Basketball for young kids

Bringing this thread back to see if anyone has a favorite resource for coaching plans that might work for my daughter's team of 4th grade (U10) girls, most of whom did not get the chance to play any basketball last year. 20 girls tried out and I am coaching the B team (which means the 10 players evaluated as best are on the A team, and we get everyone else). We will get 2 90 minutes practices/week and a game on the weekends. I am looking for practice plans, drills, and rudimentary plays that we can try to implement. Googling returns too much information, and much of it seems geared toward better/more experienced players. I think we will be on 10 foot hoops, 27.5 inch balls, and the rules require man to man defense, no full court press except in last 2 minutes, and no trapping/double teaming.

I am a girls varsity head coach. You cannot go wrong with Brian McCormick in how to teach the game and develop actual fundamentals as opposed to the fake ones that so many “trainers” on Google teach. Feel free to DM me for more insight.

OK had this happen recently 8th grade School team. Opposition steals the ball and takes off for an uncontested layup. Our player 5 steps behind gives a Yell just as the opposing player lays its up. Its a miss. Our player grabs the rebound and Whistle.
Ref calls "Violation".
He then gives them 2 shots. And the Ball. There did not seem to be any team or individual player techs awarded.

Is that a valid call? Just curious. I realize it might be a little bush as well.

A bit more info that paticular ref was IMHO and the opinion of quite a few onlookers was "horrible". (the other one was quite good but of course didnt say anything about this particular play).
Our team won. So not even sour grapes.

bakahump said:

OK had this happen recently 8th grade School team. Opposition steals the ball and takes off for an uncontested layup. Our player 5 steps behind gives a Yell just as the opposing player lays its up. Its a miss. Our player grabs the rebound and Whistle.
Ref calls "Violation".
He then gives them 2 shots. And the Ball. There did not seem to be any team or individual player techs awarded.

Is that a valid call? Just curious. I realize it might be a little bush as well.

A bit more info that paticular ref was IMHO and the opinion of quite a few onlookers was "horrible". (the other one was quite good but of course didnt say anything about this particular play).
Our team won. So not even sour grapes.

Click to expand...

Not sure what the rule is, but if you were able to call out bush league plays I'd call a violation on that play 10 times out of 10.

So as the only volunteer to even assistant coach, I'm apparently coaching our 6YO's summer basketball team... any great suggestions on how to teach 6 year olds how to dribble?

(as a reference, my basketball level is 'didn't make the JV middle school team', so I'm very much going into this with a 'they're going to have fun and maybe get vaguely close to hitting the basket'-level plan)

Gdiguy said:

So as the only volunteer to even assistant coach, I'm apparently coaching our 6YO's summer basketball team... any great suggestions on how to teach 6 year olds how to dribble?

(as a reference, my basketball level is 'didn't make the JV middle school team', so I'm very much going into this with a 'they're going to have fun and maybe get vaguely close to hitting the basket'-level plan)

Click to expand...

Do what this guy did:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQvDAsBZLUY


But seriously, just have them dribble and try to get them to keep their head up. Dribble up and down the court. With both hands if possible Use cones if you have them. And tell them if they really want to learn to dribble, they just got to do it. All of the time.

Good luck with the team!

Gdiguy said:

So as the only volunteer to even assistant coach, I'm apparently coaching our 6YO's summer basketball team... any great suggestions on how to teach 6 year olds how to dribble?

(as a reference, my basketball level is 'didn't make the JV middle school team', so I'm very much going into this with a 'they're going to have fun and maybe get vaguely close to hitting the basket'-level plan)

Click to expand...

If you're lucky, there will be a handful that can keep it going on their own. Keep them to one side, and take the ones who can't get the hang of it to the other. I just went one-by-one by dribbling it as slow as I could and then handing it over to them to mimic. My hoops level was "played baseball and hockey", but they catch on eventually.

Take Aleve, and stretch. You'll be hunched over a lot.

Gdiguy said:

So as the only volunteer to even assistant coach, I'm apparently coaching our 6YO's summer basketball team... any great suggestions on how to teach 6 year olds how to dribble?

(as a reference, my basketball level is 'didn't make the JV middle school team', so I'm very much going into this with a 'they're going to have fun and maybe get vaguely close to hitting the basket'-level plan)

Click to expand...

Make sure everyone has a ball - have them bring one if they have to. Get them to spend as much time as possible with everyone having a ball in their hands.
It's tough for kids that age to make shots (hopefully they're using low hoops) - but they can learn to dribble

Dribble knockout - View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnzaBf7aQGs

He doesn't explain it well - but start with the 3 point area - then go down to the key, then down to the circle as dribblers get knocked out

Brian McCormick has a ton of tag and other games - View: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJPWbmiRxw1OZyy-xuT4EVHLL4ISBWc4W


Vary stuff where they stand still and dribble (3-5 minutes) with stuff where they run around and dribble.
Keep each segment short - end it BEFORE they lose focus
Accept that it will be chaotic - hope for somewhat controlled chaos
Heap on the praise and encouragement and have fun

I would say a cup is more important at 11/12u than it is at 13/14u. Lots of kids have outgrown the small diamond by then and are hitting rockets at close range.

Tell them this story and they will make the decision on their own.
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/adrian-beltre-to-dl-could-be-lost-for-season-with-injured-testicle/