3 Reasons Youth Coaches Should Stress Fundamentals Over Plays

by Keith Smith

Keith Smith is a youth basketball coach for boys and girls. He is the co-creator of “The Edge” and Best Youth Hoops. For more information, visit http://www.bestyouthhoops.com/blog and receive FREE Special Report, "TOP PRIORITIES FOR A NEW YOUTH BASKETBALL COACH"

When I first thought about the title, a quick story came to mind which put this in proper perspective.

During my first year of coaching, my team was playing a lower seeded team in the playoffs. It was a close game going into the 4th quarter when the opposing coach yelled out a play to his point guard.

The guard shouted the play to her teammates while we were set in our 1-2-2 zone (that’s another story… none of my teams play zone anymore). The guard shouted the play again, nothing happened. The players looked at her as if she was speaking a foreign language.

To read the rest of the story, go to
http://www.top-basketball-coaching.com/teach_fundamentals

At The Youth Level - Teacher or Coach?

I've written about this before, one of the big problems in youth programs is that qualified teachers are rare. Often, youth team coaches try very hard to do the best they can with limited knowledge. They may have little or no playing or teaching experience. Our most skilled coaches, who could possibly be the most effective teachers, come into the picture later on in a player’s career. By then, many incorrect habits have been set and coaches don’t have the time, personnel or perhaps the desire to back up and re-teach skills.

Too often, youth coaches are not thinking beyond the current season while trying to make winners of the players he/she has now. No thought is given to the players’ development for the future. When a coach thinks like this, it is selfish and coming from pure ego. The child is not important – only the coach’s vision of success. This kind of thinking hurts the children in the program and continues to give youth sports a black eye.

To read the rest of this article, go to http://www.top-basketball-coaching.com/Feb2010.html .

Until next month,

Yours in Sport & Spirit,

Coach Ronn

How To Motivate In Youth Basketball

Not only do we have to prepare well for the upcoming season, get through all the preliminary training of skills, systems and conditioning, accomplish a successful first game, but we have to be able to motivate the players--for practices and for games--all season long.

Motivating players is often harder for a coach than teaching all the various aspects of the game, because it requires special people-handling skills that can put a coach on a par with a sports psychologist.

I don't believe there is any one method for motivating. Players relate to different styles. Motivating begins with the coach and Coaching styles are all over the place, but bottom line--coaches must be true to themselves and must be fair and consistent in his/her dealings with their players.

To read this article, go to "How To Motivate In Youth Basketball".

Youth Basketball: Teach Individual Basics Before Teaching The Team Game

So many times, even experienced coaches rush into the team aspects of coaching--whether for lack of time before the first game or from a desire just to get going with the offense or defense.

Novice coaches at the youth level need to begin with teaching fundamentals, if for no other reason than they need to assess who can do what.

Every season should begin with at least a review of the player' skills and then teach what needs to be taught. Then, it's a matter of drilling these skills so the players are ready to use the skills within the framework of the team offense and defense.

The individual fundamental aspects of learning basic skills and honing these skills must come before working on team aspects. Players must know how to pass, dribble, shoot, rebound, move without the ball, move with the ball and to play defense on a player with the ball and on their player without the ball. Until players have these concepts and skills well in hand, it does no good to try to introduce a 5-on-5 situation....

To read this article, go to
http://www.top-basketball-coaching.com/TeachBasicsFirst.html

See you next month.

Yours in Sport & Spirit,
Coach Ronn

Teaching Shot Blocking To Developing Players

I spend a lot of time and energy on detail teaching. I find it pays off as a player develops. Too many times skill details aren't taught and the players just end up doing what they think they should do instead of applying any kind of logic or system to their play.

Shot blocking is one of those small areas that don't get much attention from coaches--especially in the early years. But, while shot blocking can be a small item down the list of things for many coaches to teach, teaching it early and correctly can play huge dividends as players mature.

To read this article, go to www.Top-Basketball-Coaching/shotblock.html.

See you next month.


Yours in Sport & Spirit,
Coach Ronn

Youth Basketball: Motion Offense for 6th Graders

Coaches always want to know about offenses for age groups that really require very little in the way of offensive sophistication. So I asked a colleague of mine, Josh Stinson, if I could borrow an article of his that I read on his site, Perfect Practice.

As it turned out, the offensive set and moves in his article were very much like an offense I had used for years. I felt it was a good choice for grade or middle school coaches to be able to utilize.

I began using this offense in the 1970's at the high school level and then using it as a basic starting point, added more options when taking it to the international men's and women's games. It works well at it's most basic (where a coach should really begin when teaching it) and then when both coach and players are ready, it can easily be built upon.

