Basketball for young kids

AlNipper49

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So for the first time in my life my son is really interested at applying gong himself towards playing a sport - basketball.

We go almost every night to shoot around at the Y, however he's 8 and even reaching the basket at this point is tough.

How can I help him get there? A lot of the online places suggest alternates to shooting but let's be honest, a kid is going to want to shoot. Are there exercises or drills that I can have him do to consistently get his positions correct, strength up or whatever?

We would also consider a smaller ball as many online places suggest, but there is also an equal amount of places saying to not use the smaller ball.

I never really played real basketball, so I'm pretty in the dark.
 

21st Century Sox

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Have you explored the local leagues yet? In my town, at the younger ages, they usually play cross court. (two games going side by side on a small court) Hoops are 8' vs 10'. This allows the kids to reach, and learn proper form, vs having to heave something from close range.
 
Lot to ask 8 year olds to one play on a full court, and two shoot at a 10' hoop. Though you will be amazed at how quickly just another year or so makes.
 

Doug Beerabelli

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What I've seen standard for 8 year old league play is 28.5" ball (women's size), and 9 foot hoops. Buy the smaller ball. Some 8 year olds can do 10 feet, but it's tough. Better to get him more pleasure and confidence with lower hoop IMO.

Hopefully there's a local league he can play in.
 

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Do NOT join YWCA in Greenville. They just let them run around like a Tball team. Parks and Rec will actually teach and they have programs for all ages.
 

AlNipper49

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Detts said:
Do NOT join YWCA in Greenville. They just let them run around like a Tball team. Parks and Rec will actually teach and they have programs for all ages.
Yeah it completely fucking sucks. I'm there for now but this'll be the last session.

I got a path membership which gives us access to the life center. I have a new buddy who is pretty involved there and is gonna make sure we get setup.

The YMCA @ Caine Halter is complete shit.
 

AMS25

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Yes, do a Parks and Rec league. Make sure it's not a co-ed league; gender can mess things up. (My daughter was one of the best shooters on her team and none of the boys would pass to her.) Yes, get the women's sized ball, and they will lower the hoops to 9" as Doug noted. Otherwise, I think it's fine to practice casually at the Y or some other public courts. My daughter often runs into other kids she knows and they'll play 3 on 3, shoot around or play H-O-R-S-E and other shooting games.
 

AlNipper49

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Doug Beerabelli said:
Can you put a hoop in or on the driveway?
 
yeah we have a spot for it, just waiting for the move-in to the new house to complete.  The Y is literally 30 seconds from us, so it's easy... and I catch him watching other people playing which seems like it could be a good thing.
 
Thanks for the info on the smaller ball.  I'll get him one today.
 

GoJeff!

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Have a fairly unathletic kid that also got into basketball at about the same age. Here is what helped us:
 
-Hoop in the driveway. He shot a lot and it really helped. It is an adjustable one so he can shoot at different heights which helps a lot when they are just starting out. When they can't reach a normal (or even 8 foot basket) consistently, a low one makes the game a lot more fun.
 
-Time passing and rebounding. I don't know much about basketball, but I would retrieve balls and throw hard back at him. I'd also have him get his rebounds off the hoop. Building those reflexes at home really helps. By his third season (maybe a year and a half) he was the best passer on the team and a solid rebounder.
 
- We used a big ball, but I think a smaller one makes sense. They get better so quickly at that age that I can't imagine changing ball size would matter for more than a week or two. Again, whatever makes it really fun and gets him out there.
 

Heinie Wagner

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If you can have him shoot on a low hoop that makes a HUGE difference.  Kids develop a lot of bad habits that are very difficult to correct by learning to heave the ball at the hoop. Once he can reach, if you can have him stay close to the hoop, that is way better than getting too far out and having to shoot from the hip. 
 
I'm in CT, travel leagues here use 28.5 ball for boys in 5th grade, AAU national standard is 28.5 even in 6th grade, but many tournaments will go with 29.5 in 6th grade.
 
Good suggestion on the passing drills. You can also have him lie on his back and shoot the ball up at the ceiling - good for form and for developing those shooting muscles. I used to do this 100's of times a day and still do it sometimes.
 
