Great Program For Female Athletes

If you lhave a daughter who plays sports or if you are a coach for a girls team, this interview is a must listen.

“The Stronger Woman is a non-profit organization, founded by Steph Wood, whose mission to inspire females of all ages to develop permanent spiritual, mental, emotional and physical strength through athletic competition, camps, motivational speaking and mentoring.”

They are various programs such as: teams, sports programs, mentoring, and community service programs.

Click below for an exclusive interview with Coach Steph.

Make sure to share with player, parent or coach and leave comments.

Who’s Passing Up This Opportunity?

Passing the basketball is a learned art, just like shooting, dribbling, and many other aspects of the game. You have to practice the fundamentals and then also add in a mix of situations where the conditionals aren’t ideal.

Here’s a super fun drill which every team I have coached has enjoyed. It’s called the Ring of Fire.

I first found it at the site: http://www.akcoach.com/index.htm

Again posted by Coaches Ed Riley and Steve Jordan.

Below is the reprint:

Five players or more stand in a pretty wide circle, with one more player in the middle of the circle. The player in the middle has a ball, and a player on the circle has a ball.

The middle player bounce passes it to a player next to the outside player with the ball. At the same time, the outside player with the ball passes to the middle player. The middle player catches and passes to the next player, while receiving a pass from the last player with the ball.

Confusing? Kids love this drill so I am going to take the time to explain it. Imagine you have a big pie cut into 5 pieces. The center of the pie is where your middle player stands.

Now each piece of pie is numbered one through 5. At the crust of each piece of pie stands your outside players, 1-5.

Your middle passer passes to 2, and catches 1’s pass. Then passes to 3, while catching 2’s pass. Now do you understand it? If not, draw it on a piece of paper. Once the player in the middle has passed it to everyone twice, they switch places with someone on the circle and they start passing and catching.

You do this until everyone has done it. What do you learn from this drill? To pass, catch, and use your peripheral vision.”

Make sure to post comments below and to share with us your experience in using this drill during the season

Passing: Another Fundamental Youth Basketball Players Need to Learn

While some players can dribble and score from end to another or beat the defense off the dribble in a set offense, it’s the pass the makes the player a more creative and offensive player.

Passing allows the player to get the other teammates involved, thus enhancing their ability to improve. It also gives the passer a chance to develop another skill, which is moving without the ball.

I often tell my players, usually the open player is the one who just passed you the ball. That is why the give and go is a great tool to teach.

Even though rarely seen in youth basketball, it’s a beautiful thing when a team can score on a fast break with the ball touching the floor.

When you teach players the correct way to pass, it’s equally important to teach them how to receive (catch the ball). There are 2 basic drills I use when specifically teaching passes.

1) The basic fundamentals of the bounce, chest, and outlet passing as well as receiving. The players should step to pass and receive.

This what I usually do:

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Coach Steve Jordan has graciously allowed me to use his site as a resource. I advise all coaches to visit it at: http://www.akcoach.com

The first new drill is a pass and catch affair. Half of your players stand on the baseline, while the other half stands on the free throw line extended.

Each player on the free throw line, lines up across from a player on the baseline. This way they can pass to each other.

Every time they pass the ball, make them step into the pass. They take one step toward the player they are passing to.

Every time they catch the ball, they should give the passer a target and take one step toward the passer with their hands outstretched to receive the pass.

I know this seems too simple but it is necessary. When my daughter was in 4th grade, she was a head taller than the rest of the kids. She was also the best pure shooter on the team.

Guess what, she only scored 6 points the whole season because she couldn’t catch the ball. That ball would bounce off of her chest, her legs, her hands, and even her head.

She got more passes stolen away from her because she refused to take the step to receive the pass. I can not stress it enough that these kids need to learn how to make sharp, crisp passes and move into the pass to receive it.

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This is a good fundamental start. Tomorrow we will send you the 2nd drill I have researched and used with all of my teams. When asked what drill is their favorite, the players have overwhelmingly chosen this as their choice.

Again enjoy and feel free to ask questions either in the comment box or email me at keith@bestyouthhoops.com

My Favorite Basketball Drill

Of all the dribbling drills I advocate, this one is far and beyond the best.

You can immediately see the dribbling strengths and weakness of each player.

Basically it’s a dribble suicide.

