I coach midddle school girls at a charter school. The program right now is challenged. I have one girl who is a solid player, a PG that is very good but is too right hand dominate, and a post player who shows many signs of promise. The rest of the team (right now) struggles to dribble, not walk with the ball, and pivot around to face the basket to just name a few things.

Are there any fundamental drills that can keep the more skilled girls working without being too far over the other people’s heads?

A challenging situation you have there. My first inclination is to hold separate skill sessions for the players that need more basic help. Trying to work on fundamental skills (they should already have) while maintaining a practice can be frustrating.

Assume you have until fall to get things together?

If so, I'm pushing those skill sessions, giving them "homework" drills they can do in the driveway, finding some 3 v 3 leagues.

This all hinges on their willingness and your ability to put in the extra time.

Thanks for the response. I actually can work with them until tryouts - I just have to work around volleyball and Cross Country that are fall sports. Right now I have three open gyms a week and Thursday I decided to break them up into two groups based on skill level. Turn out has been ok for our school but I've never had more than 10 so I decided to frame it as more individual work on the skills that they need. I'm not doing them any favors if I let them develop bad habits on their fundamentals and I'm not being much of a coach.

So that's what I am doing - exactly what you recommended. I am on this site and others constantly getting drills for the newbie group and the three that have middle school level skills. I will just focus as much as I can on fundamentals for both.

Quick question for anyone:

how helpful would a basketball handbook be - with basic definitions, basic diagrams, and RULES for the newbies?

1) what are "middle school level skills"? I've seen and coached middle school girls that would be outplayed by some 4th and 5th grade girls and I've also seen and coached middle school girls that were prepared to play high school varsity ball already.

2) I'm not sure how much use the handbook would get, but a similar alternative might be to give them weekly quizzes. These can be oral and written. Give them a 3 question pop quiz that asks them to explain something or has them name or identify certain areas of the court (wing, elbow, baseline, key, etc). In my experience these might go a longer way than giving them a handbook that they may or may not look at.

Thanks for the feedback. The quiz seems like a good suggestion. I hate giving anything out on paper bc I always find it left behind on the bleachers.

As far as middle school skill level, I realize there are a wide range of players at any level, however by the time they are playing for a middle school team I would assume these things (and there may be more):
*they understand the basic rules of basketball, such as not being able to pick up the ball and run with it without dribbling
*be able to dribble the basketball under control with at least the dominate hand and that doesn’t necessarily mean not looking at it
*be able to throw and catch a pass
*be able to do a pivot and jump stop and basic footwork
*understand the basic principle of defense

And there may be a few more things but these were just off the top of my head. I just didn’t expect to have to have some players who had never picked up a ball. They are all working hard and I already see great improvements. It’s just half of my team played last year and the other half haven’t ever picked up a ball. That makes it hard to run a practice together.