If you can’t wait to see your players direct on the TV screen during playoff season you’ve got to teach them a thing or two about how to handle themselves off the court. Here are a few of the best things to work on with your team as individuals:
Meet One on One – Make sure to take some time to speak to each of your players Read the rest of this entry »

As a parent there are certain qualities that you want your child’s youth basketball coach to have. You want the coach to be knowledgeable about the sport of basketball. This is especially true if this is your child’s first time playing the sport. You want to make sure the coach is addressing the fundamentals of the game while also teaching the value of sportsmanship. Winning is fun, but being a good sport is more important for children.

You want to Read the rest of this entry »

Coaching basketball for beginning basketball players is undoubtedly a rewarding experience, but make no mistake that it can be a difficult job. While you will not have to deal with the more real life difficulties of grown men or even teenagers, there are a considerable number of complex challenges unique to coaching youth ball. For one, you will be under the constant scrutiny of some well meaning but oft interfering parents, and you will therefore have to deal with some of the subsequent gripes about playing time or alleged Read the rest of this entry »

Finding good coaches that understand how to coach youth can sometimes be very tough. This is why youth basketball coaches should have training, or be certified at the least. The majority of coaches that do youth sports are volunteers, as budgets these days do not allow schools or programs to hire certified coaches. This has to change as the youth are getting short changed and not taught the proper way to play basketball. Without proper training youth do not learn the sport of basketball or the skills needed to be successful at it. This helps explain it more.

The majority of coaches do a Read the rest of this entry »

Youth Basketball Coaches Play A Formation Role in the social and emotional development of their players. Basketball is a wonderful outlet for youth of all ages and backgrounds – it provides exercise, team-building skills, a sense of accomplishment and a healthy activity to engage in instead of delinquency. A basketball coach does not just teach the players how to play the game or to run drills – they offer guidance off the court as well. Helping a student deal with personal problems and giving them advice and support is all Read the rest of this entry »

Coaches have a tendency to be under praised in most sports, and while in basketball a lot more emphasis is put towards coaching, coaches still don’t get the attention that they deserve. While there are coaches like Phil Jackson, Greg Popovich and Mike Krzyzewski who get attention, the average sports fans don’t quite get how much of what they see on the court is directly attributable to the coach. If you think about it, basketball is almost all strategy. Every play needs to be mapped out, whether it’s on offense or defense. While it may just look like a man Read the rest of this entry »

When it comes to youth basketball, the coach may be the most important person involved. As a coach you are going to be a leader to these children, and they are going to look up to you and follow the lessons that you have taught them for the rest of their lives. Here are 5 tips for all new youth basketball coaches.

1. Always be positive in everything that you do. This means that you need to give constructive criticism to all of your players, and not only do you need a smile Read the rest of this entry »

So often overlooked in terms of fundamentals, so often the deciding factor in close games down the stretch, even good shooters struggle to make free throws, especially in pressure situations. As the name implies, free throws are expected to be free points. In other words, a player goes to the line, he knocks down both shots with little to no exertion, then continues on his merry way. Unfortunately, the process rarely works so simplistically, even in youth leagues. Whether a competitive or church league, no matter how seemingly insignificant the game might appear to much of the world, all close games matter to the players in it, making free throws an incredibly nerve racking ordeal across all skill levels. These suggestions to be implemented in practice, will help to boost your free throw percentage come game time.

Implement Free Throw Shooting Drills at the Beginning and End Over the course of a game, legs begin to wear down, meaning less loft and/or power behind a player’s shot. Shooting free throws when players are fresh and when players are tired will help them to be cognizant of the difference and make mental/physical adjustments accordingly.

Shoot Free Throws During Scrimmages A lot of teams won’t take the time to shoot free throws during inner-squad scrimmages, instead awarding the ball out of bounds in the event of a foul. Scrimmages are the closest practice comes to live games simulation, and though they may not count in any standings, will ultimately matter to competitive players. This will help provide a better frame of reference at the free throw line than simple free throw shooting drills. Read the rest of this entry »

Half the battle in coaching can be finding the right words to motivate your team to take their performance to the next level. Never is this more readily apparent than the half time speech. A poignant, relevant and inspirational message can lead to a tale of two halves, seeming as if an entirely different team took the floor to resurrect even the most dismal first full stanza of play. Here’s a look at the best motivational quotes Hollywood has given us across the sports movie genre, highlighting valuable team principles and concepts that can be used to craft an address catered specifically to your group of guys.

