Got a question and my own 12 year old son is part of the reason for asking it; can toughness be taught or do you just have it or you don't? I have for a few years now tried to get kids that weren't "naturally" tough to be more "assertive" and that can have the same effect as toughness. While there's some truth to that, IMO it still falls a little short. My kid tries hard at times but it is his lack of, or perhaps his unwillingness, to be tougher out on the court does hold his progression back. One area where this really shows up (and it really frustrates him also) is during tie-ups and while dribbling around traffic - at times it appears a tough-minded 7 year old can take the ball from him. I strive to always remain positive as I don't want to make him feel worse but it bothers me, bothers him and if he wants to keep playing against better and better competition (currently 6th Grade AAU) it is only going to get harder . I'm sure others have experienced this and there are others on my team that are very timid when it comes to being aggressive, I would really appreciate any input. Just getting older will help as he's usually one of the younger players and he still doesn't have the strength or coordination of some of the better players his age.Maybe see if he'd be interested in playing lacrosse or football. I don't have the answers that's for sure..

Thanks for your time..

Every kid matures at a different age - I have seen some of the smaller 7th grade kids being as tough as nails whille the big kids are soft. It's just their make up / personality. I had some of my high school kids that were that way.... really nice kids and I hated to change their personality.... but if they are going to make it, they will have to toughen up.

Pick out 1 or 2 things in particular and every time he does that, make sure you tell him GREAT JOB Johnny. Every kid likes to hear his name mentioned.

You say that 7 year olds can take the ball away from him ...... why don't you try to play a game of keep away with him.
Pick out an area and he has to dribble the ball and keep you away from it, arm bar etc. Then you take the ball and do the same, let him be successful by taking the ball away from you some time... same when he has the ball. Nothing breeds success like success.

Hope this helps.

Been through this one. Coach Sar is correct, the aggressiveness is something that seems to be different with each kid. Too many factors to list here on why one kid seems born with it and another one is too polite on the court. It can get tricky like Coach Sar mentioned, you feel bad with some of the younger players as it seems to go against their very nature. As you move up the ladder though, you really have to get after it on the court as a player or you won't play.

For my son and the kids I coached, I watched a progression as the competition became harder. When we hit the 7th-9th grade range, we played at the highest competitive level or up one level if we could. You had no choice but to become more aggressive or you were crushed. We definitely worked on that factor in every practice with blocking pads and allowing the kids to "play". Our motto: expect contact. You have to be patient and celebrate it when you see it on the court. I always kept safety at the forefront as I didn't want to get carried away and go all Mike Rice on the players.

There are definitely drills that will help you toughen up the kids. I found a discussion we had a few months back on this topic here: http://tinyurl.com/ltjzkvz

This is probably one of the best articles I've read on toughness. I hand it out at the beginning of every season:
http://www.mdbball.com/Documents/ToughnessbyJayBilas.pdf

Toughness can definitely be taught. Some kids have it naturally, some have to "acquire the taste". I have a 4th grade girls travel team. We're heading into our final weekend of tournament play and I would easily consider this the toughest, strongest team I've ever coached in any sport (youth football, basketball, baseball). We have done a lot of drills where contact is expected to be played through. We've brought in older kids (boys and girls) to scrimmage against us, we've done a ton of full court drills designed to wear the girls out and find their breaking point so they can learn to push beyond it.

Be patient about it because it won't happen overnight.

My senior year in high school I was 6'6" and went to a small prep school in Oregon. I was by far the tallest kid on the team. My problem is that I was a 1 or 2 trapped in a 5 body. I was more like a teddy bear then a lion. I hated playing down low, I hated physical contact.

My favorite shot was from free throw line extended on either side. Unbeknownst to me at the time, my coach would have a different player each pre game warmup try to rough me up a bit to get me to be more aggressive.

I honestly don't know if it worked or not, I would never do that as a coach, but this was a different time (late 80s).

Where I coach now, toughness is so in grained in the culture that, at times, I wish they wouldn't be so "wooden" with their toughness. At times, I have to dial it back a bit which is a different issue.

Can it be taught? I think you can provide some guidance on being tougher - I sure learned a lot from my drill seargent in the infantry :)

I think I got my teams tougher by NOT using a whistle,,,,, olay until I said stop. We ran some charge drillls an d loose ball drills. I think IF you come across as being tough, they will follow. They talk about 50-50 balls today,,,,, get 50% of all loose balls.... I wanted 75%... and I wanted us to take a charge everytime someone drove the lane.

There is a Sampson drill somewhere on this siite...... its great.

I would think at 6 - 6 they would think you were tough.

As the sophomore coach we scimmaged the varsity a few times.... the varsity coach asked me IF we always played that way ..... of course. I got that attitude from playing in a catholic league and I learned that from those coaches.