To read the article, go to: http://www.top-basketball-coaching.com/youthoffense.html

Yours in Sport & Spirit,
Coach Ronn

Youth Basketball—Teaching Balance and Control

You can't play basketball, or any sport for that matter, without it--Balance & Control.

This month's article assumes the youngsters in your charge know little or nothing about the game of basketball. Before we can run, we must pass through competency phases of crawling and walking. So, we begin at the most elemental level, breaking down information that must be assimilated along the long road to unconscious competency.

First, show them around the playing floor. Talk to them about the lines and places on the floor and what they mean. Explain to them that in every sport there are certain things which players must have in common. In this article we take the first step—teaching balance and control.

To read the entire article, go to: Top Basketball Coaching.

See you next month.

Yours in Sport & Spirit,

Coach Ronn

How Should I Teach My Child To Shoot?

I have a guest author this month, Scott Jaimet. He is the author of, "The Perfect Jump Shot: The Science and Art of Shooting a Basketball".

Scott Jaimet, lives in Oregon. He grew up playing basketball in Indiana. He always wanted to teach his son to shoot but became very frustrated with the lack of knowledge on behalf of most coaches. They could teach the set shot and the bunny hop jumper but no one seemed to know how to teach the big time pull-up jump shot like he saw in the NBA. So he decided to figure it out. He knew that there must be some simple scientific principles that would apply, just as they do in all of the other sports.

To read his article, go to: Top Basketball Coaching.

Yours in Sport & Spirit,
Coach Ronn

Youth Basketball: Teaching Offense To 9/10 Year-Olds

I have consistently stated that I think 9 and 10 year-olds don't need offensive systems. They need to be taught fundamentals--how to move without the basketball.

When one player has the ball, the other four teammates should be moving with a purpose without the ball. This means cutting to the basket for a pass, screening away for another player or moving to balance the floor. This is continuous motion, and when the player with the ball passes, that player also joins the purposeful movement. The player with the ball is looking to pass, shoot or attack the basket. On offense, it's an unending cycle of cuts, screens and floor balancing movement.

If you teach these things to a 9 or 10 year-old, with everyone moving purposefully, in unison, you have offense. Some coaches either don't understand this or still want to have a set offense.

So, quickly, here’s my idea about how to win at 9-10 y.o. basketball—and it doesn’t require much teaching of offense. Go to my December, 2008 article on my website and get all the info.

www.top-basketball-coaching.com/9-10offense

Happy Holidays,
Coach Ronn

Teaching Youth Basketball: Using The Other Hand

For many coaches of youth basketball , one of the key teaching points for beginners will be how and when to teach the use of the other hand--the non-dominant hand.

For beginners, the most important teaching of use of the weak hand will be for teaching dribbling. Teaching how to shoot with the other hand, especially shooting the lay-up or other finishing shots at the basket, will follow with age and experience.

To read the rest of this article, go to: http://www.Top-Basketball-Coaching.com/using-the-other-hand

Teaching Basketball Basics

When a new basketball coach is attempting to put together a coaching plan of action, including how to teach, what to teach and when to teach it, who do they ask for advice? This mentoring should be of strategic importance to them. Do they really know how to teach what you need?

This is the message I bring for novice and inexperienced coaches in my June article, "Teaching Basketball Basics", which can be read at http://www.top-basketball-coaching.com/teaching-basketball-basics.

While using your summer for planning, coaches could find the material needed for teaching the basics from the 28 products I have created and are showcased on my site, or the more than 40 basketball articles found listed on my home page, Top-Basketball-Coaching.com.

Yours in Sport & Spirit,

Coach Ronn

Coaching Youth Basketball: Teaching Progression of 1-On-1 Skills, Part I

A couple of months ago, I asked coaches from around the world what they’d most like to know in teaching the individual youth basketball game. The last couple of articles have been answers to some of those questions. This month’s article continues, as part of a 2-part series, about teaching 1-on-1 progression.

Wim C., from Belgium asked about how to teach youngsters progression in 1-on-1 skills.

When people think of 1-on-1 they usually think of an offensive player with the ball vs. a defender. Really, there are two situations to teach-- on the ball and off the ball. This article will only deal with on the ball progression.

Since there are more components in teaching offensive skills than in teaching defensive skills, I will begin with the offensive side of the 1-on-1 equation and cover the defensive part next month.

For the rest of this article, please go to http://www.Top-Basketball-Coaching.com/1-on-1-part1

Coaching Youth Basketball: Teaching The Art of Using Screens

Happy New Year

My wish, as in every year, is that in 2008 we will have peace in this world, we will find our global society coming back to The One, that we will wake up and realize the pain we have caused Mother Earth and begin to do our individual parts to help Her heal.

Deep Peace to you and yours!

This month's article is my reply to a coach named Wim C., from Belgium.

