Tips for teaching young girls how to play

Hey,

I have recently committed myself to a mentoring program that has a girl's club basketball team. The ages range from 12 to 16. There is also an extensive gap in playing skills, as some of these ladies have never played..EVER! My main objective is to teach the fundamentals of basketball, but I am having difficulty as some of my girls have no background. I want to have fun with them, but I do not want to hinder the development of those that have established skills, nor do I want to leave behind those that need more practice. I began the practices with drills, but lately
I have been leaning towards just allowing them to play, but will that be beneficial for the entire team. HELP!!!!!

First thing.... no one can play the game of basketball if they cant pass or catch the ball... and on the move too.... thats first and foremost.... then dribbling skills... keep adding from there.....

Decide what your goals are going to be... you sure cant please them all with all that disparity in skill level. IF you can get another coach to help out you can put the better players on the other end of the floor and that way you can help both skill levels. JMO

You definitely need an assistant coach or a parent helper.....maybe even two. And a gym with multiple hoops.

There will be many times during practice that an inexperienced player(s) just can't get a certain skill or needs more time running a certain drill. But the other more experienced girls got the skill down and want to move on.
This is where you or one of your coaches, takes the player(s) off to a side hoop and work with the girl(s) individually until they understand the play, skill or drill. For a player to completely learn a skill, the coach must first:
1) Talk about the skill
2) Demonstrate the skill
3) Player imitates the skill
4) Coach offers feedback/make corrections
6) Player repetition, skill is repeated until player is comfortable with it


When you scrimmage fullcourt, mix up the teams so there are a good mix of experienced players with inexperienced players on each team.

When you do fullcourt dribbling drills challenge the older more experienced girls to dribble 2 basketballs while the younger more inexperienced girls are mastering ball control with just one ball.

When doing fullcourt zig-zag dribbling drills, while your younger girls are mastering the crossover, challenge the experienced girls to go behind the back, spin, between the legs dribbling.

Lastly, talk to your older more experienced players. Sit them down and have them understand the disparity of the team. Ask them to be patient and challenge them to help out and be mentors to the other girls.

Good Luck!!

HAve Fun!!

Coach A

Thanks for the tips! I will be sure to implment all of them! I'll keep you all posted as to what is happening...THANK YOU!!!!!!!