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.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
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.
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.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Purpose of Youth Basketball Coaching
This is where the fun begins!
You have chosen your team and it's practice time.
At the youth level, you have to be careful not to get too involved with wins and losses. Ten (10)years from now the kids won't care or remember how many games they won or lost.
They will remember whether or not it was an enjoyable experience.
They play because it's fun. If it wasn't fun, they would just quit.
You can have a team that will win consistently, but are you developing players individually?
My belief is at this stage (U-13), the coach is a teacher who needs to stick to the basics and develop the individual player. This doesn't mean they don't play to win, you teach them winning basketball by teaching them the basic fundamentals.
For example: You have the tallest player in the league, and he/she is great at grabbing rebounds and scoring off those rebounds.
The player is a center on your team, and you play the 2-1-2 zone.
During your practices, all the player does is hang out under the boards and grab rebounds. Your team wins lots of games.
But what have you fundamentally taught the player?
What happens when 2 years later the player is no longer the tallest player in the league or your team? Can he/she dribble to create their own shot? Is the player able to play man-2-man defense out on the wing?
You have chosen your team and it's practice time.
At the youth level, you have to be careful not to get too involved with wins and losses. Ten (10)years from now the kids won't care or remember how many games they won or lost.
They will remember whether or not it was an enjoyable experience.
They play because it's fun. If it wasn't fun, they would just quit.
You can have a team that will win consistently, but are you developing players individually?
My belief is at this stage (U-13), the coach is a teacher who needs to stick to the basics and develop the individual player. This doesn't mean they don't play to win, you teach them winning basketball by teaching them the basic fundamentals.
For example: You have the tallest player in the league, and he/she is great at grabbing rebounds and scoring off those rebounds.
The player is a center on your team, and you play the 2-1-2 zone.
During your practices, all the player does is hang out under the boards and grab rebounds. Your team wins lots of games.
But what have you fundamentally taught the player?
What happens when 2 years later the player is no longer the tallest player in the league or your team? Can he/she dribble to create their own shot? Is the player able to play man-2-man defense out on the wing?
My true basics are dribbling, defense (foot movement), passing, proper layup form, and shooting form. Then everything else falls as a sub drill of the above basics.
This especially holds true if you are coaching in a rec league. The time you have with your players is very limited, and the basics are necessary if you want you players to move up to more competitive leagues, such as select/travel, AAU, and high school.
We all like to win, but there is limit to what effect you have on a player to just play to win. Teach a player for a lifetime with the basics, and you will help create a winning player.
Friday, November 27, 2009
What to Look For When Selecting Your Team
There are generally 2 ways of selecting your youth basketball team.
1) You have tryouts and choose a set number of players from those either invited to the tryouts or from an open tryout. This is mainly the select/travel teams choose their players.
2) You have an open evaluation where you normally have coaches ranking players based upon such skills as dribbling and shooting, and in some cases how they perform in a scrimmage. This method is primarily used for selecting players in a draft for house or rec leagues.
Regardless, what type of tryout you are holding, there skills you are looking for are basically the same.
When I drafted my team recently for a house league, the keys I looked for were:
1) Dribbling capabilities
This probably the most important attribute to have at the youth (13 and under) level. It allows you select who will be your guards. For me, the guards aren't necessarily the shortest players.
To me, this is more significant than shooting. If I have a player who can dribble well, especially if they a good defender, then layups or 10 foot shots will comprise most of their scoring.
Watch any youth game, most of the points are scored from a short distance.
2) Height
You can't teach height. Tall players are at a premium, and tall players who can dribble is even better.
Just remember, you can always teach an athletic tall player how to dribble.
3) How well they played during the scrimmage
Here you can review lots of skills at once. You can see whether the player can dribble against pressure defense, if they can pass, shoot, and most importantly, play defense.
Thankfully, the scrimmages are usually 3 x 3 where you can get a better feel for the basic skills, and they should play man-to-man defense.
4) Energy/Attitude
Does the player seem to enjoy playing? Are they coachable? Do they keep playing when things don't go their way or do they sulk?
These tips hopefully give you some idea of what you to look for when selecting your team. The next article which ties into this one will discuss the purpose of coaching.
1) You have tryouts and choose a set number of players from those either invited to the tryouts or from an open tryout. This is mainly the select/travel teams choose their players.
2) You have an open evaluation where you normally have coaches ranking players based upon such skills as dribbling and shooting, and in some cases how they perform in a scrimmage. This method is primarily used for selecting players in a draft for house or rec leagues.
