.

For me it would be the ball handling and the form shooting. From what you've described, fundamentals are going to be sorely lacking at her practice. Players need reps at fundamentals to master them. And for this season, the coach is going to notice the basketball skills getting better (shooting, dribbling, etc.) and likely miss out on the hard work stuff (footwork, running, defense). Also - you cannot improve conditioning in an hour a week or just with an extra session when you have the opportunity. I never make my players do any running without a ball in their hand. Combine basketball skills with conditioning and don't do conditioning stuff on its own. My daughter played on a team where they ran "suicides" at the end of practice. It seems to be a long-standing tradition that basketball coaches run their players for no other purpose than to see them run. It's a waste of time! Kids will always do their best and play their hardest if motivated in a positive manner. And you can turn an ok-conditioned athlete into a superbly conditioned athlete by making them sprint 150 feet a few times a week. They would need to do it every day, multiple times to see any effect. The time is much better spent with a ball in their hands!

Sounds good.

Yes, I agree, I didn't really mean "conditioning-only" drills but more what you said, yes.

Everything with a ball. Got it. Was thinking even in our rest parts, where we take a break, talk and learn the court, she will either be dribbling, or probably just the around her waist thing. Not sure what that's called yet.

I want to hit at least two drills of each to start out, so we get a good balance. Then sort of let her decided what we go back to and reinforce. To some extent. Will still steer her in the direction of shooting and ball handling.

I'm not all that worried about her shooting. She already has good form.

I want her to leave the Y on Monday so when she gets in the next game she has the confidence to know what she's doing in the proper way to play. Not what those other girls are doing

Yes, make a list of what you want to work on in practice. I've been doing this for years and I still do that. Kinda of a master practice plan list to reference as the season goes on.

For numbers, I have never done that. I just teach terminology as I feel that will be more useful to them versus learning my numbers.
- top of key
- right wing
- left wing
- right corner
- left corner

I also don't want them running to the same spot. Here's the transition offense I use with 3rd, 5th, and 10 graders (basically fill corners first and then wings... the closest player to the right corner fills that, and so on):
http://jeffhaefner.com/coach/our-transition-offense-super-simple/

For the numbers I was talking about more for defense. To help keep her head in the game. I need to bring up her awareness and urgency. She's a smart girl, but tends to daydream. Gotta figure out how to turn that off when she steps on the court. I thought the numbers thing, and running to the lane first, then picking up the ball and girl, would be a good start.

On offense, with the team she's on this year, all I can do is show her the Form Drill, and when she's lucky enough to touch the ball in games, put it in. She probably touched the ball only 5 times the entire last game for the 16 minutes she played. The 5th graders just won't pass to her. They only make about 3 passes if they are lucky. Then it's either missed shot or stolen.

So about all I think I can tell her for now, is just move to an open spot. The four corners right around the lane, keep your hands up and try to gain position on your girl. Try to grab a rebound and put it up there like you can.

I have a good manual now. Took out everything but the E1 and E2 drills from the e-book. We'll see what she thinks about it. Plan to show it to her on the drive to family Christmas tomorrow. Crossing my fingers she thinks it's interesting. I just want her to read thru the drills to get familiar with them before Monday.

So cool.

Sent an email to a couple of the other parents.
One I knew from softball this summer.

The other is the big girl's mother. Talked to her a bit at the last game. She responded and was interested in helping next year. Doesn't know much, wasn't sure what she could do. However, said her husband is interested in helping out. Which is of course, who I wanted to help anyway. That's the 6'6" guy I talked about before.

Thanks for all the tips Jeff. Will definitely be putting together a package with some of your blog posts and ideas.

I plan to put this together for my asst coaches so we are all on the same page with what we're trying to do here.

Kudos for wanting to coach! One suggestion, don't forget to have some fun in all of this. It is real easy to get caught up in "coaching" and lose sight of the main factor which is kids wanting to have fun in this whole experience. Throwing in a few cool team chants, having a few fun game-like drills or having everyone wear their craziest socks one game can do wonders.

Best of luck!

Yes,definitely mix in some fun.

The mother of the big girl wants to help, but doesn't know much about the game. I think "fun" might be something she can help with.

Had a very good talk with the daughter during our drive today.

She even wanted to talk some X's and O's tonight. She drew up a court, put the pieces in place, and was asking me questions.

Seems very eager to learn! And learn the proper way to play.

Another parent contacted me about our session at the Y this coming Monday. Said her daughter was very interested, but they are currently out of town. Wants to plan something in the new year.

All looking good. Gaining some momentum here. Positive energy. I like it.

I have finally calmed down from the excitement of my daughter actually asking me to help her with her basketball game.

Was able to study the e-book over the last couple of days and picked out the drills we will use on Monday. Basically almost all of the E1 drills. With strong emphasis on the shooting and ball handling drills.