Is is just me?

Hello again coaches. A more senior coach than myself kind of took over practice a bit and ran drills. Now a set of these drills was about 30 minutes of dribbling. I found it frustrating to simply watch because to me it was too long and not particularly "realistic". By that I mean it seemed to have very little to do with anything that would take place in a game. Sure ball handling is an important skill and should be practiced but I prefer to do it in the context of game-like conditions like fast break with a defender on you, press break stuff, layup drills while negotiating cones (got that one from you guys, awesome drill!). Anyway what I noticed is that the two players that are the best ball handlers on my team (meaning they can break a press almost every time and minimize turnovers, they're more strong willed types) were probably the worst at all these dribbling drills which begs the question to me, "what is the real value"? I'd prefer to teach them to dribble under pressure in a game like situation. I do not want to make any waves as I've been newly entrusted to be the team but it's frustrating. My philosophy and what I want to teach these kids is centered around "seeing the game" the right way. That for me is:

-spacing
- looking for the cutters
- screening
- sharing the ball (I mean REALLY sharing and wanting to share it)
- how to effectively pass to cutters and trusting the passes (ie leading them by throwing to a spot not directly to the player)
-communication, especially helping each other on defense by switching when need be and switching back at the first opportunity
-and most importantly for me, teaching them to control their "panic" urges and regain control

Now obviously I do skill drills however I believe in the context of game-like drills and have begun to incorporate many of the drills that have been recommended by the fine coaches on this site. I beginning feel a pressure for winning and for me that's just not the most important thing, I want to teach them to become basketball players, to be able to play with anyone and that winning will come from the concepts I mentioned above...am I off base here? Perhaps I'm just venting, I dunno, but I just feel a disconnect with other's philosophies and maybe I need to reevaluate my own...thanks for indulging me.

If the 30 minute dribbling drills were a consistent part of practice and just dribbling without pushing the kids, that would probably get me talking with the senior coach if I were in your shoes. Sounds like this only happened once, so I wouldn't sweat it too much. Most youth coaches all face the reality of minimal practice time each week so it is important to maximize your practice time.

Dribbling and shooting are two important components that need to be worked on by each individual player outside of practice. I'm with you, the more you can incorporate dribbling in game-like situations the better. However, I'm also okay with working on certain aspects that might improve their coordination or dexterity. I like to push them to increase their ball handling abilities. One thing I'm big on is working on the weak hand in every practice. Even if it's for 5-7 minutes.

We have a full court drill using two balls, dribbling through cones and making a lay-up at the end, coming back through another set of cones the other way and making the lay-up. They can't lose the other ball when making the lay-up. We switch the dribble from same time to alternate. I also run the 55 second garden glove drill (look it up sometime) which give the kids some competition to see who can do it the fastest, but also works some dexterity and coordination into the drill. I'm okay throwing stuff like this into a practice once in a while.

I think you have well thought out coaching philosophies, you're in a situation with another coach who may not share those exact same philosophies. Do you feel comfortable grabbing a beer with this guy and talking about your coaching philosophies?

Thanks for your reply Coach Rob. Yes I do feel I can do that (tho I don't drink lol!). I suppose part of my reluctance is that I kind of feel like perhaps I may be a little out of touch. By that I mean "is this the lay of the land" now in youth basketball and I'm living in the stone ages? I mean it seems a though so many teams (us included to an extent) are simply trying to get the tallest most talented kids so they can win...like it's the only thing that matters. They say all the right things but to me there's shenanigans going on all over the place. I don't know why winning isn't the all important thing to me and if it isn't than maybe I shouldn't be doing this....kind of doubting myself I guess. This will be my first time head coaching in an AAU tournament and there are kids that have been here practicing since day one and other kids who have not (they have been in other leagues but the fact remain that they haven't been with us for the most part of the last few months). To win the players rejoining us will have to play big roles and I'm definitely not going to punish them because they have playing elsewhere (not other AAU teams) but...do you get what I'm saying? I am really enjoying having the opportunity to coach kids that don't require the absolute fundamentals (total beginners) tho I do get enjoyment from that too. Also I'm the first to say that I will not know exactly what I'll be doing but I've played basketball for 45 years against a lot of good competition and I intend to use my knowledge of playing to help these kids play intelligently and effectively and think "what would I do in a game if this situation or that came up"...that's really what I have to go on and I'm asking myself, is that enough? And what about the almighty win? I'm rambling but the whole thing at times just doesn't smell right if yo know what I mean..

