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Coach7

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  1. Was the intention here to actually talk about a "5 out offense" or is this thread just an insincire attempt to lure me over to another web site where the goal is to try to sell me e-books after I download one worthless piece of crap OOB e-book?
  2. Coach7

    Playoffs

    Well that makes sense. If the objective is winning, then you gotta stick with what they seem inclined to do best.
  3. Coach7

    Playoffs

    Yeah I have a thought... I realize this is an old post, but I believe my thought is still appropriate. Why not teach them to play man to man defense? It's great that your zone and gimmick defense is very effective. It's great that your team has had short term success. But what about long term development? How about preparing them now so they will have success when they are in High School? Congatulations on being a winning coach, with a winning team. That's a fine accomplishment. But are you really sure you are developing them for the long range and not just preparing them to "peak by friday?"
  4. This is real interesting. This whole post and thread seem symtomatic of what's wrong with youth basketball in my opinion. Remember "free play," when kids played basketball for fun? Remember when kids learned how to create space & get their shot off through playing 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 without grownups there "organizing" and funsucking? Now most kids learn the game through "organized" activity, which usually means standing in lines waiting for some grown up to decide on a whim & a notion what to learn and how to learn it. Dribbling well (can pound the ball w/out picking up dribble with a defender on him @ top of the key while looking for someone to pass to and simultaneously switching dribble hand & keeping body between ball and defender & eyes up) like a PG, is the hardest skill to become very good at. An unathletic, slow, uncoordinated kid can learn to shoot the ball well, but that same kid will never be able to consistenty bring the ball up against tight pressure. No matter how much God given talent or ability a player has, there's only one way to get real good at something that's difficult to do- by practicing. Whoever practice the most gets the best. That's just the way it works. Sure there are sometimes, "naturals" but even they have to put in the work. They just get better faster. It's a mistake to discount the hard work they put in. Kids who dribble well will generally shoot better than kids who don't dribble well becasue they have spent more time with a basketball practicing dribbling and shooting. Again, it's true some athletes have more of a natural aptitude or a "gift" for shooting. But make no mistake, the "gifted" HS and college player is shooting hundreds and hundreds of shots every day or week in the off season. The power in a perimeter shot comes from the legs up. The wrist needs to be involved with allowing the power to come through the body and arms with a good follow through. But the wrist should really be imparting minimal energy into the shot.
  5. They will be good at what you emphasize. As I'm sure you know, a lot of toughness is psychological. It's a mind set you create with them. It's helped me to really key in on 3 things we stand for above everything else, and then use those 3 things to lead, cojole, prod and influence the kids into believing that they're tough . With my team this past season it was rebounding, pressure defense and taking care of the ball. All 3 of those have a theme of toughness. Hard nosed, up in your space m2m defense is tough physical D. Great rebounder are physically tough. Taking care of the ball requires players to chin the ball & pivot with power and agressiveness. You are what you do, and we worked on rebounding every day, usually the first thing right after the DWU. Every rebounding drill is competitive. I believe we built toughness that way- by starting off each day being physical & and aggressive. In any kind of matched up work we do in practice (1v1, 1v2, 2v1, 2v2, 3v3, whatever), the defense always has to block out & offense always has to go after the offensive rebound. If either one doesn't, both of them are on the side, down & back full court sprint, then right back into the drill. We tell them every day with firm resolve that we own the D boards, nobody gets offensive rebounds on us. They start to believe it's true & that they are tough, and that's half or more of the battle to get them to really play hard. I had a weak team this year (JV girls), but we stayed close in a lot of games by limiting the opponent to one shot most of the time. I've used the football blocking pad too. It's a good tool. I've actually used it quite a lot becasue I have coached girls a lot more than boys, and it allows me to "body up" or simulate a shoulder reaching in front of them without actually making contact with them. The pad is great for bumping post players on their moves, or "riding" a dribbler to the basket like a defender chesting up while sliding next to the off player. It's great for teaching kids to find & move toward the contact on layups instead of falling away