rebounding

We had our first game Saturday and lost a close one (9 years olds) but really got killed on the boards. Anybody know some simple rebounding drills for this age group? I think taps might be too much for this age.

Also, at the beginning of the game, is there an easier was to explain to them which man to guard? I told them, if you're playing forward, guard their forward, center, point etc.

Thanks everyone!!

There is a pretty good rebounding drill for this age group listed under "basketball drills" to the left, it's called "fight for it". It's a lot of fun and the kids love it, although I'm not really sure how well you can coach this age as far as rebounding goes. Some kids are animals and want the ball, other ones just look at it.

Also I can't recall if I saw it here or somewhere else but there's a neat drill that focuses on teamwork and picking up a man where you line 3 kids up in the paint, assign them numbers (1,2, or3) and space 3 kids allong the 3 point line. Throw the ball in to one of the kids on the 3 pt line and call a number. If you call "1" then the 1 kid goes to the ball, while kids 2 and 3 are left to pick up the other two, unguarded players. I haven't tried this drill yet but planned to, if you decide to try it let me know how it goes.

Hey Hootch,
Thanks for the reply. Yep, I've seen that drill and I plan on using that next practice. I'm also going to use an incentive program like basketball cards to the 2 highest rebounders per game.

I'm coaching 11/12 y/o's and still have to explain to some of them who to guard. Rather than saying to "if you are a forward, guard a forward", I tell them to call out which # they are guarding. If I see any mismatches, I'll call out the switches I want them to make.

rookie wrote:Hey Hootch,
Thanks for the reply. Yep, I've seen that drill and I plan on using that next practice. I'm also going to use an incentive program like basketball cards to the 2 highest rebounders per game.

The only thing I would try to keep in mind is not every kid is going to be on the high rebounders list. So some kids will never get a reward unless you make sure they get one. I like the reward system but you have to create some catergories where you can declair a winner without the kids calling bs, such as "best effort", "heads up play", or "sportsmanship". If you're going with a reward system at this age make sure each kid earns a reward at some point.

Rebounding is about aggressiveness, anticipation and desire.

A good fun drill for that age that teaches them aggressivness and anticipation is called Hell in the Well. Unfortunately the "desire" part of rebounding is difficult to teach....they gotta WANT to rebound.

All players in paint. Coach or coaches are around perimeter taking random shots. Boys must battle each other for rebound. First player to get 3 rebounds takes a break and shoots free throws at other hoop. As players get their 3rd rebound they are removed from the game...soon there will be the final 2 players left battling for that last rebound. Last player left in "The Well" runs sprints.
Any rebound that bounces outside of paint does not count, do-over. Kids love this drill....repeat every practice and it will toughen them up.

Coaches must shoot both short and long range shots from all areas.

Prior to this drill explain about positioning and anticipation i.e that 70% of missed shots go to weakside, missed shots that are taken 45 degrees on one side of hoop will probably come off 45 degrees off other side(weak side). Short shots=short rebounds, long shots=long rebounds. Straight on misses from foul line or top of key usually come back toward shooter.

Lastly, end your practice with a scrimmage that has these rules: 1 point for every basket, 2 points for every rebound. Keep track of score and tell each team that losing team runs suicides....that will motivate them to rebound!!

Good Luck

Have Fun

Coach A

As for guarding....tell them to match up...guard someone of similar size. You make adjustments and change assignments if there are mismatches during the game.

I like those ideas, aside from the running part. Personally I think running should be for conditioning and not to be disguised as punative action.

My opinion, could be wrong.

We play the Defensive Challenge game found in the drills section under defense. Works well because only team that can score pts is defense.

My kids really like that drill coachrob.

With 9 year olds I wouldn't spend too much time on rebounding drills, but a few here and there are certainly a good idea.

Here are a few rebounding links with drills and tips:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/fundamentals/rebounding.html
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/drills/basketballdrills.html#reboundingdrills

Personally, I would keep doing the fundamental stuff in practice and then just start tracking Defensive Rebounding Percentage. Share that with the team. Set a few goals. That will get them thinking about it and simply sharing it will improve your teams rebounding (even if you don't do any drills).

Here's an excerpt from our rebounding ebook (http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/pr/rebounding.html)

"Just as importantly, you need to review and emphasize the RIGHT statistics. Most coaches, players, and fans look at Number of Rebounds and Rebounding Margin.

However, those two statistics are very misleading.

As an example, let’s say your team shoots 30% from the field and your opponent shoots 60% from the field. Your team had 20 offensive rebounds and your opponent only had 14 offensive rebounds.

Based on those statistics it seems that you out rebounded your opponent and your team did a good job on the offensive glass. But that’s NOT the case!

The other team actually did a better job of offensive rebounding. Your opponent didn’t have very many opportunities because they shot such a high percentage. But your team had twice as many offensive rebounding opportunities because you shot such a low percentage.

So in reality, the Rebounding Margin statistic has very little value. That’s why we prefer rebounding statistics that are based on the percentage of opportunities.

The TEAM Rebounding Statistics You Should Be Using

Here are the rebounding statistics that you should use and emphasize:

• Defensive Rebounding Percentage (DRB%)
• Offensive Rebounding Percentage (ORB%)

These stats are based on opportunities and they give you a true indication of your rebounding performance.

To figure your Defensive Rebounding Percentage, just divide your team’s defensive rebounds by the sum of your defensive rebounds, plus your opponent's offensive rebounds:

DRB% = DefReb / (DefReb + OppOffReb)

Now, to see which team did a better job defensive rebounding, you just compare your team’s defensive rebounding percentage to your opponents. If your team has a higher percentage, you did a better job on the defensive boards.

To figure your Offensive Rebounding Percentage, just divide your team’s offensive rebounds by the sum of your offensive rebounds, plus your opponent's defensive rebounds:

ORB% = OffReb / (OffReb + OppDefReb)

Your Team Goals and How to Use these Stats

DRB% and ORB% are the two most important rebounding stats for you to emphasize and watch.

For every game you play, your goal should be to have a higher offensive and defensive rebounding percentage than your opponent. Those goals should drive your entire plan to develop a great rebounding team.

The purpose of your practice plans and all your rebounding drills should be to improve those two percentages.

We suggest that you set some specific team goals. Your exact goal depends on your situations and has to be realistic for your team and their abilities. But as an example, your goals could be to have a 5% higher offensive and defensive rebounding percentage than every team you play.

If you accomplish that, you know that you have a good rebounding team and you’re winning the war on the boards.

Another goal could be to simply improve your rebounding percentage. To do that, you’ll need a “baseline”. So, if you’ve been at 68% defensive rebounding percentage on average, then your goal could be to move up to 72% in the next three weeks.

Don’t be afraid to set goals. They will help you get better."