Hi Coaches:

As you can tell by my subject line, I'm caught in a dilemma with our basketball team. We had a falling out with our head coach last week, which involved an argument he had with one of the assistant coaches. After not being able to settle their differences, the head coach thought it would be best to step down and allow someone else to run the team. In my opinion, I thought he should've at least coached through end of the season before stepping down.

When the announcement was made at the team meeting about the head coach's resignation, the other assistant coaches did not want to assume the responsibility of leading the team. Of course, that had all the parents looking at each other in shock and awe. After an uncomfortable pause in the air, I finally had to step up and say something. After all that, I'm now the new head coach of a young 6-7 year old team.

I have many years of experience of playing team and club ball when I was younger, so I'm not so concerned with how to take over the coaching duties. My dilemma lies with the players and this whole transition. After running our first practice this week, I've already noticed that I'm not getting the attention or effort that I'm use to seeing at each practice. I've heard a few mumbles from some of the kids about wanting to have the old coach back. I've had a hard time convincing the kids that the practice style would not change and that we would still continue to learn and have fun like we used to. I know it's been only a week or so, but I'm already feeling overwhelmed from the kids lack of attention and the expectations of the assistant coaches.

Any suggestions, on what I can do to get through the rest of season and how to deal with my player's emotion after the coaching change?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Tim

Tim,

Thats too bad... the kids are going to suffer from this...and without knowing what the situation was ... those two coaches should have discussed this behind closed doors.... and IF the asst. didn't agree... HE should have stepped aside. ( NOW, if it was of a serious nature, thats a different thing )

As for your situation, a no win one... I might suggest that you do a team bonding thing... something that has nothing to do with basketball, take them to a high school or college game in the area... I'm sure that if you contacted the head coach they would find a way to help you out. Watch a game, go out for pizza etc.
Then sit down with them and discuss what the plans are for the rest of the season. These are little kids and they don't like their lives upended.

Make sure your practices are FUN... teach them some fundamentals and then have a lot of mini games.. (I called them situations) a few minutes at a time.
Play some no dribble games - not sure how many players you have but another game you can play is this.... a game to 6 where every player has to score before any player can score the final basket.... score is ONE more than the total number of kids playing.

Good luck and let us know how its going.

Why am I not surprised? Typical behavior.

So let me get this straight. Two "adults" had an irreconcible argument regarding a 6-7 year old team? An argument that got so bad that the head coach decided to resign? And then the so called assistants, one of whom was a party to this disagreement did want to step up? Unbelieveable. Frankly, those kids are better off without the "adults."

You mentioned being overwhelmed with the "expectations of the assistant coaches." What expectations does an assistant coach have of a 6-7 year old team? My advice -- get rid of the assistants because they don't sound like they assist jack squat. They are trouble makers.

Any chance the coach would come back without the assistants? It may be worth exploring whether he will come back as the "teaching coach" -- ie; the guy who does all the basketball work and leaves you to do all the administrative BS like dealing with parents.

Otherwise, you may just have to muddle thru. An outside activity is a good idea. Keep the kids engaged and make sure you have fun. This sounds like a pretty bad environment for these kids. Good luck.

@Coach Sar:

I think your suggestion is a great idea. I agree with you that this will also give the parents and I an opportunity to sit down to discuss the future direction of the team and development of their kids. I'm extremely excited about coaching these kids, but I'm worried that the damage to the kids are irreparable. They're already showing signs of lack of interest and desire when I'm giving instructions. I'm hoping this will turn around real soon.

@Golfman25

Hard to belive, huh?(sarcasm) Two grown adults couldn't sort out their differences, especially for the sake of the kids. I'm just curious about what their explanation was to their kids when they got home and had to answer questions about why they quit the team.

Tim,

Once the kids find out that it is going to be FUN....and thats what its all about at that age... they should get over the other thing. Getting the parents on board will help a lot... but IF I was you, I would get rid of that assistant that caused this problem.... the last thing you need is another arm chair QB second guessing what you want to do.

My mom used to have a saying... ( I will change it slightly ) burn me once, your fault. Burn me twice, MY fault. Don't le thim do this to those kids again.

Coach Tim,

You mentioned that one of your main concerns is the kids lack of attention. No need to worry, they didn't pay any more attention to their former coach. 6-7 year olds have a short attention span and when you put them on a court with balls and other players it is going to be chaotic. To keep their attention, you have to be the funnest thing on the court. That can be a challenge.

Personally, I don't talk unless I have the players attention. There's no point. When I talk, I need their eyes and their ears focused on me. At this age group, you need a little "call and respond." You call something out and they respond. Make it fun. For example, if I call out defense, everyone snaps into a defensive position and yells, "Hah!" If I call out, "Fire it up!" then they respond, "Ready to go!" If I call out "Eyes," then they clap twice. If I call out "Ears," then they stop their feet twice. Once I have their attention, then I can give directions. Limit yourself to saying only positive things. Give out encouragement like it was free.

Enjoy your time with these kids as much as you can. I'm assistant coaching a high school varsity team right now and I had a lot more fun with my 5-7 year olds.

I would agree Tim.... coaching young kids has to be about fun OR you will lose it..... as for high school varsity.... a lot more pressure on the coaches to win their. Its a lot more serious and the kids know it..... but they wouldn't want it any other way... kids are very competitive but they can have fun at this level too.

We finished every practice doing something they liked to do.... most of the time it was "situations" - mini games, they learned and they competed.