Do you have any tips or drills on how to teach smaller players (guards) to protect the ball when driving on a "big" (12 year olds). I see some kids that can attack the basket against anyone and get a descent lay-up position and others that get stuffed each time or are forced to "throw" the ball versus shoot.

I would suggest that you teach your players to protect the ball by keeping your body and non-shooting arm directly between the ball and the opponent as you go up for the shot. Doing this shiould force the defender to go through the arm and body to block the shot... you should draw a foul.

If the defender is one that likes to block shots you might tell your players to go into his body as he goes up and draw the foul also.... but at this age... I would go with option #1

At this age, the players seem to dribble the ball passively. By that I mean they tap the ball and wait for it to come back up close to the apex of the bounce before they touch it again. We drill to really pound the ball. The ball is in the hands of the player more, thus more control and the it spends less time in the air. Another tip is to start low and get lower as you go by the man. The bigs will have a harder time defending.

Once a guard gets his/hers shot rejected by a big while driving they tend to avoid driving or if they do they will twist and turn their body so concerned about NOT getting their shot blocked that they end up off-balance, not square and throwing up a crazy shot.
Unfortunately, with kids these days, when a shot is blocked the whole gym yells, benches jump up....it is now embarrassing to get your shot blocked because the blocker now "owns" you. So..kids will avoid this embarrassment at all costs.

I teach my girls not to avoid contact, go into the big and try to draw the contact. Who cares if it gets blocked once in a while?? You will get to the foul line more frequently.

A good drill to teach this is have a line of players at foul line or elbow or wing, each with a ball. I'll stand under hoop holding a big pillow or couch cushion. They upfake and do a one dribble power drive to hoop. I'll give them a little bump with the pillow. I'll increase that bump gradually into a near knock down.
What I look for is not a made basket but to see if they alter their shot or try to avoid the upcoming contact. Sometimes they even close their eyes!! So I watch for these things and correct.
Over time, you'll see an increase in confidence to drive on bigs and an increase in FTA's.

Good Luck!!

Coach A

I like to use a variety of drills. However one drill I would suggest would be to have your guards drive to the basketball at full speed and have a coach use a pad to bump the players. This teaches players to secure the ball and not to avoid contact. I stress to my players to chin the ball and secure it away from the defense.