The following information was written by Ed Riley and posted by Steve Jordan on his website:

http://www.akcoach.com/index.htm

This is what Coach Riley writes:

There are several different types of suicides. This is a simple one.

A. player runs from baseline to closest free throw line and back

B. then player runs from baseline to half court and back

c. then player runs from baseline to furthest free throw line and back

d. then player runs from baseline to opposite baseline and back

Try running this yourself at full speed, and you’ll understand why it’s called a SUICIDE. Now the drill is to see who is fast, who is able to start and stop, and who has endurance. Have them all run a suicide, but they must slap the floor when they reach a free throw line, half court line, or a baseline. At the end, rate your players.

This is how the traditional suicide is run, but look what happens if you add dribbling.

Have them compete in groups, so you can pay more attention to each player. They do a suicide while dribbling a basketball. They still have to slap the floor at the given intervals. This will start to let you see who your ball handlers are.

A very simple drill where you can the dribbling skill level of your players.

Do this and you will have saved yourself a lot of time.

Enjoy and feel free to share and post comments

Youth Basketball Coaches: Teach Your Players to Dribble

The previous posting discussed the most popular question of what youth basketball coaches should teach their players.
http://tinyurl.com/2g3uo73

As promised, I will provide you some insight into each of the fundamentals that are necessary for youth basketball players.

Let’s start with dribbling.

Even before we begin with dribbling, the first step is basic ball handling.
Being able to control the basketball is a very key step in becoming an accomplished dribbler.

Some of the drills include:
* fingertip drills
* figure eight
* front V
* Side V
* ball slaps
* Candy Cane

Here you can see the video taken from one of “The Edge” basketball agility training classes. Click the link below:
http://bestyouthhoops.com/Test/wp/blog/?p=90

Once you have learned these you can add:

* Between the leg V
* Figure 8 dribble

Those are the very basics. Remember, with each drill make sure your players practice dribbling with both hands and going in both directions.

Be sure to leave comments.

Youth Basketball Coaches: What You Should Teach Your Players

Over the past couple of days, I have received a few questions regarding various aspects of youth basketball.

Some of the same questions have been asked multiple times by numerous coaches, usually by those who are just beginning or by others who want to brush up on their knowledge base.

By far the most popular question is:

* What should I teach the players?

Answer: I’d like to answer this in 2 steps and break the question into 2 parts.

First, the question can be rephrased to: How should I teach my players?

The best way to get your point across is to keep it simple and do it with enthusiasm!! Not necessarily jumping up and down and putting on a circus act, but generally showing the kids this fun for you and you will make it fun for them.

You have to capture their attention. These kids are like sponges and if you make it simple and fun, their learning will be tremendous as well as yours.

The key is to demonstrate, not just tell.

Second: What should you teach your players?

You must teach them the fundamentals such as:

* dribbling
* passing
* defense (no zone.. yeah, yeah, I know some of you think it’s crazy, but man-to-man is the way to go)

Once they have success at this, they will see themselves improving and will be more willing to take on additional challenges.

Each day I will delve into the fundamentals above and provide you with my favorite drills to enhance your player’s development.

Of course, you must make sure they know the rules of the game and what is allowed your league.

For instance, some leagues for U-9 allow 6 seconds in the lane, and once you reach the U-10 and above level, it goes back to 3 seconds.

I even heard of one club only permitting man-to-man defense.

Hope this provides you with some insight into the groundwork you need to implement.

Have a great season.

Feel free to leave comments for discussion and share with a fellow coach, player and parent.

Are Coaches Passionate About Teaching Your Kids?

Starting a program from scratch can be a very trying ordeal; however, with passion and desire you can accomplish just about anything your mind perceives.

Over the past few months, I have noticed such an individual in the San Antonio, Texas area who displays much of the attributes needed to be successful in any endeavor.

Basketball is his passion, and working with youth as well as established players appears to be his “calling”.

I recently had the privelege of interviewing Coach Tim Springer, and became more of a fan than I already was.

Click the play button button and listen for yourselves. Feel free to share with other parents and coaches and don’t hesitate to leave comments

Basketball Video: Something Old, Something New

The Edge" videos were taken this summer mainly as a review guide for the players between classes. This allows them to practice just a few minutes a day on the skills learned in the prior class.

The following video encompasses some older ballhandling drills as well as newer ones. Youth basketball coaching is about constantly teaching and encouraging the players to use what they learn and to challenge themselves to newer heights.

