Girls Basketball

[CoachSteck 0]

My 7th grade girls basketball, had a nice attitude problem the other night at practice. We only meet twice a week for an hour and a half, and I dont feel it should be a problem for them to come in and practice hard for that time. Well last night a few of them decided that they wanted to chit chat and waste my time...so of course pushups and sprints were in play for this lack of concentration. Now after a number of pushups, not at one time, a few of the girls were visibly pissed at me....which is fine. These same girls are the ones making the team do pushups and sprints. I of course do not name names or anything, but I let them know in no uncertain terms that they need to be working hard. And someone yelled out to me that this was supposed to be fun. Question 1 was, I dont feel I was out of line...I am there to teach them the game of basketball, and for them to get better. I am not there to babysit and let them goof off. And like I said they only practice twice a week. Do you guys feel I was doing the right thing with a little "discipline"??

After practice my asst. coach came and talked to me and said that we needed to have a "fun" practice next time, b/c if I continue with pushups and what not the girls arent going to perform. Do you think that I should be lenient with them?? I say no, b/c they are there to learn and I am there to coach them. I am supposed to point out the mistakes so that they learn from those mistakes....do I have something mixed up here? Am I coaching this all wrong?? i thought I would get your opinions, since a lot of you guys have had some good input on other topics.

[griceok 0]

I agree with your approach and I have started having similar issues with my 5th grade girls team. It is one thing to have fun practices, but it is another thing to pay attention and work hard.

These girls are at the age where they need to show respect to their coaches and teamates by working hard, paying attention and at the same time have fun.

[indicolt 0]

I do not think you are out of line to use disipline if the kids are not paying attention and are just goofing off. I also only get the gym 2 days a week and that does'nt give you alot of time, but I try and get some fun time every once in a while. What I have found with my girls (5th and 6th grade) is that they love to compete with each other, so I use that as fun time. You can do relay races that helps build skills, like dribbling around a series of chairs then end with a lay-up. We play knock-out and other basketball based games also. I'm not saying the whole practice is like this but every once in a while use 15 or 20 min. to let them compete, they will enjoy it.

[Charlie 2]

CoachSteck,

I also agree that you are handling correctly, there is no reason that the girls should not be disciplined. I don't understand the attitude with sports that it should all be about fun and that nothing should be expected of the children. Teachers wouldn't allow it.

I would ask this question of the parents and your assistant coach. If they were paying for piano lessons for their children and they showed up and just chit chated and pounded on the keyboard during practice would the parents and the assistant just stand around and allow it? I don't think so. Training for youth sports is no different other than the fact that the youth coach is not getting paid $50 or $60 per half hour to teach the kids to play basketball.

Good luck coach!

[basketballgurl04 0]

Dear CoachSteck,

I am in 8th grade and decided to play 8th grade girls basketball this year. I think you did the right thing. I know when we goofed off our coach made us do sprints, but I knew he did it b/c we weren't listening and we were goofing off. I'm glad he did do it though...b/c we always listened after we ran a few sprints. And we won our destrict game. Yay!

[Coach7 0]

Coach,

I agree with most all of the responses below. I particularly take note of the response from the 8th grade girl. The kids know, and you did good to stick to your guns. btw- I coached 6th & 7th girls this season.

I think there are a couple other considerations to this situation, and you're probably aware, but I'll put it out there anyway. First off, 7th grade girls are 12 yrs old, maybe some of them 13. There is some serious activity going on inside their bodies. I'm not saying it excuses the goof off behavior, not at all, I don't tollerate it either. Just that the raging hormones can easily push an emotional response (anger) out of them that they will be over with before you know it. So don't worry too much about it, or take a careless comment personally.

The other thing is communication. I start in try-outs teaching them that they need to "listen with their eyes" If they aren't looking at me when I'm talking to them, then they aren't listening and they are going to run. It really helped in try-outs this year because they have to conform and adjust. The kids who have a difficult time with this stand out and probably aren't going to learn fast. Like you, I don't single anyone out, they know anyway. I also start in try-outs telling them that I only have them for x amount of time a week, and if they want the privillage of being on the team, they need to come to practice every day ready to work hard and stay focused for that x amount of time per week. That way everyone is clear, no surprises.

I'd begin the next practice with a little talk. I'd remind them that I agree, basketball should be fun, but that it's also a lot of hard work, and that I have rules and breaking them has consequences. I'd remind them that I am there for them, and that they get my full attention and effort during practice and I expect the same from them. I still had the occassional problem this season, but much better than last season when I wasn't clear right from day one.

