This is my first post on this board and I want to first say THANKS to this site for everything, I've been getting the newsletter and love it, I've purchased Bob Bigelow's 3 DVD set from here and watched it and was amazed at how exciting it was to me. I only skimmed through it but plan on watching it many times between now and November to really learn the drills.

About me, I was a basketball player my whole life but it took until high school for me to get a coach that really knew how to teach the fundamentals. In the three years I improved immensely. It didn't take long for me to realize that standing in place dribbling between your legs wasn't productive. Wish somebody would've told me that earlier.

Anyway, my 8 year old nephew had his first year of basketball this year and it kinda reignited my love for the game. I was also somewhat disappointed with what I saw at the practices I attended. One practice was spent with the 9-10 players in line while one kid gets the ball and plays one on one against the coach. Now they were putting in the time so I told myself I couldn't and wouldn't be critical, but I wanted to kinda point out the obvious - "If you're gonna do this drill, why not just let the kids play one on one against each other?"

Anyway, I'll be coaching next year and was told November 1st is the signup date. I skimmed through my calendar to really get an idea of how long away that is and to put it plainly it sucks! I'm ready to get out there tomorrow!

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So that's my little intro to this board. I want to use this post to brainstorm some general ideas for 8 and 9 year old coaching. I've loved reading the advice on here. Let me just say that I know basketball, I know fundamentals. I actually think its the only thing I really DO know. But coaching as yall say many times is teaching, and I realize that you have to keep 8 year olds interested and willing to give effort without a video game system or a flashy cartoon. I feel like my main goals are to teach them the game. I think having fun will come naturally once they start to get an idea of the game.

So I've written some ideas and would love any advice. Don't worry about being nice, I can take criticism and would appreciate it. Sometimes I get wild ideas that generally don't work. So here we go :

1) Hustle Points - I saw some kids out there that were hitting the floor, going after loose balls, and to me that's what its all about. This is the basic reward system and I was thinking the reward would be a "special ball" in competitive drills. The ball would count double the points - so in a foul shooting drill it would count as 2 points per make instead of one. Winner of the drills could be team captain or do the jump ball for the upcoming game, or a free Gatorade, whatever works.

2) Now this is one I wanted to hear yall's opinions of. This might be one of my great ideas that just doesn't work out. I want to tape all the games, and will have someone available to do it, and make quick 5-10 minute highlight videos to go over at practice. It could be something we have worked on that gets done well in a game. Key word here is "highlights", not lowlights - positive reenforcement. I just remember at the high-school level how much I loved watching tape and how much I learned from it. I just don't know how this would translate to an 8 year old? I also thought it would be cool to hand out recordings of all the games to the players at the end of the year, and if possible make individual highlight films for each player to keep - and also a team highlight video. Sounds like a lot of work but it really isn't that difficult, I'm in the IT field so it just takes some time and effort. Do yall think an 8 year old watching himself play will help them learn the game and possibly slow it down a little bit for 'em? Or would this fall on deaf ears so to speak?

3) Homework after practice - A simple drill that I think I got the inspiration from on this board. I remember that my middle school coach (my second best & second favorite coach) used to tell us to do this. Basically, they get homework at the end of every practice to close their eyes and visualize themselves taking 10 foul shots. I could make a quick print out where they mark down how many they made (I can't be the only one that misses shots in my dreams?). The printout could also have instructions of taking a foul shot - 1. Step to the line 2. Square up to the basket 3. Take a deep breath 4. Do your routine, etc., etc. Just seems like something extra that would help them improve (and yes I believe visualizing does help them improve).

4) Also thought about handing out basketballs to each kid at the first practice so they can get in any extra practice they want at home. Obviously they don't need a basket to work on dribbling, flipping the wrist, etc. Could also give them ideas for drills to do at home during each practice.



I feel like I'm writing a novel here but I'm honestly really excited about it. I hope I can keep this excitement all the way until November. I did notice about 3 or 4 things on my nephew's team that I thought they could do that would make a huge improvement with very little effort. Maybe I'm overestimating them but I think these four things can be taught/ingrained pretty easily and will have a huge benefit to the team as a whole :

1) Head on a swivel, see your man and the ball. I saw too many kids staring at their man. This could be taught in practice by having the player point to their man and the ball. Obviously this can and should carry over into the games. See your man and the ball, put your head on a swivel.

2) This was the most frustrating for me...HANDS UP ON DEFENSE! Oh man, to watch 5 kids play defense with their arms down until their man catches the ball. Frustrating! Again I don't want to be critical of the volunteers giving their time while I was on the sideline, but this was just too much for me. Simple drill, when you hit halfcourt to play defense, your hands go up immediately...and stay up! Also show them the differences of having an offensive player pass with passing lanes wide open Vs. hands/arms blocking the passing lanes.