As part of the agility training we strive to make sure the players keep a proper stance and balance so they can shift quickly from one move to another with or without the ball.

A complete basketball player will need the basic skills necessary to compete and the athleticism and balance to be able to implement their moves.

Drills You Can Practice On Your Own

First day of "The Edge".. What the beginner's can do right in their own basement, backyard, sidewalk, roof (just kidding)

How Can A Soccer Guy Teach You About the Benefits of Free Play in Youth Basketball?

Coach Mike Thompson discusses why “free play” is important and it’s benefits.

He’s created an event called “Soccer Festivals”. Can you see how this transfers to basketball or other sports?

Click the play button below to find out how.

Interview with Coach Ronn

Coach Ronn discusses his philosophy on life and basketball.. Also, provides insight into how coaches should coach and how to setup your practice when you have limited time.


Click the play button below to review the interview with Coach Ronn Wyckoff

Agility Training and Why It's Important To Youth Basketball Players

Coach Thompson discusses the reasoning behind the agility training and how it can enhance a player's enthusiasm and keep them involved in sports, and much more.

The link below is an interview with Coach Barry Thompson

1st Training Session, the Future Stars are Aligned

How to Deal with Coaches

It is important that, as a parent, you have clean open lines of communication with your player’s coach. All coaches are not created equal, so this can be a challenge at times.


Use these tips to get along with any coach.

1. LOOK IN THE MIRROR.

Volunteer Youth Coaches are just like you.

They have busy professional and personal lives. Just like you.

They are pressed for time. Like you.

They have worries. Like you.

They do not have enough time in the day. Like you.

When you are busy and rushed, how do you want people to approach you with questions?

2. DO NOT COACH.

If you want to volunteer coach do it.

Otherwise, do not coach.

To be effective, every coach needs the “authority” to coach. In volunteer coaching, that “authority” is granted by you, the parent, by not coaching.

Coaches are not high and mighty, but they are the adults in charge. When children hear competing adult voices, they can become confused and will begin to shut out all adult voices.

Imagine, in your house, while you are trying to instruct your child, multiple adults begin talking to your child at once and all saying different things.

Not a pretty image.

Do not coach.

Cheer.

Your player will benefit and the coach will appreciate it.

3. SAY THANK YOU.

No matter what you think about your coach, all coaches do a ton of things that no one realizes.

But the biggest thing coaches do is make the time to coach because they think it is important. Without them, in many cases, your child and other children would not have a chance to play.

Remember to thank them from time to time. It will be appreciated.
____________

This article was written by Barry Thompson, FPYC Football Commissioner and Basketball Coach. For more articles, visit his blog at: http://ffxsportsparents.wordpress.com/about/

Pick and Roll: Offense For the Ages

Many coaches love to run various offenses which actually appear to confuse their own players.
In previous email you were provided with 3 simple offenses you can implement right away. As promised, the pick and roll offense will be discussed. The folllowing is a excerpt written by Ed Riley, www.coachingyouthbasketball.net/chatterbox.

A well respected coach, Steve Jordan, has allowed me to provide you with the information which appeared on his site http://www.akcoach.com/index.htm. I highly recommend this site because it has been a valuable resource for me as well as thousands of youth basketball coaches and players.

Pick and Roll - This is a little harder to teach. A pick or a screen is really hard for younger kids, but so is riding a bike and they learn how to do that!

Here's how to teach a screen to younger kids. Tell them that they are a detective who has to sneak up on the bad guy and stand to the right or left of the bad guy. By the way, the bad guy is the opposing player who is guarding their teammate with the ball. Their job is to block the bad guy and stop them from following your teammate. The dribbler's job is to dribble around you and run their defender into you, so the bad guy can't follow the dribbler.

The hard part is the person doing the blocking has to keep their feet planted in one place. If they move their feet, they just fouled the other player. The next hard part is that they can't lean their body into the defender, because that too is a foul. The last part of this is that they can't use their hands or arms to block the defender. The way to avoid hands and arms is to have them cross their arms across their chest. The real secret is to get the defender to run into you. This is a pick or a screen.

So what is a pick and roll? Once you succeed in the pick, then you break to the basket looking for a pass or a rebound. All colleges and pro teams use some form of a pick and roll. This offense never goes stale, you can use it forever.

