Worried about Funamentals

My son has been playing basketball for a year now. He is 7 years old. His coach when he was 6 did not teach his team much. My son just finished his 3rd season with a new coach, and although they were undefeated this season, I am worried he is not being taught the fundamentals. The coach has not worked much on dribbling, lay ups, pivoting, or passing. Are my expectations too high? I know he is 7 but I want him to learn these key fundamentals. I feel like my son is not as confident in his game because he is lacking knowledge. I try to teach him at home but I think it confuses him since the coach doesn't reinforce it. I am not sure what to do, and yes I have addressed my concerns with the coach. Any advice?

Val -

Check this out and you might want to invest in his DVD... I have seen it (thanks to Jeff & Joe) and I think that Bob Bigelow has the right idea. First of all, your son is 7, make sure that he is having fun. One of the problems could be that the coach is a volunteer and he is probably doing the best that he can do... ( I don't know ) I also don't know how many practices he has and how long they practice and that has a lot to do with what and how he can teach things.

IF I were you, I would just try to teach the basics, passing/catching, dribbling, pivots a little bit....and some footwork so he can play m2m defense. Shooting is tough for 7 year olds, especially IF they are using a big ball on 10 foot baskets.... IF you want to know what its like, try shooting a medicine ball on a 15 foot baslet... heck, even on the 10 footer.... so I wouldn't worry too much about that right now, unless your son is pretty strong, he will have a hard time shooting the ball correctly.

I know, I ran shooting camps for all ages at our high school..... and when some younger kids started coming to the camp, the best I could do was to use girls balls for them, it helped a lot. I worked on form and tried to convince them to shoot close to the basket.. but where were not around they are HEAVING up threes LOL

The most important thing is that he HAVE FUN and develop a LOVE for the game. I hope this helps, make sure you watch the video and IF you can, invest in the DVD.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy6LTXtz-60

Thank you so much for that info, will definitely watch! He is definitely having fun, he loves the game. I just didn't know if I was overdoing it with the technical aspect. You are right, he is a volunteer so maybe that is the problem. Honestly they only have 1 practice a week for about an hour and a half. Should I maybe be doing more practice with him at home during the week? So I see you said to use a girl's ball, I honestly didn't even know there was a difference. They definitely are using 10 foot hoops, and he needs improvement, so I think maybe getting him a smaller ball will be better. I appreciate all your advice!!

Here are a few links for you.
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/fitness/4-sports-for-youth.html
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/could-3-on-3-basketball-be-the-best-for-youth-players/

Keep in mind that Steve Nash didn't start playing basketball until he was 13. But he played lots of different sports at a young age and developed great body control, foot coordination, hand eye coordination, etc, etc. So once he picked up a ball he was able to work hard and eventually become the most fundamentally skilled player in the nba.
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/when-did-steve-nash-start-playing-basketball/

Glad to help you Val -

An hour and a half doesn't give you much time to work on everything... maybe you could volunteer to help him out, just remember, he is the head coach, do what he asks you to do.

When you work with your son, don't overdo it... work on a couple of things and then play horse or something like that... he's 7, let him win sometimes. LOL

Coach Sar wrote:... maybe you could volunteer to help him out, just remember, he is the head coach, do what he asks you to do.

Great idea!

When you work with your son, don't overdo it... work on a couple of things and then play horse or something like that... he's 7, let him win sometimes. LOL

Yep. At age 7, you can sneak in those fundamentals as you play games together. My 8th grade son (plays travel ball) still enjoys playing HORSE with me. The only catch? I make it a swish only game (or left handed shots only, etc.). Little tricks like that can help with fundamentals, but still keep it fun.

One piece of advice coming from someone a bit further down the road, have your son work on his weak hand. If he can dribble, pass and eventually shoot with his weak hand, he'll be light years a head of other kids his age.

Two ball dribbling drills are challenging and will help him tremendously as he gets older.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAQqrOkqtXU

Another one is holding your fingers up as your son dribbles and he has to shout out how many. It keeps his head up (very important fundamental for down the road) while dribbling. You can add movement forward and backward. Something simple like that for a few minutes in the driveway can help his game.

Best of luck!

That reminds me... dribble knock out is my favorite game to play with my kids at home (and of course "HORSE").

It's the same as the normal knockout game, except you start at the baseline, dribble around an object (chair, garbage can, cone), dribble in and shoot. If the person behind you makes it, you're out. I play with my son and daughter. They love it.

The only difference is I give them rules to follow...

- dribble with left hand only
- dribble with right hand only
- set up more chairs and make them weave or zig zag... left only, right only, cross overs, behind back, spin.
- etc

You can set up almost any dribble challenge you want before that shot is taken. To them it's just a game and they have no idea they are actually practicing skills and getting better.

It you were wanting to work just on ball handling, what 3-5 drills would you use for kids age 7-10 with little to no playing experience?

I would pick a few fun drills like dribble knock out, cone tip over drill, dribble tag. Then add something:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/drills/multi-purpose-ball-handling.html

It's hard to pick drills because I don't think that's the best way to think about it. It's better to first decide and understand what you're trying to accomplish. What is the goal/purpose? Once you have some intentions in mind then you can pick good drills or create your own drills that will get the job done based on your number of players, skill level, etc.

With ball handling, I try to help players with the 5 things listed in the article:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/fundamentals/everything-good-ball-handler.html

I might also add clarify that I'd be working on a good change of direction move (cross over, through legs, behind back) that allows a player to quickly change directions.

I always keep those things in mind in the article and the design new drills or pick from thousands of different drills to accomplish what we want. I like to mix things up and not be just stuck with a few drills.

Great points Jeff -

I would just add this.... a move tha I think is one of the best in the game.... A HESISTATION CROSSOVER...

Hesistation dribble, crossover and explode to the rim. JMO

All the other moves are important also.... try to get your players to be fundamentally sound. Good luck.

I definitely affirm dribble tag that Jeff mentioned. It teaches them to change direction, change speed, keep their heads up, all the while trying to control their dribble. And they get some conditioning in. The kids love and I still use it with my 12 year olds (player "it" also must dribble). You can add a few wrinkles like limiting to using their weak hand or use a "freeze" version where if they are tagged they have stand in place pounding their dribble until the coach touches them and "frees" them.