Youth Basketball: How Much Offense and Defense for 8th Grade Girls?

From the many letters I receive from coaches around the world, I chose to answer this one for this month's article--How much offense and defense should be taught to 8th grade girls?

So much depends on the talent and basketball savvy of your girls.

Let's say, your girls have played together for a year or more and have decent knowledge of the game and execution of basic individual fundamental play as well as team play.

To read the rest of the article, go to: http://www.top-basketball-coaching.com/8th-grade-girls

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

Triangle Defense: The Basis For Teaching Team Defense

Whether you prefer running zone defenses or man-to-man defenses, there are basic fundamentals to be taught that are common to both types of defense. The players need to be able to play on the ball, to be able to know how to properly double-team the ball (sealing the gap) and how to play off the ball.

Triangle defense describes the floor position of each defensive player in relationship with the player they are defending, with the ball, and with the basket.

The defender on the ball has only one rule and that is to maintain a body position that will block a direct path to the basket by the dribbler. I call this “Ball-Me-Basket”.

The other four defenders’ floor positions can be described by two triangles. These are: “Ball-Me-Man” and “Man-Me-Basket”.

To read the complete article, go to: http://www.top-basketball-coaching.com/Triangle-Defense

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

Youth Sports: Are They Really For The Youth?

There are still plenty of opportunities where parents decide what's best for youth sports and unfortunately, take the wrong direction.

There are places where parents think they are doing the right thing to prepare their children for varsity sports at some later date by creating elite youth programs where they hope their kids will become superstars now. Misguided as they are, they have missed all the documentation about how to create youth programs for the YOUTH-- not the adults. It's sort of like smoking. There is plenty of documentation about the ills of smoking but people still smoke--and even deny there is a problem.

This month I had to speak out again about how much is too much for small kids playing sports.

To read the article, go to: http://www.top-basketball-coaching.com/youth+sports