Remember, simple is good? Guess what, there is no more offense to teach you. If you can teach your team these 3 and 1/2 things in the first year, you will have accomplished what it took me 3 years to accomplish. Don't try to get fancy or complicated. You may be ready to learn new things, but your kids won't be. Remember, this game is not for you, it's for the kids. Except for some inbounds plays and things, I have just given you your whole first season's offense. If you can accomplish what I've taught you, you will be a basketball god in your league.

The following is written by Steve Jordan, aka Alaska Coach. His site and Coach Jackson's website are my basketball Encarta. And heeerrrreeee's Alaska!!

Ed "you mentioned the pick and roll. I think you should add a paragraph about how the screener should "roll." I , too, teach arms over the chest, but then have the kids lean on whichever elbow bears the brunt of the contact. The body weight freezes the defender and allows the screeners something to use as a pivot point. The end result is a perfect seal position, for a moment anyway. Too many kids will run up and bang into the defender, jump around and race to the hoop. This makes for a sloppy pick and a tough passing target. A beautiful pick is deliberate and methodical. The extra time creates extra space and gives the offense more options."

I read this and re-read it, and boy did he hit the nail on the head. For those of you who have never seen screening at the younger ages, it can be extremely ugly. Here is some of what you will see:

1. Your player is about to screen a defender, so they run into the defenders back and almost knock them over. This is a foul on your player.

2. Your player sneaks up on the defender, stands straight up, knees locked and the defender runs into your player. This sounds right, right?? Wrong, with their knees locked, your player will normally fall down or stumble. Now they are out of the mix for several seconds until they regain their feet.

3. Your player will run up to the defender, not wait for their team mate to run the defender into them, and then roll to the basket. The net result is that they never ever set the screen for their team mate.

Without waiting for the body contact and without a slight lean on the elbow and side, it is hard to actually block the defender and stop them from fighting through your pick. By slightly leaning, you will have your knees slightly bent so you don't fall, stumble, or look like an idiot. AND, you maintain your proper stance and footwork. AND YOU STOPPED THE DEFENDER from following your team mate.

Enjoy and share with a fellow coach.

Keith Smith
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For FREE Special Report, "Youth Basketball Coaching Made Simple: The Easy Steps You Need to Take to Develop Your Players to Their Full Potential" visit us at: http://www.bestyouthhoops.com/sq

Also, you will have access to some off our special events with guest coaches who have coached or are now coaching youth basketball.

We look forward to providing great information to help you with your coaching.
For daily updates, visit us at twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bestyouthhoops

3 Simple Youth Basketball Offenses to Help Your Team Score More Points

Usually, I don’t write much about offenses at this level because it’s difficult enough trying to learn the fundamentals. Learning plays just takes away from the development of the player’s ability to master the basics.

With that said, my premise is before you teach offense, your players must learn how to play defense. Thus, your first basic offense is a solid defense. Play solid man-2-man defense and you will be able to steal the ball for easy layups. Maybe, I shouldn’t say easy, but it is a better shot than most shots in a set offense. Also, don’t forget rebounding as the final piece in the defensive puzzle.

What if you can’t fast break? How happens when your team has to slow down the ball?

If you are forced to run a set offense because of timeouts, turnovers, or other stoppages or slowdowns, here’s what you can do.

Each of these are very simple and require no extraordinary amount of time to learn; therefore, I don’t refer to them as plays.

Here’s what I mean:

1) Teach your players to pass and move/cut. The ultimate youth basketball give and go offense. The point guard is the player to start the offense, you can have almost any set up you wish, but I prefer to spread the floor and have the point pass to the wings and cut to the basket while facing the person to whom he/she passes.

The wing player passes the ball (if no open shot is available) to the next open player and performs the same cut towards the basket. If the wing player on the opposite site has not received the ball, they stay where there are until the ball is passed to them. Also, this creates floor balance against a fast break.

This keeps the players from staring at one player and being a spectator on the offensive end.

This offense will be covered in detail in an upcoming article written by Ed Riley.

2) Screen and roll aka pick and roll.

This takes a bit of practice, but will free up a player more open shots. Defenses at the youth level aren’t equipped to handle this just yet, primarily because they lack communication.

3) Spread offense.

This keeps the point guard from over dribbling and gets everyone involved. Works best against a zone defense where the ball is passed around the perimeter and moved til the player has and open drive to the lane for a layup.

