Need Coaching Advice For 10u Girls Team

[toddwilliam 0]

Hi Everyone:

Quick Background: I have a group of 3rd and 4th grade girls playing in a park and rec league. 8 Foot baskets. No zone defenses allowed, pressing only in the final 2 minutes, no double teaming, discourage the concept of "isolation" offenses, etc. You can't play defense until the other team crosses half court or even the 3 point arc at times, unless they are on a fast break.

I have most of the kids back from a winless campaign last year. Let's just say they were/are mostly beginners. Last year, I changed our "offense" (if you could call it that) in practice almost every week, to try and find something that might work. (We only scored 1 basket in our first game).

This year, I want to try and be more consistent, and preach/run the same offensive philosophy from the 1st practice of the year to the last one of the year. I just don't know what to do. My daughter is small and quick and learned how to make a lay-up over the summer. Another returnee grew a few inches and may actually be fairly tall for the league and offer much needed help and height near the basket. I don't have many other weapons. In the end, it is of course not about winning but it'd be nice to experience some success and be competitive!!!

Any suggestions for an easy, basic offense that kids can understand that also works? I'd of course like to get everyone involved in some sort of motion offense, setting picks, etc, but I'd also like to at times be able to take advantage of my two top players (above) if we really need a basket at the end of a game or something. Thanks in advance for any ideas, suggestion, or feedback! ----Coach Todd

[cgh 0]

I would cruise the forums and see what has been sugessted.

1. Fundimentals are key

- Work on passing, the better you pass the better you play. (ladder drill)

- Ball handling (blindfold the kids and see if they can maintain a dribble for 30 seconds at a time).

- Play tag in one of the keys, idea is to hit another players ball out of the key or get someone to step on the line (last one gets a high five from everyone)

2. Work on lay-ups

3. Forget plays they usually get forgotted at game time, try a simple spread offense space the girls out across the top of the key and work on passing the ball around until a defender bites and gets out of position.

C

[Coach Rob 26]

Any suggestions for an easy, basic offense that kids can understand that also works?

Forget plays they usually get forgotted at game time, try a simple spread offense space the girls out across the top of the key and work on passing the ball around until a defender bites and gets out of position.

Tend to agree with cgh here, I've never been able to come up with plays for 3rd/4th graders that work on a consistent basis. Mainly because of what cgh said in the first part of his msg, fundamentals. If kids can't dribble with their heads up, plays won't work. Setting simple picks seemed to work once in a while, but we had our most success by teaching them to spread out and ball movement.

We emphasize quick passes, move after you pass and look for someone under the basket. We also teach them what it means to get open. We'll throw out an incentive like a small prize early in the season for X amount of predetermined passes in a specific game. You'd be amazed how many passes a team can make in one game, we've hit upwards of 80. Can't really focus on scoring for that game, but I guarantee you they will have the concept of ball movement if you try it once in a real game.

CRob

[cgh 0]

weave drills are a great way to improve pass and move techniques.

Something else I taught was if you make a pass set a pick, if you set a pick expect a pass.

If you recieve a pass take no more than 5 steps before you pass it's a cycle; short heads up dribbling, leading to a pass, resulting in a pick, which leads to a pass.

Make sure you and your players are constantly communicating on what is going on the back line has a birds eye on the game make sure they are talking to each other.

C

[Coach Rob 26]

Had our 2nd game of the season today. We ended up winning pretty big, but that wasn't the cool part. The kids passed it 37 times in the first half, so at halftime we challenged them to pass it 60 times in the second half. They passed it 81 times in the second half ending up with a grand total of 118 passes. Remember we're talking about 3rd and 4th graders here. To hit 118 passes you have move, you have to get open, you have no choice. The kids end up encouraging each other and their communication improves.

I've X'd and O'd plays, asked them to move after passing, spread out, etc., and the most effective way I've found to teach offense is by challenging them on the total number of passes. I tell them as soon as they get the ball to think "Who is open?".

Every kid likes to shoot and as the season rolls along, we start allowing them to take the open shots and drive more to the basket. However, we've found that emphasizing the passing first makes for a better overall offense down the road. They don't take as many wild shots and start looking for people who are open under the basket. It works.

CRob

[cgh 0]

Awesome, I feel that passing is a huge part of the game, my 6th, 7th & 8th grade girls spent 40-50% of every practice doing passing and intercepting drills, didi very well once they mastered the pass.

C

[buckhead 0]

Here is a video that visualizes good drills for this age of girls or boys:

http://clubhousegas.com/index.php?option=c...icle&id=418

[CoachJohn11 0]

I am in a similar situation. Coaching 3rd & 4th grade girls rec basketball, differnent group than last year, 10 foot rims, no defense until half court, no double teaming anywhere, no jump balls, and NO scorekeeping.

We really do not have an offense of any kind, just a simple crossing pattern to confuse the defense.

Biulding on Todd’s questions:

1. How do you get a girl too not be afraid of the ball, when it is passed too her?

2. I would like to shorten the learning curve. With a positive tone, I keep my instructions short and sweet. But are there any magic phrases or ways of explaining concepts to 8 – 9 year old girls? For example; When the ball is passed to you, come and meet the ball, don’t wait for it to come to you.