I get where you're coming from and can relate more than you know. Heck, I used to run into rec level coaches that took this whole basketball scene a tad too serious.

Once you bump up to the AAU/Club levels and teams begin to have tryouts, things get a bit more dicey. It makes sense when you put it in perspective, club teams want to grow their business and photos of teams holding up 1st place trophies helps that cause.

There are AAU/Club coaches out there that aren't all about the win. I'm good friends with several that promote sportsmanship, respecting the game. respecting the officials and opponents, and are just class acts when it comes to coaching. It's not an easy gig to be competitive at the youth levels and keep teaching those life lessons.

That's where you come into the picture. Keep us updated.

How old are these kids again? IF you are working with very young kids I think its up to you to teach them fundamentals and let them have fun. BUT, AAU ball is a like an All Star Team... yes, they hand pick the best players they can find.

They think about the almighty W..... I have seen some very good AAU programs but you can bet those kids were the best in their areas. At the high school level I have seen kids move and end up at another high school so they can play with their "buddy" and end up on a good team, only to make it a heck of a lot better.

Now this is just me, but I wouldn't be spending 30 minutes on dribbling drills per practice.... time is to valuable.. but then again I haven't seen your players. I was a boys varsity coach, retired and the girls program needed another coach, so I took the job..... I figured I would beat people with my knowledge and 27 years at the high school level (16 varsity) ... wrong again.

We couldn't pass or catch the ball. So, we spent 15 -20 minutes every day passing and catching, starting with the basics and then adding while running the floor and shooting.

Rely on your knowledge, think about the drills you ran, pick out the good ones and get rid of the bad ones...... Keep things simple.... the more they have to think the slower their feet get. Do the best you can with these kids, everyone will make mistakes, including you... but a lot of your experiences will come back to you... and IF things don't smell right its probably because there IS something rotten in the land of Denmark! Remember, you cant control what they do, but you sure in the heck can control what you and your program does. By the way, make sure that you go into practice with a good plan so he cant take over again.

I hope this helps.

That whole transition into AAU/Club ball can be eye opening. Same when you go from 8th grade into high school.

The reality is, teams are there to win and that's why they try to get the best players. I have no problem with the competition, tryouts, and going all out to win each game. It irritates me when I see kids disrespect the officials or
other players or when I see blatant unsportsmanlike conduct. All of this done in the name of "competition" and "anything goes" to get the win. Fortunately, I've run across a lot of coaches who know how to win and do it in a classy way.

I'm with Sar on the age level though. I know the AAU/Club gigs are out there at 3rd-5th grade levels, but it makes me wonder how many will get burned out before they reach middle school.

I think that every coach should have to take classes and get certified,,, both as a coach and Red Cross or something along those lines... CPR for sure. And if you don'think it will happen to you... guess again. Its one of the worst things that I ever went through... 38 years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday.... kid had a massive coronary. We ddid everything we could do, but it still isn't easy.

The very young levels can be the worse... coaches not ready to teach the game, doing the best they can, but don't have the knowledge to do so.

Rob is right.... the jump from 8th grade to high school is an eye opener.... I know it was for me when I did it a coach... I can only imagine how it was for the kids. Funny thing, I was more prepared to coach football at the high school level than basketball.... but I learned quickly.