5. Friday Night Lights “Being perfect is about being able to look your friends in the eye and know that you didn’t let them down, because you told them the truth. And that truth is that you did everything that you could. There wasn’t one more thing that you could’ve done. Can you live in that moment, as best you can, with clear eyes and love in your heart? With joy in your heart? If you can do that, gentlemen, then you’re perfect.”

4. Little Giants “Who said you had to be good to play football? You play football because you want to. You play football because it’s fun. You play football so you could pretend you’re Joe Montana throwing a touchdown pass, or Emmitt Smith going for a long run. And even if those Cowboys are better than you guys, even if they beat you 99 times out of 100, that still leaves… One time”

3. Rudy “You’re 5 foot nothin’, 100 and nothin’, and you have barely a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in there with the best college football players in the land for 2 years. And you’re gonna walk outta here with a degree from the University of Notre Dame. In this life, you don’t have to prove nothin’ to nobody but yourself. And after what you’ve gone through, if you haven’t done that by now, it ain’t gonna never happen.”

2. Any Given Sunday – “I don’t know what to say, really. Three minutes to the biggest battle of our professional lives. All comes down to today, and either, we heal as a team, or we’re gonna crumble. Inch by inch, play by play. Until we’re finished. We’re in hell right now, gentlemen. Believe me. And, we can stay here, get the shit kicked out of us, or we can fight our way back into the light. We can climb outta hell… one inch at a time. Now I can’t do it for ya, I’m too old. I look around, I see these young faces and I think, I mean, I’ve made every wrong choice a middle-aged man can make. I, uh, I’ve pissed away all my money, believe it or not. I chased off anyone who’s ever loved me. And lately, I can’t even stand the face I see in the mirror. You know, when you get old, in life, things get taken from you. I mean, that’s… that’s… that’s a part of life. But, you only learn that when you start losin’ stuff. You find out life’s this game of inches, so is football. Because in either game – life or football – the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don’t quite make it. One half second too slow, too fast and you don’t quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They’re in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team we fight for that inch. On this team we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when add up all those inches, that’s gonna make the fucking difference between winning and losing! Between living and dying! I’ll tell you this, in any fight it’s the guy whose willing to die whose gonna win that inch. And I know, if I’m gonna have any life anymore it’s because I’m still willing to fight and die for that inch, because that’s what living is, the six inches in front of your face. Now I can’t make you do it. You’ve got to look at the guy next to you, look into his eyes. Now I think ya going to see a guy who will go that inch with you. Your gonna see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team, because he knows when it comes down to it your gonna do the same for him. That’s a team, gentlemen, and either, we heal, now, as a team, or we will die as individuals. That’s football guys, that’s all it is. Now, what are you gonna do?”

1. Hoosiers “forget about their size of their school, their fancy uniforms and remember what got us here. focus on the fundamentals that we’ve gone over time and time again, and most important, don’t get caught up thinking about winning or losing this game, if you put your effort and concentration into playing to your potential, I don’t care what the scoreboard says at the end of this game, in my book, we’re gonna be winners!” (Added credibility for taking a 10-foot measuring tape to the baskets).

Bonus: “Ducks fly together” Gordon Bombay

As a team perhaps your squad is almost equal in talent, but as much as many coaches hate to admit it, one player can ultimately alter the course of a basketball game. If one player is on it can be tough for even a well balanced squad to mitigate his effects, with just 5 players on the floor, particularly playing traditional half court man or zone defense. In the event Michael Jordan is seemingly reincarnated on the opposition, try implementing these defensive tactics to help restore order.

Box 1 The box 1 defense is an amendment to the traditional zone defense that can help to provide additional coverage to one opposing player while minimizing the overall impact on the other 4. The one in Box 1 refers to the defender who will be individually assigned to the problem causing scorer. He will stick to this player in man coverage while his 4 teammates run a zone behind him. The zone can take the form of either a 2-2, forming a square with 2 in the paint and 2 in the perimeter, or a 1-2-1, creating a diamond from the top of the key out to the wings and down the lane. Read the rest of this entry »