I'm coaching my sons 2nd grade team. The thing I have noticed that is different from the good kids and average kid is there reaction time. I have one kid that so far ahead of all the other kids. It's not that he is fiscally better than the other kids he is on the ball matter where it's at. He is the first to steal rebound and shoot. is there any drill I can do to help them

I think its just the growing up process... they are young and some will pick up things faster than others.

Here is something that I found even with older kids..... .. when they are unsure about what they are doing they will have slower feet.

Be patient, teach them some fundamentals and let them have fun.

What you're seeing is very common. It's very common to have certain players that just seem to mentally be ahead of the rest.

There are lots of factors when it comes to mental reaction time on the court. I'm not sure there are drills for that. You can do things when it come to developer a quicker shot release and what not. But with 2nd graders they are no where near ready for that.

Sometimes kids with older siblings have quicker reaction time because they are used to watching their sibling and understand things better. Some kids are just more interested in the sport and focused more on understanding. Some kids just develop that part of their brain earlier than others. Some kids listen better. And so on.

Like Coach Sar said, they just need experience and time to grow.

Another thing I have noticed is kids at this age take there position to a extreme. I help out on my sons soccer team also, my town has coaching shortage. If you tell a kid to cover a area they will not leave the area. In basketball if I tell a kid to play wing they will not leave that area to get rebounds or loose balls. In soccer same thing if you tell a kid to be a fullback they will not leave that area for nothing. I Love drills I do a lot of 1v1 drills, dribbling, passing and make sure every kid gets to touch the ball the same amount of times. The parents want to win and it can get very stressful dealing with that.

Lol. I have the opposite problem with soccer. I coach my sons soccer team too... U8 at the moment. 5v5, no goalie

They do not stay in their positions! The ball is like a magnet and they are constantly going into a teammates space, etc. It is just too tempting for these boys and they have trouble controlling themselves.

Maybe it's how I coach them. Similar to how I coach basketball, they each have a ball almost 90% of the practice. Constantly dribbling with different parts of the foot, passing, and working on ball skills.

We talk about formation a few times (2-1-2) and talk about spacing. But not much. Mostly skill and fun. And I don't worry too much about formation and the only reason I mention it to them is so they keep spacing and open up passing lanes. Mostly I'm trying to get them to keep spacing and be creative.

I have found girls stay in formation better (they listen better). Boys have trouble controlling themselves and staying in their area.

Interesting how we have opposite problems. :)

Anyway, soccer and basketball are so similar I have learned a lot by coaching both. Never played soccer but I learning to enjoy the sport and apply what I learn to basketball.

Reaction time and court sense are definitely skills that can be learned. However, as Coach Sar and Jeff mentioned, a lot depends on the individual player and their age. Some kids are just naturally more coordinated or alert. Even if you had the coolest drills on the planet, some of the kids might not get it until they mature both physically and mentally.

When dealing with younger kids, I find it's best to put the novocaine in before I drill. Mixing it up with fun game-like drills that might not even involve a basketball, but teach the skill I'm trying to get across at the time. Some kids seem to respond to rules and structure, others seem to do what Jeff's experiencing.

One other thing that helped me at the younger levels was "picking my poison" and emphasizing only one or two things. I found that throwing out too many things at once just wasn't feasible, so I reduced my expectations and the kids were really good at one or two skills. At the real young levels I was big on passing on offense and staying with your man on defense. As they started to get those down, I added another skill and so on.

Best solution here is to make sure the parents clearly understand your coaching philosophy and goals. If we're talking 2nd grade rec ball, the goal should not be to win. If you're feeling pressure to win at this level, you run the risk of not having fun as a coach. It's just a recipe for funk when you mix expectations of winning with rec ball and young kids who have different skill levels.