After discovering this forum about two years ago, I used an expectations talk with parents and players both last year and I think it helped everyone being on the same page for the whole season. I was hoping to have another one to address potential issues and I was wondering if anyone could provide feedback.

Player Expectation:
Being Great @ 3 Things
1 - Great at Hustling & Giving 100%
2 - Great @ M2M Defense
3 - Great @ Being Positive

GOAL: Improve Every Day: Be better than you were yesterday. I am not asking them to be perfect, just improve each practice/game. By the end of the season, they will see their hard work pay off.

#3 has changed - which was "Ball Control" last year - because most of the boys on my team went through an extremely negative football season where many of them picked up on some foul language and yelling at teammates when times got tough (and going 0-9 for the season, times were tough ALOT). I wanted them to get back to a team environment and I think this will need to be addressed immediately.

Parent Expectations: (What to Expect This Season)
1 - Punctuality: Kids Are At Every Practice - 15 Minutes Ahead of Time and Ready to Go.
2 - Positive Environment: I can't ask our boys to be positive when parents are not - including myself.
3 - Young Team: We are an all 3rd grade team playing against some all 4th grade teams. It may be a tough season (W-L record - as my parents are very competitive) but we will improve throughout the season
4 - Intensity: I am by nature an intense individual but if I get on to a kid - it'll be for not hustling or giving it their all. However animated I get if they don't give 100%, I am just as animated if they do something good. (I feel this is extremely important so the kids don't associate yelling with something bad - there was one time last year where I literally picked a kid up on my shoulders and run around the court cheering him on because he FINALLY broke a bad habit ... they all played even harder after that because they wanted to be picked up as well)
5 - Conditioning: I don't believe in running lines at the end of practice just to run lines. I feel that conditioning occurs with well-organized and fast paced practices. If they do run, it will be with a ball in hand while dribbling so they can still work on a fundamental.
6 - Coaching from Stands: We have an issue with some parents who try to instruct while my assistant and I are coaching so I thought I'd throw this in there. If parents want to teach their kids something other than what we teach, they can do it before or after practice. A kid wil naturally gravitate towards their parents voice during a practice which takes away from us as coaches.

Again, any feedback on the above items would be greatly appreciated. The "Coaching From Stands" part will ruffle some feathers but it was a growing distraction last year and those same parents are on my team this year.

I think that is a very good list. Nice work. I'll just give my two cents since you are asking for feedback.

You might be able to pick up ideas here:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/dealing-with-parents.html

AMMO TO EDUCATE PARENTS ON WHAT IS BEST FOR THEIR CHILDREN

This is a really good article for coaches and parents. He gives you excellent questions that parents and coaches can ask their kids. It really helps you get your goals in line with theirs.
http://www.bookwormblog.com/2006/10/bruce_brown_the.html

This is an excellent resource for you to give parents. It explains each stage of development. I think it's important to understand what is appropriate based on the age level of a player. Most of us have good intentions but we treat youth players like they are in are in "stage 5", which is a huge disservice to those players.
http://www.coach.ca/files/LTAD_forparents_EN_Final.pdf

Stats on youth sports:
http://www.thecenterforkidsfirst.org/pdf/Statistics.pdf

MOST IMPORTANT THINGS

This is just me. You can use this for ideas but you need to believe in your "things". I believe the most important things for a youth coach to do are:

1. Make a positive impact by teaching character, integrity, confidence, positive thinking, teamwork, and helping them learn to love sports and basketball.

2. Develop players so they can reach their maximize their potential

Bob Bigelow says "The aim for youth sports should be to have fun, get exercise, develop skills, and foster a love for the game."

In order to develop players to reach their maximum potential when they reach high school, you need to spend lots of time on athletic development, coordination, balance, skills, building confidence, teaching players it's ok to make mistakes (don't yell at them), etc.

Correcting mistakes is a big thing. You point out what they did right, and teach the mistake. For example, when a player blows a lay up, do not yell at them. If you take a look at the play, the player most likely did a lot of things right. (You did a good job of catching, front pivoting, facing the basket, and driving to the opening. That was perfect, exactly what we have been practicing. On the lay up try to keep your eyes on the target...)

12 Characteristics or Successful Youth Development
1. Athleticism & mentality more vital than sport specific training at young age.
2. You can NOT determine how good a player will be at the youth level.
3. Developing a passion and love for the game is critical. FUN.
4. Need work ethic, must come from with in
5. Developing confidence is critical
6. Not afraid to make mistakes. Don't dwell on mistakes.
7. Athleticism and coordination are critical and just as important as skills
8. Positive attitude is paramount
9. Learn to put team first
10.Honestly, character, and integrity
11.Need to develop exceptional SKILLS too
12.Get opportunity to get most out of their abilities & reach maximum potential

Those are just some random thoughts. I think you really are on track in your thinking. I personally might focus more on athletic development and skills, versus M2M at that age. But that is just me. You have to do what you believe in.

I like how you are FOCUSED on 3 things. That is great. You could possibly add a 4th (ball skills).

Great post Jeff...... by the way, that was more like a dime than 2 cents... :-)

Here is the big thing... teach them how to play the game... these are young kids, they have a very short attention span, keep things short and make sure they are having fun.

Bob Bigelow says "The aim for youth sports should be to have fun, get exercise, develop skills, and foster a love for the game."

This pretty much says it all.

Thanks Jeff ... I appreciate it.

I'll take a look at those links today.

I try to always be positive in my coaching - sandwiching a postive-teaching opportunity-postive. I have to learn from my mistakes last year and take away what drills they learned best from. It's a constant struggle ... I realized looking through your post that there is alot of skills development which I should look at more closely this season. I tend to focus on skill development but moreso defensive rather than offensive - since that is one of the 3 big goals. I'll add ball skills into the mix as well.

Brent,

I like how you incorporate a fundamental within a conditioning drill.

I tend to use the dribble suicide drill.

Jeff, what age should you start sport specific drills?

Keith,

I think this document does a good job of explaining what training a child needs based on their age level:
http://www.coach.ca/files/LTAD_forparents_EN_Final.pdf

Their terminology is a little different than mine for some things. So you need to read it closely to understand what they are trying to say. And they don't address specific sports. The only thing with basketball is you need to be careful about shooting. I don't think players should shoot until about puberty and if they do, it should be with a mini ball. They just aren't strong enough to shoot properly yet.

Jeff