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.