New to Coaching

This is my second time coaching youth basketball I got into it because my son played 3rd grade biddy ball I did not like how they were only showing 3 kids how to do things the typical 2 or 3 ballhandlers while the rest of the kids just stood there it wasn\'t a good experience for not just my son but the rest of the kids so I decided to coach in a little spring league at the ymca abl I played alot of pick up at parks and rec centers never played middle school or high school so I was real nervous about it anyway I love the game and wanted to try to teach kids as much as I can but now this season (3rd/4th grade) isn\'t going as well as the spring league we are turning the ball over we lost last night 44-5 to an all 5th grade team they trapped played extended 2-3 and trapped it was a layup drill we played man2man and m2m on ball pressure but we were over matched they had alot of sized they kept blocking my teams shots and played the passing lanes i called timeouts told them the open spots but they were so discouraged and today i feel bad for them. I just don\'t know what else i could\'ve done.

When I read stuff like this - it really ticks me off... nominate that guy for the 5th grade coaches hall of fame.

The best thing you can do is to teach your kids the fundamentals of the game... explain to them that you want them to be fundamentally sound and have some fun. Hang in there and be as postive with them as you can and hopefully they will remain positive. I'm sure that you have your hands full teaching them to pass and catch... some basic dribbling and a little something about dribbling the ball, but at this age, thats the thing to do.

You might look at Bob Bigelows DVD on Coaching Youth Basketball for some pointers.

Run a 5 out (open post ) offense, simple pass and cut. Try to keep the floor balanced and keep moving.

aroman781 - Good on you for volunteering to coach. Things seem to change (even in the Y leagues) at the 3rd/4th grade level. Strange that you played a 5th grade team, shouldn't they be playing in their own division?

Coach Sar is correct, the other coach should get the "I played a zone and won all my games by 40pts" award this year. It sounds like you ran up against a good team where the kids have been playing together for a few seasons now. Happens all the time. Shake it off and move on.

Teaching sound passing skills will help. Spread the court like Coach Sar mentioned, 5 out and wide. You'll have to emphasize to the passers where to throw the pass (away from defender) and the player receiving the pass needs to come towards the ball, not wait.

A few thoughts: One drill we do that might help is the 3v3 ten passes drill. You play half court with two teams of 3. Two teams start one on O and the other D. No dribbling allowed and a player must pass to a teammate within a 5 second time period. The O has to complete 10 successful passes to stay on the court. The D is getting tough, we allow some bumping and agressiveness to make it harder on the O. If the O throws the ball away or the D steals a pass, the D is now on O and another team comes in from sideline as the new D. Keep rotating. Praise the kids when they really get open and move quickly. Praise the good passes. It's a good drill to put the kids in a game-like situtation.

Another suggestion: If you scrimmage during your practice, make part of it no dribbling. You'll be amazed how the kids will start realizing what it takes to help a teammate and get open.

I'd also work on some basic passing skills with chest and bounce passes. Maybe some monkey in the middle, where the two outside players have to pass it back and forth in a specific area with a teammate trying to stop the passes.

Bull in the ring is a fun drill for kids:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVu5z9U8oh4

Google Bob Bigelow passing drills.

Great ideas Rob -

We ran no dribbling drills too.... amazing how hard they have to work... This will be tough for this age group so patience is the key word here. I wonder if they could make 10 the first time around... maybe 5 or 6 and work your way up?
Rob is right, you should be playing in your own division as should that 5th grade team. Its hard enough at your age group without playing older kids.

Make it fun for them

Lol my bad I coach 4/5 th but I have 2 3rd graders and 5 4th graders 1 4th grader never played before

i got some things lined up for todays practice but since I have only 7 players you think I should use 3v4 no dribble or start out with 3v3 no dribble and rotate the odd player?

Thats tough coach....

I think I would start 3 on 3 but this is a tough concept for that few players.... No dribbling I mean... they will have to work their butts off to get open.... and IF you add the 4th defender... even tougher.

Maybe you can play as the release guy... they play 3 on 3 and IF no one is open, they can pass to you and keep moving? You can move around on the floor a little bit so they cant just depend on you?

3 on 3 is a great way to teach kids the game by the way....

I would probably just "sub" the extra player.

Thanks for the quick response! I played 3v3 with 2 outlets but a player dropped out because his dad paid ALOT of $ for baseball thats coming up the $ that parents waste amazes me lol, I think ill sub with the odd man and i can be a neutral on court outlet.

I did the 3v3 no dribble i had alot of parents and some other coaches watching and the kids loved the bull in the ring they thought i was playing monkey in the middle but were shocked with the no lob passes and no passing to the person next to them lol it was fun I also tried explaining m2m and weakside defense it was new to them but i am wondering is there a way i can explain to them without overloading their ever busy minds??

You can introduce the concept of HELP line defense... but, will the remember it in game situations? They are so young and have a lot to learn about the game.... could you use the time for other fundamentals that would serve you better?

You can tell them about the imaginary line down the middle of the floor - which is the help line - and if you run a shell drill you can teach that concept ..... Ballside / Helpside. Good luck on that one, let me know IF they get that one LOL
I've seen high school kids that don't get that.

I'm glad that you are seeing some improvement using the no dribble concept... they will get better the more you do that.

Surprisingly most of my players understoood the helpline I pulled out the masking tape so they could see what I meant. 1 kid is lost but it doesn't bother me at all he is still learning we lost Saturday were 0-8 , we played well I only had 5 players available the other team had 13 1 of my players fouled out with 3 minutes to in the game but they played their hearts out we were smaller team too. We lost 16-46 but again we played m2m with ball pressure. They were a much bigger team and they stayed in zone the whole game but they couldn't run plays due to the strong m2m instead they chucked up shots and crashed the boards it was difficult for them to box out the bigger players any suggestions would be helpful.

Congratulations.... your kids have or are picking up a great concept of m2m defense... the help line... this will make them better players down the line.

Its a shame that those teams play zones... they are NOT doing their players and service and You ARE! Keep working on the m2m defense... it sounds like it was working well for you... boxing out bigger players is tough at any level.

You will have to run some box out drills and hopefully it will help. I hope that your players and PARENTS realize what you are trying to teach the kids.. YOU are doing the right thing, the other coaches are worrying about WINNING ONLY... pretty sad.

Just keep teaching the fundamentals of the game, ball handling, passing, moving without the ball and shooting a little bit... and make sure your kids are having FUN. Good luck.

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/drills/basketballdrills.html#reboundingdrills

Rebounding/Block Out Drill

Rebounding Drill: Close Out Box Out