 hour a week. We will not play formal games against other teams. I have looked over your explanations about the basics - thanks! Is there anywhere I can find fun games or drills that get all kids involved and appeal to kids of different ability levels?

I really just want them to have fun and feel good about school and themselves.

Thanks!

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Eleanor - It sounds like this is exactly what you're looking for:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/pr/fun-youth-drills.html

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Dear Jeff;Yes,starting coaching a YMCA league of 11-13 yr olds of girls and boys mixed,actually only 2 girls on my have team including my daughter.We have played 3 games and lost all although they were close games.We have only 1 day of practice a week and games on Sat.I have a total of ten kids but usually have 8 or 9 who show up on sat,and we play half of a full court.I''''m wondering if I should teach some easy plays or just continue teaching them the fundementals,some of my kids can dribble and some lack the skill.There are alot of turnovers and the refs are not reliable with the calls.Other coaches seem to have plays but seem to be only out of bounds plays.Alot of the kids are like my daughter,they play in a middle school team or travel team and don''''t get playing time.Any suggestions.Thanks

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Hi,Still have more questions on coaching 11-13 yr olds at YMCA league.All kids get to play,we have to sub every 4 mins.I have two kids that can handle the ball pretty good,but i split them up so one of them can bring the ball up when I sub forn them.I have a 1hr practice once a wk.Like to give them some kind of motion offense to try,but don't know if some of them would help them,been mostly working on screens and pick and rolls because it's mostly play ground basketball out there.Is it worth any practice time to work on a out of bounds play or set play,or stay with the fundamentals.Thank you

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Keep working on the fundamentals... they need to be able to pass and catch on the move and they need to be able to dribble.

You could run a 5 out open post offense, pass and cut to the basket.... everyone rotates and fills spots.

You need one simple inbounds play.... a line (4)

1&2 cut opposite....... 3 steps up and 4 steps back for a release pass.

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Jeff - I agree with Ken. I would not spend time trying to get them to memorize plays. Teach them fundamentals and run a motion.

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Hi, I have a 8 yr old sister I've been working with for 3 years now and she cant seem to grip the concept of how to do a lay up. She knows how to go towards the basket but ends up taking a very close jump shot. What do u recommend I do to get her to get better?

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Precious -

I coached sophomore and varsity boys for for over 40+ years and taught the step and a half lay up, pretty standard.

In my last year I worked with girls and found that a jump stop lay up was more effective. I even found some boys teans doing this after awhile...You might try that.

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Yes Ken I also find the jump-stop layup (in effect a short jump shot off the backboard) is a great way to introduce layups.

Footwork at that age is a major stumbling block, and even with repeated practice in a mini-game setting the footwork evaporates, the kids are excited, etc.

Kids have to first wrap their heard - and bodies - around the concept of going off the board. Wall shooting helps this.

For layups we do a lot of stationary balance drills that seem to help.

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I have recently become the basketball coach at a small private school. There is talent there but no fundamentals, the last coach was a Soccer coach.
I love the game, and I have some knowledge. But I have never coached or played organize ball. I would like to know if there are any websites discussions or links that I can use to help me with their fundamentals, or for me and my coaching as well.

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I have run the Warwick Youth Basketball program in Warwick, NY for 22 years now. We started out with youth grades 3-8 (34) teams for about 10 years. Then we started the FUNdamentals(12 teams) grade 1-2 with 8 foot portable baskets and Youth size balls. We added teen league (12) teams but it was only boys wanting to play .. This year we had 2 Teen girls teams. Yeah! It is also designed so that if you make he schools Modified, JV, or Varsity teams you DONOT play in this league. It is for the kids who get cut from tryouts and for those who just don't want to try out or want to play on a school team.
Kids love it, I also have coaches coaching this year that played in it and now their kids are.

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Hi I'm 18 years old and I'm from London. No one ever taught me basketball and I've learnt stuff from a park by myself playing with friends but I want to play properly. Can anyone recommend me some drills? I'm kind of overwhelmed by everything I've been provided in the ebook. I need a little help

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Bryson Dumas says: 10/2/2020 at 11:08:56 PM Hey man it all depends on if u love it, or jus wanna get good. your mindset towards it is the most important. like learn the game, search up dirils, for the specific skills and find out what exactly what you want from basketball. and that will be your driving reason to practice. practice the basics first work your way up, then the fun starts your welcome man stay blessed Like     login   register

Ok not to brag or anything but I litterly grew 2 feet after looking at this guide

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