Questions From Subscribers...

Hello,
my name is Angie and I'm a first time coach that will be coaching 5-7 year old kids. I was wondering if you could email me drills

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Thanks Jeff. I'm told they play with 27" balls and 8' baskets.

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Kevin,

That's a good question. I've addressed this question in other places on the site and I'll try to summarize the answers for you...

First of call, make sure you use LOW rims and small basketball balls! This is very important and you'll find the 6-7 foot rims and mini balls can work with 5-7 year olds.

Second, it's all about what you emphasize and measure. If the only thing you measure and emphasize is scoring baskets, then it will be tough to convince the team that other things are important.

If you emphasize having fun, passing the ball, and celebrate small successes, then the kids will have fun and buy in.

Trust me, young kids like this just want to have fun. That is their #1 priority. Kids are nothing like adults when it comes to competition and sports. All adults think about is winning. Kids, only want to win because they want to have fun. So it's up to you to figure out how to make things fun for everyone.

I highly recommend that you celebrate the small successes. Instead of worrying about winning or scoring, put them in a position where they can experience other successes...

For example, if you work on passing, you can track their number of "Å“catches" and chart their progress. Show their improvement as the season goes on. Celebrate these small successes!

Celebrate dribbling half way down the court without losing the ball. Give them high fives and make it fun. Celebrate rebounds. These are just a few examples.

If you're players can see how they are improving, they will feel about good themselves and stay motivated. Your ultimate goal takes hundreds of small accomplishments. Have fun and enjoy those accomplishments along the way.

I hope this helps and let us know if you have other questions.

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Having such young players (5-7 in my case), I'm sure some won't even be able to make a basket. How do I convince them they are making a positive impact on the team, even if they do not score?
Thanks.

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Hi C Bailey,

No tricks. Just persistent work the fundamentals and using drills and fun games to teach the skills and fundamentals you teach.

If unselfishness is what you want, emphasize to the kids that is what you like. Really appluad kids for unselfish play and making the extra pass during practice and games.

Also explain why you want to do this. If you don't know why, they won't be sold on it.

Here are some links to help with passing.

Fundametnals:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/fundamentals/passing.html

Drills:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/drills/basketballdrills.html#passingdrills

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Is there any tricks to teaching youth how to pass? I''''ve found that when we move the ball around, we play better (and everyone gets involved) but as the season goes on, I''''ve ended up with a few "good" players who take the ball to the basket every time, regardless of whether they are open or not. Any suggestions?

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hi
i want to teal you thank you very match for all the drill you are sand to me
thank you agin

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Yeah. That's completely normal for that age level. You won't be able to work any miracles in the near future, especially with such young kids. And that's ok because they're just kids.
Don't get down on them and make sure they have fun.

With that said, there are a few things you can do to allow them to have fun and still improve focus.

- Give praise when they play hard. Give them plenty of verbal rewards.

- If playing hard is important to you, emphasize that. If you consistently emphasize working hard, kids will pick up on it. This is super simple and sounds silly, but it's very effective. Talk about it every day and it will get better.

- Establish consistent discipline. When done properly, discipline is a good thing that players actually like. The key is to be very consistent and set a precedence. Once kids realize that they can get away with things, they'll take advantage of the situation. A perfect example is what we sometimes do on the first day of practice. We blow the whistle and call everyone in. If they ALL don't sprint to me, then run hard. The kids instantly realize that what I say goes. I generally don't need to make them run again for a long time. Yet they listen and we still have lots of fun.

Develop good habits. The only good way to get them to consistently play hard in games is to get them in the habit of playing hard in practice. For example, once they get in the habit of playing hard on defense in practice, it usually carries over games. One way to get them to play hard in practice is to add competition to the drills.

For more information about youth basketball, check out our youth section: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/youthbasketball.html

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