Funny side story-

I was coaching a group of 10 year old boys at Camp last summer and one day they were really noisy. I kept having to raise my voice and quiet them down. Finally, nearing desperation I said, "it's obvious you guys don't need me, because your not paying attention to me, so I'll just see you tommorow and we'll try again." I didn't get 10 paces away before they were all running after me asking me to come back. It was a risk on my part, because I wasn't really going anywhere, and what if they didn't respond and just said, "fine, see ya" to me? I tried it again this season with my 7th girls, but this time I knew I had my assistant there to step in. The girls responded a little differently than the boys. They immediately broke into a game of "fire ball."

[CoachSteck 0]

Hey guys thanks for all your input. After I posted that I had a "fun" practice and did some games and gave away some prizes. And then that weekend we went 1-3 in our tournament. We are b/c team and we started out playing 2 A teams right off the bat. And then our win came against a team that we had lost to by 5 earlier in the season, and we just blew them out. Which was nice to see.

This past weekend we had another tournament and we just completely STUNK!!! In all my coaching years I have never been so disappointed, mad, angry at a team for playing so crappy!! And I take some of the blame for that b/c I kind of slacked on them in practices and didnt really get on them that much. So we just absolutely sucked last weekend, and now the mean coach within me is going to come out starting tonight. WE have 1 more tournament, State Tournament, and we are in very good shape. We are with a lot of teams that we have played before and either lost or won to. The games we lost were games where we didnt have all of our girls. So I feel very confident that we could win this tournament. But they can't play the way they did this past weekend....I think I would quit coaching if we had another repeat performance like that!

[bonkster 0]

I Agree with you..... But I feel its important to reward them when they do something right or learn something new.... let them know your proud of there accomplishments and hard work always brings good things to them all as a team.

[CoachSteck 0]

Hey everyone,

I havent checked this in awhile, and read one this conversation I had started...thought I should end it. We took home 4th at the state tournament! A great tournament. We lost a game and then had to win 5 more to take home 3rd, well we lost the 3rd place game, but still got a nice large trophy out of it!

I am coaching the same team this year, so we are shooting for 1st this year!

Thanks for all your feed back!

Josh

[Rpatalano 0]

I agree with your approach and I have started having similar issues with my 5th grade girls team. It is one thing to have fun practices, but it is another thing to pay attention and work hard.

These girls are at the age where they need to show respect to their coaches and teamates by working hard, paying attention and at the same time have fun.

I don't think you are out of line at all. Practice must be fun, but they are there to play basketball not chat. I use pushups as a way to get my girls attention. I am coaching a 4th grade rec team and a 5th grade travel team and I see nothing wrong with your approach.

Perhaps your assistant coach is feeding the fire somewhat! Think about it.

[Rpatalano 0]

I don't think you are out of line at all. Practice must be fun, but they are there to play basketball not chat. I use pushups as a way to get my girls attention. I am coaching a 4th grade rec team and a 5th grade travel team and I see nothing wrong with your approach.

Perhaps your assistant coach is feeding the fire somewhat! Think about it.

[kjtvc 0]

You wrote: “I am there to teach them the game of basketball, and for them to get better. I am not there to babysit and let them goof off ... they are there to learn and I am there to coach them. I am supposed to point out the mistakes so that they learn from those mistakes.”

That’s only part of what our job is. Somebody once said, Anybody can teach Xs and Os, but a coach also inspires. I would try a different approach. Frankly, if it isn’t fun, they aren’t going to keep playing. After all, it IS called “playing” basketball, and if they quit because I took the “play” out of it, then I failed them as a coach, not vice versa.

For three years now, I’ve told my girls I have three rules: To have fun, To try your best, and To be a good sport. If it IS fun, then you’ll find they WILL try their best. There will be days when they may lose focus and chit chat, but then they ARE kids. (Mine are fifth graders.) Those days are trying, because I’ve got to walk that line between coaxing and punishing, but I try my best, for their benefit. To this day, I’ve never ordered laps or push-ups or any other punishment. (Btw, we’re tied for first place, so our time is fun AND productive.) If they’re chitchatting, rather than punish them, command their focus. For example, run a competitive drill where you keep score--so they must refocus themselves. Or put one of the talkative ones in charge of the drill with a challenge: if you can run this drill better than me, then you can talk all you want today; if you can’t, you can’t talk for the rest of practice. The team will love seeing this challenge play itself out.

Our job is to educate them, yes. But it’s also to help them appreciate the game, enjoy the game, and stay in the game. If I keep most of them happily active in basketball through the years, that’s a greater success than leading a few of them to, say, AAU or high school success and driving the rest away from basketball. Few adults remember who won the seventh grade championship many years ago, but you’d be amazed to learn how many people never forget the coach who took the fun out of sports for them.

Kenny

[kjtvc 0]

You wrote, “These girls are at the age where they need to show respect to their coaches and teamates by working hard, paying attention and at the same time have fun.”

