I would also avoid the dribble hand-off for the following reason:

One of the major issues in youth basketball is the tendency of the kids to flock towards the ball when the ball gets stuck.

Spacing is such an important concept to teach young kids, and running to the ball such a difficult habit to break. I always teach kids that if they aren't open, don't run to the ball, run away from the ball. Dribble hand-off teaches the opposite concept and, just in my opinion only, creates a bad habit among youth players.

It is something though that can be taught later in their careers after they have mastered the concepts of spacing.

Just my two cents.

Brian Sass

In our last practice, they started picking it up some. We added to call out the name of the player they want to cut to the hoop. Looking at them was not working. Again, they defaulted to caos after the first initial pass fails. There is no continuous motion yet.

What I basically noticed was a more simptle problem. Each thing we teach, there are usually 5 other things done incorrectly at the same time. It becomes impossible to correct these items. However, I took a step back and remembered how fun the beginning of the season was. This was because I made everything I wanted to teach them into a game. So, I am going to attempt this with 5 out. I also feel that they are overwelmed and do not really understand the rules. They only focus on the last thing we taught them. So, if I run throuh the scenarios, time them, make them compete on teams against each other while timed, they should like that more based upon previous practices.

So, to provide specific examples, I will have them first pass, cut and receive the pass back to shoot. Next, they will pass, cut, no pass to cutter since we will pretend they are covered, then pass to player filling top spot in 5 out. Without listing every scenario here, if we run through them, I think they may get to understand what they can and can not do without listening to me tell them what the rules are.

We may add the auto cuts later. But, right now, I think their heads may explode if I throw one more new thing at them. I want to get these few things down first.

Wish us luck!

My motion offense is pass and cut or pass and screen away. We also teach them how and when back cuts are applicable.

I use a lot of the Read and React drills to instill this mindset into my team. To me, R&R is just a fancy title and a few twists on a basic motion offense. Look up Connecticut Attack on youtube. They are a girls travel or AAU program and you can watch entire practices on their channel. You can really see the pass and cut and backcut drills in action.

Then we progress to shell drill with various rules. Sometimes it's no dribbling or maybe 1-2 dribbles to either improve the pass or get straight to the hoop.

When installing an offense you need to find the right balance of drill work to teach the concept, then live scrimmage work to perform the concept in a game setting.

Just my opinion.

I agree about the balance. It is only my second year. So, I am still learning myself. But this site has been useful. I will look them up on YouTube later. Thanks!

In our most recent game, the designated point guards actually looked to pass in our 5 out. But, noone was open because I taught them to pick their spot and stay there. Well, that is easy to guard. The plus is as that broke down, there was at least room for the dribbler to move. So, we are on the right path. There are so many things to fix at this age, its so tough to get them to run a 5 out efficiently.

The next practices, I am going to try and command them to do each item. Maybe it will stick if I tell them who to pass to, when to cut, etc. If they get many reps, maybe it will start to sink in. Some of the players still want to stand in the middle and still want to follow the ball. We are making progress., but its slow...lol.

Something that MAY be easy for them to do and I say MAY because there are lots of things youth players have trouble remembering because, you know, they are kids: on the initiating pass for the 5 out, teach them if their player is over the 3-point line, automatically back cut and replace. It may get the movement flowing and keep them from just standing still at the start.

So if the defender is outside the arc denying, go to the basket. If they are inside the 3 point line, v-cut towards the ball.

Just some thoughts .

Brian Sass

Have you added the down screen to get a player open coming out to the wing for the first pass of the offense? I think that will really help get things moving for you. I know it seems like it goes against what a lot of motion offenses want, but it has worked for me. I don't think it's a difficult thing to teach. And when the kids see that it is effective, they will enjoy it that much more.

Also, how much scrimmaging are you doing in practice? It sounds like your players may lack the experience of what to do when things are breaking down because they only do the drills that are meant to show them how to do things and foster success against minimal defense.

If you're not doing it already, try some scrimmaging where they aren't allowed to dribble. The kids will start discovering on their own how they can get open and get those passes. Once they get the hang of that, then you can add new rules like giving them a limit on how many dribbles they can use.

Good luck!

I have enough challenges as is, so I have not added the down screen. Ya, I want to. You are correct. It would help. But, they have so many things to work on, how can I add yet another thing for them to remember?

We have only 1 practice once a week for an hour. We had two, but once the season started we went down to one and the second practice turned into game day. So, I found another place to add a second practice back. But, its still is not enough. I want 3 to 4 practices a week, but its not possible. So, I think that is why they forget because its days in between the last practice.

We also were going to add another scrimmage on Friday, but we could not end up practicing on that day. So, that hurt us for this game. But, we will have 2 practices this week. So, maybe we can get them a little more comfortable. I think no matter what I coach, they need to get more comfortable dribbling with pressure. Then, the 5 out will work. But, as you see above, issues with where to line up, when to cut, etc. are not sinking in yet. Time...all takes time :-).

Thanks for all the ideas though. I actually am taking some of them and using them.

2nd and 3rd grade......1 hour of practice.........

Can you layout a sample of your practice plan? Your typical time allotted to each drill you do? I think this might help some of us give you some specific help on how to be more efficient with your time.

If it were me, and I'm going off memory of how I handled this age group when I was with them, I'd spend 2/3 of practice on individual offensive skills ( ballhandling, shooting layups, passing the ball, shooting from slightly further away from the hoop) and then the other 1/2 of my time on live gameplay. I would start with having them play the traditional 1on1, then progress to 2on2 and maybe 3on3. So you end up with 20 minutes of live gameplay and you can stop to briefly correct or add a tip here and there and then let them play again. I rarely spent any time teaching defense to that age group, outside of some basic stance and slide stuff every now and then.

With this age group, I don't think you should get too carried away with wanting them to run a structured offense. Yes, you should introduce them to it, but I think they shouldn't be help to a very high standard of running it. The only 3rd graders I've ever seen run structured offense were travel teams with 8x the amount of practice you get or mixed age rec teams with advanced youngsters playing with older competition.

Keep things in perspective and make sure they are still having fun, enjoying themselves, improving individually and playing hard.

It took me all of last year (4th grade) and into the summer/fall this year (5th grade) to get my girls travel team to basket cut after a pass automatically, with no thought. It's a process! LOL

And I think it's great that you're on here, asking questions, seeking advice on how to do things the right way. Youth sports needs more coaches like you!

Good idea

First five minutes, free shoot. Next 5 is warm up by dribble around the half court square we practice in and stretch, then maybe red light green light with dribbling, then knockout, then 5 out for a few minutes, then pass game up to 25...first bounce passes, then 2 hand chest, then overhead. Monkey in the middle is their favorite...line up in 5 out, pass only, can not move, if tagged, you are monkey, if turnover, you also are monkey then. Then we are out of time.