The bottom line is shooting is why people like to play basketball - it's the most fun part. The awful thing about it for kids, is that some kids will develop terrible form early on but make shots because they practice a lot then make teams because they're good shooters, then they suck when form becomes important and they can't get their shot off and to change their shot takes a lot of misses and getting worse before they get better. 
 
Look for places to play on low hoops and 3v3 stay away from 5v5 as long as possible, which can be tough to do.
 

DJnVa

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Lots of good advice.  If you can get him to do dribbling drills at all, that will also work well if he wants to compete later on.
 
Yes--from coaching in local parks and rec leagues if he can learn to dribble he will be worlds ahead of a lot of kids in rec leagues. A lot of teams had maybe 2 kids that could dribble under even a bit of pressure. Get him comfortable dribbling and that's a huge benefit. After he gets the basic down, get him where he can do it with his body between you (the defender) and the ball and still move in the right direction. His rec coaches will love him.
 

AlNipper49

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Awesome advice guys. I got the smaller ball for him yesterday and will be cracking it out today.

Point taken on dribbling. I'll get him very comfortable dribbling but after that I'm fucked, it was always my weak point (the curse of playing on a backyard hoop on a 12x12 patch my entire childhood)
 

BillWarDamnEagleJay

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I'm late to the party (long time, first time) but I'll also support dribbling as the most important skill that a kid can learn. Even if he's just good with his dominant hand he'll be one of the more valuable members of any team that he's on. Depending on his temperament he might be helped by following one of the instructional DVDs that are out there. I bought my son a Youth Program 3 DVD set from this guy who calls himself SuperHandles. It was a good program, with about 10 drills per DVD, a progression plan with mini-tests, etc. Plus the required flash from SH. Fairly expensive at about $90 so there may be better options out there.
 

AlNipper49

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So it's actually gone very well thus far. His coach is a no bullshit guy who does indeed emphasize dribbling.

My son was FUCKING AWFUL. But I can definitely see small improvements with him every practice. He is also a first-time 8 year old in a 8-12 program.
 

Detts

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Holy shit is my daughter screwed. Practice number 2 was Monday. Coach was 10 minutes late so his 10 year old son ran the practice until he got there. They didn't have a kids rim available, so the SEVEN YEAR OLDS practiced with a normal goal. And he still made them spend 10 minutes trying to make shots.

And the first game is Saturday. This is hilariously bad. And sad.
 

Just a bit outside

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I'm late to the party (long time, first time) but I'll also support dribbling as the most important skill that a kid can learn. Even if he's just good with his dominant hand he'll be one of the more valuable members of any team that he's on. Depending on his temperament he might be helped by following one of the instructional DVDs that are out there. I bought my son a Youth Program 3 DVD set from this guy who calls himself SuperHandles. It was a good program, with about 10 drills per DVD, a progression plan with mini-tests, etc. Plus the required flash from SH. Fairly expensive at about $90 so there may be better options out there.
My son used the Better Basketball DVD's. They have a bunch of DVDs on different topics. I bought 3 of them. There was a dribbling one that had a couple of hundred drills that he started doing at about 9-10 years old. I also bought the shooting DVD which really breaks down shooting form and gives 20 shooting drills designed to work on your form and footwork. The 3rd DVD was one-on-one moves and is for more advanced kids. Looks like each DVD is about $40. I think I purchased a package of 3 for about $90-$100.
 
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Heinie Wagner

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Holy shit is my daughter screwed. Practice number 2 was Monday. Coach was 10 minutes late so his 10 year old son ran the practice until he got there. They didn't have a kids rim available, so the SEVEN YEAR OLDS practiced with a normal goal. And he still made them spend 10 minutes trying to make shots.

And the first game is Saturday. This is hilariously bad. And sad.
That is unfortunate. Can you get involved and help out? It wouldn't take much to improve upon that. Too bad they don't have 8 foot rims. Not many 7 year old girls are getting any benefit out of shooting at 10 feet goals.
 