That may be true for older girls, but fifth-graders? We have to remember how much we’re pushing the envelope here. When I was a kid, we only started little league in fourth or fifth grade, and it was mostly fun for a couple years. We didn’t get serious until 7th grade or so. Nowadays, we’ve got THREE-year-olds going through drills! That’s insane. Is it any wonder three-fourths of all kids quit team sports by age 12?

My daughter played AAU bball in third grade, and the coach was already stressing college scholarships! The pressure was ridiculous, and the fun was gone. She quit after one season. Why? It wasn’t fun. This is a girl who practices piano and can do scales for an hour, or can take batting practice until her arms ache, all without complaint, so it’s not that she didn’t want to do the work--she wanted to play. To PLAY.

Consider it this way: if we weren’t around, and if the kids were just playing bball in their driveway (like many of us did years ago when there weren’t “playdates” and overscheduled lives), they would learn the game by playing the game. They would match up and scrimmage without adult supervision.

Add our supervision, but don’t let it override their sense of play. They will show respect and pay attention if you guide them and allow them to enjoy the game. They’ll give you a far greater effort if you lead them than if you push them.

Kenny

[kjtvc 0]

Adding fun breaks in the form of competition is a great idea. I try to incorporate a competitive game every fifteen or twenty minutes, right before a water break: knockout, king of the hill, even dodgeball (great for teaching them to catch passes). My girls know about seven or eight of them, and they're often requesting and voting on which ones they want to do that practice.

It's also helpful if you can find drills that favor different strengths, so you don't have the same girls winning every competition. Sure, there may be a girl or two who never seem to win anything, but sometimes you can find something that seventh or eighth girl can succeed in, and then you've won her over for the year.

Kenny

[kjtvc 0]

You wrote, “I also agree that you are handling correctly, there is no reason that the girls should not be disciplined. I don't understand the attitude with sports that it should all be about fun and that nothing should be expected of the children. Teachers wouldn't allow it.”

Yes, but they aren’t in class. If it weren’t for our desire to see them in a structured environment, they would be playing out in the driveway, or down at the schoolyards. But that is no longer acceptable. Now they must be categorized and scheduled and so on. So instead of playing basketball in the driveway or at the schoolyard, they are working basketball for an age-group team. Whose game is it anyway? Is it for their benefit, or for their coach’s and parents’ benefits?

As I wrote earlier, some coaches are already stressing college scholarship value to elementary school kids. What is that about? Let the kid fall in love with the game, and he or she may pursue it to that degree. Put that pressure in the kid at age seven, and there will never be love for the game--only a payoff.

You also wrote, “If they were paying for piano lessons for their children and they showed up and just chit chated and pounded on the keyboard during practice would the parents and the assistant just stand around and allow it?”

Piano practice is usually 30-60 minutes. Any longer and the average kid loses focus. Even in that hour, a good piano instructor will allow for some chitchat and personal time. The instructor expects attention, yes, but within limits. Bball practices are usually longer than a piano lesson. Focus is a problem with kids. Coaches need to accept this and manage it without taking the fun out of it.

“Training for youth sports is no different other than the fact that the youth coach is not getting paid $50 or $60 per half hour to teach the kids to play basketball.”

Ahh, I sense a touch of inequality there. True that. I used to grimace every time I had to pay my daughter’s tennis coach, knowing I was a better team sport coach than he was a tennis coach, but since I had no tennis background, I couldn’t teach her the game. Well, he knew the game, but he couldn’t coach well, and after a couple years, she quit tennis altogether. A good coach is worth his or her weight in gold. But then a bad one is even more costly.

Kenny

[Mavericks05 0]

I would have to say that the approach to how the situation should have been handled would depend on if the players are playing in a recreational league or a competative league. If it's recreational then I feel that the "fun" aspect should be emphazied. If the team is playing in a competative league then the situation becomes two-fold. Yes they need to have fun but not at the expense of the other players who are there because they are "serious" about the sport and hope to continue playing it as they get older. My daughter is 8 and is really quite a good ball player for her age. She went to summer camp at one of the local colleges and left there with the dream of going to school there and playing basketball. We wanted to encourage her to keep that dream alive but had to explain to her that the reality was it was a VERY expensive college to attend and it wouldn't be a possible without the help of a scholarship. Of course she was told that academics were most important and to solidify her chances she had to work really hard on the court to even be considered for an athletic scholarship. Believe it or not teaching a child the value of hard work at a young age can be very rewarding for them. They have to know that there is a time and a place for "fun" and if you are compromising the hard work by goofing off you are also compromising the goals they have set for themselves. Bottom line is that no matter what the age or level of play kids need to know the boundaries and what the consequences will be if they go outside of them, it's a life lesson they'll take with them and they'll thank you for.