Currently I've taken on a 1st grade team (5 and 6 year olds) and the one area I'm wondering about is shooting the basketball.. From observing them in practice, at this age the only way they can get the ball in or even close at 8 1/2 feet is to shoot the ball with 2 hands. What is the recommended teaching method of basketball shooting for this age group? Do I use mini-balls and teach correct technique? Thanks!

For that age, you should use mini-balls and lower baskets.

Don't worry about form. At that age, they are not developed enough, mentally or physically to accept the tasks necessary to build the proper form nor do they possess the psycho-motor pathways necessary to retain any type of form reinforcement. Right now their muscle memory is being dominated with tasks such as walking. In addition, at that age, they do not have the attention span, retention skills, or stamina necessary to perform the number of repetitions required to build shooting form.

At this age, just let them play on their own and discover what they can. Your job is to make sure they don't get hurt.

Yeah, as much as we preach good shooting form for youth players, kids of that age are too young to play basketball. If you do have them shoot, all you can do is use really small basketballs and low rims.

About all you can do at that age is play games, dribble around, and "attempt" to pass. If possible, the best thing you can do at that age is developing them athletically (motor skills, teach them how to move, run, skip, jump, coordination, and so on). These kids are just learning how their body works and trying to learn coordination. That's why swimming, playing tag, gymnastics, and things like that are so good for young kids.

I would think of yourself as more of a sports coach, instead of a basketball coach. Although, you might have pressure from others to conform. Food for thought.

Jeff

Don & Jeff gave you some great answers. I also wrote an article called "Should We Teach Basketball Skills To Kids Under the Age of 10?" It has some useful tips.

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/b ... age-of-10/