Detts

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That is unfortunate. Can you get involved and help out? It wouldn't take much to improve upon that. Too bad they don't have 8 foot rims. Not many 7 year old girls are getting any benefit out of shooting at 10 feet goals.
That is unfortunate. Can you get involved and help out? It wouldn't take much to improve upon that. Too bad they don't have 8 foot rims. Not many 7 year old girls are getting any benefit out of shooting at 10 feet goals.
My wife signed them up at the YMCA instead of the Parks and Rec league because it was closer. Wee. They have 4 baskets in the gym. 2 adjustable and 2 not. There are 3 young teams on her day, so one day every 3 weeks they are hosed. Not much I can do.
 

Heinie Wagner

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My wife signed them up at the YMCA instead of the Parks and Rec league because it was closer. Wee. They have 4 baskets in the gym. 2 adjustable and 2 not. There are 3 young teams on her day, so one day every 3 weeks they are hosed. Not much I can do.
That's a shame. Too bad the three teams can't coordinate so while one team is working on ball handling or passing, the others use the lower rims and rotate doing stations the whole practice. So every team gets to shoot at height appropriate rims every practice.
 

troparra

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So how did the season go for your son? Was there improvement from beginning to end? Is he still interested in playing? Was it a positive experience?
Any things the coach did that you particularly liked or disliked?

I'm curious because my son, age 10, who has never played basketball before had his first practice last night. It's just a rec league, so not ultra competitive. He was one of 3 players (out of 10) who never played before. Two kids were really, really good, the rest were what you'd expect out of 5th graders, I think. Some could dribble, some could pass, nobody could really shoot. I did notice a significant amount of ball hogging when they scrimmaged at the end (my son never even touched the ball offensively in 20 min of scrimmage). I wonder if ball hogging is a problem at this age.
 

Bleedred

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I second the recommendation of the Better Basketball DVD's - not the greatest production quality, but the content is excellent.
For a free sample of their shooting video - which is also available video on demand now - http://betterbasketball.com/better-shooting-introduction/
That's no free sample. My son is in 8th grade, playing both AAU (low Division 1 team) and Metrowest (Highest Division 1). He's what I'd call a hybrid 2-3 player. Good outside shot, can handle the ball against pressure, but cannot stay with the super quick #1 PGs (nor is he asked to). High basketball IQ sometimes lazy defender. He wants to improve his shot to the point where it's a plus skill...and I'm trying to figure out if there is a product that is great for him to review. Would you recommend buying this Video ($35) from Better Basketball? Other sources?
 

Heinie Wagner

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Sorry, I get a preview/introduction when I go there. I highly recommend that video as well as the shooting workouts video from Better Basketball too. As I said, definitely not the greatest production quality, but excellent content.

If you have him on two AAU teams, I'm guessing $35 is a drop in the bucket. Have you done any professional lessons? If his form is good, and he has good footwork getting into his shot, there's no substitute for quality repetitions. Went to a friend's house this summer who has a full court in their backyard and one of these - https://drdishbasketball.com/ I highly recommend that and wish we lived closer to them - not something we could afford.

Hal Wissel isn't for everyone - he's a very analytical, grumpy old man - very old school, this is his website
http://www.basketballworld.com/
If you are any where near his clinics/mini-camps, I highly recommend them - IF your kid is analytical and can deal with a grumpy old man for a few hours - some people are completely turned off by him.
 

AlNipper49

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So how did the season go for your son? Was there improvement from beginning to end? Is he still interested in playing? Was it a positive experience?
Any things the coach did that you particularly liked or disliked?

I'm curious because my son, age 10, who has never played basketball before had his first practice last night. It's just a rec league, so not ultra competitive. He was one of 3 players (out of 10) who never played before. Two kids were really, really good, the rest were what you'd expect out of 5th graders, I think. Some could dribble, some could pass, nobody could really shoot. I did notice a significant amount of ball hogging when they scrimmaged at the end (my son never even touched the ball offensively in 20 min of scrimmage). I wonder if ball hogging is a problem at this age.
It's actually gone really really really well, and honestly most of the credit has to go to him and his teammates. I've made it a point to go there with him any time he wants (and a few times I've had to nudge him, get him away from the tv, etc)

But he's never missed a practice, he's always ready for practice and when he's at practice he tries really hard. He still sucks beyond comprehension but he's gotten a TON better. His other teammates not only don't outcast him, but include him -- which is pretty cool since not only is he the only first year player on the team, but he's the only white kid.

