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PostPosted: 04 Dec 2010, 23:08 

Posts: 12
Background info: I am coaching a team of 8 girls, ages 8-10 (3rd-5th grades). The two fifth graders have playing experience; the remaining 3rd-4th graders are completely new to the game. I have been spending most of our practice time (1 or 2 practices per week; duration of 1 1/2 hours) on fundamentals. (Even the "experienced" players are pretty raw with a lot of their skills.) Most of our games will be played against teams made up primarily of 5th-6th graders. (It's just the nature of the beast when playing in a league of small schools.)
The problem in today's games was that the 5th graders were trying to "do it all." They would grab a defensive rebound and try to pound it down the court to score--turning the ball over every time. I explained the need to slow it down, wait for the team, and pass the ball around, but it still continued. I think they have the mindset that they are the 5th graders so they should do all the scoring--the complete opposite of what they hear in practice. Any thoughts on how to handle this when it happens during the game? (Fans in the stand did not help by telling those 2 to shoot almost every time they had the ball on offense......)


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PostPosted: 05 Dec 2010, 07:12 

Posts: 176
IMO, you are in a no win situation. There is too much physical, mental, and skill disparity between 3rd and 5th graders. I'll bet the 5th graders are afraid to throw the ball to a 3rd grader cause they might hurt the kid. Kids know who the playas are.

Maybe you need to run without a 5th grader on the floor. You could let the younger kids scrimage each other. Maybe the 5th graders could be refs or coaches. The 5th graders will need to get comfortable with the younger kids before anything happens. Good luck.


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PostPosted: 05 Dec 2010, 14:20 

Posts: 12
That might be a possibility (about being afraid of hurting one of the younger girls). However, in the first game, only 1 of the 5th graders was there. She was doing better at working with the other girls. In fact, before our second game, when I was encouraging the younger girls to shoot when they had the chance, she agreed and told them they shouldn't just pass it to her. But the other 5th grader (who was not there for the 1st game) was already saying things like the two fifth graders should each just go out there and score 7 baskets each and then we would win the game. I right away reminded her that this is a team sport and we want everyone to take shots (some of the younger girls are actually getting open in the lane with the ball--and they are able to make those shots in practice--so it would be really great to see them shoot). That second girl is the one who was acting more like it's all about the 5th graders--which was a very different attitude/mindset than she's shown in practice. I guess the bottomline is how to foster a "team" mentality..... (FYI--Neither 5th grader has very good skills--I'm hoping all the work on fundamentals will help them to improve at the basics like passing, dribbling, etc. Already some of the 3rd graders are better passers--especially at bounce-passing--and dribblers.)


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