from contact. & you can easily adjust the resistance that you're delivering. It's a great tool with low skilled youth players to get them to drive straight through bad defense- you know.... your wing catches, defender closes out, wing starts to attack w/ dribble, defender is beat so he sticks out his arm/shoulder (reach in) and the wing trys to dribble around the arm instead of going through it. If you're a lot bigger than the kid, be careful to hold the pad out away from your body so you can use your arms to act like a shock absorber. If you hold it against yourself, and your 50, 75, 100 pounds heavyer than the kid, you're going to sent them flying toward the floor. Do not match them up by size/height, just let it play out. After all, sometimes smalls have to box out bigs. Here's a few things we use- NBA (no babies allowed) Use 2 baskets and divide team if you have a big squad, or if kids are low skilled and it takes a while to make baskets. 1 line on the baseline. First 3 players come out in front of the basket; after beginning they come off the line 1 at a time. Coach tosses ball up at the rim, the object is to rebound it and score. If you score, you're out & new player comes in. The other 2 who didn't score yet stay in. With youth players I will often allow a kid out if they go 5-6 times without getting out. With HS kids, they gotta get a rebound & score to get out. Make it fast paced and high energy so if anyone's not paying attention & working hard they will get stuck in there. I use 2 basketballs to keep it moving. The kid who just got out of the drill comes over and stands by me to hold the 2nd ball. I call for the 2nd ball if the 1st ball gets knocked away so that the action stays at or immediately around the basket. I don't let it turn into a 2v1 that way. Anything goes except over aggressive fouls (basically no hitting or pushing w/ the hands). There is no out of bounds right behind the basket, if a kid gets the ball behind the baseline they can use a power or finesse move and put the ball up. In my experience you can really get this little game moving, and the kids get very winded from it. It's also one of the most popular things we've done- the kids always enjoy it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you have practice help, divide these into 2 "stations" for more reps. Move them through fast (push em, motivate em) and at the designated time (mins) have the whole group switch stations. You can go just 3-4 minutes per "station" and that's plenty of time if you're keeping them moving quickly. We go 2 minutes per "station" at HS level and each kid gets at least 3-4 turns. Do not match them up by size/height, just let it play out. After all, sometimes smalls have to box out bigs. STATION 1 Who wants it? At a f/t line- have 2 kids face off like they are going to do a jump ball. Coach holds the ball between them & has each get two hands on the ball. They can't wrap their wrists/forearms around the ball, they must begin with only hands. Encourage them to get into an athletic stance and be to be ready. Coach acts like an arm wrestling referee and makes sure its a fair start. On, "GO" coach lets go and the players both try to rip the ball away from the other. It's usually over right away, as a quick rip usually wins over an attempt to pull the ball in and "hug" it. Winner stays in! KIds love this too. STATION 2 Butt Out Use the center circle, goal is to push the other player out of the circle using only your back side. 2 players start in the center back to back. On "Go" they each try to push the other out. They must maintain contact with their backs or butts the whole time until one is pushed out (1 foot out of the circle is "out"). Its ok to go to the floor (they will for leverage) just have them keep pushing. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't have a name for this last one, but if I had to name it, I'd call it- Ouch! Place a basketball on the floor dead center in the center jump circle. Player #1 is just inside the circle facing out w/ ball right behind him. Player #2 is just outside the circle directly in front of Player #1 & facing him. When coach calls out, "Go" player #2 has 3 seconds to try to get the ball. Coach counts out loudly, "one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand 3." Player #1 can use just about any means short of hitting or kicking to stop Player #2. We want #1 to turn (pivot) with #2, and use his back side (just like rebounding) to shield #2 from touching the ball. Sometimes we match kids up by size/position, and sometimes we dont. Aggressive kids end up on the floor right away, usually by diving for the ball, and then more or less getting sat on. The kids don't usualy enjoy this one as much as the others- it causes more pain per second. You definetly see who is the most aggressive. Hope I gave you some ideas.
  6. Haven't looked in for a while, sorry for the late response. Been there Dave. Was almost back to that point this season with JV girls. Your solution is easy to identify but difficult to accomplish. They just have to get better. If the sets (plays) you run get your kids good open shots, and your team is scoring points directly from running the plays correctly, stick with it. But if you're using valuable practice time to work on offense sets/plays, but your team is only getting a couple baskets off runninh it right, that time should be used for the basics- fundamentals. I'd run practice like it was a basic skills camp with short lines or no lines. That's my opinion. I wrote about it here- http://willitscoach.wordpress.com/2008/01/20/run-a-play/