Thanks for the help,

John

[cgh 0]

Do not stand girl @ center court and have everyone throw basketballs at her as hard as possible

1. Girls need to understand the why, boys tend to blindly follow orders, get them to the why and they will suprise you.

2. Set up some chairs or pylons, have the girls run towards you, make a softbounce pass to them, tell them to dribble for 2 steps and pass right back to you return to end of line. Once they get that down have one of the girls making the bounce pass, and have the girls recieving the pass take her place, keep them moving.

C

[CoachJohn11 0]

Thanks cgh. That is great advice!

We will work on understanding what we are learning and why. I will have them explain what we are trying to learn.

Thanks,

John

[cgh 0]

Had an assistant who had never coach girls, started yelling like he normally did, noticed the girls just tune him out after a while. Not saying coddle the girls, be firm but the understanding why approach seems to be a good way to go.

[Coach Rob 26]

Do not stand girl @ center court and have everyone throw basketballs at her as hard as possible

:D Hey! That would shorten the learning curve.

I am in a similar situation. Coaching 3rd & 4th grade girls rec basketball, differnent group than last year, 10 foot rims, no defense until half court, no double teaming anywhere, no jump balls, and NO scorekeeping. 1.How do you get a girl too not be afraid of the ball, when it is passed too her?

First suggestion is introduce a lot of passing drills in your practices, the more they pass the more confident they will become. We use several different passing drills, couple of suggestions:

*Split up into two teams, form a circle (large enough for bounce passes to each other). Make it a competition between the two teams, how many passes they can make in 45 seconds. Works well, usually one team wins, then the other, then you have the grudge match. All kids get to make/receive passes. Coaches keep track of # of passes. Key is to make good quick passes.

* Big circle, one girl in the middle, she starts out by bounce passing to every girl in the circle and they return the pass. Then, introduce two balls, same deal. The two ball deal gets kind of intense, so start out slow, all bounce passes no chest passes or people end up getting hit in the nose.

*Keep away - really big circle with everyone participating. Two people in the middle, coach and player. Can't pass to the person right next to you, if you do, you're in the middle. If you intercept or block a pass, the person who passed is in the middle. If you hang onto the ball more than 2 seconds without passing you're in the middle.

*Monkey in the middle http://www.ehow.com/video_2355026_the-monk...ball-drill.html Key is to make sure the offensive players stay in a specific spot, they tend to run off to the side to pass.

*Two ball pass drill, similar to the circle pass with two balls: http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Coach-Bas...s-Drill-6184017

I teach my boys to give a target to receive a pass. They put their hands up, fingers spread out with the thumbs almost touching.

If you want to kick it up a notch (or just get a good laugh) try some 3 man weaves. We did this in our last practice and it looked like a butchered version of a square dance coming down the court. It will get better by the end of our season.

I would like to shorten the learning curve. With a positive tone, I keep my instructions short and sweet. But are there any magic phrases or ways of explaining concepts to 8 – 9 year old girls? For example; When the ball is passed to you, come and meet the ball, don’t wait for it to come to you.

You touched on something that is a KEY with younger players. I use key phrases all the time for all sports. You teach a concept, then give it a name. For defense, we use peanut butter. I explain to my kids that when you put peanut butter on bread it doesn't come off, no matter what you do. That's how I want you to play defense. If your player goes to get a drink, follow him/her, etc. So when we say "peanut butter", the kids know what that means.

Tough concept of coming to meet the ball, I've found that sometimes that creates this bunch up effect around the person with the ball. Best way to teach passing/receiving is challenge them to pass it X# of times in a game. Tell them when they get the ball to think "who's open?". When you pass, move and look at the person with the ball. I've found by challenging them to pass it X# of times, they start realizing they have to move and spread out, it seems to happen naturally. Probably a good thing to explain to the parents what you're doing or they'll freak out if kids aren't shooting enough in the game. If you're working on passing in a game, you can't worry about the score, but it will have BIG payoffs down the road, trust me. Especially if your team stays together for a few seasons.

If you notice in games every time a kid scores the crowd goes nuts, but they never go nuts when they see a great pass. Haven't come up with a cool phrase for passing or getting open yet, but you've got me thinking now. Kids are conditioned that scoring gets people fired up. Celebrate passes in the game, make a HUGE deal out of it. Have the parents make a HUGE deal out of it. When you finish the game, have everyone gather around (parents included) and shout out the total # of passes for the game.

You'll have to teach them in practice how to get open and what that means. We do inbound plays with just 3 players, one throws it in (with someone covering them) and the two other offensive players are trying to get open (with two players defending). Good drill/game to show them they can't just stand there as we give points for completed inbound passes.

CRob

[cgh 0]

CRob: That really hit the nail on the head!

C

[CoachJohn11 0]

Coach Rob,

Thank you very much for your "peanut butter" anology when teaching defense. We have had two practices since you suggested this concept, and already I can see the girls making the connection.

Maybe collectively (everyone on the forum) we can come up with anologies for the following:

1) Moving without the ball

2) Weak side help

3) Coming to met the ball

4) Dribbling with head up/Looking for the open man.

Very much appreciated,

John

[cgh 0]

1) Moving without the ball - setting the table

2) Weak side help - closing the door

3) Coming to met the ball - saying hi!

4) Dribbling with head up/Looking for the open man. - no idea