Begin coaching boys middle school basketball

[Blackhat]

Volunteered to coach a middle school boys basketball team....first coaching job.. in the middle of badger country.

Any good websites to get drills, etc.?

We'll be running 4 out 1 in motion offense

 and I'll be using buzzisms a lot and their scores on Marquette trivia during tryouts will largely determine how much pt they get.

[tower912]

Go get a 'Coaching for Dummies' book.   It helps you with drills, time management in practice, etc.   I coached my daughter for 4 years and am going to start coaching again in anticipation of my son reaching 5th grade.    Have fun and do it your way. 

[CTWarrior]

Go get a 'Coaching for Dummies' book.   It helps you with drills, time management in practice, etc.   I coached my daughter for 4 years and am going to start coaching again in anticipation of my son reaching 5th grade.    Have fun and do it your way. 

tower, I thought I was retired from coaching, but my sister has asked me to coach my niece's 5th/6th grade girls basketball team this winter.  I've coached boys from 4th grade through high school, but never girls.  I have a feeling I will have to change my coaching style for girls.  What are big differences you've seen in coaching girls?  With beginning boys, beyond fundamentals, I've found that pure aggressiveness goes a long way.  Same for girls?

[hairy worthen]

Volunteered to coach a middle school boys basketball team....first coaching job.. in the middle of badger country.

Any good websites to get drills, etc.?

We'll be running 4 out 1 in motion offense

 and I'll be using buzzisms a lot and their scores on Marquette trivia during tryouts will largely determine how much pt they get.

breakthroughbasketball.com  is a great resource, has hundreds of drills for all levels, great articles etc.

Good luck

[hairy worthen]

tower, I thought I was retired from coaching, but my sister has asked me to coach my niece's 5th/6th grade girls basketball team this winter.  I've coached boys from 4th grade through high school, but never girls.  I have a feeling I will have to change my coaching style for girls.  What are big differences you've seen in coaching girls?  With beginning boys, beyond fundamentals, I've found that pure aggressiveness goes a long way.  Same for girls?

I don't think that aggressiveness thing will work as well for girls. Patience goes a long way. For girls its more of a social thing than anything else.

[tower912]

tower, I thought I was retired from coaching, but my sister has asked me to coach my niece's 5th/6th grade girls basketball team this winter.  I've coached boys from 4th grade through high school, but never girls.  I have a feeling I will have to change my coaching style for girls.  What are big differences you've seen in coaching girls?  With beginning boys, beyond fundamentals, I've found that pure aggressiveness goes a long way.  Same for girls?

Patience.   You can't make most girls play better by making them angry at you.   That works only at the highest levels.  The average girl is not as instinctively aggressive and competitive as the average boy.    Be cognizant of the cliques and as soon as you see a sign of a freeze out, put a stop to it.   Emphasize fundamentals and teamwork.    The best players will make themselves known.   

[GGGG]

Volunteered to coach a middle school boys basketball team....first coaching job.. in the middle of badger country.

Any good websites to get drills, etc.?

We'll be running 4 out 1 in motion offense

 and I'll be using buzzisms a lot and their scores on Marquette trivia during tryouts will largely determine how much pt they get.

That is a great offense for youth basketball, but it will take awhile for them to be comfortable with it because there are a lot of variables.  Be prepared for it to look real ugly early on in the season.  You may want to have a back up just in case...and have a couple set plays too that you can fall back on.

Also work on press break.  Depending on how much it is allowed, you will see a lot of coaches pressing endlessly if they have a height or athletic advantage.  (Ironically, when those type of teams get up to the high school level, they never seem to do that well.  Hmmm...wonder why that is?)

Also, be prepared to see a lot of zone and have at least one good offense to take advantage of that.  I loved running players along the base line because it usually resulted in a couple easy baskets because defenders didn't talk enough.

My two pet peeves from youth basketball.  No teams should be allowed to play zone or press (outside of the last five minutes of the game) until 8th grade.  Too much focus on winning games rather than developing fundamentals.

[hairy worthen]

Volunteered to coach a middle school boys basketball team....first coaching job.. in the middle of badger country.

Any good websites to get drills, etc.?

We'll be running 4 out 1 in motion offense

 and I'll be using buzzisms a lot and their scores on Marquette trivia during tryouts will largely determine how much pt they get.

I used the 4 out 1  in motion offense. If you have some good athletes that are good instinctively and are good cutters, it is great. If you play a team that uses an overplaying man to man it can bite you because at that level they do not understand or are not effective at back cuts, back doors.

[tower912]

In our leagues, 5th and 6th graders had to play man-to-man with no pressing.    Press offense and defense got installed in 7th grade.    I don't know the rules and restrictions of your league.     Sultan makes a good point.   Unless your team is very advanced, they are going to want more set plays than a free-flowing offense.    In my experience at that level, emphasize rebounding, layups and free throws.   Make your layups and free throws and keep the other team from getting 4 shots from underneath the basket and you win a lot of games. 