My worrying about techniques and the advice that I got here was very helpful. Nothing beats practice, but the main takeaway here was that I needed to get him good at ball handling first, which made a HUGE difference in later games. All of the kids miss most of their shots, but the ones who take front and center don't lose the ball. And that's not to say he's good at it, but by not completely sucking it is helping him make up the confidence gap a lot.

If I had to do it again I would have started him on a shorter basket, but we didn't and he had adapted. He's gotten some bad habits by trying to overcome not being srtong enough, but nothing that all of the other kids aren't doing anyways.

He's excited to play again next year. Season is almost over.
 

troparra

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It's actually gone really really really well, and honestly most of the credit has to go to him and his teammates.
Thanks for the update. This is really good to hear. My son has had only two practices so far, and he's having fun. I guess that's all I can ask for at this point. I was worried about him being an outcast, but so far that's not an issue, and after what you said I feel a little better. I've also had my son practicing ball handling. I've never seen a game at this level, so I have no idea what will happen in games. I'll find out soon, one more practice and the 1st game is on Saturday.
 

riboflav

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Thanks for the update. This is really good to hear. My son has had only two practices so far, and he's having fun. I guess that's all I can ask for at this point. I was worried about him being an outcast, but so far that's not an issue, and after what you said I feel a little better. I've also had my son practicing ball handling. I've never seen a game at this level, so I have no idea what will happen in games. I'll find out soon, one more practice and the 1st game is on Saturday.
The games will suck which is why they shouldn't be playing games. The games are for the adults. I hate America.
 

Valek123

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Nip, pick him up a few youth basketballs to work on shooting form with (much lighter and 27.5 size), have him do constant right, left right leg up hard right handed lay up drills, left right left hard left handed layups and tons of chair heads up dribbling drills. If he can do nothing beyond dribble with both hands and keep his head up along with making layups he'll be successful. I've got a ton of shooting drills but so much just comes from using proper form from within 6 feet and working on that muscle memory. I snap when the kids I coach practice 3 pointers, well more like make them do sprints as its tremendously harmful to their shooting technique and it takes forever to break bad shooting habits and only a few weeks to get good ones formed.

Focus on 3v3 programs if you can find them, they teach much better fundamentals and spacing at his age...
 

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I am coaching a 10-yr-old team, with a bunch of kids who barely knew, at the beginning of the season, what a game of basketball looked like from the perspective of a player. Most had never played an organized game.

I worked all season with them on fundamentals of defense and offense, including introducing some VERY basic motion offense concepts to them, and working on forcing the other team to go left, with strong help defense. We lost every game but one, with a few close ones, but most by 10-15 points.

All of the teams make the playoffs. We were assigned a team that beat us already this year. I was sure today would be our last day.

But my assistant and I carefully selected our lineups, and developed a game plan that included running out the third quarter with a slowdown offense, and a scrappy defensive lineup, to bridge us to the fourth quarter when we could bring our scorers back (so everyone could play the requisite time).

It fucking worked. Our guys played a real game of basketball, with everyone doing his job. The shortest kid on the team got an open jump shot that he heaved in. We ran a couple of successful inbound screens under the basket for layup shots. Our top scorer, who actually sat an extra quarter to make everything work with the defensive third, bitched and moaned about sitting, but got onboard, and came back fresh in the fourth to close out the win. We even faced a press for the first time (because we were ahead by 6+ in the last three minutes--pressing is restricted in our league) and the guys responded to a quick press break we drew up in a time out--attributable to the concepts we have been teaching them during the year. They fought for loose balls and rebounds. We won every quarter. They could not have been happier. I was so proud of their effort.

I'm sure we'll lose in the semis, but for today, it was awesome. I just want to gloat.