Regardless, what type of tryout you are holding, there skills you are looking for are basically the same.
When I drafted my team recently for a house league, the keys I looked for were:
1) Dribbling capabilities
This probably the most important attribute to have at the youth (13 and under) level. It allows you select who will be your guards. For me, the guards aren't necessarily the shortest players.
To me, this is more significant than shooting. If I have a player who can dribble well, especially if they a good defender, then layups or 10 foot shots will comprise most of their scoring.
Watch any youth game, most of the points are scored from a short distance.
2) Height
You can't teach height. Tall players are at a premium, and tall players who can dribble is even better.
Just remember, you can always teach an athletic tall player how to dribble.
3) How well they played during the scrimmage
Here you can review lots of skills at once. You can see whether the player can dribble against pressure defense, if they can pass, shoot, and most importantly, play defense.
Thankfully, the scrimmages are usually 3 x 3 where you can get a better feel for the basic skills, and they should play man-to-man defense.
4) Energy/Attitude
Does the player seem to enjoy playing? Are they coachable? Do they keep playing when things don't go their way or do they sulk?
These tips hopefully give you some idea of what you to look for when selecting your team. The next article which ties into this one will discuss the purpose of coaching.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
4 Reasons Why I Continue To Harp on Playing Man-to-Man Defense
Those of you who aren't familiar with my previous articles, must understand I am a youth basketball coach and gear my writings to teaching principles for ages 8-13. With this in mind, we have to appreciate the level of play and grasping of ideas from these kids.
My theory is very basic. The old KISS method. Keep It Simple Stupid. As you gain more coaching knowledge and experience, your ego tends to experiment you to experiment outside this principle.
You may ask what does this have to do with playing defense? Everything!!!
To me, teaching man-to-man defensive principles are easier to teach than zone or various gimmicky defenses you see youth teams trying to implement.
I recently read an article where the coach claims teaching man-to-man is difficult which may be true based upon his experience and methods. My experience has been it's difficult if you are impatient, but if you are patient, it's very easy to teach.
Younger kids tend to want to chase ball, and this is their naturally tendency. Watch any beginning youth team (not just in basketball), and you will see all the defenders chasing the ball. Good luck playing zone! With m2m, you want the player to defend their man and have sight of the ball at all times. This does take patience, but not as long as you may think.
There are various drills to keep players focused on this aspect of playing defense. First, I would teach them to play just their man and then teach them drills of playing man and ball. This a step by step process.
With this out the way, here are the reasons why I continue to harp on playing man-to-man defense:
1) Man to Man teams are more aggressive.
They tend to steal the ball more, rebound better, and score shooting layups ratha than jump shots.
What if you didn't have to spend so much time teaching offensive plays because your great defense led to easy scores?
When you have beginning players and limited court time, is it better teach a layup than a jump shot?
2) Better team communication.
There is more chatter amongst the players as to who you are suppose to guard. I even have players yell for help or even switch.
3) They become better defenders at other types of defenses.
If your players understand m2m principles regarding footwork, spacing, vision, etc.,. they become more adept at playing other types of defenses. To me, teaching m2m is the basic fundamental way of defending.
4) Higher level coaches prefer players who can play m2m defense.
A couple of weeks ago, I was chatting with coach from another league and he mentioned the high school coaches are questioning why very few kids are taught to play man to man. When you have players who have learned to play m2m, they are ahead of the game when it comes to playing defense. It may give the edge when competing against players for select or travel teams.
I hope this gives you some general idea of why m2m is necessary. In the next few weeks, there will be a FREE Ebook of articles from youth coaches around the country providing drills, concepts, and ideas of how to best implement m2m with your team.
My theory is very basic. The old KISS method. Keep It Simple Stupid. As you gain more coaching knowledge and experience, your ego tends to experiment you to experiment outside this principle.
You may ask what does this have to do with playing defense? Everything!!!
To me, teaching man-to-man defensive principles are easier to teach than zone or various gimmicky defenses you see youth teams trying to implement.
I recently read an article where the coach claims teaching man-to-man is difficult which may be true based upon his experience and methods. My experience has been it's difficult if you are impatient, but if you are patient, it's very easy to teach.
Younger kids tend to want to chase ball, and this is their naturally tendency. Watch any beginning youth team (not just in basketball), and you will see all the defenders chasing the ball. Good luck playing zone! With m2m, you want the player to defend their man and have sight of the ball at all times. This does take patience, but not as long as you may think.
