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hoops4kids

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About hoops4kids

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  1. The worst mistake I made was humiliating my daughter in front of an entire gym. At the time my daughter was a mediocre player. She was playing backup point guard. After throwing two consecutive cross court passes that were intercepted for baskets, the next time she brought the ball up I said, ......... "Please throw it out of bounds this time so we can get back on defense." My daughter's eyes started welling up and she burst into tears. After calling time out and calming her down, I walked to center court and publicly apologized to my daughter for being a jerk. Since I was also the commissioner of the league, I ejected myself from the game and let the assistant take over. Fortunately my daughter and the parents recognized the situation as a fluke. I have a reputation of being very good with the kids. Most fortunately, it was not an experience that pushed my daughter out of basketball. She improved and plays high school basketball.
  2. Once you've changed your focus, decide whether you want to develop basketball players or stop that kid. If you want to develop basketball players, teach them how to play man to man defense. If you want to stop that kid, play box and one.
  3. "beat me?" Start my changing your focus to the kids and way from yourself.
  4. There is nothing embarassing about watching young kids play a sport. Physical and emotional development occurs at different times for kids in the same group. Teach them to have fun. Break practices down to small groups for individual attention. With this age group, when all the kids leave the field, none of them think about the game anymore. Focus on teaching them how to play. Help them have fun. Have fun yourself.
  5. Why is there organized ball for this age group? You run the risk of turning them off to the sport before they're old enough to care. This is the age for dad and/or mom to play one on one with their kids with the batting tee or a whiffle ball.
  6. Go to the committee in charge of the league. This coach's priorities are in the wrong place. I'll bet his "winning coach" reputation, with the parents, is more important than his own players. He should be thrown out of your league. Teach your kids to have fun. I'll bet more of your kids return to play next year. I'll bet he's ignoring some of his lesser kids in the interest of winning. At the 3rd grade level "all the kids stink," to quote a prominent ex pro-athlete, youth sports reformer. The one's we think are great, are just "less worse" than the others. Very few will become high school players. Your job is to create a fun learning environment where kids develop a love for the game and return to play next year. I once learned a valuable lesson from my son. After a "must win" (if there is such a thing in youth sports), against the first place, previously undefeated team, I asked my son how he felt. His response, "Dad, what's for lunch." Don't take these games more seriously than the kids. I've coached 24 seasons (soccer, basketball, baseball, softball) of youth sports. You will get more respect from parents if their kids love playing. Along the way you'll win some championships. My daughter "stunk" the most in 3-4th grade basketball. She now plays high school basketball and softball. Her younger brother "stinks the least" in three sports. He's too young to call a star. I cut people off when they try.
  7. There is some good advice on dealing with parents, other coaches and kids at jrnba.com. You might have to go to nba.com and click on JrNba. Even though it's a basketball site, the issues are all the same. Make sure your read the opening letter by Bill Walton. Aside from being a Hall of Fame athlete, he is also the father of four boys. Kids in this age group want to win. You need to define what a "winner" is because not everybody wins the game. I have a 14 year old daughter. To be honest, I would be very concerned if someone of your age and inexperience were to be her coach.
  8. At this age group, teach them to have fun. Do fun drills. Don't worry about how much they learn. If they have enough fun, they will return year after year until they're old enough to take the game seriously enough to pay attention. Personally, I think 5-6 coach pitch is absurd. I would be concerned kids will give up baseball because they can't hit before they have developed the motor skills to properly play the game.
  9. The most important aspect of 3rd grade basketball is "having fun." If the kids have fun, they play next year. Your job is not to develop future high school basketball players. They should learn to dribble with both hands, bounce passes, chest passes, layups and MAN to MAN defense. Man to man defense makes them work and learn the game. Zone defenses cover weaknesses and doesn't develop players court awareness. A player needs to learn man to man defense. You can teach any kid how to play zone in a matter of weeks.
  10. Are you coaching for development regardless of the score or are you coaching to win? It appears by your post you need development first. If you're playing to win, zones and zone traps can create havoc on the other team and allow you to hide a weak defensive player on the weak side. If you're playing to develop strong defensive skills, teach them man-to-man defense. It's better for foot work and court awareness development. It sounds like you need to start with the basics of dribbling, passing, layups and footwork (offensive, defensive, rebounding). In this age group, shooting percentages are low. If your team can learn to play good defense, protect the ball, rebound and make layups, they should be OK. Don't worry about outside shooting. If you think your team is that weak, tell the opposing coach before the game. When the opposing team gets ahead by a certain unbeatable margin, if the coach has any dignity at all, he will play his bench and not run up the score.
  11. The best moment is when the kid who struggles to play, finally scores. I've seen bigger reaction for this moment, from parents, than buzzer beating shots.
  12. As commissioner of a youth basketball league, the biggest mistake many coaches make is when they forsake encouragement of proper skills and development of ALL the players for winning. Most youth players WILL NOT be high school players. They need to compete in a playing environment most conducive to learning the skills and the appreciation of the game. A youth coach is more likely to develop a basketball fan than a basketball player. The worst coaches are those coaching for adulation from the parents for winning. The best coaches are the those who's players return next season. I've done some tracking of player retention over the years. The top teams usually have the lowest player retention. What's the common denominator? These teams usually have a top notch player being coached by his father.
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