The ref, who has seen us struggle and seen me working with them all year, gave me a very nice compliment on the game--told me it was beautifully played by our guys, and said he saw the coaching paying off. The opposing coach (who had started the game by saying "I guess this is your big rematch") came over to me afterwards and told me this was the worst his team had played all year, and that they had their shots, they just didn't go in. I just nodded and said "yup, that's how it is sometimes."

Can I get an AMEN!?
 
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moondog80

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I'm helping out with my son's 5th grade team. I'm pretty up front about the fact that I know very little about coaching basketball, happy to be there just to help practices run smoothly and let the head guy run things. He's definitely better at it than I am. Today, we were doing some shooting from just below the elbow and he was telling them the proper way is to try and bank it off the backboard; I felt silly because I had just told them the opposite, but I said that they should always listen to him ahead of me. But is this really correct? Younger kids I can see, but at least some of the kids at this age can shoot the ball fairly well. I'm happy to admit it if I'm wrong but I've been telling my son to only go off the board on layups.
 
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Just a bit outside

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I wouldn't recommend banking a shot from the elbow. You can use the boards on shots other than lay ups if you have a good angle, see Tim Duncan, but the elbow is not one of them.
 

Heinie Wagner

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Bank shot from the block and one slot up (usually two slot marks on the way from the block to the elbow) - any farther up towards the elbow and you don't use the backboard.

If that's the biggest issue you have with the guy, I wouldn't worry about it much. Most 5th graders probably aren't going to listen to that advice anyways.
 

riboflav

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Bank shot from the block and one slot up (usually two slot marks on the way from the block to the elbow) - any farther up towards the elbow and you don't use the backboard.

If that's the biggest issue you have with the guy, I wouldn't worry about it much. Most 5th graders probably aren't going to listen to that advice anyways.
Agree with this. Many coaches today only teach bank on the blocks but I still allow/teach bank up to one hash mark beyond the block. Works very well for beginning shooters and not-so-good shooters.
 

Winger 03

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So my 7th grade son wants to try basketball. The school he goes to has enough boys interested (roughly 24) to field 2 teams. Since this is new to us we do not know any history, etc of what goes on. He ends up on the A team (there is a B team but the letters are for ease of identification only---- yeah suuuuure). We hear from his friends parents that he is on the "stacked" team. Not too sure what to make of that since I do not really know the other kids or who is where since from my son's team. I go to a couple of the practices and see that the coach seems to teach at a high level and my son is learning a lot and seems really interested. Good times all around.

So we practice once with the B team near Thanksgiving and I hear from parents I know things like "you all are great" and "you have so many players" etc. Turns out that after teams were split up 2 kids left to go to a better league and one kid got hurt and they are down to about 8 kids while we are at 12. In looking at their practice they were not anywhere near as good as my son's team and the coaching was like night and day.

Well, less than a week before the first game my son gets reassigned to the B team. No opportunity for discussion, nothing. Not that I really cared that he was going to a lesser team to help balance the numbers but it really looked as though the A team was dumping its worst player. I called the coach and school team coordinator out on their BS and they started to backpedal like mad. My son was the only one who went to the new team but only after the better kids they asked to transfer said no. We were given no such option. I felt a little bad for my son since I knew the level of coaching would less and felt bad for the new team because there was no way in hell that my son could offer them the help they really need. The A coach called me at some point and said he really wanted to keep my son (BS) but it was out of his hands. And that he wishes he could say it will all work out OK but the it won't because the B team is so bad.

Game 1 was on Saturday..... We lost 45-7 and were giftet a bunch of non-calls from the officials who ignored many traveling and double dribbles.

Awful.....
 

