Hi, I am Charles and this is my 1st year coaching Biddy ball. 11/12/2010 was my fisrt night coaching and i felt i did not get enough done in an hour. I would love some kind of info on how to instill the basics. My team age group is 4 & under. Anything will be a great help. Thanks in advance!

Coach Strick

4 years old? Wow, talk about a tough age group. First of all, make sure they are having FUN..... then teach them how to pass and catch the ball - a little dribbling etc...... shooting will be tough for them so I'm not sure I would worry about form... smaller ball? Lower basket? Give them some idea as to how to play m2m defense and pass and cut offense.... IF You can do that ... you are a miracle worker. Good luck.

Keep this as simple as you possibly can.....

With 4 year olds, your biggest concern should be the after-practice snack.

I think 8 & 9 year olds are almost too young for basketball.

These kids need to be playing games, learning just basic coordination and having fun.

About the only thing you can do at this age is dribble around and do some fun drills where they throw the ball back and forth to each other.

Kids of this age have very limited physical and mental development. Their brains aren't wired yet to listen, understand space and depth, comprehend or remember the rules, etc, etc. They aren't physically big or strong enough to shoot or make passes more than a few feet away.

Basketball is a really tough sport that requires strength, coordination, and skill like almost no other sport. When you think about it, even the most simple skill of a lay up requires the coordination of so many things it's no wonder kids have trouble with basketball when they are young. A lay up requires you to run (some kids can't even do that well yet), dribble, jump off the proper foot, bring the ball up, and shooting the ball (which require coordination of your legs, arms, and everything at once).

This is why the best basketball players in the world stunk when they were in high school (Michael Jordan and Bill Russell). They didn't become good until puberty fully kicked in and they were able to practice their skills after puberty. Basketball is a hard sport.

I love basketball more than any sport or activity than I can think of. I think it's awesome that so many kids, parents, and coaches want to get into the game. But I believe kids are better off playing soccer, swimming, gymnastics, martial arts, and unstructured activities (like tag, climbing trees, etc, etc) when they are young.

My daughter will be 6 soon, she does a lot of physical things and is very athletic for her age (she is just as fast and almost as strong as most of the boys). But I have no plans to put her in basketball for several years. We play catch footballs, etc, but she doesn't touch a basketball unless she takes it out of my bag or grabs the nerf ball to shoot. And this is coming from one of the biggest basketball nuts that you'll ever meet.

I don't want to discourage you from what you're doing. I just wanted to put perspective on things so you can incorporate good activities for your team. Play lots of tag games (with and without the ball), have fun, keep them very active and moving.