I ordered the motion offense book about a year ago. I've tried to implement the principles of motion - back doors, give n go, screen aways etc..and a motion offense. However, I'm having a real difficult time getting a point guard to dribble down and even make the 1st entry pass. If that does happen, we all of a sudden develop "herd mentality" or freeze and can't recall what to do. We have scored 6,5,5 and 2 points in the last 4 games. The teams are good to average. We practice about 1x/wk and play about 1x/wk. Any suggestions, simpler offense, drills etc... Thanks for any ideas. Coach of 5th grade girls team

Coach,

First of all, God Bless you for coaching kids of this age.. it is NO easy task.

The only thing that I can think of is to simplify your offense... just pass and cut through and everybody fills the next spot with a V cut.

The only thing that is going to solve their "panic mode" is pratice and lots of it. 1X a week is pretty tough for them to remember it let alone execute it well during games under stress.

You might try scrimmaging in practice without the dribble, forcing the kids to get themselves open and help out the player with the ball. Make a good V cut and get open - IF you are not, cut to the basket. Pass and cut.

I hope that some of the other coaches here can come up with some more help for you - remembering that you only practice once a week.

Good luck.

I coach 3rd and 4th boys and try to teach them motion. Here is my advice:

1) Come up with about 3 to 5 "rules" that you can drill into them. Things like - after you pass, cut to the basket, pass and screen away, fill the open spots, don't stand still, etc. Keep them short, simple and sweet.

2) To start your motion: Give each position a number 1-5. Start with a screen/cut call. So a 21 would be a 2 screens for 1. Or a 45 is a 4 screens for 5. You'll then have a numbering system which will allow a lot of different combinations to be called durring the game and the kids can remember. You won't need to spend all practice drilling them on different plays which won't work.

3) Now here is the tricky part. The kids need to know that every screen call isn't going to work. So then what? Go to your rules. If you made a cut and didn't get the ball, then look to set the next screen. After that player cuts, he looks for the pass and the rest of the players fill the open spots. This is the part where most players forget in the heat of the moment and you'll need to take a lot of time working thru it with them.

How do you do it? They only way I have found is to walk them thru certain situations. This becomes tedius, so you'll only get 10 min. of attention from them, if that. Also, spend some time in a controled scrimage. I'll take the offense, huddle them up, and give them the screen call. Then they run it. Then we may "rewind" and walk it back thru to point out the good and bad. This week I had to situations one "bad" and one good. First one, my wing player who was supposed to v-cut, ran thru the lane bringing his defender right into a driving layup. Showed everyone what happened and they all "understood." Next was a kid playing the corner, filled up to the wing and poped wide open. Again went thru and showed them what he did and how following our rules allowed him to get open. Again it is tedius, so 10-15 min. max is all you'll get per practice.

That is about 30 min. worth of practice. The balance can be used for drills, a lot of 3 on 3 games, etc. Seperate the walkthru and the scrimage with some drills. This age is like herding cats. Good luck.

Tough to get any kind of organized offense going with developing players and only one practice per wk. Best remedy I've found for the "herd mentality" is taking a portion of practice to show your players spacing (5 out or 4 out 1 in) and make them pass 5 times before shooting. All our kids are behind the 3 point line on offense to begin (quite a ways for PG and wings). Looks pretty extreme at first, but the over emphasis is needed so they see what it means to spread out. If you can make the defense come out, your kids should start to see the huge space in the middle for players to get open.

Depends upon your players skill level, but we've found that getting them in a groove of passing first results in them seeing open players. We also include this in games, 5 passes first before a shot. As game progresses I reduce number of passes required before a shot.

I'd highly recommend running a scrimmage with no dribbling for 10 minutes. Emphasize helping out, good quick passes, and coming to meet the ball. No "quick fix" for your situation, have to be patient and get the ball movement working first. Then add cuts, filling open spaces, screens, etc.

My two cents anyway