Cumberland Blues

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Ugh...I can empathize a bit Winger. My son plays in a 5th-6th grade county rec league - it's competitive, but certainly a step down from AAU or the like. Most towns have 2 teams, our town is real small so we play with the next town over who has 3 teams - and for the most part they got divided up pretty evenly (one team is a bit weaker than the other two - but not overwhelmingly so). There's one town that is also within the boundaries for a more competitive league - they ended up fielding two teams in that better league - leaving their rec team with all first year players who could not make the better teams. First game on Sat - my son's team got matched up against that town's rec team. They turned the scoreboard off 8 minutes in when it was 22-0. My kid's team is pretty good - but not great by any stretch and I expect they'll finish the season around .500 or a tic above....after the board was off, the coach ordered 4 passes before any shot and no defense outside the 3-line....and if they'd kept the scoreboard running it would've been 60+ to 2 at the end - also with the refs ignoring all but the most flagrant fouls on the weaker team. The whole gym reflexively cheered when the weak team finally scored with about 4 minutes left - but you could tell that embarrassed the kids even more - just a horrible situation.

That town should've insisted the teams in the better league take 3 kids each from the rec team (they only had 6) or not fielded a team. The kids aren't going to learn a damn thing from the beatings they are going to take. And it ain't really fair to the teams they play either - the coaches can only back the kids off so much else it becomes farcical.
 

PaulinMyrBch

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Winger, that sucks. Hate to hear they are splitting them up like that. I coached my sons teams as he was growing up and I'll say without a doubt, basketball was the toughest to balance the skilled players from those that were learning. The nature of the game just lends itself to difficult situations at that age. Hope he doesn't get too discouraged, the game should be fun at that level or kids don't stay with it. Can't imagine many more games like that will help. Good luck.
 

robssecondjob

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My sons 5th grade team was on the losing end of those scores last year. I am pretty sure it was more painful for the parents than it was for the kids. Most of them forgot it or at least we are able to make light of it some short time after the game.

The coach realized they were going to get killed and started to focus on just getting better. Highlighting the fact they tied the half or they made more free throws than they did the week before. Focused on the progression not the results.

Everybody on the team from last season tried out again. 13 of 15 (one moved and one was really truly over-matched) are on the 6th grade version of the team. They have won their first 2 games of the season. They are not world beaters, but they may have a shot at being a .500 club.

It sucks going through it though.
 

Winger 03

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The kids did not really seem to care (notice?) that they were getting drummed - lots of anguish in the stands however. It is a crummy situation for them that could have easily been avoided. Coach seems to have been down this path before. He mentioned to my wife that he wants everyone to at least score one basket and learn some fundamentals. A low bar compared to the fast break and 1/2 court traps the A team is running.
 

riboflav

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The kids did not really seem to care (notice?) that they were getting drummed - lots of anguish in the stands however. It is a crummy situation for them that could have easily been avoided. Coach seems to have been down this path before. He mentioned to my wife that he wants everyone to at least score one basket and learn some fundamentals. A low bar compared to the fast break and 1/2 court traps the A team is running.
In 7th grade? Your kid may have dodged a bullet. "Good" coaches don't run 1/2 court traps and waste valuable time teaching kids how to play defense with such gimmicks. I've yet to meet a 7th grader who knows how to guard the ball let alone set a proper trap and/or rotate to the ball and play interceptor. Ask this coach if he's already trained his players to defend the ball one-on-one at the top of the key and on the wing and in the corner and in the low and high posts. How about playing in the gap (or deny) positions or in help 2 passes away or 3 passes away? Where is their positioning with the ball above to foul line vs. with it below the foul line? Footwork? Hand placement? Communication? Defending screens and switches?... Traps? That's like 35th on the list of what a kid needs to know on defense before high school.

My advice is to take advantage of this opportunity and teach your kid how to work through adversity and to focus on the PROCESS of learning and getting better. F winning. That's for the parents. I've never met a kid at that age who cares about it as much as the parents.
 

riboflav

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Seriously, this stuff rankles me. I keep getting kids in high school who don't know anything about defense. A kid needs to know how to close out, especially a banana closeout, before he can trap. I highly doubt after a few weeks of practice at that level, that team has mastered banana closeouts. I'm 19 practices into our high school season which is 38 hours of practice time and we will not get to traps until winter break. My kids who are older, more experienced, and more athletic than 7th graders are just beginning to learn defensive transition and scramble situations after a month of teaching and drilling everything above. Once we're done with one-defender back, two-back, etc. we'll move on to full court man press, and then trapping. What bothers me as much is now coaches on the other side feel like they need to teach 7th grade kids how to avoid and handle traps on offense instead of more fundamental skills they're all so desperately in need of knowing.