  7. We bought, "The Gun" shooting machine last summer. It's been a good purchase, though I'm still not 100% sold on it considering it cost $4600. Here's some observations- pro & con. - Set up & take down is very fast, about 5 minutes. It's a little complicated at first, but after a few times setting it up you get used to it. If mishandled, or not set up carefully, it could probably be easily damaged, or it could actually injure you. Lots of moving and adjustable parts. - It's easy to stick it in a corner/closet and leave it there for too long, especially considering the expense. This thing needs be used to justify the expense. - The net to catch misses is the best thing ever for making a shooter put arc on the ball. A flat trajectory shot just bounces off the outside of the netting. It forces a high trajectory. - The machine is all about repetition- mindless, monotonous, over-and-over, habit forming repetition. That can be good or bad. Because it's automatic, there's no thinking required, just shoot, shoot, shoot. You can easily get into a nice rythym. That's a good thing if your footwork and form are correct. And a bad thing if you're making fundamental mistakes while shooting over and over and over. Coach must pay attention to form. - YOu have to get creative if you want shooters to take passes from other than directly under the basket every time. Maybe it's not such a big deal to worry about, but other than post kick-out passes, how many passes come from straight under the basket in games? - The machine works best with 3 basketballs at a time. More than that & they get clogged up in the net chute. However, I like to put 5 balls in the "hopper" and stand next to it so I can pull basketballs out and feed shooters more passes. - We no longer use the rotation feature where it passes to a different spot (8 spots) every time. If you spread players out in each of the 8 spots, they stand for too long between shots. If you have the players move with the movement of the machine, it's not realistic to how shooters get looks and passes in games. - The "random" movement selection is useless, and possibly dangerous. - Instead we have the machine throw passes to likely shot locations based on where our offense gets players the most shots. Then we will move it to our other likely shot locations (top near center, wings, corners). - Typically I will start with one continuous revolving shooting line at top of the key area. I will have each shooter take a turn standing off to the side of the line while I hand pull balls from the chute and feed passes to that player, maybe 10-15 passes, then a different kid, and so on until the 5 minutes is over. I can pull&pass to a single shooter faster than if they just cycle thru the line of 6 (1/2 the squad). = more shots. - If you set the timer too fast (gap between passes) the shooters will be concerned with not getting hit by the next pass (leaning to the side) instead of holding their follow thru. Not something you want to see done over and over. - In season weekday practice we will shoot every day and we get the "gun" out about half of the time. Typically I will split the squad in half, either by post & perimeter, or maybe 1st 6 players then 2nd 6. We'd probably go 20 minutes, and change the groups so each gets two 5 minute sessions. Typical would be 3v3 on one end of the court & shooting group on the other end. - Early season we had Saturday shooting sessions where it would just be 1-1/2 hours of shooting. Goes by surprisingly fast. - For a single shooter, or a pair, you can really get a lot of shots in a short time. No need to chase misses is a nice feature. - The first day we used it in summer open gym, we got something like 1200 shots in 2 hours spread out among a dozen or so kids. - There is no doubt the gun has helped our team to shoot better. - If I had it to do over again, I believe I'd probably buy the "Dish Dr" instead. It costs more, but it's a much more versatile machine. It's air driven (compressor) and battery powered. The battery is rechargable and is supposed to last for 1000+ reps. It also has a remote, and can be programmed to pass the ball out to multiple specific locations, while the "Gunn" throws to either only 1 spot or 8. http://www.drdishbasketball.com/features.cfm - As a coach, you can't adequately supervise/manipulate/manage the "Gun" shooting machine while also watching for proper shot form, and make corrections. You need a manager or assistant to do that. With a remote, a coach conceivably do both with an efficiency not available without the remote.
  8. I see coaches doing this, and always wondered why? I don't understand what basketball skill this is supposed to teach, or replicate. Doing defensive slides while passing a ball back & fourth is not a basketball skill. Shouldn't practice time be used to work on things kids actually do in games?
  9. Coach7