I tried this offense a couple years ago when coaching a U-9 team. We were up by 20 points in the 4th quarter and didn’t want to run up the score. So we went to basically a “four corners” offense. Those of you who are old enough should remember the old University of North Carolina’s offense run by Phil Ford.

What I found is by passing the ball around the perimeter, the zone defense they were playing, couldn’t shift fast enough to keep up with the ball, and lanes were wide open. Actually, this is how a couple of players who hadn’t scored all year garnered their first points of the season.

Side note: What to see a confidence builder? Wait til you have a player to finally score their first points of the season. You will notice the increased enthusiasm and confidence.

This offense works well against teams who allows a defensive player to freelance or spy while the rest play zone. Eventually, the player gets tired of chasing the ball and result is open lanes.

Usually, teams allow their best offensive player to roam because most of their points scored are layups from steals.

My experience is these are the 3 simple offenses you can run without sacrificing time for fundamental drills.

Each of these will be covered in detail in subsequent articles.

Enjoy and share with a fellow coach.

Youth Basketball Coaches! Do This and Watch Your Team Improve

Over the past few years, I have learned to become more of an observer of players and the skills they have or in some cases, don’t have.

Mastering these skills is a matter of how you plan to coach your team.

Are you teaching and coaching or just coaching? The difference is teaching is a matter of imparting the necessary fundamentals such as dribbling, passing, defense, and shooting layups. It usually involves repetitive, but fun drills.

While coaching is how you manage your team during game time situations. Too much of this in practice, and end up not teaching the basics.

I know it’s a simplistic definition, but hopefully you get the gist of it all.

No matter how may manuals, audios, videos, you review, your best learning as a coach will come from your own experiences. In other words, you learn by doing and this goes for your players as well.

When teaching a drill, explain the purpose, then demonstrate. Youth players can implement the drill quicker when they have an understanding of it’s meaning.

Make every drill competitive. Divide them into 2 equal teams and make drills such as suicides and layups a relay race. The losing team could do an extra suicide or the winning team could get a prize, such as lollipops. Having drills that are competitive makes the practice livelier and creates team building, What happens is the players end up cheering and encouraging their teammates and also cheering for the other team’s player who hasn’t caught up to speed.

Tip: Because I am usually crunched for time, I implement drills that cover multiple fundamentals.

Let the players choose their own drill. I can see some of you questioning my sanity, but remember the players will choose a drill that you have already used in previous practices. All they are doing is choosing the one that is most fun to them.

My team always chooses the Ring of Fire drill. Don’t know why and it’s one that requires more concentration than the others. They seem to love it and it works on their passing, pivoting, hand to eye coordination, speed, etc.

These are some quick steps you can take to improve your team’s play.

3 Key Observations This Season To Make Your Coaching Better

After 8 practices and 3 games this season, there have been some interesting developments in youth basketball this year.

Sidenote: I coach a U-11 girls recreation league team this year. There is a 90 minute practice each week with a game on Saturday. So, you can imagine the helter skelter style of play in the 2nd half when full court pressing is allowed.

The first thing I've noticed this year is teams who play man to man defense are much more aggressive and foul less than those playing zone. I am sure this is because of the lateral foot movement required to play man to man.

You can put more pressure on the ball with man to man and be in better position to press when the opponent obtains possession of the ball. Also, we tend get garner more offensive rebounds against the zone defenses. Funny how this seems to work at all levels?

Secondly, running sophisticated plays is a waste of time. I really don't consider passing and cutting, and pick and roll plays. But I have seen teams use all types of motion where you can tell the players are thinking first instead of going with the flow.

It takes a quite a few practices to get flowing offensively. That is why playing man to man defense is your best offense. You can create more layup opportunities with steals. Overwhelmingly, the majority of shots made are within 5 feet of the basket.

Third and most important... the teams need to stick to more fundamentals. I know the time limits sometimes deter some coaches to shortchange this, but at least half of the practice or more should be devoted to fundamental drills.

I realize practicing gametime situations is important, especially when time is a major consideration, but how are the players ever going to create their own shot if they can't dribble properly?

How about creating steals without fouling when they have the defensive foot drills?

What about the ability to execute a proper bounce or chest pass? How do you learn this without repetition?

I am sure the rest of the season will reveal some more tidbits to add. Right now the above issues are most glaring.