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Tchoupitoulas
07-23-2009, 02:30 PM
I'm looking for the "basketball for dummies" equivalent to learn the basics of coaching youth basketball (age 9-10). While I'm sure I could flounder around on the internet, I thought I'd turn to the group to see if there were any ideal must-get books, videos, etc. that would help get me started.

Tchoupitoulas

Bob Green
07-23-2009, 04:37 PM
This website has lots of info:

http://www.coachesclipboard.net/CoachingYouthBasketball.html

A key to success is running organized practice sessions. You need to include lots of drills that develop fundamentals. Too many coaches just show up and let the kids scrimmage the whole practice.

As far as running set plays, Coach Rupp's old "guard around" still works great in the 21st Century:

http://www.guidetocoachingbasketball.com/play_8.htm

riverside6
07-24-2009, 07:12 AM
I'd agree with everything Bob just said. In practices, keep things moving, don't stay on the same drill more than 5-10 minutes unless the kids are getting a lot out of it. Bring energy to practice and have fun, but don't be afraid to reign in a kid who is distracting everyone else.

Shameless plug here: I created a FREE website for youth (or adult) sports leagues to manage their leagues online. The site is www.LeagueTracking.com (http://www.LeagueTracking.com) and it allows you to manage your standings, schedules, tournaments, and stats online. Even if the commish doesn't want to, the kids love knowing how many points they score, rebounds they grab, etc. You should set it up just for your team. If you have questions, feel free to PM me.

BlueintheFace
07-24-2009, 08:36 AM
my only word of advice for kids that age. layups, layups, layups, layups, layups

superdave
07-24-2009, 09:15 AM
We ran our motion offense a lot - Big men come from elbows down to blocks to set screens to free guys to pop out to wings or curl into the lane if defender sagging. Rinse, repeat.

We did a lot of inbounds plays. Full court pressure inbounds, half court side, half court baseline.

Defense - man-to-man drills such as tracking your man when the ball is at different spots on the floor. Trapping in the corners on man-to-man. Zone and zone traps.

3 on 2, 2 on 1 fast breaks. This one really gets you running.

I think we may have stood in the defensive stance for hours on end some days when we werent listening well.

As far as individual ball skills, we practiced off-hand dribbling a lot. Basically you go from one end to the other as fast you can with your off-hand and lay the ball in with your off-hand. After a few times, we did that with a defender on us.

Also, the tip drill is a good one where each guy runs through the lane and tips the ball up onto the backboard for the next guy to follow.

dukeimac
07-24-2009, 09:40 AM
From a coach who has worked with this age group in basketball, football and soccer, you need to understand the "kid" before you can teach them anything.

With a team of 8 basketball players you still have different levels of skill and knowledge and you must adjust yourself to their level. You don't coach the guards the same a the centers and you don't use adult language.

When instructing the kid you need to look into their eyes; their eyes will tell you everything. After a few instructions you'll know what look they have when they understand what you are telling them and when they don't. The "glazed" over eyes isn't that easy to detect but after you've given them instructions and they show you either they got it or they didn't you'll know going forward if you need to rephrase an instruction or not.

Lesson was learned when I told a kid to "blow through the line", asked him if he understood me and he looked me in the eyes and shock his head yes. Then during the play he just kinda stood there. When I asked him if he understood me he shock his head yes again. Then we talked. He looked at me again with those eyes and that is when I realized what his "glazed" look was. Every time I gave him an instruction I had him look me in the eyes and if he gave me that look I simplified things for him; out with the adult, years of experience vocabulary. He turned out to be an excellent football player.

Today, he plays for a D1 program; I just hope I helped set a good foundation for him. I kept in contact with him throughout his high school years and he would always tell me my practices were the toughest; his middle school and junior high practices were never as tough and his high school practices got close. I always told him that it was because I was his coach for his first 2 years, that is what made it tough, LOL.

I kept this in mind for every sport I coached and it worked well; even with adults.

Turk
07-24-2009, 07:14 PM
I coached 9-10 boys last winter and the 9B tournament team for our local league. A lot depends on your situation and team - if you are putting a team together to play in various leagues, that will be different than coaching in your neighborhood league where all or most of the kids and coaches know each other.

Our league used 9' hoops, and man-to-man defense, no zone, to promote fundamentals. Half-court pressure only, no full-court press. With 10 kids, every kid had to play at least a quarter and a half, and sit out at least a quarter, with more time available only if kids missed games. Within reason, our goal is for every kid to score at least once during the course of the season. You also want to be careful with your outside refs - some refs hate the 9-10 level and call (or don't call) the game accordingly. If you can line up gentle refs who can explain a call when necessary that the adults take for granted, that's good for the kids too.

If you draft, your ranking should prioritize this way: 1) good kid, 2) good parent(s), 3) athletic ability, and 4) hot mom (just kidding - :D:eek:).

Your practices must be mapped out. I liked to divide the time with 1/3 offense skills, 1/3 defense skills, 1/3 controlled team scrimmage or other fun contest. Try to line up assistants who can work with the kids in smaller groups or stations. Make your drills competitive. Apply some sort of pressure - be it time, difficulty, or highest number of correct reps.

This age is short-attention-span theater. You have 10-15 seconds to make your point. You will spend the rest of practice repeating what you said in those 10-15 seconds, and half the kids will still not get it at the end.

Kids at this age want to immediately dribble the ball or shoot it. They look at passing the same way old Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes used to: "three things can happen when you pass and two of them are bad". I like "no dribble" scrimmages - literally, they are not allowed to dribble. I would also insist that all 5 players touch the ball before looking at the basket if they are gunning or dribbling heads-down 1 on 5.

As for tactics, you need three plays: an on-ball screen, a give-n-go, and maybe a clear-out for your best player. Inbounds, you need two - a stack and / or a box. The details really don't matter - the links above have quiite a few. It will take half a season before the kids can master them sufficiently where you can introduce variations and counters: "if they try to stop this, then we'll do that instead." Let the kids suggest names or numbers for the plays - that gives them a bit of ownership.

If you have a tournament-caliber team or are playing in open leagues on 10' rims, then you need to add a bit more to the basics listed above: offense against both man and zone; equivalent wrinkles for your own defense; disciplined transition offense / defense, and full-court press offense / defense. If you're starting from scratch, it will take months to get to that point, depending on your available gym time and general talent level. (one practice and one game a week should be enough for 9-10).

Your won-loss record will be irrelevant. Your measure of success will be the precentage of kids (and parents) who will want or allow you to coach them next season.

Whew, sorry to ramble... HTH, Turk