Well last night was our first practice. I'm coaching 3rd and 4th graders (all 8-9 year olds). We have a squad of 9 boys and I have to say I am really excited about this season. Pretty nice first practice. We worked on a lot of dribbling, partner passing, proper defensive stance and shuffle, then played some one on one. It was good to see that the Triple Threat principle seems to be sticking into some of their heads already.

I think I have some adjusting to do since I coached 1st and 2nd graders in basketball and baseball last season and had a few 6-7 yr olds on my football team, so I'm not accustomed to all of the kids having decent body control and coordination, as well as better attention spans.

They all have great attitudes, seemed to love being there, followed the simple team rules of holding the ball while coaches talk and always running while on the floor.

Another plus, my assistant coach, (really he's like a co-head coach with his experience and knowledge) is also a take charge, vocal guy and neither of us mind letting the other run the show for a drill or two. We coordinated a practice plan a day in advance, so we were both on the same page.

Here's hoping this group can keep it up!

Good luck and keep up the good work, IF you have any questions fire away.

Practice wise, we have really fallen behind. With Thanksgiving break and a few practices cancelled due to school functions and a funeral for a long time youth coach, we have had 4 one hour practice, with 2 more to go before our first game Saturday morning.

We have focused mainly on ballhandling, layups, and a little bit of rebounding. We have done one give and go drill to emphasize the pass and cut aspect of things but we've got a lot more work to do before I feel that we are game ready. We have an informal scrimmage planned for the end of tonight's practice. Probably about 20 minutes or so. It will be their first taste of 5 on 5 hoops this season. After tonight we'll have a good idea of where we stand and we'll use Thursday's practice to shore up the give and go stuff, more than likely.

Tonight I think we'll spend a little bit of time working on offensive spacing before the scrimmage and we'll see how it goes.

I'm not about to warp speed the process to try to get them ready for a game because I think it will jsut set us back, and we'll be better off in the long run if we stick to a normal timeline of teaching and progression.

I agree, these are young kids and IF you overload them... it will just set you back. As coaches and I don't care what level you coach at, we NEVER feel like we are ready - its the nature of the beast. Remember, this is a journey and not a destination. Be very patient with them and yourself.

IF you were to take out the Ws and Ls equasion I think you would be more at ease. So relax, teach them something about the game and let them have some fun. They will get better ...little steps yes, but they will get better.

4 hours is a bit much for kids this age... heck, for any age... they lose their concentration..... a good friend of mine used to say, the mind can absorb only what the butt can endure.

It seems like you have a good plan... but IF you are going to run a pass and cut offense, spend some time on passing and catching..... good luck

I think i typed that wrong or something. We have had 4 practices, one hour each. Two more practices to go, so basically 2 hours before we play a game.

Sorry! LOL

I was going to say, I SURE DON'T WANT TO PLAY FOR YOU LOL

With one hour practices you need to be super organized.... no wasted time... here is a little tip ( wont cost you much,... A Ferrari Enzo would work :-)

We never gave water breaks.... we allowed them to get water when they wanted it... just raise your hand... and IF we are NOT teaching and your not in the drill at the time... you may go.

5 minute breaks 2 or 3 times a practice... do the math..... for you... even 5 minutes is important. Good luck, glad you corrected that.

I like that. And it's funny you should say that because I started doing that last Thursday. In coming up with a practice plan I realized that a planned 2-3 minute water break lasts about 5 minutes!

We had a scrimmage last night and it went as expected. We have 2-3 kids that can carry us until everybody else gets up to speed. We only spent about 5-10 minutes on the second tier of our pass and cut offense so things were shaky.

My assistant nominated my 3rd grade son to start at point for us. I'm always worried about him being a ball hog, but last night in the scrimmage he was almost too patient in waiting for a wing to cut open. He just stood at the top keeping his dribble waiting for an open pass. I almost had to yell at him to make something happen on his own.

He's more than capable of creating his own shot right now, so I'm trying to get him to walk that fine line of being the patient point guard when he plays there, but also initiating something on his own if nothing else is there. I guess it's not too bad of a problem to have.

The way some kids play TEAM DEFENSE at that age its no surprise that he could probably go to the hole anytime he wants to.... but that wont make your team better - so right now, patience is a good thing. Most kids would just do it themselves every time.

Keep teaching the TEAM concept and it will pay off in spades later on.

By the way, a RED one will do just fine. :-)

Well, we are 3 games into the season and we sit at 1-2 with a game against the front-running 3-0 powerhouse tomorrow morning.

Our first game was a back and forth affair. We held the lead for a good part of the game by 2-4 points at anytime, but couldn't close it out and lost by two.

Game two saw a lot of improvement, as we jumped out to a 10-0 lead and then held on for a 6 point victory. Lots of contributions from everybody, I think each kid has at least 1 rebound and chased down at least 1 loose ball.

Game three last week was a frustrating one. We opened up a 10 point lead in the first half with real tough defense, hustle and good, smart passing. Then started turning the ball over, missing open layups and stopped hustling back on defense. We lost this game by 4 points.

So we're 1-2. I wish we were 3-0. I've been working on getting the kids to finish everything strong. Every drill, every sprint, whatever we do, finish it. Go hard until its over.

The inexperienced, first year kids are coming along pretty well, getting more comfortable with the flow of a basketball game. We'll keep working hard and I'll keep teaching!

I know that every coach worth his salt wants to win... remember, these are young kids... their attention span is not exactly what we would like...8=9 years old? Just keep teaching fundamentals and the game... then let them have some fun..... sometimes you get some great lessons from a loss.

One thing we used to do after every game was to go out for a "pop" and write down the things we had problems with. I put those into the next few days practice plans... I wanted to correct them so we didn't continue making the same mistake. Not always easy...... going out after every game was one of the reasons I coached for so many years....... helped to unwind and relax.... and NOT take the game home.

As long as you keep seeing improvement every time you hit the floor you are doing things right. Ws come from a team being very fundamentally sound..... so keep teaching. Good luck and keep us informed.