EDIT: And why do most youth coaches play zone and trap and so on? Because it makes them look like they're "good" coaches. Schemes exploit the athletic and skill vulnerabilities of the young in order to put points on the scoreboard and checkmarks in the win column, the two things most parents only notice or care about. Not saying you guys necessarily but it's largely true.
 

Heinie Wagner

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 14, 2001
731
Simsbury, CT
EDIT: And why do most youth coaches play zone and trap and so on? Because it makes them look like they're "good" coaches. Schemes exploit the athletic and skill vulnerabilities of the young in order to put points on the scoreboard and checkmarks in the win column, the two things most parents only notice or care about. Not saying you guys necessarily but it's largely true.
Welcome to youth basketball. AAU is even worse.

We're in a 12 town league, 5th-8th grade. I went to our league meeting a couple years ago and proposed new rules: no zone defenses and no full court presses for 5th grade, just 5th grade.

My argument: baseball starts with a smaller field and different rules for younger kids, soccer uses smaller fields, smaller goals and fewer players on the field. Why does basketball jump straight to High School rules? I wanted to teach fundamentals, footwork, layups, spacing, shooting form etc to my 5th graders, not a press break and zone offense.

By the time it got to a vote, I watered it down to no zone, no press the first time through the schedule, we play every team twice. One guy voted with me for no press, that vote lost 10-2, no zone lost 11-1.

The comments from the other coaches were laughable, "you only need to spend a few minutes each practice on fundamentals if you know what you're doing", "5th grade games are great, it's chaos, they run all over and miss a ton of layups".

I suggested rule for a guy for a 4th grade league he formed. No press, no zone both got implemented - it's great. I also proposed no 3 pointers - they'd just count as 2 if any of the 4th graders made a "shot" from behind the line. Other coaches freaked "they have to learn how to shoot 3's" and he relented on that one. If you've ever seen a 4th grader take a 3 point shot, it is not helping them become a better basketball player.

Brutal. So much about youth sports is not about the kids. The more I'm involved the more cynical I get.
 

riboflav

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 20, 2006
9,546
NOVA
I've got a coach in our region, Coach Al, who coaches many of my players when they're 5th-8th grade. In 5th grade, he's telling certain players hey you're a one-dribble player or hey, you shouldn't shoot anything but lay ups. Hey Coach Al, here's an idea why don't you teach them something?!?! Instead, he just schemes the whole time. I went to one of his practices last week. He had them for 90 minutes He spent 30 on inbounding plays, 20 on a press break, 15 where they stood around watching him lecture on how to set an off-ball screen (they're 11!!), and 25 on scrimmaging like chickens. So, after practice, I confronted him and asked him why not teach them how to shoot or dribble, and he said that's what the offseason is for. It's like these coaches watch Dean Smith videos or read his books and think that's what is totally appropriate for 11-year olds, especially in the 21st century. You're a one-dribble player. God!!
 

riboflav

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 20, 2006
9,546
NOVA
Welcome to youth basketball. AAU is even worse.

We're in a 12 town league, 5th-8th grade. I went to our league meeting a couple years ago and proposed new rules: no zone defenses and no full court presses for 5th grade, just 5th grade.

My argument: baseball starts with a smaller field and different rules for younger kids, soccer uses smaller fields, smaller goals and fewer players on the field. Why does basketball jump straight to High School rules? I wanted to teach fundamentals, footwork, layups, spacing, shooting form etc to my 5th graders, not a press break and zone offense.

By the time it got to a vote, I watered it down to no zone, no press the first time through the schedule, we play every team twice. One guy voted with me for no press, that vote lost 10-2, no zone lost 11-1.

The comments from the other coaches were laughable, "you only need to spend a few minutes each practice on fundamentals if you know what you're doing", "5th grade games are great, it's chaos, they run all over and miss a ton of layups".

