Coaching Youth Basketball - Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8 - YOUR FIRST LS or are you sure valium's not legal?
EQUIPMENT NEEDED

1. A whistle that works

2. 5-7 pennies. These are mesh slip over tops that are all one color. You don't need these for boys, because they can go shirts and skins when they scrimmage. You have to have them for girls, cause a , dah, shirts and skins won't work.

3. 2 cheap balls for each player. Why 2? For 2 ball dribbling. You need enough mesh bags to carry all the balls as well.

4. Something to drink. I prefer vodka, but most bring h2o! (just joking)

5. Create some form that the parents fill out with names, addresses, phone #'s, e-mail addresses, child's name, Drs. name and phone #, insurance co. and policy #.

6. Masking tape

Hey, I never said you didn't have to spend a little money on the deal.

Ok, you're ready. It's time for your very first LS. Get there at least 20 minutes early. Greet the early ones and have them fill out your information form.

After everyone gets there and you have received all of your completed forms, you get to give that wonderful MONOTONE speech that we all loved when we were kids. "hello, my name is coach riley. I am here to teach you how to play the game of basketball. even though i am speaking in monotone, i expect to make this game exciting for you, blah, blah, blah!!!" I was so excited after my coach gave me one of these speeches, that I could have chewed glass. Never mind that I wanted to spit the glass at him. Whatever you do or say, DO NOT GO MONOTONE!!! PUT SOME EXCITEMENT IN YOUR VOICE.

Here is your #1 rule for coaching any youth sport, your kids signed up to play a game. To a kid, games are supposed to be fun. Thus, your LS's are supposed to be fun. Don't bore them with monotone. You have just become Captain Fun to these kids, don't disappoint them. The secret is, learning can be fun. Make learning fun for them. How do you do this? Oh, I forgot to tell you, if you are Captain Fun, then I am Admiral Fun! I will help you make your LS's fun.

1. Don't call them practices, like I just did. They are learning sessions. Sometimes what you name something, influences how people think about them. Your job is to make LEARNING FUN!

2. Make every drill competitive. Competition is fun because it's a game. At the same time, you are already beginning to teach them to be aggressive and competitive. Wait a while, you'll see why.

3. Every competitive drill has a reward attached to it, be it laps for the losers, a Tootsie Roll Pop for the winners, or whatever. Which reminds me, bring a bag of Tootsie Roll Pops with you to your LS's.

4. Praise them when they do something right. Too often coaches will yell and scream at a kid, or a team, for doing something wrong. But they will never say a word of praise for doing something right. Like the old saying goes, "You get more with honey than you do viegar, including better smells!" When they do something wrong, explain what they did wrong, and how they can correct it.

Now let's help you with your 1st LS. The most important thing for you to do is establish control. The first thing the kids are going to want to do is launch rockets. If there was a five point shot, that's where all the kids would try to shoot from. They will try to shoot as far away from the basket as they can. Your job is to control this, by taking control.

Here's where I differ from a lot of the bleeding hearts in the world. One of the most important lessons you have to learn is that kids want rules and routines. They want structure in their life. When their routine is disturbed, they get upset. If more parents understood this, there would be fewer problem children, but we'll leave that for all of the social workers of the world. Just trust me, you have to set some rules and give them a routine. Here are a few routines to follow:

1. Start every LS on time. Tardiness + 5 laps. Parental b.s. excuses don't count. Late - 5 laps, period.

2. Every LS starts with you blowing the whistle and yelling baseline, while you count to 5 out loud. If even one player doesn't make it in time, the whole team runs 5 laps. Don't worry about them running too many laps, kids learn quickly. They will make a game of it and stand in the middle of the floor waiting for you to blow the whistle and point to which baseline they are to run to.

DRILLS FOR YOUR 1ST LS

1. Your 1st drill is to warm up and stretch. This 4 minute warm up will help you to avoid injuries in the future. You can find some drills in any exercise book.

2. 2 BALL DRIBBLING

The sooner they learn to handle a basketball the more fun it will be for everyone. First place everyone on a baseline with 2 balls. When you blow the whistle they have a race to see who will be the first to finish a suicide while dribbling 2 balls. Tell them this is a practice round.

The next few moments will definitely be a Kodak moment.. You will see balls flying in every direction, kids running after balls, and kids taking other kids loose balls, and every derivative thereof.

Once everyone has finished, divide them into 2 or 3 equal teams. Now they have to do it as a relay, team versus team. Part 2 to this is they have to scream and cheer their teammates on. If they don't cheer loud enough, their team has to run 2 laps. The winners do 2 laps or get a Tootsie Roll Pop.

Here's what you are achieving: They are dribbling with both hands, they are getting in shape, (I call this gaining their basketball legs,) and you are teaching them to cheer for their team. My 8th graders still do this drill in every LS.

3. WATER BREAK

Every 15-10 minutes let them have a water break. Time it and give them 2 minutes, blow your whistle, yell baseline while pointing to the baseline you want them to run to, and count to 5 out loud. They run if someone is late.

Once they are on the baseline, tell them to bring their own water bottle to every LS, and especially to every game. You make life easier if you make them follow this rule.

5. ONE BALL SUICIDE

Divide them back into teams and now they do a one ball suicide. They must dribble right handed one way, and left handed back. Get them used to dribbling with either hand. Every time they get to a free throw line, half court line, or a baseline, they have to slap the floor while dribbling the ball. After everyone does this once, then they do it again competitively, losing team does 2 laps.

6. RED LIGHT - GREEN LIGHT

This is the game we all played as kids. They all line up on the baseline with 2 balls. You blow the whistle and they move toward the opposite baseline dribbling 2 balls. You blow the whistle again, and they stop. Stop - start them all the way down the court and back several times. Once they get the hang of it tell them to run, not walk it.

7. HOW MANY FINGERS

They are lined up on the baseline with one ball, while you are on the opposite baseline. They have to yell out how many fingers you are holding up, while they dribble toward you. When they make it to you, they speed dribble back to their starting baseline and do it again. This is a drill to teach them to dribble with their head up.

8. ANOTHER WATER BREAK - 2 minutes only

9. X MARKS THE SPOT

Use your masking tape, and tape a bunch of X's to the wall, about 3 feet off the ground. Line up your team about 10 feet away from the wall. Their job is to throw a bounce pass and hit the X.

First let's show them how to make a correct pass. You hold the ball about chest high with both hands, and step toward the wall as you make a bounce pass. To keep it simple, I won't go into the position of your thumbs, etc., for now. Just have them step forward with one foot as they make every pass.

After they get used to this, then make it a game. The first four to hit the X, 7 out of 10 times gets a tootsie roll.

10. WRAP UP

Explain what traveling with the ball is and what double dribble is. After this you let them scrimmage for 10 minutes or so. This is just where you let them be kids and let them have fun.

After the scrimmage, have them all sit in a circle at half court, with you in the middle. Tell them that they did a lot better than expected and you are so very happy they are on the team. And remember, NO MONOTONE!!!!! Remind them when the next practice is and to bring a water bottle.

P.S. If it looks like you have lots of time left before you start your scrimmage, then have them repeat some of the drills, before you scrimmage.

After you are finally done, wait and make sure all of the kids get picked up by their parents. After you really are finally done, a major league drink awaits you at your local watering hole, because you deserve it.