Coaches write to me with questions relevant to the age groups they work with and to their youth coaching experience. It doesn’t seem to matter where in the world these coaches write from, their questions are echoed by dozens, if not hundreds of other youth coaches around the globe.

In order to adequately answer the questions I received from Wim, who works with 6-10 year olds, I am going to need more than one article. Coach C. asks: “How do you teach the progression in one-on-one play, (in both) offense and defense?” He also asks, “At what age do you start using screens?”

In this article, I'll answer the easier question about when to start teaching screens.

Screens are not for inexperienced coaches and very young players. They are time consuming to teach correctly and drill, so they are best left to coaches who know the rules and functions for screens and for players with enough experience to quickly pick up the fine points of screening and using screens.

Probably, age 10 is too early for most players. First, they have to be made to understand the purpose of the screen and how it works for that purpose. They will need to be shown how to correctly set a screen and told what the rules regarding screens are--close screening, moving, etc.

The easiest screen to begin with is one made away from the ball.

To read the rest of the article, go to: Teaching Screens

See you next month, when I answer Wim's other question about teaching 1-on-1 progression.

Coaching Youth Basketball: Teaching Position Specific Skills

Now you've got completion! This book wraps up all the other books by Coach Ronn that taught all the basic skills:
Balance and Movement; Passing; Dribbling; Shooting;Rebounding;
Moving Without the Ball; Moving With the Ball; How to Play Defense…

After you've taught the basics…

What Comes Next?

You teach: Position Specific Skills!!

In Teaching Position Specific Skills, you'll learn how to teach…

• Offensive attacking and finishing at the basket;
• Defensive specifics to the player position—positioning, over play/denial;
• Specifics common to both inside and perimeter positions—shot-blocking, cuts, flashing the post, and moving with the ball;
• Getting the right attitude for success;
• All the position skill work necessary to take your players to a higher level of play.

Get all the information about this new book...AND, there's a video available too that covers all the action being taught.

For all the details, go to: Teaching Position Specific Skills

Coaching Youth Basketball: Why Teach Man Defense?

Teaching man-to-man principles and techniques, starting with a basic stance, then movement, then playing on-the-ball and off-the-ball, before even considering teaching zone defense just makes sense. You have to start with the basics. Man defense is the basic.

There are a lot of reasons to teach zone defense. What I want to show readers here is how, by using man-to-man techniques while deploying zone defense, you can make your defense so much stronger and effective.

When starting out teaching defense, particularly at youth age levels, the basics necessarily require teaching man skills and techniques. This will include, and incorporate later into dynamic capabilities for individual defensive play, stance, sliding and movement, followed by 1-on-1 on-the-ball and off-the-ball techniques and rules.

Logic and good teaching procedure would use plateaus of learning, moving from individual lessons to 1-on-1, then 2-on-2, and so on, until reaching full team execution of man-to-man defense. It does no good to teach the team game before a child has been introduced to and hopefully mastered well enough the individual aspects of defense. When every player can play both on-the-ball and off-the-ball, the rules used in teaching these techniques will easily lead right into teaching team defense. It’s basically already been done at this point, because with five players following their individual on- and off-ball rules, they’ve got the basic structure for the team defense. Now it’s just a matter of teaching how to play and be effective as a group.

For the rest of the article, go to www.Top-Basketball-Coaching.com/whyteachmanD

There are several articles and products, listed below, which I have created to help learn the basic teaching of defense. These can also be found at my website, www.Top-Basketball-Coaching.com.

Teaching Individual Defense, Part I

http://www.top-basketball-coaching.com/September_2006.html

Teaching Individual Defense, Part II

http://www.top-basketball-coaching.com/October_2006.html

Defending The Dribble Entry

http://www.top-basketball-coaching.com/November1_2006.html

Video: Teaching Individual Defense

https://freeiq.com/teachingindividualdefense

Ebook: Teaching Individual Defense

https://freeiq.com/ebookteachingindividualdefense

Spiritual Hoops Newsletter

“The Right Thing To Do Is To Do The Right Thing”

SPIRITUAL HOOPS

A Higher Level of Coaching and Playing

SPIRITUAL HOOPS is not about religion, nor is it about discussing team aspects of offense and defense.

SPIRITUAL HOOPS is about having a spiritual base for coaching or playing the game; it’s about promoting global good will through basketball; it deals with issues relating to individual fundamentals, discipline, and creating practice scenarios.

Your response to issues raised here and your sharing of questions are welcomed. All replies should be directed

to Coach Ronn via SpiritualHoops@cs.com.

A new SPIRITUAL TRINITY for the modern world:

1) We are all One;

2) There is no such thing as better (see #1);

3) There is enough abundance for everyone (if we’ll just share-see #1 & 2).