[LloydMooresLegs]

4 years of coaching girls (5th through 8th).  For what its worth:  Fundamentals.  Drills.  Minimal scrimmaging (lazy way out for coaches).

Sultan right about the press break.

The web sites and books I used were geared toward girls bball, so not that helpful to you.  I would add one thing that applies mostly to girls:  Make all of the "bigs" handle the ball.  Rotate everyone through the 1 and 2 positions, as the 5' 10" 8th grade girl "big" often stops growing in 8th grade and would be better suited to the 1 or 2 in high school.

[NavinRJohnson]

I don't think that aggressiveness thing will work as well for girls. Patience goes a long way. For girls its more of a social thing than anything else.

I've coached girls and boys, and honestly had more fun with girls because they acknowledge they don't know everything. Far more coachable than boys in general. That includes aggressiveness. My greatest achievement to date was teaching a group of 5th grade girls to be very tough and aggressive. Find the right drills...a lot of 1-1, 2-2 type of competitions in practice go a long way, as well as team oriented drills where they collectively have to beat a clock, number of shots made, passes completed, etc.

fundamentals are key, but don't waste to much time on shooting. Passing and dribbling far more important. At that age, the ball overwhelms them. Spend time on defense, but do not teach zone in 5th grade. they have to learn to play mtm first. teach offensive system/concepts, and stick with it. It'll be ugly for most of the year, but they'll learn and be bett off in the long run. You'll come up against some teams playing zone and you won't be able to score. Don't worry about that, it'll be a great opportunity to teach them about offensive spacing and gaps. Take the loss, and make sure your girls (and potentially their parents) understand why they are better off, not playing zone yet and focusing on a system of offense and offensive concepts.

Finally, prepare for the double team at half court, because you are going to see it.  That, and everyone runs the same play where they PG gets a high ball screen and inevitably gets a clear lane to the basket (where they miss the layup).

[reinko]

Rock the stall technique. 

Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Shoot. Defense. Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Shoot.

Sister won a state title at Pius doing that. 

[tower912]

Naivin makes a lot of good points, particularly regarding the high ball screen.   After your team has the man to man fundamentals down, don't be afraid to try some fun wrinkles with them.    One game, I had my best defender starting out on the high post player (in our league, it always seemed to be the other team's 5, for easy pick and roll passes)  and my tallest player on the PG.   Then I just told them to switch automatically.    Worked great.   Also put my weakest defender on the high ball screen and my tallest player on the girl on the baseline of the standard 1-3-1 offense.   Then had my tallest player just step into the lane as soon as the PG got the high ball screen.   Both tactics worked in 5th and 6th grade, less so as time went on. 

[LloydMooresLegs]

Navin-

We must have coached in the same league--this is all spot on. 

Invest in their future and put your ego aside.  Their future. 

And if you want to see aggressive, roll the ball into the middle of a circle and call out two names and watch them fight for it.  Or play some "almost no rules" 3 on 3.  Some will never be aggressive; others always have been and always will be; but the rest of the girls just need to know that it is OK (well, not just OK, but a good thing) to commit a foul and to dive for the ball and to drive hard to the basket and to play tough defense and to trap and to box out and to set a tough screen and to fight around a tough screen...and they love it.

Reinko-

A bit of a different philosophy on passing/shooting, but it really depends on the system.  Shoot every shot within the system.  Make every pass within the system.


Oh,  AND MAKE THEM USE THEIR OFF HAND!!!

I miss it.

 

[GGGG]

I miss it.

It's funny, I coached for seven years.  Around this time each year I had to start winding it up, scheduling games, getting gym time for practice, etc. and it just seemed like a long, long road ahead.

But by the first game, I was really into it and the season flew by.  Lots of laughs, lots of fun, some yelling, some frustration, but mostly good times.  Most importantly, it was a great way for me to spend time with my own children.

So I miss it in a nostalgic sense, but have no desire to coach today with kids that aren't my own.

[MU82]

Volunteered to coach a middle school boys basketball team....first coaching job.. in the middle of badger country.

Any good websites to get drills, etc.?

We'll be running 4 out 1 in motion offense

 and I'll be using buzzisms a lot and their scores on Marquette trivia during tryouts will largely determine how much pt they get.

I've found The Coach's Clipboard to be helpful. Drills: http://www.coachesclipboard.net/BasketballDrills.html

There's lots more stuff on there, too.

[Coleman]

Rock the stall technique.  

Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Shoot. Defense. Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass-Shoot.

Sister won a state title at Pius doing that.  

Gotta love those Naismith peach-basket-era scores of 19-12

[MU82]

I was a girls' assistant for two years and have my first head-coaching job this year: 7th/8th graders at a relatively new charter school. Not sure I know exactly what I'm getting into. A little nervous and very psyched.

I took copious notes when I was an assistant on what I would do if I ever got the top job. It was mostly "do's" and "don'ts."

