Hi - I am a new coach to beginner players (3rd/4th grade boys). We only have a half hour of practice before each game each week starting in two days! I imagine I need to go through the rules for the bulk of the first practice. Everything I have read seems to be for hour-long practices. I would love your advice on how to structure the time.

Thank you! Pam

Pam -

Kudos for becoming a coach and taking on this challenge! My first thought is to always remember these kids are beginners, so keep FUN at the forefront as much as possible.

With regards to the 30 minute practice, that isn't much time. In the first few practices maybe:

-5-10 minutes going over the basic rules of traveling and double-dribble as those will probably be the most commonly called violations. I'm guessing the refs will let things slide a bit knowing these kids are just learning. We'd used the concept of having a piece of sticky gum under one foot for them to learn how to pivot. In fact, we picked the foot and always made it the right foot in the beginning. The word "gum" would be a keyword here.

-I'd take another 5-10 and cover basic defense concepts of hands out and staying in-between your man and the basket. At that age (with beginners) I used the metaphor of a castle and they had to protect the castle. So we used the keyword castle to remind them to stay between their man and the basket. We also used the concept of peanut butter on bread and how it won't come off, even if you shake it as a defensive concept. Stick to your man like peanut butter. So, we used "peanut butter" as another keyword.

-5 on passing, 5 shooting, 5 dribbling in some sort of drill that combines them all. I would emphasize lots of passes at this age so everyone gets to touch the ball. So maybe in the first practice you have them do a relay race, dribble to half court pass to next player, they dribble to basket, jump stop and shoot. Next person in line gets rebound and comes back the other way.

I have several drills for younger kids that are fun and teach skills at same time. If you're ok with giving me your e-mail address, I'll send a few. I liked using keywords that were creative and fun to help the kids remember concepts in games.

I would really try to get another practice somewhere else for an hour each week. I'm sure the league is saying only one practice, but if all your parents were okay with it and you could find a free gym, it would help a lot. I'm betting the parents would be okay with it if you explained that the kids need more time to cover the basic concepts.

Thank you Coach Rob!! That helps a lot and I really appreciate it. I will check the league rules to see if it is possible to have an extra practice. Yes, please email me pkinzinger (at) gmail (dot) com. I think I will also poll the parents to determine levels of experience. I'll let you know how it goes! best, Pam

I've been in situations where the league "implies" that you only get X amount of time per week, but that's usually based on gym time. Guess I'm suggesting that you find another practice time/place on your own apart from the league. When I used to coach flag football, they did the same thing having 1 practice per week right before the game. I found a local park and we'd have another practice every other week. Helped a lot.

I'll send some drills.

Pam -

Check e-mail, sent some info.

Got it - thanks so much! Pam

Rob - If you don't mind I'd like to see the drills too and see I can add any to my list. I think you might have my email. BTW, great idea on the M2M metaphors.

Pam - If you can talk them into at least 30 more min, that would help. I'm puzzled they would only allow 30 min per week. Does every team have that same restriction?

Jeff - Sent them. Probably have more, just threw those out so Pam had something.

Hi Rob - I checked the rules and no extra practices are allowed. So yes, same restrictions for all teams. We are in a small town with limited gym space but a ton of kids. There will be two games run simultaneously so we share a full court with four teams. Only one basket to practice with and a quarter court - shall be interesting!!

I would have maybe 4-5 drills and only make them 6- 7 min long then. You may have to combine some skills into one drill like passing, dribbling and shooting with the limited time. I'd take 5-7min and run over those "keyword" concepts, like gum, castle or peanut butter, etc.

At least all the teams are in the same boat. And it's apparent the league isn't looking to make this into some super competitive deal which is very good.

After the first few games, you'll see what needs emphasis in practice. Maybe you could assign homework to the kids during the week? Something simple, like dribbling with both hands for 5-10 min every day.