Help

I am coaching a team of 10/11 yr olds

Out of the 8 girls, 6 have never played basketball before. I have tried to emphasize the basics-passing, dribbling,shooting in practice.

The main problem has been trying to introduce an offense they can understand.

Currently, they are overwhelmed by the more experienced defenses-and often are forced into turnovers, bad passes and poor shots.

They dont have the court awareness to undertstand
the most basic offense pattern. They even have to be reminded which side we are shooting at. So, I have a very green team.

We lost our last game 20-16, only because they have picked up defense better. But, we turned ovet the ball at least 25 times. They are scared and hesitant to dribble penetrate or shoot when appropiate. Many dribble into the corners and throw bad passes or have the ball stolen from when dribbling.

I have never had quite a team like this. So, any suggestions on offense and court awareness are most appreciated!

Best,
Scott

PS-My daughter is the most experienced and best ball handlet/passer/shooter. My usual philosophy is to play all the girls equally. Shall I play her more since she is my only dependable player/quarterback of the team?

I also coach my daughter and she is 9 and I understand what you are saying. I have marked the corners with blue painters tape for practice and we call it" dead mans corner" also as far as offense I found it is much more effective to teach them how to defend and rebound and push the ball up the court then it is to teach an offense. If we do have to go to to a half court setting I spread them out in a 4 corners look as a starting point and teach them to drive until stopped and have one of the wings go take the hand off and dribble straight off the ball screen toward the basket, this seems to help keep the ball at center court more. play all your players, also move your daughter from point to 2 to 3 and teach her off the ball skills-- this age is about learning the complete game if you build the foundation the wins will come when they count.