A few examples: Start working on the press and the press-break at the very first practice and work on it at least a little bit in every succeeding practice until the season ends ... Practice turning steals into layups, because the best scoring opportunities for middle-school teams don't come via set offenses ... Emphasize ballhandling and passing ... Keep It Simple, Stupid: It's better to be really good at a few things than mediocre at lots of things ... Make developing a point guard a priority; developing a backup point guard is almost as important ... If you're losing 36-6 after 3 quarters, don't tell them they can still win the game; they aren't stupid; instead, emphasize little goals such as winning the next four minutes or having three straight successful possessions ...  ... Teach them how to foul intentionally without getting called for intentional fouls, because you'll need to do it late in a close game ... Fouls can be your friends! If there is a decent possibility that the team will be trailing late in a close game, make sure to commit enough fouls earlier in the quarter to put the opponent into the bonus. It sucks when you need to get a team into the bonus with 40 seconds left but you have only committed 3 team fouls to that point ... Trust your assistant and assign him/her to important tasks.

Hmmm ... maybe I should write a "pearls of coaching wisdom" book!

Anyway, my biggest goal going into this season is to be super-prepared. My last year as an assistant, despite my mild protestations ("mild" because I was, after all, the underling and could only say so much to a control-freak coach), we went into the opening game having never practiced a press, a press-break, an inbounds play or any end-of-quarter situations. Predictably, we got throttled. The head coach was all about letting the girls have fun, so we did lots of layup contests and knockout games and scrimmages. There was little discipline. Well, let me tell you, the girls might have had fun practicing but didn't have fun losing.

So I vowed not to make the same mistakes. Wish me luck! And good luck to all other coaches here ... because lots of times, luck is better than skill!!

[tower912]

Teaching kids, boys and girls, to dribble and make lay ups with either hand is of prime importance.    So basic, so often ignored. 

[NavinRJohnson]

Navin-

We must have coached in the same league--this is all spot on.  

Invest in their future and put your ego aside.  Their future.  

And if you want to see aggressive, roll the ball into the middle of a circle and call out two names and watch them fight for it.  

Ha. Sounds more like we coached the same team...we used to call this the dog bone drill. We'd  line em up in two lines under the basket or along the side lines and put the ball at top of the key, and have 'em go get it. great drill for boys or girls. Our team made an opponent cry just about every game. Not by being rough, but just by being tough.

[NavinRJohnson]

Anyway, my biggest goal going into this season is to be super-prepared. My last year as an assistant, despite my mild protestations ("mild" because I was, after all, the underling and could only say so much to a control-freak coach), we went into the opening game having never practiced a press, a press-break, an inbounds play or any end-of-quarter situations. Predictably, we got throttled. The head coach was all about letting the girls have fun, so we did lots of layup contests and knockout games and scrimmages. There was little discipline. Well, let me tell you, the girls might have had fun practicing but didn't have fun losing.

This is a great approach, and one I followed religiously. It is still nearly impossible to get everything done in two ninety minute practices a week, but plan your practices well, and you can get to a lot. Don't spend more than 15-20 minutes max on any one drill of activity.  Every minute was planned out in advance, groupings were planned for small group drills, and practices would always begin and end exactly the same way. They can then pretty much run themselves through hose portions, and they get done quickly and effectively. They thrive on the repetition.

One other suggestion...depending on the size of your team, and if there is another team for the same class/school, consider scheduling one of your practices each week together with that team. Kinda depends on the other coach, but you can teach the same offense and defense, but also will provide some scrimmage opportunities.

[MU82]

This is a great approach, and one I followed religiously. It is still nearly impossible to get everything done in two ninety minute practices a week, but plan your practices well, and you can get to a lot. Don't spend more than 15-20 minutes max on any one drill of activity.  Every minute was planned out in advance, groupings were planned for small group drills, and practices would always begin and end exactly the same way. They can then pretty much run themselves through hose portions, and they get done quickly and effectively. They thrive on the repetition.

One other suggestion...depending on the size of your team, and if there is another team for the same class/school, consider scheduling one of your practices each week together with that team. Kinda depends on the other coach, but you can teach the same offense and defense, but also will provide some scrimmage opportunities.

Thanks for the suggestions. I do plan to have a thorough practice schedule worked out every day. Unfortunately, the only other team we could practice with would be the boys team at this K-8 school, and that isn't really an option, especially early in the season.

[Jay Bee]

Trap on defense. Tell your players to yell and holler while doing it. Make the other team's kids cry.

[MU82]

There's a good private school close to me so I looked 'em up on the internet and got the 7th-grade girls team's coach's name and contact info. I emailed her and asked when her tryout was and asked if she would mind if I observed it so I could get ideas for my own tryout. (My school and hers are not in the same conference and never will play each other.) She was really great, invited me to observe and I did just that today. I learned a lot, and I think the tryouts for my team will be better for it.

Down the line, I am going to think of other opportunities to network and learn like this.