I coach a Jr. Boys team in a county wide league where up until you are in seventh grade you can still play in the county league and play school ball. I have a player starting his fourth year with me and his final year in our dividion. I have had this kid since my first year coaching, I made him my point guard and he progressed so much the next year his school team started him at point. His second year he was just as good as the first, but his third year with me, he got cut from the school team and i slowly watched his love for the game slip away as our year went on. His shot got worse and he had more turnovers than ever before. He didnt even tryout for the school team this year but he says he wants to come play for me in the county league. Its not his skill that worries me about him coming back its his love for the game i would rather him not play than to play and be miserable. How do I show him he is just as good as he was before and restore the love for the game back?

Since he's been with you for 3 years, I'm guessing you know this player fairly well. You would be the best judge as to what might be causing his performance to deteriorate. I've watched players on my team (over the past few years) go through something similar to what you described, my son included. Sometimes it’s a confidence issue and other times they just haven’t been practicing on their own.

In my son's case, it turned out his confidence was low, so I had him take a few private lessons and the coach really did a nice job of building his confidence back up. Along with that, the coach told him that he needed to practice 4 times a week for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour. He gave my son drills to work on his weak hand, mini games that worked on fundamentals, and several shooting drills. The motivation came when he went back for another lesson and the coach could tell he’d been practicing. It snowballed from there as parents would make comments after games about how he’d improved. I think that was a turning point as my son realized the harder he worked on his own, the more it paid off in games.

One thing I know for sure at this age level, the kids that practice on their own seem to excel over those that don’t. The tough part is helping them get that motivation on their own. I have to say that it was my son who wanted to do the lessons, if he decided against it; I wasn't going to force him.

Maybe you could give this kid “homework” like dribbling two balls with a few variations (high, low, walking, etc.) for 10 min every day. Then heap on the encouragement whenever you see him doing something right or improving. Statements like, “I can tell you've really been working hard on your own, it shows”, go a long way.

Maybe this report will give you a few ideas that will help:
https://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/mental/motivate-players.html

Seems like getting cut from his 8th grade team hurt his self esteem a lot. Hard to figure out how you go from being starting point guard to not making the team. ???

How about making the game fun for him and give him a lot of encouragement? Sometimes all it takes is a couple of nice words. I had one father thank me for talking to his son and encouraging him.... he told me the high school coach that coached his 7th grade AAU team never said anything to him... and this kid is a player.

Show him that you care and go back to teaching him skills and the game. Talk to him about his goals for basketball and life.... Let him play with you since he wants too!! It sounds ike you have a good relationship with him, I'm sure that you can guide him back to his own self.

Thank yall very much, I really appreciate all the advice. It shed alot of light on how to help all the players that seem to fall out of love with the game.

Confidence is definitely a mood booster. Hopefully your player can get the extra help he needs to get his best game back. Or has he truly lost the love of the game and needs to move on?