My son is 9 years old. We play on a 9-10 team in a coty rec league. Most kids on the team are older by 1 or more years. My son does okay with them but just okay. We train ball handling with a trainer twice a week and footwork spoed and strenght twice a week. Everybody keeps saying hes going to catch on and become more aware. Is he too young now, some of the kids that are just 1 year older are alot more aware. He panics when crowded and hesitates when the pass it to him. Will he grow out of this and his training kick in automatically? I feel hopeless sometimes, but i constantly hear “hes going to get there”. Help please!!!

It could start clicking tomorrow or in high school. You just don't know. My suggestion is to play multiple sports seasonally, be supportive, and encourage your child to follow their passion.

Skill training is only part of the picture. Kids learn by playing too (1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, and 5v5 are all beneficial in dfifferent ways and compliment the skill training). That's how they learn to pivot when getting pressured, when they have enough space on the cross over, develop foot coordination defending the ball, and so on. Ideally players are in right level of competition so they can grow. You want them in sweet spot of development in games and practices. That means you want them succeeding about 50-80% of the time. If they succeed more than that they are not getting challenged enough. If it's less than that they can start getting discouraged after a while.

Hope this helps.

Agree with Jeff, playing other sports besides basketball can help in general. The fact that he's working with a trainer is a huge plus for him.

Jeff is spot on with playing some pickup games. I'm a big fan of 1v1, 2v3, 3v3 because it gives less room to "hide" on the court and more room to practice all kinds of skills.

I wouldn't get too worked up about where your son is right now. It's pretty common for a sports parent to wonder how their kid measures up to the other kids on the court. Things change so much over the years. Can't tell you how many kids I've seen look like they were going to be the next LeBron James eventually lose interest or burn out. And the kids you thought were always going to be 5'2" and not very good turn out to be 6'5" and dominate on the court.

Support him, enjoy watching him play and try not to compare him to others right now. Sounds like he's willing to have a trainer and once that desire to get better happens inside of him without too much influence from outside sources, get his autograph before he becomes famous.