I suggested rule for a guy for a 4th grade league he formed. No press, no zone both got implemented - it's great. I also proposed no 3 pointers - they'd just count as 2 if any of the 4th graders made a "shot" from behind the line. Other coaches freaked "they have to learn how to shoot 3's" and he relented on that one. If you've ever seen a 4th grader take a 3 point shot, it is not helping them become a better basketball player.

Brutal. So much about youth sports is not about the kids. The more I'm involved the more cynical I get.
I was at a Freshman boys game tonight. And, the coach pulled a kid out and screamed at him, Stop Shooting!!! You're killing us!! Uhhhh, how's the kid supposed to get better if he's not allowed to shoot? The focus was not on shot selection, mind you, which was actually pretty good, it was on the RESULTS (misses) instead of the PROCESS (shot selection & shooting form). Very few really want to be a developmental coach. Everyone thinks they're Coach K in the Final Four.

EDIT: And then parents and players wonder why didn't he or I make varsity? Or, why don't I play more? As I tell some of my kids, hey it ain't your fault. Your coaches were failures and let you down.
 

robssecondjob

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
660
Falmouth, MA
Our fifth grade league has no zone defense and full court press only in the last 2 minutes. And no full court press if there is a 20 point lead.

I was scoring a 7th grade boys game yesterday and all of the bad things mentioned above were on full display. My favorite being wild three's from the middle of the chest with two hands. NBA depth three's.
 

riboflav

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 20, 2006
9,546
NOVA
Our fifth grade league has no zone defense and full court press only in the last 2 minutes. And no full court press if there is a 20 point lead.

I was scoring a 7th grade boys game yesterday and all of the bad things mentioned above were on full display. My favorite being wild three's from the middle of the chest with two hands. NBA depth three's.
What is the point of this in 5th grade? Keeping the parents interested, of course.

The two-handed shot is the bane of my existence. Hardest habit in basketball to break. Screw you, youth basketball caretakers.
 

Heinie Wagner

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 14, 2001
731
Simsbury, CT
I've got a coach in our region, Coach Al, who coaches many of my players when they're 5th-8th grade. In 5th grade, he's telling certain players hey you're a one-dribble player or hey, you shouldn't shoot anything but lay ups. Hey Coach Al, here's an idea why don't you teach them something?!?! Instead, he just schemes the whole time. I went to one of his practices last week. He had them for 90 minutes He spent 30 on inbounding plays, 20 on a press break, 15 where they stood around watching him lecture on how to set an off-ball screen (they're 11!!), and 25 on scrimmaging like chickens. So, after practice, I confronted him and asked him why not teach them how to shoot or dribble, and he said that's what the offseason is for. It's like these coaches watch Dean Smith videos or read his books and think that's what is totally appropriate for 11-year olds, especially in the 21st century. You're a one-dribble player. God!!
Find another place for your son to play.

My first 5th grade A team travel practice with my oldest, I'm an assistant coach - 15 minutes into the practice, they start working on a play. Most of the kids can't consistently make layups. One of the other assistants is the High School Varsity assistant. I tell him I'm surprised we're into plays already and not working on shooting form, layups, footwork etc. He replies just like your guy did - "this is travel, players have to work on that stuff on their own in the offseason".

I agree on the coaches thinking they are Dean Smith or Rick Pitino. It's absurd. Youth basketball in this area is in a really, really bad place.

The truly crappy thing is that is what HS basketball looks like around here (north/central CT). Only 2 guys on a team who are going to score much, a play called out every time down the court. Don't make mistakes, don't look bad. Don't develop players. Brutal.
 

robssecondjob

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
660
Falmouth, MA
We just had our first great parent incident of the season.

Player didn't make the travel team. He did the previous season, but his parents pulled him with about 3 games left in the season because they felt he wasn't getting enough playing time. They were also convinced the coach was terrible. Evidence was, of course, a losing record. We figured he wasn't going to tryout for this season. He did and looked a little better, but didn't make the team.

Turns out a spot opened up on the team a couple of days before the first game. This player being next on the list was invited back.

After the first weekend of games, he never showed up for practice. Turns out his parents pulled him again because he didn't get enough playing time. They had it timed to the second. First games of the season when he had practiced with the team once...