I have seen 2 fights on TV from high school games... that is just too much, this is getting out of control. Time to have a little more crowd control to keep the kids in line. The problem is the younger kids are seeing this.... In the 40+ years I coached, we had a couple of onfrontations but NEVER a bench clearing brawl... my kids knew better and our fans knew how the school, our program and myself felt about it.

Sorry if I got off the subject a little bit.

I think that to be fair I should say something about the other side of the coin .... I have seen a few coaches and teams let a manager score in their last game, which I think is about as classy as you can get. Not only do the coaches get together to plan this... the kids make sure the player gets enough shots to score. That will warm your heart.

I can't thank you enough for your time and attention Coach Rob. The kids are 6th grade AAU. I believe perhaps I'm a little too concerned about "doing everything or I'll or I'll be out" syndrome going on for myself which certainly may be paranoia working against me. Like you said, I have to trust my knowledge of the game. The leader of the organization and myslef have been talking lately and it is becoming evident to me that we have the same interest and that is developing kids first and winning second. Your advice and sharing your experience has really helped me a lot.

How would I go about getting certified? I am very interested in doing that. I would really love take coaching courses and seminars but don't know where to do that.

Thanks so much again.

http://www.coachforthem.com/youth_basketball.cfm

http://www.fitour.com/coach_certifications.cfm


http://www.livestrong.com/article/363302-basketball-coaching-certification/

You don't have to be a teacher but it helps.... you do need to be certified and have a background check.

Here is another site with a lot of questions and answers -

http://zamayouthsports.org/FAQ.htm

Here are a rew sites.

Thanks Coach Sar. Some of the links are no longer to active sites however the NAYS site does work completely. Thanks again!

Hi I've been away for a while but would like to update what's been going on and perhaps ask another question.


My first tournament coaching 6th Grade AAU I spoke of previously was a complete disaster. The 7th Grade coach also runs the administration for the 5th and 6th grade so he has his hands in every team per se. Anyway the day before the tourney he tells me that one of his kids has been re-classified and will be playing with my team. Then he informs me that the "old" 6th grade coach would be on the bench with me to "help me out"....you see where this is going right? We won the first game however it took everything for me to maintain being the only coach coaching (he would not remain seated). Before the next game I overheard the 7th grade coach/administrator telling the old 6th grade coach who to start blah blah blah. I had enough of the nonsense as I didn't want to be on the sideline having a power struggle in front of the kids so I left the bench and let him coach the remainder of the tourney, and of course we got smoked. I left the organization with my son as I can't deal with people with little integrity and the now 6th grade team is a complete mess as other players have left. I feel bad about leaving the kids but I'm not the kind of person that can tell players who come to practice and give 100% effort 100% of the time that they can't play because now we have this player or that player ..can't do it.

Now this brings me to my next concern and I could really use some advise. We are on a new team coached by a friend who has been wanting my son on his team (his son and mine are classmates in school). We played our second tournament yesterday and won the title (played our first last week and finished 2nd). My son has increasingly seen less and less playing time and in fact sat the bench the entire championship game. Now my son is a little tepid however I can honestly say he's getting better and playing more aggressively (which makes me proud and i let him know). We have some really good and aggressive players and it's not like my son is better however my son is a pretty good player and can definitely contribute. He was so dejected after not playing and told me in the car on the way home that he didn't really care that they won. I gave him the ole "you have to be a good teammate on the bench as well as in the game, and, you were part of the reason we made it to the championship game, blah blah" speech. My son is a highly intelligent, kind and sensitive kid and he took my words as best he could but the experience really messed with him. I tell him also you have to work harder in practice and show coach you deserve to play more and all that however the mistakes he makes in the game (which is what worries him most when playing) are made by all all the starters and they make many more because they're playing more (I have pointed this out to him to ease his worries about messing up). Its hard to reconcile this with such a smart observant kid and I don't know what else to tell him. I worry about him being able to show more in practice because up until now they mostly drill and work on plays in practice...they don't scrimmage and/or compete in any way for him to show more (what do you as coaches look for in your players to warrant more playing time? It's extremely painful as a parent also to watch your kid just sit the bench especially when all the players are making mistakes. The one thing I know from coaching him myself for years is that he's a "plus" on the floor. Once he is comfortable he makes smart decisions and does the right things 90% of the time. His athleticism isn't as developed as some of the other players as his foot sped is not equal but the effort is there. It almost feels as though it was me sitting on that bench, it was painful and I lost a lot of sleep myself last night.