3) Be vocal! Too many times at this level I saw kids from all teams getting the ball stolen from behind. Just gotta get the kids to yell "Watch your back!", communicate. Talk on the court. They were just too silent out there. Maybe I was just a talker on the court but this again seems like something that can be really taught over the course of a season and show big dividends.

4) GET BACK! In a league with no pressing, there's no reason to stand around and look at the ball whether you are on offense or defense. Many times the games broke down to fastbreak layup drills and I want my team to win on both sides. Seems like I could come up with a simple drill where someone shoots, the other team rebounds, and all the players immediately get back on defense.




Okay, please feel free to comment on any of my above ideas. Sorry for the way long post folks but I've been writing all these down for a couple weeks now and have had some problems signing up here to share. I'd also love to hear opinions of teaching a sagging man defense to 8 year olds. Are the rotations too much? I know it took me a good year or two to get good at help defense and helping the helper (which I wouldn't expect any 8 year old to understand helping the helper, so I wouldn't bother with that right away).

So thanks again for this great board and I look forward to talking to yall.

This is my first post on this board and I want to first say THANKS to this site for everything, I've been getting the newsletter and love it, I've purchased Bob Bigelow's 3 DVD set from here and watched it and was amazed at how exciting it was to me. I only skimmed through it but plan on watching it many times between now and November to really learn the drills.

About me, I was a basketball player my whole life but it took until high school for me to get a coach that really knew how to teach the fundamentals. In the three years I improved immensely. It didn't take long for me to realize that standing in place dribbling between your legs wasn't productive. Wish somebody would've told me that earlier.

Anyway, my 8 year old nephew had his first year of basketball this year and it kinda reignited my love for the game. I was also somewhat disappointed with what I saw at the practices I attended. One practice was spent with the 9-10 players in line while one kid gets the ball and plays one on one against the coach. Now they were putting in the time so I told myself I couldn't and wouldn't be critical, but I wanted to kinda point out the obvious - "If you're gonna do this drill, why not just let the kids play one on one against each other?"

Anyway, I'll be coaching next year and was told November 1st is the signup date. I skimmed through my calendar to really get an idea of how long away that is and to put it plainly it sucks! I'm ready to get out there tomorrow!



G -

I need to break this down a little bit so I don't get lost in the message.... so, first of all, welcome to the world of Youth coaching. Coaching was the best thing that ever happened to me.

The Bigleow tapes are a great way of starting - he takes you to the world of little kids, what they can and cannot do.

If you played the game you will recognize the KISS method... especially for this age group.... and FUN is the #1 Goal..... forget the Ws and Ls..... teaching them a little about the game right now is important... teach some fundamentals and let them play.

First thing.... get ALL the kids involved ...... playing 1 on 1 vs the coach is not coaching.. thats the fastest way of losing them, they will be bored and lose focus... find some drills that will keep everyone kid moving as much as possible. Be patient with them and have a good plan.... daily and for the season.

As for HUSTLE POINTS - TAPING - HOMEWORK and BASKETBALLS.

When you coach you use anything that works with that particular team, they are all different as are all the kids, what motivates one might not work with another.... so ANYTHING you can do to get the kids to HUSTLE.. is great, and if you make a game out of it... competitively, they should enjoy it... as long as its FUN.

TAPING, thats on you, IF you feel you have the time and energy to do that... go for it.. Highlites are great as long as it doesn't turn into a popcorn festival... make it short...... trust me on this... the longer the tape the easier it is to lose the kids... HS kids will lose focus quickly so think about the 8-9 year olds. Pick out 2 good things and sandwich something that you need to work on between the two...... always end with a good one.... you can explain that WE are going to work on X today... X being the thing they didn't do well..... I did that in all of my practices after a game.
Giving them tapes after the season... great idea.... individual and team.

HOMEWORK..... we talked about visulizing with our players all the time.. not sure they ever did it.. so I wonder about the younger kids... IF you can SELL them on doing that... wouldn't hurt to try.... but you don't want to make this a JOB .... rememeber - FUN being the #1 GOAL here.

Giving out BASKETBALLS.... a no brainer - gives them an incentive to do some work on their own.

