I have a player who is very aggressive but needs work on ball control. She broke her left arm a few months ago and just got her cast off. She was set to start playing for me again this AAU season but just broke her right arm (she's right-handed) this past weekend and will be in a cast until summer. She'll be playing for me this summer but I was hoping you'd have some suggestions for drills I could have her working on in the meantime so her skills don't completely diminish. I know she can work on her left-handed layups and shots, but I want to make sure I am helping her even when she can't actually play.

I'm also hoping to have her as a helper this season (she's been with me a while and is devastated she can't play, so I want her to feel like she's still part of the team) and would love some suggestions for what I can have her help me with.

Talk about bad breaks - NO pun intended! Make sure that she has the OK to do some things from her doctor. The last thing you want to happen is for her to hurt her left arm again.

She can so some conditioning drills and dribbling as you suggessted... weak handed shooting also.

To keep her involved.... let her be an asst. coach for the team. Give her some things that she can do without further injuring herself. Maybe let her teach the inbound plays - thats something she should be able to handle.... and as the season progresses... you might find some other things she can do.

Let her make some game too suggesstions too - you don't have to agree, but you can listen, you never know.

Agree with Coach Sar here, first priority is making sure she is safe and healing. Kids will say (and attempt) all kinds of things, especially if they're itching to play. I'd only go with the physical stuff if it's been cleared with the doc's office.

As far as keeping her involved -

-Have her help keep you on track in practice. Tell her to let you know when the allotted time is up on a drill and when it's time to move on to the next.

-I like Coach Sar's idea of asking for her input. "What drill should we run next?" and run it. Same with end of practice and games, I'd ask her what was good and what needs improvement.

-Keeping stats in practice/games. Let's say you have a competitive drill and you're giving points for certain things (e.g. pts for blockouts and defensive steals), she could help keep track of the score so you can focus on coaching. In games, you can pick some key stats and have her keep those.