Thanks to all as always for your time and attention and I look forward to any and all input.

Michael

Michael -

I can feel your pain for yourself and especially your son.

MichaelBrown wrote:Then he informs me that the "old" 6th grade coach would be on the bench with me to "help me out"....you see where this is going right? We won the first game however it took everything for me to maintain being the only coach coaching (he would not remain seated). Before the next game I overheard the 7th grade coach/administrator telling the old 6th grade coach who to start blah blah blah.

If this were me, I would aks the sdministrator who is the head coach now? Who is supposed to be making the decisions.. ( of course this is past... but I would still run this by him for future references.

MichaelBrown wrote:Now this brings me to my next concern and I could really use some advise. We are on a new team coached by a friend who has been wanting my son on his team (his son and mine are classmates in school). We played our second tournament yesterday and won the title (played our first last week and finished 2nd). My son has increasingly seen less and less playing time and in fact sat the bench the entire championship game.

If he is truly your friend I would hope that you woud feel comfortable talking to him.... you might ask him what he saw in your son that he wanted him to be on his team?? Is there something that he needs to work on to be a more productive player??

If they are working on fundamentals that is a good thing... if its all about plays... the kids wont learn much, other than how to run a play. This is difficult for you I am sure... but your son needs to understand that he should be working towards getting ready to play at the next level.... 7th grade school team and then 8th grade? Hopefully he will get good enough to be able to play high school ball.

Time to look for an AAU team where all the kids get equal or close to equal playing time. Winning is great but at this age its NOT the END ALL!! Stay in touch with us, hopefully we can help as he gets older. Good luck!

Coach Jim McGannon here with Basketball Basics. What you describe here is all too common. There is a reason why there are a record 92 foreign born players now in the NBA, nearly 25% of the league. Our approach now to youth basketball almost always leads to worse skills, burn out and too many kids quitting the game at too young an age.

Some links to consider:
Time Magazine's "Final Four for the 4-Foot Set" describes how and why these supposed "competitions" actually help destroy kids confidence and often helps ruin family relationships. It's not a pretty picture:

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2147286,00.html

This in turn leads to outcomes like this: a current NBA player (Michael Beasley) speaking out about how he never learned anything in AAU, nor was he asked to ever play D. This is a Wall Street Journal article.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204621904574248282288269744

So now what? I can't speak for the other coaches at Breakthrough, all I know when I read the posts is how RIGHT these guys are with what they say. This is an excellent service. My opinion is basketball is teetering on the edge of extinction in many respects. Basics has had modest but continuous growth now for 6 years basically doing the EXACT OPPOSITE of the way youth BB is currently managed, namely: NO parental involvement permitted, NO travel, NO leagues entered, NO refs, NO uniforms, NO trophies. And at last count, 64 program grads playing college ball.

RECOMMENDATION: Find a local coach(es) you know and trust, eliminate the parents from the equation, enter no or very few leagues, practice roughly 10 X as much as you play (you should compete EVERYDAY internally however), scrimmage anybody and everybody locally when you can and provide GPS directions to the park! I realize how opposite this all is to the way of the world now. But just because "everybody is doing it" doesn't make it right. In fact in my opinion, it is SO WRONG that parents and coaches who see and understand this will potentially ACCELERATE the rate of growth of their players by focusing on the skills. Why? Because the other 99% of the kids playing in leagues, travelling ad nauseum will not have these skills.