G - Do me a favor, when you get some ideas/questions, post them... don't wait until you have a novel LOL

OK, as for these points....
1- Head on a swivel..... seeing man and ball, we called this PISTOLS... point your pistols ( index fingers ) at your man and the ball - great teaching point
2- Hands up on D... not sure what you mean by that... you ARE going to teach m2m fundamentals right? D on the ball we taught mirroring the ball with one hand and the other in a passing lane. Teach a good defensive stance and proper footwork, the hands should follow suit.
3- Vocal, seems simple, they talk all the time right.. except when you want them to..
have them talk during every drill and scrimmage, hopefully that will transfer.
4-Transition.... impressing upon them the need to get to the paint quickly and find their man ASAP ... but NEVER leave the ball.

Now, remember, these are young kids and they are only going to retain so much... just because of their age.... pick out three things that you want your team to be good at and then teach them. IF you try to be good at everything... you will be good at nothing.... especially at this age.


If this was me, I would start with passing, catching and dribbling.... teach good defensive fundamentals, give them something simple on offense, pass and cut maybe.... and you can add things as the year progresses depending upon your team...... and again.... REMEMBER... FUN is #1 GOAL.

Good luck and have fun with them.

Having just finished my fourth year of coaching (2 years with 3rd & 4th graders and 2 years with 5th & 6th graders) I can tell you how much fun it is and how rewarding it can be.

I don't know about the videotaping. I guess it would depend on how much practice time you have each week. I think the more the kids have a ball in their hands doing stuff the more productive practice will be.

My first two years were as an assistant to the head coach so I didn't really do much with what we went over in practice. I was basically there to help instruct the kids with what the coach thought we needed to work on. Both years (it was a different head coach each year) they tried to focus on running plays. Two offensive plays, one sideline out of bounds play and one under the basket out of bounds play. Too much, too soon for these kids. We spent most of the practice getting the kids into position and learning the play and not nearly enough time on the fundamentals. We were 2-6 the first year, and 0-8 the second year and getting blown out in most games. It was clearly evident to me that our kids were not doing well because we weren't practicing the basics.

So, like you, I decided I wanted to take the reins and give head coaching a try. Last year we focused on fundamentals and ran one basic play (low block player setting a screen at the top of the key for the ball handler) and we went 2-6 but were in all of the games except one.

This year I went "all in" with the motion offense concept preached on this site. No scripted plays, just some general concepts of pass, cut, screen and keeping proper spacing for the 5 Out Motion Offense. We just finished and we went 6-2. We lost to the same team twice, once in the first game of the season, 28-8. We came back and lost to the 26-22 in the second to last game of the year. We averaged over 30 pts. in the other games and even had one game where we scored 56 pts.

As I watched each game I noticed why I thought we were winning and more importantly why we were basically doing every aspect of youth basketball better than the other teams, with the exception of the team we lost against. The other teams were trying to run set plays, one team had at least 5 different plays, each of them in a different set even. The kids lined up...but after that none of them were really sure what to do next and the everything stalled until the ball was stolen, dribbled off a foot out of bounds or a wild shot thrown up.

My advice to you, and it sounds like you are thinking along the same line as I am...practice fundamentals...

Dribbling under control with head up

Dribbling with each hand

Jump stop and pivots

Setting good, solid, stationary picks and making it the dribbler's repsonsibility to use that pick effectively by driving by shoulder to shoulder to leave as little room as possible for the defender to squeeze by as well

Boxing out - This was the main reason we lost the first game as the other team scored at least 12 pts. on little put backs off of offensive rebounds...after that game we dominated the boards.

Staying between your man and the basket (we have to play m2m defense and be within an arm's reach of your guy at all times unless you are helping out on a pick) and going straight up with the hands once the opposing player picks up his dribble

Our passing and ball movement got so much better once our guys were able to handle the ball better and were able to get some space to pass and or shoot.

Three moments stand out this year...

1.) Having the coach and the parents from the team who beat us twice (and blew every team out while going undefeated) tell us how much better we had gotten since that first game and how that was the first time all year they had gotten to play in tight game.

2.) Having a referee come over during halftime and say how he loves our pick and roll game and how everyone of our players seems to know what they are doing.

3.) Having the guy in charge of the league tell me how fun it is to watch every kid on my team involved.


Item three is where I think I do a better job than most coaches, and it comes down to not really caring about the wins and losses as those should come if you are focusing on the basics. Every quarter I let a different kid bring the ball up the floor so they have the chance to start the offense and really get involved. I know that means that I am sacrificing some scoring opportunities when the one guy we have on our team who doesn't really want to be there is bringing the ball up. But seeing him grow as a player and getting the chance to be "the man" is worth more to me than having the same guys I know can handle to ball and shoot well bring it up every single time.

