I am coaching a team of 10/11 yr olds

Out of the 8 girls, 6 have never played basketball before. I have tried to emphasize the basics-passing, dribbling,shooting in practice.

The main problem has been trying to introduce an offense they can understand.

Currently, they are overwhelmed by the more experienced defenses-and often are forced into turnovers, bad passes and poor shots.

They dont have the court awareness to undertstand
the most basic offense pattern. They even have to be reminded which side we are shooting at. So, I have a very green team.

We lost our last game 20-16, only because they have picked up defense better. But, we turned ovet the ball at least 25 times. They are scared and hesitant to dribble penetrate or shoot when appropiate. Many dribble into the corners and throw bad passes or have the ball stolen from when dribbling.

I have never had quite a team like this. So, any suggestions on offense and court awareness are most appreciated!

Best,
Scott

PS-My daughter is the most experienced and best ball handlet/passer/shooter. My usual philosophy is to play all the girls equally. Shall I play her more since she is my only dependable player/quarterback of the team?

There are many offense plays available on this website. To start, for this age group, girls 10-11, choose (1) simple play vs zone and (1) simple play vs M2M. As the season progresses, maybe you can add another simple play for each. But the most important thing is to stay away from complex plays.

I'd add a "clear-out" play for your daughter to use against M2M defense so she can blow-by her defender a couple times during the game, just to mix it up a little.

Don't get upset with the amount of turnovers. I also coach girls and I track turnovers per game..and let me tell you, at that age, my teams averaged 20 averaged to even 30 turnovers per game!!

Good Luck

Have Fun!!

Coach A

Thanks, Coach A for the tips. I will impement them.

BTW, I am also from CT.

Scott - Don't get discouraged about the wins/losses or your team being "green". It sounds like you are doing pretty good.

You are developing players here (these are just 10 and 11 year olds). That takes time and patience.

Your focus should be on DEVELOPMENT, not the score. Are your players getting better? Are they dribbling better? Are the rebounding better? Are they playing better defense? Set small goals based on development. Then celebrate when they improve!!

I know you want to win and the players seem like they want to win. But when you ask them and get an honest answer, they just want to play and get the ball as much as they can. They would much rather play and lose than to win and sit on the bench. Players also love improving so it's up to you to help them improve and make sure they see they are improving.

I think if you played your daughter more, had her handle the ball more, and set some plays that let her attack you'd win more games. But you have to ask yourself... what are your goals for this team? And does that fit with your goals?

I see lots of kids in high school that are talented and have tons of potential. But their ballhandling skills stink and they struggle against good teams in their spread offenses because when growing up the coaches kid was always the point guard. The other kids cleared out and the big kids were instructed to sprint to the rim. How are these other kids supposed to develop ballhandling skills if they just run down the court while someone else does the work for them?

Ok, I know I haven't answered your actual question about offense. I like the motion offense for lots of reasons (primarily because I think it's the best offense for developing fundamental skills and gives you the most flexibility). You can read about some of our motion offense concepts towards the bottom of this page:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/youthbasketball.html

And here too:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/offense/motion-offense-youth-basketball.html

Scott, very difficult position.

Devloping fudamentals is important, but you must also give them some structure on offense. Keep it simple and use motion concepts. Don't do "plays."

Here is what I see working on my 10/11 year old boys team. We start in a high post set -- 2 guards on top, 2 wings (L/R), and a center who sets up at the strong side elbow. I put my two smartest players at center and 1 guard. Then we introduce options as the season progresses (screen/cut, ball screen, pass into post). So for example, we start with some form of a cut by the off guard for an easy layup. If that isn't there we look for a 2 man game between the guard and the strong side wing. If that isn't there we look to reverse the ball and play another 2 man game on the other side. Then just play basketball.

What I like is that only 2 to 3 kids are involved at a specific time (easy to teach 2/3 at a time), BUT ALL the kids have a chance to be involved as the game goes on. Good luck.

Thanks much Jeff and Golfman for the tips/advice/plays.

I always try to implement fundamentals (80% of practice is spent on this for my green team).

But, at the same time, the girls competitive nature comes out, and I feel a bit guilty in not giving them a decent chance to stay in the game. I dont my losing with a good effort, but I think it would be discouraging for them to lose 40-10 every game. This might have a negative effect on whether they want to come back next year, which at the end of the day, is why we bother to coach at all.

So, I will continue to implement fundamentals, but would like to foster a competitive atomsphere as well. It's a tough balance.

PS-Last year was a dream for me, as I had the best athletes in the league, and we could implement more advanced topics, and the girls had fun steamrolling the competition. This year is a 180 from that scenario.

Coach: there is a dvd that you can purchase on this site by Bob Bigelow. What he does is break down simple drills and skills and allows the youngsters to have fun. Also he uses a rather neat 3 on 3 technique to teach a very simple easy to use offense. Don't get discouraged with this age of players. Coach A has given you some real good tips as has Joe. The one I like best was the clear out play for your daughter. What I have done in the past with a strong point or shooting guard, is to go to a 1-4 low set, you daughter with the ball, she merely has to beat her defender and if help comes, she dishes to the person who now is undefended..good luck Coach Mac

Coach: I forgot to ad that I have also used a motion but implemented three rules. 1. Always pass and screen away 2. closest player to the ball also screens away 3. in the post post up for a 1000 and 1 count and screen across the paint. You can practice it using the rules or break it down into individual drills then take the parts and put them together as the whole...(part whole method) Coach Mac