Don't be afraid to say NO, or that's enough. Find that local coach described above (they are out there, many have turned away because of the political hassles) and HOLD ON TIGHT.

Thanks so much coaches I really appreciate you taking the time out, it really helped me to clear my head and think of what I can do to help my kid. What I decided to do was use this occasion to reinforce one a life lessons I try to continually convey to kids and that is to never be a victim. I try to teach them take personal responsibility for everything in their lives that is working and especially what is not working. For me, by taking on that I am never a victim it will always leave me in charge of my life and choices and removes it from the hands of outside sources. Now, I know that in reality this certainly is not always the case however it is an empowering way of being and I strive to convey this concept to my 12 and 7 year old in manners that they can understand as circumstances arise.

Anyway what I said to him is that we are going to take this as a reason to work harder, get tougher, really live our 100/100 mantra (100% effort, 100% of the time) and not worry about others' playing time, that others may be making the same mistakes and get to stay on the court, and to strive to make it impossible for the coach to want to take him out. I also told him that this would be no guarantee that anything would change however by doing so "we" (I include myself so he doesn't feel alone in this) will be doing all that we can and that's all we can do...we will not be a victim of someones else's choices rather we will turn this into an opportunity for ourselves.

I will also take your advice coaches and 1) ask the coach what my son can do to improve, 2) continue looking at other potential AAU programs should this not work out, 3) look for programs as described by Coach McGannon, 4) consider starting a program myself (last resort, I really don;t have the time for that commitment)

My son is a skilled player and easiest the best shooter on a the team. He is above average in height for his age but not as tall as 3 other players on the team (the tallest player is actually the best player and truly the only reason we win like we win), he is a little slow of foot but I'm hoping that improves with his impending growth spurt (he's built proportionality like my father who was 6'5" ..but who knows). He's solid fundamentally; he blocks out, plays proper angles, sees open players,strives to keep his man in front of him. The only weaknesses IMO are his present level of athleticism and his timidness....one he can't control right no the other he's steadily improving and could see a sharper gradient in improvement if he were playing more in the games IMO.

Again, thanks so much for your time and attention and I would love it if you could tell me what you think of my solutions to this issue...thanks.

Michael

I don't think there is no right or wrong answer here..... it seems like you have given this a lot of thought. Keep working with your kids and try to do the best you can for them.

Help him wth the fundamentals and quickness. I had several kids dome into our program at the high school level that didn't play or even make their jr. high team... they ended up as Vasrity players and some were All Conference. Everyone grows at a different rate and develops at a differnt rate.

Keep a good attitude (both of you) and things should work out. IF you think that this program is not the right one for your son... find one that is.

Thank you Coach Sar, you hit the nail on the head by encouraging us to keep a positive attitude that can make all the difference in the
world.

I was wondering if you know of any drills, aids, ect to help increase my son's quickness...it is an issue, I see it myself. I do believe he's a little behind in adolescent growth however additional training couldn't hurt either.

Check some of the things this boy is doing...

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

Your son can jump rope... some plyometric work outs.... sprint from line to line... doesn't have to be full or even half court... can be free throw line to end line... slides from the free throw lane line to the other etc.

I think that basketball is more about quickness that just all out speed. ( wouldn't hurt either but )

Thank you.

I completely agree. I was never a "fast" player myself but I was quick and determined. I also believe half of the battle IS determination. Determination to keep the person one is defending in front of them and the determination to recover when they're beat...it really is a 2 to 3 step effort but it must be vigorous effort.

Remind your son that we all grow at a different rate... I was 4'11" as a 13 year old freshman... that sure didn't do anything for my game. It didn't stop me from learning the game and becoming a coach though.

Here are a few links to develop quickness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy7h7AWDO7U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46Ge8D3oz-g

http://ballersinstitute.com/basketball-agility-drills-0825/

I hope they help.