It really is all about fundamentals. If kids can't dribble, pass, catch, run, pivot etc. then every "advanced" concept you spend time on is lost time. The only time we ever mentioned or worked on something more advanced was during the last practice we worked on posting up your defender near the lane and doing a drop step move. We only did that to keep them growing and to introduce them to some terms and moves that they will be learning next year when they get into middle school and into the school system.

Hope that helps, I know I kind of rambled and may not have addressed all your points.

Thanks for the responses guys.

I love the idea of having a different player take the ball up court each quarter. I'll definitely be using that. That also eliminates the problem I have seen where sometimes no one knows who is taking it up court. It's funny how the stuff that comes naturally at older ages can cause such confusion at that age. I couldn't help but laugh when my nephew tried taking it out of bounds. He just kinda...stared...at...the....guy...he...was.....going....to....pass....it....to....


I do think that the "visualizing homework" idea I talked about would be better if I just encouraged the kids to do it after each practice.

And thanks for the reminder about picking three main things to teach. I read that somewhere on this board and will need to narrow it down. Heck, my mind goes a hundred miles an hour with all the ideas I can teach. I'm sure it will be just as much a learning experience with me as it is with them, if not more.


I know the focus should be on having them play basketball, but I saw a lot of kids with really slow reactions. What do yall think about reaction balls at this age? And maybe using speed/agility ladders as a warmup instead of running a couple laps? Should "physical training" (for lack of better term) be addressed? These are 8 and 9 year olds so it might be a bit much, though I don't plan on being a drill sergeant about it.

And I hope yall can bare with me through the offseason, I like to brainstorm a lot and I can type 100 words a minute so I'll probably come up with random ideas that never get put into place.

I do think I'll drop the video taping, I just don't see where we'd have the time to go over it. If the kids can't pivot and dribble correctly, no point in showing them the tape. I just wish the game could slow down for 'em because I think that's what hurts them. I might still have the games taped to give to the parents after the season.

Also, Lance, I meant to ask this. I'd love to have the kids rebounding at this age but I once read not to focus too much time on boxing out for 8/9 year olds. It was basically the thought that there are more important fundamentals to be taught at this age. I didn't agree but I don't have any experience to say either way.

I guess you could fit boxing out into some drills? Instead of a basic foul shooting drill where each person shoots 2-5 shots and rotates, have the bottom 4 players focus on boxing out to get the rebound instead of standing there and letting it bounce to 'em. Basically, simulate a real game foul shot situation. This could also be a time to coach away from the ball while the kids shoot, and it keeps the kids' focus.

Maybe I'll try to add that to the simple foul shot practice. Lord knows the kids need to learn to box out when the other team is getting 6, 7, 8 rebounds in a row against them.

I also read that comment about rebounding at certain levels and we actually didn't spend a ton of time on it.

We basically challenged the kids to be more aggressive and go after the ball as you have as much right to it as the other team once a shot is taken. Tell them if you want the ball more often and you want to the chance to score more...get an offensive rebound and go right back up with it.

I think the name of the drill is "Anything Goes"...three players are in the lane, the coach shoots and whoever rebounds becomes the offensive player and the other two are on defense. We used that once or twice to get them to rebound and try and go right back up to try and get the easy basket and to also learn how to put up a shot with contact. Other than that we would just keep telling them to box out and they did a darn good job at it.

Our main concern and why we did focus on a boxing out drill is we saw how badly beaten our kids were in rebounding in that first game. No lies here, the other team was getting three and four offensive boards every time down the floor. With a running clock that severely limited how many times our kids had a chance to be on the offensive side of things.

Plus, the team I coached were 10 / 11 year olds, so maybe that makes a difference...I don't know. I just know the limited amount of time we spent on it seemed to help.

One other thing I would mention is don't become glued to your practice plan.

I am a planner and I had the first five practices all set up and ready to go once I got the roster and practice schedule...

Week 1 we were going to do this
Week 2 we were going to do this
Week 3 this is what we were going to work on

I quickly had to scratch my grand practice schemes. It may take two to three practices of just dribbling and passing before they are ready to move on. You've got to be able to adjust and focus on what the kids need to work on.

I wouldn't worry too much about physical training here... how bad of shape can they be in at that age..... and here comes the important part..... utilizing your practice time wisely.

A well planned out practice will get them into condition....the longer I coached the more I realized that time is very important... so dont waste any. We didn't even schedule three.... 4-5 minute water breaks... add that time up. We allowed the kids to get a drink when they weren't involved in a drill or scrimmage... they couldn;t leave the floor if one of the coaches were talking.

Teaching and learning the game is an experience for players and coaches alike.... you will learn more every day you set foot on the floor.... have some fun yourself while you teach these young kids the game.