I do see the previous poster's point. In my experience, many players just stand around when they have teammate who handles the ball the majority of the time.

I teach the pass and move method where you cut to the basket after you make a pass and keep moving through the lane.

I have also taught screening to kids older then 1st and 2nd grade.

The main focus for this young of an age group is to keep it fun.

Last year I coached my son's 1st and 2nd grade team. That season and in the previous season when he was in first grade, many teams in his league employed a ballscreen to allow the dribbler to get a free path to the hoop. At this level we play 4 on 4, so the teams would go to a 4 corner look with the ball in a top corner and the screen coming from the opposite bottom corner. Open paint area and easy look at a layup.

Personally I dislike this philosophy at this age level. My approach is to teach fundamentals of dribbling, passing, triple threat, etc. These prove to be a big enough task in most cases. It seemed that the coaches that taught this ballscreen play were more concerned with getting baskets to outscore the other team, even though we never kept score.

In our first couple games we were beaten routinely by this play, but over the course of the season, as the kids got a better grasp of "pointing their pistols" on defense and seeing the ball and their man we were able to shut the play down easily with some basic help defense.

My "play" for our team? Pass the ball and cut to the basket. If you want the ball, you better become good at cutting and getting open. We worked all season on give and go (pass and cut), v-cuts, and triple threat, individual offense stuff.

Coach,

Glad to see you stress fundamentals, and give the kids lots of reps to achieve success.

However, I do believe "on the ball" screens are part of fundamentals, but 1st or 2nd grade appears to be to early to teach.
It takes quite a bit of time and repetition to get it performed correctly.

I bet your players are better defensively after having seen it run a few times.

Have a great season!

Thank you. Good luck to you as well. I'll be moving up to the 3rd/4th grade level this season where they actually keep score, so I am really looking forward to the fun involved with that.

I agree with you that on the ball screens are a needed fundamental, but also that 1st and 2nd grade is a bit too young for that. This year I plan to work a little bit more on offense than I did last season, but only with a basic pass and cut offense. I may start with a 5 out motion, just to introduce the concept of spacing and cutting. We'll see how well they grasp it.

I agree with them being too young because it will take a while to grasp the nuances. I typically work on them to pass and cut.