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Re: Coaching Youth Basketball
Submitted by Wendy <wendy@oglelaw.com> on 11/Aug/2008 in reply to Coaching Youth Basketball posted by Amanda on 08/Nov/2007
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Amanda,
I played in high school and college and in some women's leagues. I have coached freshmen, sophomore and varsity high school teams. For the past 3 years, I have been coaching my 12 year old daughter and her friends in both rec. leagues and competitive leagues. I can tell you a few things I've learned. I love this game and am excited to share my knowledge and experiences with these girls and I respect them. They love this game, share their ups and downs with me and they respect me. Establishing and maintaining a high level of mutual respect between coach and players as well as coach and parents will benefit you in the long run. Also, be consistent with all the players. No matter if you have advanced players and inexperienced players on the same squad, those inexperienced players will pick up on the concepts you are presenting if you are consistent with your demonstration and terminology -- they will appreciate the challenge. Teaching proper man-to-man defensive form and movement will be critical, and they will work hard to master those skills when you let them know (as you know) that defense creates your offense. When you talk about offense, keep your set simple (maybe a 2-1-2) and ask them to tell you what they think could be their options off that set. Certainly we can't forget about inbounds plays -- everyone wants to score off the inbounds. But if they simply have a play to get the ball inbounds, that is what is key. When they start feeling more comfortable with their court vision and positioning, they will realize they probably have options to score off the inbounds pass. At that younger level, most leagues don't allow a full court press, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be working full court drills against defense. We run a drill called "Full Court Contested Lay-ups", with the dribbler starting at the volleyball court baseline and the defense starting on the basketball court baseline -- right and left handed layup attempts with the pressure of the full court defensive chase. They have to overcome that intimidating feeling of hearing those feet pounding behind them. My girls have been working very hard and we recently participated in a competitive league where we (basically a school team) played against AAU (try out) teams. Yes, very intimidating at times, but definitely a good experience (they all want to go back next year). We do have a lot of work ahead of us, but at least the girls know now how much harder they have to work. But I will stand fast with my belief that a mutual respect must be maintained so constructive criticism will be accepted and not a turn off to players and parents.
Good Luck.
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