Help - 7th Grade Girls Team

[jostic 0]

I coach a 7th grade girls team. In this league, there aren't enough teams so we play against teams with 8th and a few 9th graders. We won two games early, against teams of 7th graders. We have now lost three in a row, against teams with lots of 8th and a few 9th graders. Lost badly last night...the older girls roughed up my little ball handlers. Nothing cheap, just very aggressive and a lot of bumping, reaching, etc going for the ball.

I am trying to teach them to run a simple motion, like what is shown at

http://www.hoopsclub.com/playbook.htm

Problem is, the big girls are waiting right at the halfcourt line, and my girls are struggling to just get the ball into play. First pass to the wing is stolen most of the time, they become very tentative, and the older girls just attack.

We have been working on a control dribble, to get down around the three point line where we can start passing, but agaist these older girls they are really struggling.

Any suggestions? If we get into this situation again, I may just bring all the girls up towards halfcourt and have two set screens, the other two cut towards the basket and try to get a few layups against such agressive defense.

[Elkhuntto 0]

I think that you have it right with what you said at the end. Use their agressiveness against them. Have your wings come out higher, then have them cut up looking for the pass. If the defense is over playing them have your pg fake the pass, and your wing go hard "back door" Make sure to use the fake pass. If the wing gets the ball of the back door cut, have her take the ball hard to the hoop. While she's driveing to the hoop have the girls that you have positioned down low still screen away. This opens the wing up for a lay-up or if the defense comes off to gaurd her, she has an easy dish.

Good luck, sounds like your in a tough situation playing against older players.

[smsjr 0]

Good advice on the fakes - lots of fakes. If they have 3 girls waiting for your pg at the half court line you have to beat them with a deep pass or a pass right over their head in the middle. Try spreading your girls out as wide as possible just to get the ball past half court and attack for maybe an easy chance like you're already talking about. Maybe a girl in each corner(not all the way in the corner but fairly deep and wide, a girl at the top of the key and a girl on the wing as your pg comes up. Your wing can try the screen for the pg and if they are bunching up to stop the screen - one of the three(2 deep or girl at top of the key) should be open for a long pass with the other 2 cutting to the basket for a pass. They will need to come hard to the ball for the pass, but if they are bunching up with more than 2 girls at the top - one of the 3 has to be open. pick and roll might be open after the screen for your pg if they only have 2 defenders at half court if they are concentrating too much on your pg. Hope that helps and good luck - tough to play up like that!

[Coach7 0]

Jostic, I think you're getting some good advice already. I'd do have a couple things to say, and I'll try not to repeat the good advice you've already gotten.

First, I think that what ever you do, you need to keep it simple as possible. No complicated schemes. Also you need to really think about what it is you want your team to accomplish. Do you want to be able to get the ball across 1/2 court and make that 1st entry pass cleanly? Because that's a very worth while goal, and a good place to begin. Or do you want to punish the pressure by beating it with lay-ups? Because while that's a great goal, it's much harder to achieve and may take more than this season to achieve.

I also coach 7th grade girls. I think telling you about my team might help you. We play pressuring m2m defense the whole game, across the whole court, on every possession, off of a make, or a miss. We only come out of that pressure for three reasons: 1. We get a big lead and don't want to humiliate the opponent. 2. Their guards are real good, and they force us out of it by beating it. 3. We get into foul trouble & have to switch to a zone. #2 happened 2 times in 20 games last season, and they forced me to change to a zone. Obviously option #1 should never be an option.

What exactly forces us out of pressure defense? Foul trouble, or good ball handling. I am of the school of thought that believes that there are some basketball skills that once they are done with a high level of skill, they can be performed against any level of competition, and I tell my players that all the time. For example- if I know how to block out and rebound, I can do that against my Jr High players, against College players, or even pro players. Or if you are a great shooter with great fundamentals and technique, you can shoot anywhere, against anyone, at any time. Because it's just execution of technique. Bringing the ball up against pressure is one of those skills. If a kid has real strong "handles" it really shouldn't matter if the defender is a couple years older. Have you considered maybe that you need better ball handling from your guards?

I think the hardest thing in youth basketball to teach is countering defensive pressure. There's a strong psychological aspect to dealng with strong defensive pressure. It can make your point guard (pg) want to quit. It can make your whole team play scared. I think there's no basketball task at the middle school level more difficult than beating pressure. I've seen more than 1 point guard wither and fade under the pressure, including my own. It's important to keep talking to them- tell them they are doing great even when they turn the ball over. Tell them you know it's real hard. Make sure to jump in and defend your point guard if a team mate makes harsh remarks about turn-overs. Do it in front of the team, don't come down too hard on the offending player, but more use it to express how hard that job is (because they really don't know) and to boost your pg's confidence by standing up for her. Teams need to understand it's difficult and learn to support each other.

My daughter is my point guard, so I feel like I get a close look at how the stress of bringing it up against pressure makes a kid feel. She's pretty fearless & always wants to try and beat the pressure by herself, but we help her most of the time. When she was in the 6th grade, she sometimes expressed that she didn't want to play pg any more. It was because of pressure. But she is the best dribbler on the team, naturally unselfish and is super careful with the ball- so I need her to play pg.

One thing that really helped my daughter, and all of our perimeter players a lot was to teach them to lower their shoulder and go right thru the defenders shoulder when the defender reaches in. You have to teach it "hands on" though. They have to feel what it's like to lower their shoulder and make contact. It doesn't hurt the dribbler, but it can be a nasty "charlie-horse" on the shoulder of the defender. But it has to be taught or it won't get done.

