Youth Basketball

Organization + Communication = Great Youth Basketball Coach

So you’ve decided to become a coach for a youth basketball team?  Congratulations, you’re well on your way to becoming an important role model for youth while encouraging important things like fair play, teamwork, and confidence.  While coaching youth basketball can be a difficult task, by being organized and employing good communication skills, you’ll be surprise just how easily things roll.

Putting the fun in fundamentals 

To start off, the most important thing to emphasize when coaching youth basketball is fun.  While it may be fun to dream, chances are you’re not training future NBA or WNBA stars.  It’s more likely many kids joined the team to get in shape, meet new people or simply because they have a love of the game.  

To make the whole process fun everyone involved, don’t take your job as coach too seriously by acting out negatively on your team.  Yelling negative comments at your players is actually counter-productive, because apart from embarrassing the player in front of their teammates, it can make your team gradually lose the respect they have for you.  By placing the emphasis on fun and always keeping a positive attitude, you’ll encourage your team to do the same!

When you notice a player or players having trouble with a particular skill or drill, instead of singling them out in front of the team try addressing the team as a whole and mentioning that some are having trouble with the skill.  Then use this as an opportunity to demonstrate the correct manner of executing the skill and have the players repeat the drill.  If that player continues to have trouble, try taking them aside and offering private one-on-one help instead of forcing them to fail in front of their peers. 

Good sportsmanship is one of the most important qualities to keep in mind when coaching youth basketball.  Children learn by example, especially when they are younger.  If the coach is yelling at the referee following a bad play, players may start following suit.  Teach your team to play hard and play fair.  While winning and losing may be of little importance at this stage in the game, your team will go home with a smile on their faces knowing they gave it their all and played fair and square.  

Coming up with a Practice Plan 

When coaching youth basketball, always come to each practice prepared with a plan but be prepared to deviate from that plan if need be.  Since your practice times will probably be quite limited, keep things simple.  At this age, children do well with routine, so if you run your practices along the same timeline they will be able to anticipate what’s coming and prepare for it.  

We start off each of our practices with ten minutes worth of ball handling and dribbling drills.  After this we move on to passing drills followed by footwork drills, focusing on a different footwork still each week.  Then come times for the kids to practice their shooting skills, followed by a quick run through of our offensive and defensive plays.  After this I allow the remainder of the session to be devoted to scrimmage so they have a chance to put their skills to work in a game play situation.  Finally, I devote the last 5 minutes of every practice to a question and answer session where the kids give me feedback on the practice and ask any questions they may have at that time.