Limited Time Practice and Skills

I am coaching a rec league 10Uboys team. We have only 1 hour per practice twice per week. My initial practice ran short of introducing all the drills, defense/offense concepts I wanted and thought I need to teach. Given such a limited time and that my 8 players vary in skill levels greatly, what do you suggest I concentrate on for the 3 weeks leading up to the first regular season games? Thanks! Mark\r

Mark,

I know you only had one practice, think back about some of the things that they really need to work on... put them into your next practice plan. Practice plans are a very important teaching tool... it keeps you on task and keeps the kids from being bored.
Remember, these are young boys, so it will take a lot of time to get everything you want to teach them into their game.
Be patient with them, remember, its supposed to be FUN for you and them. Use the KISS method.

Dribbling - passing and catching - lay ups - m2m defense
Spacing on offense - hopeully a simple motion / pass and cut offense.
-an inbounds play that you can run under your basket and maybe run it on the sideline to get the ball in bounds.
Hopefully they don't allow pressing in your league at this age.

Getting More Done With Limited Time

1. MULTITASK! Multi-purpose drills.
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/coaching-youth-basketball-with-limited-time-1-practice-a-week/
2. Keep players busy at all times.
3. No standing in lines.
4. Everyone has a ball
5. Design practice for max ball touches (1000)
6. Plan your practices ahead of time
7. Use stations
8. Don't run sprints at the end (multi-task instead)
9. Use the warm up time before games
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/articles/basketball-time-management.html
10. Focus on just a few things

Focus on skill development (dribbling, footwork, passing, etc), very simple motion offense, man to man defense, help these players foster a love for the game, and have fun!

Thanks, guys!

I have been making use of your suggestions and plays/drills so far for the last two practices and I really appreciate your help!

Thanks again!

Mark

Good luck... I hope everyone is having some fun too.

Ok, I wrote a reply but hit SAVE rather than SUBMIT..

Now where oh where did that reply go?

Its out in space haha

Arrrghhh!

Anyway to answer a question from earlier....
in the 10U division, FC preseeing is not allowed until the 4th quarter and not at all for the team that is ahead by more than 10pts.

As part of the practice, I have introduced one "under own basket" out of bounds play and will intro another tonight.

I've tried to break down the practices (so far) like this:

(1) warmup by dribbling around cones chairs then layups from both sides
(2) stretches
(3) Stationary ball handling drills slaps, fingertips, loops with ball weaving aroundthen through legs, waist, shoulders followed by ball handling drills in motion; "red light green light" dribbling to 3rple threat, then stopping but maintaining the dribble.
(4) "Star" passing drill
(5) Combo drill of a curl around a screen, catch and shoot
(6) Dribble shoot drills
(6) Walk through of a new set play
(7) Out of bounds play(s) New one tonight
(8) some kind of Hustle drill followed by free throws

As I've gone through the week, I've been working on adjusting times spent on an activity according to perceived level of player comfort and ability.

Thanks!

I don't see anything here about defense... I hope its m2m ??

Other than that - you seem to be covering a lot of fundamentals...
I would ask you this... for this age group? Do you need 2 inbounds plays (under) right now... or would it be better to add another option to the one you have?? Not sure what your play is.

What type of offense are you introducing them too right now?

By the way, I've lost a few posts myself... when I have a long reply I will copy and paste it to an e mail so just in case.......

Hey coach, thanks for the reply!
So far, out of a team roster of 8 kids, I have been lucky, thanks to kids still playing soccer and baseball, to have more than 4 kids at practice,sometimes not the same kids. Most ever so far was 6 at the initial practice.

So I haven't touched on the defense yet, was saving it for tomorrow's practice and beyond after all the competing sports have finished up and I have a better idea what the physical capabilities and conditioning of the kids are. In this league, all the players must play at least 2 quarters, and excepting the 4th, no subs are allowed unless for an injury.

The inclusion of the under basket in-bounds play(s) grows out a frustration with experience in the past losing leads or being unable to get the ball in in the 4th quarter when the other team is pressing.

One is where the player tossing the ball in, passes to a teammate down the baseline who has stepped out of bounds prior to receiving the pass, then that player moves through a series of screens to receive the pass moving down the floor

My one set play so far has a shooter cutting along the baseline behind the defense (zone usually in this league) and through a screen for a jumpshot.
That's option one, others are to dump downto the 5 that set the screen, or pass out to wing for a shot...etc..

I would love to introduce a motion type offense but I'm struggling with how to introduce the concept and build upon it.

One last question, I've looked for it, but have not found the specific rule in the NCAA handbook, is the in-bounder still aloowed to run the baseline in certain circumstances?

Thanks!

Its pretty tough to accomplish much when you don't have your entire team there... as soon as you get them all together, things should work out much better for you. They still should NOT allow any pressing at this age.... you can press and trap and WIN games, but what are you teaching those kids?
They are not ready to deal with this type of pressure.

One last question, I've looked for it, but have not found the specific rule in the NCAA handbook, is the in-bounder still allowed to run the baseline in certain circumstances?
* This is the easiest one to answer .... he can run the baseline after a made shot and usually the referee will let him know.

I would love to introduce a motion type offense but I'm struggling with how to introduce the concept and build upon it.
* If I were you I would run a simple open post motion... pass - cut - and replace the open area. Show them the 5 spots on the floor... maybe put an X down so they can understand / see what you are telling them.

One is where the player tossing the ball in, passes to a teammate down the baseline who has stepped out of bounds prior to receiving the pass, then that player moves through a series of screens to receive the pass moving down the floor.
* We also ran this, but can your player make the long throw or is this a short pass? We used to run a pick the picker play when we were trying to score.... but we did use that to get the ball inbounds at times when they were putting a lot of pressure on us. You can run a straight line play where the players split and 1 steps to the ball... this set up almost insures that they will play you m2m. Just a thought.

Great! thanks for all of your help and insight!

Mark

I don't know why it never crossed my mind before, but I am definitely going to use cones this season to identify the 5 spots on the floor when we start getting into our motion offense installation.

Thanks!

Yep, got that idea from my time coaching soccer this past year.

I tape numbers that I printed out to the cones to help them go to and remember the starting spots.

Also, I give them pinnies with the numbers on them to help them remember.

We had a practice scrimmage last week and the opposing coach was using a 1-3-1 zone...never have seen that in youth bball, usually 2-1-2 or 1-2-2.

The single defender out front threw my kids off some as we had been practicing based on two out front defenders.

So, I bought 5, 3 foot lengths of 2 inch PVC pipe and made some "defenders" and set them up in a 1-3-1 and had my kids run some high-pick and roll moves and also in a 2-1-2 configuration and had them practice their motion.

This Saturday (19th) is the first game...we'll see how they do in a game situation!

Two more practices left to polish them up. :-)

Mark

Good luck Marc and its pretty sad that they are teaching zones at with this age group.

Thanks!
In some ways I can see it, due to the limited number of players on a team and the structured substiution rules and kids getting tired as the game goes on.

I going to stick to m2m as much as possible, may go to some zone in special situations.

Mark