help with one of my travel players

payne.kj · **Posts:** 19

Hi,
Coaching a 3rd grade travel team. I am looking for help with one of my players. He's the tallest guy on my team. He's a great kid, he plays hard, he's pretty skilled for his age. We had our first games yesterday and I noticed something I hadn't before (or at least not as much). He basically got beat by everybody one on one. He just can't move his feet, whether shuffling, push/step or even running. He's just got slow legs basically. He also is just growing into his body,if that makes sense. I've noticed it in practice, but more of our drills so far have been pieces of our offense and then one on one drills giving the offense or defense an advantage so it never really stuck out as much as yesterday. He was guarding the other team's tallest guys, but they all were much more athletic and always seemed to have the ball in their hand. And the smaller players were just too fast for him to keep up with.

Are there any specific things I can have him (or the whole team in general) that will help be able to most his feet faster, react quicker, and move backwards faster? I know he noticed it himself during the games I want to help him and his confidence. Thanks for your help.

JeffHaefner · **Posts:** 1280

Have him go out for soccer and other sports in the off season that help him develop foot coordination and athleticism. Play some variation of 1v1 full, 3/4, or half court in every single practice.

This is what we suggest to all our players.

There are other things you can do with an athletic trainer... but when it comes to the simple stuff... the two suggestions above are best things you can do.

You can also practice shuffle, shuffle to sprint, sprint to shuffle, etc drills... so he gets used to the footwork patterns needed to guard the ball. Lane side drill doesn't hurt either.

payne.kj · **Posts:** 19

Thanks. He does play soccer already. I'll try some of those suggestions.

The hard part if that I don't want to pigeonhole and kid into a position, especially in 3rd grade, and I won't do that. But its hard to not do that with him because he was at such a disadvantage these first games.