If the Ref's aren't going to protect my players, it's my job to make sure my players know how to protect them selves. I also believe that It's not that coaches teach their players to play defense that way either. It's just bad basketball. The players just don't know how to play the game right. Either they're beginners, or the coach isn't teaching them to play the game right. 7th grade defenders waiting at 1/2 court are likely suspects for playing lazy, too straight legged, relying on reaching in and bumping and size miss-matches. But they are also "ripe for picking" because they will be taken off guard, probably rattled and in foul trouble. Not to mention in pain.

Refs at this age are often terrible at allowing too much contact on the ball handler. Instead of making defenders beat the ball handler to a spot by moving their feet, they allow reaching in. Often this reaching in becomes more or less a straight arm held out in front of your ball handler, or an arm basically draped over your ball handlers shoulder. The defender turns the ball to the sideline not by beating the ball to the spot, but by "riding" the dribbler. We teach our kids to go right thru that arm- take it off at the shoulder. If the shoulder is big, lean into it. It's not supposed to be there any way, and you're actually doing the opponent a favor, teaching them a basketball lesson- because getting nailed hard twice in the same spot while picking up 2 fouls leaves a physical and a mental impression.

We teach our kids to go ahead and initiate the contact when a defender reaches in. Lower the front shoulder to protect the ball, and don't slow down because you are entitled to the space on the court. The great thing is that it works. Not only does it break the defenders bad habit (because it hurts) but they often end up whistled for the foul too. Another benefit is that your guard is now past the defender, still with her dribble, and hopefully her eyes up.

The difficult part is teaching it live. You can't have your kids running thru their team mates shoulders. And that's also not a position that a coach should put herself, and certainly not him self into. Watching a college practice gave me the idea to use a small size football blacking pad. It works great- just line the team up in a lay-up line, and step out in front of the line with the pad. Extend the pad out in front of you so you can absorb shock and control your force apply. Have them make a shot fake & go, or jab step & go, or whatever then dribble by you. Use the pad to reach out and bump them, but allow them to go by. It only takes a few practice reps and they wil use it in games.

At the 1st open gym last year after school started back up, a number of girls showed up who had not come all summer long. After about 10 minutes of scrimmaging 7th against 8th, I had about four 8th graders rubbing thier shoulders and upset. I had to stop play, get their attention and explain that reaching in is a foul, and this is how we deal with it now.

Also, teach them to not give into the pressure by taking their time and not hurrying. Keep repeating and reinforcing the theme that nobody can make them play fast unless they want to play fast- nobody! Explain to your team what the pressure is designed to do- control tempo (play fast) and cause turn overs.

Another thing that may help you is no dribble drills. I was amazed at what happened the first time I used these drills- the girls spread out, started moving more to get open, started looking at where the defense is, passes got sharper. There was a difference right away.

You will likely find it real difficult to get the ball into the middle from high up top, even though it's a real good idea. The combination of your 7th graders trying to make passes against "belly-up" pressure from way out high, and playing against taller 8th & 9th graders is a lot to over come. I predict many slow, high passes if you try to pass over the top from just past 1/2 court. Bottom line- you need at least one, preferably two guards who can dribble well with both hands. At some point you need to be able to get past a defender and make a pass to a wing.

When your guards beat pressure with the dribble (get past a defender), it opens up a whole new world for them.

Practice against over-matches. Put 6, or more defenders in the 1/ 2court and practice your first five against that.

Hope this was some help.

[smsjr 0]

Coach7 - thanks for sharing some real good points. I think you'll get a charge out of this based on your points. This tournament we(I coach my daughter's 4th grade team) just played in a couple of weeks ago. The other team was running a 1/2 court zone trap and I was imploring my daughter to do kind of what you just suggested. They had 2 girls trying to trap her, one along the sideline, but there was a nice gap that my daughter could just go right through along the sideline - they weren't cutting off the sideline. I kept telling her to keep going knowing if there was contact it would be a defensive foul. In my excitement I said something like "Just run into her" out loud during play - really meaning for her to keep on going along the sideline and if there was contact it would be ok. The ref, who really was a terrific ref, heard me and since it was 4th grade girls thought I was teaching our girls to barrell over the other team - which I wasn't. He told me to "Coach them the right way, Coach" and when my daughter kept going - even when the defender was doing the body bump thing as a she went by he put his hand behind his head and called a charge on my daughter even though there was no way it was a charge. He was just proving a point and trying to be protective of the girls. I understand now and his motive was on target - trying to keep what he thought was an overzealous coach inline. I never got a chance to explain myself after the game - he caught me off guard at the time as I've never had anything like that happen to me before - I was shocked and just kind of looked at him - I think he was ready to T me up if I protested - never been T'd up before either - so I sat down in disbelief at the call. I was just trying to get her to do what you were kind of explaining.

One thing I would watch out for is if there are 2 girls standing there you might not always get that call - even if you should. It seems like the refs don't like to make a foul call when kids drive into 2 or more kids even when there is a foul - granted it is a tough call to see. I guess as long as they drive outside/around the trap/crowd they should be in good shape to get the call. I like the idea of using the blocking pad for that in practice. I was going to start using that for layups, but why not for what you describe as well?

I also agree the pass over the middle will be tough with the age descrepency. A screen or pick and roll pass might be a better option to get the ball past half court - or a pass down to the corner - It will really just depend on where they are set up on defense - the girls will have to spread out and should be strong enough at that age to make a pass.