Help With Bored 4th Graders

Hi, guys love your web site I get drills for my team all the time. But this year is a little challenge. My 4th grade girls know most of the things we do from last year, but some of the 3rd graders are 1st time players and I'm back to the basics. It's just myself and 1 other coach with 24 girls. I'm spending so much time teaching the 3rd graders that I feel the older girls are bored. Can you guys help me at all?

Thanks Mark

Wow! 24 girls? On one team? Seems like a lot.

One suggestion is to have a scrimmage with no dribbling allowed. This should challenge your girls and improve their skills.

-rob

There's no such thing as "too much time teaching." Repetition is the way to improvement. I work on the same things with NBA players that I do with 13 year olds. true, it is at a different level of intensity and competence, but still the same things. In addition, I don't think kids of this age should scrimmage at all. Let them find games somewhere else. trying to find someone to teach them is not easy.

Try turning your teaching around. I believe in the "big picture" and overload. When I teach, it makes no difference whether they have ever dribbled before, they are going to dribble with 2 balls. Over time, eventually they are able to do it. Try teaching your 3rd graders the same thing you are teaching the 4th graders. They will be slow, they'll make mistakes, they'll get frustrated but if they keep at it, they will pick it up.

I would also stay away from trying to teach them offenses and defenses. Stick to skills and eventually they will learn how and when to use them.

This is the time to teach them fundamentals... over and over until it becomes second nature and at this age... this is no small feat. Be patient.
Like coach said... forget the offenses for sure... I would say teach some m2m principles but keep it very basic..... then let them play... have some fun.
We used to play this game in summer camps.... (if there were 5 players) game was to 6 and everybody has to score before anyone can score the 6th basket. Its fun for them and they work hard to get each other shots.
Use the KISS method with them
Ken

Coach McGannon here with Basketball Basics. Coach Kelbick below is 100% correct. There's no such thing as "overload". Repetition creates habits, the game is entirely based on players executing competitive habits under pressure. These repetitions will build these competitive habits.



This will not solve your problem, that of bored 4th graders, but it can help defray their boredom if they understand the importance of repetition and competitive habits.


A tip might be this, and it is based on your gym size. 24 is a TON of kids (we do not permit more than 12-16 in the gym at any one time, and side-by-side games are not permitted either). Is there a way to get 12 lines of 2, versus 8 lines of 3, and worse jet, 6 lines of 4? The reps are key, keeping the kids engaged is critical. Too much waitign around with more than 2 kids per line. I would suggest pretty much any drill that allows the kids to keep the ball in their hands without too much delay.

Jim McGannon

That's right, to avoid boredom keep kids moving and active. The key is to do your research for ideas (like you're doing now) and then document a practice plan.

If you plan everything out, you can keep everyone busy and keep lines moving. Kids just like moving, running, and staying active. There should be little or no standing in lines. You may need to find drills that 10 players can do one their own one the side, while you and the other coach work with the rest. It will take come creativity. Another option is to recruit parents or other coaches and set up stations. You rotate every 3-4 minutes. When we had really large groups this worked well for us.

If you don't already have it, this ebook has tons of ideas and drills to make things fun:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/p ... rills.html

Sounds more like a camp than a team to me. 24 kids with 2 coaches is impossible. You'll never get it done, IMO. Last year I had 1 coach with 10 kids. It was like herding cats. I think you need to break it up into smaller groups. I would think no more than 6 players per group. If you can't do that, maybe the 4th graders in one group for "advanced" drills and the 3rd graders in another goup for "basic" drills. Good luck, you have an impossible task.

Golfman, you're certainly right that it can difficult with too many kids. However, it can be done if you are prepared. I've coached 30 kids at once. However, most of the time I did have another coach there.

Here are some tips that should be helpful at this article. It's called "4 Great Ways To Keep Your Team's Attention" http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/b ... attention/

Also, try to keep the big picture in mind when working with kids. I'm with you that 4th graders can seem light years ahead of 3rd graders. However, in the basketball world, 3rd & 4th graders are still in the same category of "VERY POOR" basketball players. You should be using the same basic drills with 3rd graders and 4th graders. As Don mentioned above, he uses a lot of the same drills with NBA players as he does 12 & 13 year olds.

Competition will always keep attention. If you need a way to practice more reps have them think that the drill is to practice for the immediate competition. If you tell them for the game they are going to play in 3 days they wont care. They're too young to see that far ahead. Immediate gratification.

Coach,
Work on whatever you think is necessary - make the drills fun and competitive. Kids love to compete and IF they are having fun its a bonus. They will want to work for you IF they are having fun, they will want to get better.
Don't kid yourself, they will go home and talk about you (all of us) and IF they know you really care, there isn't anything they wouldn't do for you.
IF you can make the drills game like they will work harder and learn more.
While these are young kids, a short explanation of WHY might help you also. There are a lot of coaches out there that say. ... "Just do it because I said so." IF you explain the Whys... it will help... just keep the explanation on their level.

Ken

i would caution that too much competition at this age level can have a counter-effect. i have kids on my team who were, by the second practice, intimidated and had figured out they were far behind the other players. of course, when we do team competitions, we put teams of more experienced with less experienced players to keep things fair. but sometimes the competitive drills expose the weaker players - some will recognize that and it will spur them to work harder. but many others tend to be kind of introverted and passive by nature. i don't want their first experience with basketball to be miserable. so i encourage the team to have to do the same thing, in the same way. my hope is that the weaker players will have certain skills reinforced by watching the stronger players, and they all get the feeling of going through a drill as a team.

--Pat

flanders wrote:i would caution that too much competition at this age level can have a counter-effect. i have kids on my team who were, by the second practice, intimidated and had figured out they were far behind the other players. of course, when we do team competitions, we put teams of more experienced with less experienced players to keep things fair. but sometimes the competitive drills expose the weaker players - some will recognize that and it will spur them to work harder. but many others tend to be kind of introverted and passive by nature. i don't want their first experience with basketball to be miserable. so i encourage the team to have to do the same thing, in the same way. my hope is that the weaker players will have certain skills reinforced by watching the stronger players, and they all get the feeling of going through a drill as a team.

--Pat

Excellent point. Kids at this age don't like to consistently lose the "competition." It's more important to keep them busy. But with 24 kids, that is almost impossible. If your lucky enough to have a full gym, 6 hoops and 5 assistants, you can make it work (ok I live in utopia). Groups of 4 at each station should keep them going enough. But more than that per group and they are destined to have some "stand around" time which leads to boredom. Last year I had a 10 to 1 ratio -- did not work. No matter what I did, someone was at the end of the line goofing off. This year, I have 5 to 1. I expect it to be much better.