There are various drills to keep players focused on this aspect of playing defense. First, I would teach them to play just their man and then teach them drills of playing man and ball. This a step by step process.
With this out the way, here are the reasons why I continue to harp on playing man-to-man defense:
1) Man to Man teams are more aggressive.
They tend to steal the ball more, rebound better, and score shooting layups ratha than jump shots.
What if you didn't have to spend so much time teaching offensive plays because your great defense led to easy scores?
When you have beginning players and limited court time, is it better teach a layup than a jump shot?
2) Better team communication.
There is more chatter amongst the players as to who you are suppose to guard. I even have players yell for help or even switch.
3) They become better defenders at other types of defenses.
If your players understand m2m principles regarding footwork, spacing, vision, etc.,. they become more adept at playing other types of defenses. To me, teaching m2m is the basic fundamental way of defending.
4) Higher level coaches prefer players who can play m2m defense.
A couple of weeks ago, I was chatting with coach from another league and he mentioned the high school coaches are questioning why very few kids are taught to play man to man. When you have players who have learned to play m2m, they are ahead of the game when it comes to playing defense. It may give the edge when competing against players for select or travel teams.
I hope this gives you some general idea of why m2m is necessary. In the next few weeks, there will be a FREE Ebook of articles from youth coaches around the country providing drills, concepts, and ideas of how to best implement m2m with your team.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Youth Basketball Practice, 3 Keys to Having a Great Practice
For all coaches, especially new or inexperienced coaches, how you manage your practices will determine how much your players will pay attention, learn and implement your ideas. Youth coaches have one added issue confronting them. You will often have a player who has never played organized basketball, thus creating the need to keep things basic.
Here are 3 keys to having a great practice.
1 ) Time Management.
All coaches feel as if they don't have enough practice time. If you have a 90 minute practice, all must have an accounting of all 90 minutes. Each drill should have a set time limit as well how much time for breaks. Make sure you leave enough time at the end for scrimmages.
2) Make It Fun
Most kids at the youth level play because it's fun. It's another game to them. Others who are more serious still need coaching that holds their attention. What better way to do this than making it fun?
This begins with you. If you speak in monotones without any excitement, your team will respond accordingly. I don't mean yelling at the top of your lungs as if you are hosting one of those infomercials, but you have to be a bit animated.
What also has helped me in the past is to make each drill competitive. Divided them into 2 teams, and have each team cheer for their teammate as a criteria for extra points. The losing team runs an extra drill like suicides while the winning team watches and also cheer them the other team running the drills.
The above is a great team building exercise.
3) Keep It Simple
We all have visions of diagraming plays various defenses. Sometimes, we are our worst enemy. For time management purposes as well as keeping practice fun, we must keep it simple.
Teaching the fundamentals of dribbling, passing, defense, and shooting will take up most of your time and must be kept to as simple as possible. If your team can perform the aforementioned basics, you will have prepared them for higher level play, such as high school.
Follow these 3 keys and your practices will be a blast.
Here are 3 keys to having a great practice.
1 ) Time Management.
All coaches feel as if they don't have enough practice time. If you have a 90 minute practice, all must have an accounting of all 90 minutes. Each drill should have a set time limit as well how much time for breaks. Make sure you leave enough time at the end for scrimmages.
2) Make It Fun
Most kids at the youth level play because it's fun. It's another game to them. Others who are more serious still need coaching that holds their attention. What better way to do this than making it fun?
This begins with you. If you speak in monotones without any excitement, your team will respond accordingly. I don't mean yelling at the top of your lungs as if you are hosting one of those infomercials, but you have to be a bit animated.
What also has helped me in the past is to make each drill competitive. Divided them into 2 teams, and have each team cheer for their teammate as a criteria for extra points. The losing team runs an extra drill like suicides while the winning team watches and also cheer them the other team running the drills.
The above is a great team building exercise.
3) Keep It Simple
We all have visions of diagraming plays various defenses. Sometimes, we are our worst enemy. For time management purposes as well as keeping practice fun, we must keep it simple.
Teaching the fundamentals of dribbling, passing, defense, and shooting will take up most of your time and must be kept to as simple as possible. If your team can perform the aforementioned basics, you will have prepared them for higher level play, such as high school.
Follow these 3 keys and your practices will be a blast.
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