Jeff Haefner's Coaching Blog

Unique ideas, solutions, and perspectives for basketball coaches...

  • Home
  • About Me
  • About this Blog
  • Contact
  • Free Shooting Workouts
  • 72 Practice Drills

11 Practice Requirements for Youth Basketball Coaches

April 24, 2016 by Jeff Haefner 9 Comments

For our 6th grade (to be) girls basketball team, we had a lot of players wanting to join so we decided to create two teams.   Both teams will run the same offense, defense, etc… but we’ll practice separate. Since I don’t have enough time to coach both teams I have recruited a couple coaches […]

Filed Under: 5th grade basketball, Practice Strategy

What We Did With Our 5th Grade Girls Team – Offense, Defense, Drills and Plays

March 23, 2016 by Jeff Haefner 22 Comments

Here’s what we did with our 5th grade girls’ team this year.  It’s surprisingly similar to how we coached our 10th grade boys team and our 3rd grade boys team this year. Basketball is basketball.  No matter the gender or age level… you shoot, dribble, pass and pivot. I keep things pretty simple and focus on player development.  So I […]

Filed Under: 5th grade basketball

5th Grade Girls Practice Plan #2

November 14, 2015 by Jeff Haefner 2 Comments

This was a really good practice for our 5th grade team.  Worked hard and played really good during the scrimmage…  HUGE improvement from our first practice! Emphasis for Players – Communication, Leadership, and Hustle Plays (Effort) Celebrate successes and effort. Chest bumps, high 5s, fist bumps. Communicate in all drills. Block 1 (6:30) – Shooting, Footwork & […]

Filed Under: 5th grade basketball

How To Get ALL Your Players Sprinting Back In Transition Defense

September 16, 2015 by Jeff Haefner 3 Comments

We all know the FIRST THREE STEPS are critical for getting back into good transition defense.  Those first three steps must be a sprint!  In most cases, if the first three steps are a sprint, the following steps will follow suit and players will be in a good position to stop the ball. But how do […]

Filed Under: 5th grade basketball, Defense, Strategy

High Fives – Improve Team Chemistry, Energy, and Excitement

September 9, 2015 by Jeff Haefner Leave a Comment

A very simple way for you to improve your team’s chemistry, team energy, and just have more fun is to encourage more high fives, chest bumps, fist bumps, and so on. I read somewhere that NBA teams whose players had the most physical contact during games early in the season were the most successful down the […]

Filed Under: 5th grade basketball, Positive Impact, Practice Strategy

Practice Plan and Drills – Summer Team Camp Day 4

September 5, 2015 by Jeff Haefner Leave a Comment

Here’s the plan for day 4 of the youth summer skills camp for our 5th grade team. Practice Plan – Team Camp Day 4 Pre-practice routine – Acknowledge & talk with each player Defense Star close outs 5on5 shell – no movement. dribble every time. Dribbling and Defense Dribble tag – everyone is it. 1 pt […]

Filed Under: 5th grade basketball, Drills

Practice Plan and Drills – Summer Team Camp Day 2 and 3

September 5, 2015 by Jeff Haefner Leave a Comment

The format for day 2 and 3 were very similar to day 1.  So I’ll just post a few adjustments that we made. Here’s what we changed on day 2 and 3… We ran shell drill from a 4 out 1 in formation instead of 5 out.  This allows us to teach “post positioning” and […]

Filed Under: 5th grade basketball, Drills

Practice Plan and Drills – Summer Team Camp Day 1

August 31, 2015 by Jeff Haefner 2 Comments

A few weeks ago, a number of coaches replied and wanted more details about our youth summer camp that was extremely productive for us. Here’s the practice plan and drills that I used for the first day of the team camp.  I deviated and improvised at times — but for the most part we stuck […]

Filed Under: 5th grade basketball, Drills, Player Development

Summer Basketball Camp Drills – Part 1 (Pre-Practice Routine)

August 10, 2015 by Jeff Haefner 2 Comments

Since several coaches contacted me wanting more info about our summer team camp, I’m writing a few blog posts explaining the drills and details about the camp… The first thing we did at the camp was teach our players a new “pre-practice routine”. We implemented a pre-practice routine last year and I loved it!  I […]

Filed Under: 5th grade basketball, Drills, Player Development

Run a Summer Skills Camp for Your Team – It’s Incredibly Productive

August 2, 2015 by Jeff Haefner 7 Comments

Last year I tried something new. We ran a 4-day summer skills camp for my daughter’s 4th grade basketball team. It was VERY productive! So I tried it again this summer as 5th graders… We just finished the camp and it was incredibly productive again. It’s one of the best things I have done and […]

Filed Under: 4th Grade Basketball, 5th grade basketball, Player Development

About Me

I’m a basketball coach, skill development trainer, and Co-Owner of Breakthrough Basketball. I currently live in Marion, Iowa with my wife, two kids, and our golden retriever (Izzy).

Right now I am coaching two teams. I will be coaching... Read More...

Menu

  • 10th Grade (Sophomore) Basketball (13)
    • Practice Plans (3)
  • 3rd Grade Basketball (7)
  • 4th Grade Basketball (11)
  • 5th grade basketball (10)
  • 7th grade basketball (3)
  • 8th grade basketball (1)
  • Athletic Development (1)
  • Coaching (44)
    • Motivation (1)
    • Positive Impact (11)
    • Practice Strategy (16)
    • Stats (3)
    • Strategy (12)
    • Team Building (1)
    • team management (3)
    • Tools (3)
  • Defense (2)
  • Drills (22)
  • News (3)
  • Offense (11)
    • Transition (2)
  • Player Development (16)
  • Uncategorized (2)

Most Popular Articles

  • 15 Basketball Tryout Drills for Efficiently Evaluating Players
  • Dynamic Warm Up For Basketball – Strength, Athleticism, and Injury Prevention
  • What We Did With Our 4th Grade Youth Basketball Team – Offense, Defense, Skills and More…
  • Trying New Drills – No Dribble is Still One of the Best
  • Coaching Youth Basketball – What We Did With Our 3rd Grade Team and Ideas that Might Help You
  • What We Did With Our 5th Grade Girls Team – Offense, Defense, Drills and Plays

Copyright © 2025 · Genesis Child on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in