I have coached one of my sons the previous two seasons, and he never had a problem with his confidence.

This year he is currently a 6th grader and made the JV basketball team. His team played two preseason tournaments and showed promise. His level of play was where I expected it to be. Now we hit the regular season and he has completely lost confidence in his play.

I know what some of the problems are--and I'm hoping someone can give me some ideas on how to fix them.

1) He plays guard/forward and has always been known for trying to dribble/drive. And has usually been pretty successful at scoring or creating opportunities for other teammates. His assistant coach this year seems to think he shouldn't drive at all. I've already talked to the head coach about the asst. coach undermining what the head coach is teaching.

2) He almost seems afraid to shoot the ball. And his mechanics have changed suddenly. He is almost exclusively looking to pass that ball.

3) On the rare occassions that he does decide to drive, he is getting hammered going in for layups and not having the fouls called. I understand that CYO JV games don't have the best refs--but this year is by far the worst I have ever seen. I'm beginning to be concerned about the boys safety with the way some teams play, and the refs encouraging it by not calling fouls.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Tough situation Coach,

As for #1 - Have your son talk to the HEAD coach about his play and what HE wants him to do. He has to please the HEAD guy and NOT the assistant.. the assistant is out of line. THEN the head coach needs to talk to the assistant about what he wants done.

2- What about his mechanics are different now? Do you think that part of it might be him playing up another level now? Every year you move up, the kids get bigger, stronger and faster .... therefore it becomes a little harder to be successful unless you improve as much if not more than the rest do. IF he is a good shooter then he should shoot the ball... again, this is up to the head coach to tell him what is his shot and what isn't..... and IF he should be shooting more.

3- Regarding the refs.... there isn't much you can do about that ..... again, this is the head coaches territory... If HE is unhappy he needs to talk to the administrator of the league and the assignment chairman. At that level they could be blowing a whistle every time down the floor... and you would agree you don't want that. BUT, the refs need to protect the kids if they are getting hit in the air... that is their responsibility.

What did the head coach say to you when you had your conversation with him?

Coach Sar,

Thanks for the reply. I'm glad to see I was thinking along the same lines.

The head coach has told me that he will be talking to the Assistant. Hopefully that talk will work.

The best way to describe his change in shooting mechanics is that he suddenly started almost pushing the ball from his chest instead of having the ball higher with a "flick of the wrist" type shooting motion. It isn't a strength issue, because he is one of the stronger/bigger boys on the team. My guess is he developed some bad habits over the summer and just needs to get rid of them.

Doug,

Just make sure that his elbow is above his eye (or at least same height) that should keep him from pusing it. Have him do some form shooting for awhile.. maybe off a wall so he wont worry about making the shot.