8 Things to Look for in a mini Basketball Program

1. The coach should keep practices and games fun! The coach should understand that adults might dwell about a loss for days, while the kids forget about the loss a few seconds after the game and they’re just thinking about where they can get some ice cream. To keep kids motivated coaches need to keep things fun by running an upbeat and fast paced practice. There should be very little standing in lines. They should run plenty of fun drills and games that teach skills at the same time.
2. The coach should focus 99% on player development. This means the coach should spend almost no time teaching set plays or patterned offense. That’s a waste of practice time. Instead teach the kids fundamentals and run a simple motion offence.
3. The coach should play man to man defence. No zone defense and no presses. Young players need a foundation to build from and teaching simple man to man is the way to go. Playing zones and full court presses teach young players terrible habits that are very hard to break when they get older.
4. The league should not allow full or half court presses. A press just takes advantage of underdeveloped kids that aren’t strong enough to beat the trap. This does NOT teach situational basketball. It just teaches bad habits and is a waste of time! They should focus on fundamentals and player development (mentioned above).
5. There should be NO three pointers. Young kids aren’t strong enough to shoot that far away. They end up just “chucking” the ball and develop bad shooting form. This bad form sticks with them for life. If they allow three’s, the coach should not practice or encourage those types of shots. It’s very important for young players to learn proper shooting practice
6. For young kids, the rims should be lowered. Let’s face it. Young kids simply don’t have the strength to shoot with a full size ball at a 10 foot rim with proper form. I can’t tell you how many kids have ruined their shooting form by shooting at a 10 foot rim at a young age. Kids should be shooting with a small ball at a lower rim (7-9 feet, depending on their age).
7. The coach should understand that kids have not developed spatial awareness and depth perception that adults have. You just can’t expect kids to do certain things in a game. The coach should also understand that a player makes 2 decisions every second on the court. That is 20 decisions in just 10 seconds. Expecting a child to make the right decision on the basketball court all the time is not realistic. And yelling at the child will just hurt their confidence and hinder their long term development.
8. The coach should NOT let losing bother them. The coach should get satisfaction out of teaching the players life lessons and basketball fundamentals that help them in the future. The coach should look forward to seeing the players in 5 or 10 years and enjoy watching these kids succeed when they are older.
The biggest problem is that too many coaches and parents are overly concerned about winning. That really hurts the kids and the game of youth basketball. Sure you play to win, but you coach to develop players for the long haul.

5 Simple Steps to Developing Coaches Coaching Philosophy

Step 1: Decide on your personal coaching goals. What is it that you hope to achieve as a coach? Are you in it to make a difference in the players’ lives? To satisfy a personal desire to win? Take the time to really think about why you’re doing this and what you want to get out of it. It’ll be quite helpful on those drives home after suffering a tough loss.
Step 2: Determine what life lessons you want your players to learn throughout the season. We’ve all had a coach or mentor that taught us something about the human experience that we can still apply in our lives today. What lesson will you pass on to your players? The importance of teamwork? That honesty is always the best policy? Decide now and make an effort to “impart your wisdom” in various ways throughout the season.
Step 3: Decide what you want your players to gain from their basketball experience. In addition to the life lessons that they will learn, what else will your players take away from their time on your team? Will they forge new friendships with people that they otherwise wouldn’t interact with? Improve their level of play? What will the overall experience be for your players?
Step 4: Define the meaning of success for your team. What does success mean to your team? Is it winning a certain number of games? Is it making it to a certain level of tournament play? Or are you more concerned about working effectively as a team? Create a set of attainable goals for your team and strive to achieve them.
Step 5: Determine what skills your team needs to learn or improve upon in order to achieve that success. Once you have defined “success” for your team, decide how you’re going to get there by evaluating your players and determining what skills they will need to work on. If your team’s idea of success is to keep your opponents from scoring above a specific amount of points each game, then you will most likely focus the players’ efforts on basketball defence strategies and proper basketball rebounding techniques. Be sure that for every goal that you’ve set, there is a distinct and reasonable means of attaining it.
Once you develop your coaching philosophy, write it down for your own reference; and more importantly, make it clear to players and parents alike from Day 1. By establishing and effectively communicating your principles, you’re laying the groundwork for a dynamic winning strategy that’s second to none.