    Bffs

    Nothing gets players attention more than sitting them on the bench. Talk to them, warn them, then do what you gotta do. You don't need to take it too far, like a whole game, or a half. Just sub one or both when you see it happening and mkae sure they know why. It may cost you a game in the short term, but it will help you in the long term, and it sounds like their habit may have already cost your team a win.
  10. Just an observation on something to watch out for or avoid. I slowed down a group of kids about 6 years ago in order to get things "more under control." It worked, we won a lot, but I now believe it was not a good idea in terms ol long range development. They are now in HS, and I've been trying to get them to play fast for about 2 years. I got the best pg in that age group to learn to bring it up patiently, and now as a sophmore this kid is just getting used to the idea of taking the outlet pass on the run. We reduced turn overs in youth ball by slowing them down, but of course along with that we reduced the number of offensive posessions because we played slower. Agressiveness is good in basketball- as long as they aren't fouling. Personally, I will never coach kids again in a way that stiffles their agressiveness (slow them down). My opinion for what it's worth- I think you have the right idea and motivation in terms of teaching them to play the game the right way, but throttling down agressiveness is questionable- in my opinion. At that age, it's pretty common for teams to have 1 kid who will score half or more of their teams points. But these things have a way of evening them selves out over time. Often the 9 yr old "phenom" is either no longer playing by 15-16 years old, or others have passed them up. You can observe this quite regularly if you coach in one town long enough to see lots of kids come thru.
  11. 1. Takes care of his players welfare & safety while under his supervision. Cares for them like each one is his own child. 2. Uses the game (temporary) to teach life lessons (permanent). Things like dealing with adversity (losing), understanding the connection between effort and results, doing what's right even when no one is watching, realizing mistakes are ok but what matters is what you do after the mistake. 3. Doesn't just run a drill (go thru the motions), but actually uses drills to teach the fundamental skills that make players good, and make plays work. 4. Seeks to empower his players by creating a team dynamic where the players take ownership of the team and make it their team, not the coaches team (completely do-able at the varsity level & less so as age goes down). 5. Is a great communicator- never a chamelion, has a plan that he makes clear and sticks to it, but can change if necessary. Communicates well with kids and their parents. Says what he's going to do and then does it. 6. Makes practicing and playing fun! That doesn't mean easy.
  12. Another version... This one is very competetive and fun too- using the center circle, place a ball on the floor in the middle of the circle. Player "A" is just inside the circle (ball right behind his feet) facing out ready to block out player "B". Player "B" is barely outside the circle facing player "A". When Coach says "go" player "B" attempts to gain possession of the ball (or even just a touch) by any means except outright pushing. Player "A" must read which way "B" is trying to go and then turn to block out. The goal is to keep "B" away from the ball for a designated length of time, 3-5 seconds is about right. The result is often both kids on the floor (laughing) because "B" will often attempt to fake one way and then dive for the ball. I've seen them dive between legs, what ever it takes. In my experience there's usually 1-2 kids who the rest of the kids have a very difficult time getting around. The tenacious and scrappy kids do well, and that ends up being rewarded (they "win") and thus encouraged in the others. To get what you want, you'd have to have the kid inside the circle not turn around (block out) and just have him move his feet side to side.
  13. I think video is a very useful tool. I began using video 2 seasons back with my 8th grade girls team. One thing that became apparent was that the kids were sometimes surprised at what they saw when watching them selves play. There seems to often be an honest disparity between what they truly believe happened, and what actually happened. I can tell you that with a 12-14 yr old, they really study them selves when watching game video. I've never had to single a kid out in front of others to make a point, because they watch and critique their selves. They watch and say things like, "I guess I am still shooting with 2 hands," or, "Wow, the weak side low block is unguarded every time we make a skip pass from the corner to the wing, how come I never see that?" I'm the varsity assistant this season, and we are taping games, but Coach isn't into using video as much as I was.
  14. Hi Coach, I found this out by accident- if you take away dribbling, they will spread out by them selves. Though I've never tried it with kids that young, it does work with 5th grade girls. I've had them play full court 5v5 with no dribbling (only exception is 1-2 bounces to make a lay up) and it was like magic. When they have to fake & move to get open, spacing happens.
  15. Hi Coach, I've coached a lot of kids that age and younger. I'm varsity assistant this season. The view from here really exposes what they either learned, or did not learn at the youth levels. My recommendation is to try to keep it simple. Teach them to play from an athletic stance (triple threat). Teach them to guard players, not areas on the court. Teach them good shooting form. Teach them how to screen correctly, and how to read defense and come off screens. Teach them to dribble with both hands, eyes up, and with confidence against pressure. Teach them to make all variety of lay ups. Teach them to make passes without raising the ball up over their heads to make the pass (#1 cause of turn overs @ this age and then in HS if not corrected). And remember- plays don't score points, players with skills do. You can spend valuable practice time trying to get them to memorize where to go, or you can use that time teaching them how to play, both technically & tactically. Sincerely- you may get a youth team to run a play correctly and actually score from it only 2-3 times per game because they aren't yet proficient at making lay ups or shooting the ball. That kind of success rate makes spending practice time memorizing set plays a waste. Instead teach scoring concepts- pass & cut to the basket, screen & roll, attack gaps & kick out to open shooters. Make sure it's fun.
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