Coaching Youth Basketball - Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7 - Setting Up Your Learning Sessions, imes Assistant Coaches, and More
Most of you will find out you don't have a choice about when you have your LS's - learning sessions. The school or league you are in will tell you when and where they are. Whatever they give, take and don't whine. The most precious thing a coach can have is gym time. If you are like me, some of you won't even get any gym time. Like me, you will have to rent every minute of gym time you get.

RENTING GYM TIME

Start calling every elementary school in the area and find out if they rent gym time. The going rate for gym time is $5-$50 an hour. If you have to pay, then give your player's parents a bill every month that they owe. You may not get all of them to help out, but most will.

If the elementary schools don't work, try the jr. highs. If that doesn't work, try the sr. highs. If that doesn't work try the yellow pages under sports clubs, gymnasiums, basketball, volleyball, and what ever else you can think of. Every time you talk to one of these folks ask them if they know of anyone who rents gyms out.

Now for those few of you who have the privilege of choosing their LS times, find out when the mixers are, when the dances are, and when the football games are. Don't compete with those nights if you can help it, you'll lose.

LENGTH OF LS'S

Now, let's assume you get your gym time. Let's talk about the length of your LS's. The minimum time should be an hour. The maximum time should be two hours. If you have your LS's timed, you can more out of an hour than most coaches get out of two hours. Just like a school teacher has their class planned out for the next day, so must you. If you are going to play it by ear, quit now. But then again, if you were going to play it by ear, you wouldn't be reading this, now would you?

How many LS's should you have per week? As many as you can get!

ASSISTANT COACH OR NO ASST. COACH

This is a matter of preference. I am not a huge fan of it myself, but here are the pros and cons.

Pros - Two heads are better than on. They may see something that you totally miss. They may have a great idea or insight that you don't have.

For the younger ages an asst. gives you someone to do the substituting. Here is a cold dose of reality, every player who is not in the game will ask you, "When can I go in coach?" Not only do they ask you, but the same kid will ask the same question every 30 seconds. I miss watching at least 1/3 of every game because of this. There have been times when I have prayed for an asst.

When it comes to the older age kids, an asst. not only helps with the subs, but they can keep stats. You'd be surprised at how often the stats differ from your perception of the game. You may be ready to pull Suzy out of the game, when your asst. tells you that she just got the last five rebounds. Again, stats are for the older kids, for now.

Cons - No one else to confuse the kids. Have you ever told your child something, only to have them respond, "But mommy (or daddy) said I could." It's hard to find an asst. who has the same philosophies as you do.

What happens when the two of you can't agree on how to do something? You tell them one thing, the asst. tells them another. Schizophrenia is not a good thing in a team sport. Or what if you are not a screaming coach, and your asst. is? Remember, SIMPLE IS GOOD. If you want to have a asst. coach, then their job should be to field the "I wanna go in" kids.

Only after you have made all of these choices are you ready for the next chapter.