Coaching Varsity Boys Basketball.

Curious if any of you have any SLOB or BLOB that you love and have success with?

I'm on the youth basketball association board for our school district. We run the youth program and heavily support grades 7-12. I'm also starting my 4th year coaching my daughter's 6th grade team. The varsity and JV coaches are on the board as well.

This year we are estimating around 30 girls coming out for basketball in grades 7-12. In contrast, we started our 3 day skills camp for grades 4-6 and had 35 participants. Volleyball at our school is very popular so there are plenty of girls interested in sports.

Low/declining numbers in girls bball seems to be a national issue. My main question is has anyone been successful in increasing numbers, or at the least, keep numbers steady? What did you do?

Dosunmu beats Harden and attacks the lane. Merrill, who's switched onto Gobert, steps up, and Mobley leaves Kuminga to help, so there's three defenders collapsing on the drive. LaMelo and Kuminga are both open in the corners, but Dosunmu shoots in traffic and misses.

I understand why he shot it because the Wolves were down 1 and he could've drawn a foul, but should he have kicked it out? What's the correct play? I'm trying to get better at understanding the game as a fan.

Want to start one, have the players, have the parents support, I’m the coach and working on a dedicated practicing facility whether a rec center or just outside.

Any help from experienced people who’ve dealt with the back end for years ?

I am over 70 and was a HS coach a long time ago for quite a few years. I am working with my grandson who is a small guard with average athleticism.He is playing on an AAU team coached by the varsity coach at his future HS. He is a good coach and they practice 2x a week for about 90 minutes. They work on mostly 5 on 5 stuff to prepare for all the tournaments and is actually learning most of the same system the HS uses.

There are a lot of talented kids in his class and in this area. He is a great kid and very creative. He likes trying to come up with cool moves and fakes. It is all up to him and how much time and effort he wants to put in to it but it realistically is going to be a huge challenge to play in HS here.

My thought is to take his creative spirit and average physical talent and start working on more advanced passing skills, finishing skills and ball handling. Really work on changing speeds, changing direction, developing a quick first step and burst off the dribble. Learning how to pass the ball with either hand in a lot of different ways with quickness. He has a natural ability with shooting a true Nash like runner, not a push shot floater.

He is a good shooter and can shoot from distance. I am just going to say it……my role model for him is a Steve Nash style of play minus the super human stuff he did. I think that is his ticket if he enjoys playing that way and has fun trying.

Am I a crazy old man wanting to start this now? He gets bored easily and I don’t think a more traditional all simple basic fundamental approach is going to do it. He of course needs to work on the normal stuff but I think while he is doing that, working on the more advanced,more difficult skills will make his basic stuff better as well. Shooting a hand away off a step thru move or a hand away one hand off the dribble no gather, helps his basic hand away lay up on a hard drive. Same with other skills. At least this is my belief. Crazy?

Let me preface this a little bit. I did play ball a little bit growing up but by freshman year as one of the tallest guys and still riding the bench in the C game I realized it was time to find something that fits me a bit better.

I do have a soccer background so a lot of the team concepts and movements are not foreign to me albeit just at a faster pace.

Now my 6 year old decided he wanted to go out for basketball this winter through my town's version of the YMCA. I am volunteering to coach so we don't end up with the same issues we had in the football program.

As I understand it we will have practice Friday evenings and then games Saturday morning for about 6 weeks. My primary focus will be to work on fundamentals (dribbling, passing, and shooting). My main question for anyone with experience is how would you structure what I assume will be a 45-60 minute practice once a week to get the most return? Is there anything else outside of fundamentals that I could work on that may actually stick to a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds.

Thank you in advance for the advice and ideas.

Hello, my friends and I want to start our own program. We wouldn’t be in it “for the money” but we do want to make some as sort of a side hustle through the game of basketball.

I am the only one with “real” coaching experience, having coached two years of rec, I’m trying to get out there as a coach and see if this is a real career path for me. My friends also want to explore potential jobs in coaching.

I also have been talking with my old coach about gym time and him helping out, as he has been a club coach for years.

I sort of know how the aau system works as in signing up for tournaments and the fees and all that, and I’ve done some entrepreneurial ventures before, but my biggest question would be about recruiting, as I don’t know how to market especially as a new program and a young coach.

Any help from anyone especially other club coaches/owners would be well appreciated. I am willing to answer any type of question. This is something I’d take very seriously. We are three 17year olds and one 19. We are based in Orange County, CA, if that matters

Thanks

Hi everyone. I’m going into my 3rd year coaching a little league team that I have been working with now for 3 years. They are now going into 8th grade. Year 1 we cruised and did great, year 2 we struggled. I like to encourage man to man on defense as much as possible, and offense I have a handful of set plays, but most of the time i want to team to play free flowing 5 out drive and kick and I push a lot for paint touches to get the offense rolling.

Last year we struggled due to size and rebounding, but our offense was average as well.

Looking for some advice on what to use this year to help get both ends of the floor moving in the right direction. Do you push for heavy set play rotations? Have you used certain principles on offense that help the team not be stagnant? Or just any coach advice/information to consume? I enjoy watching/listening to anything I can get my hands on.

What are the steps you took to become a high school coach? What is a typical week for you like?

I created this Google Sheet with a live game logger built in. It's similar to GameChanger's system. This sheet helps you easily keep track of stats during a basketball game. We use this for our HS program but I believe this could be used for any age group.

We have a manager sit at our scorers tables during games with a printer. They input the stats during the game and can easily print copies during breaks for our Assistant Coaches to analyze. The pros of this Sheet are the ability to use a mouse and computer which we find easier than an App on an iPad using fingers. Also, we are able to track plus/minus which to me, is an underrated statistic and not available to us on Hudl. The only downside is we cannot have it connect to our scoreboard and track the actual time in the game.

Please send me a message or comment if you are interested in using this Spreadsheet for your team!

Simply Click Player and Stat to Input

Easily Print or Export Box Scores

When you have a player who's clearly talented but tends to hold onto the ball, ignore open teammates, or try to do everything alone, how do you address it without affecting their confidence? Do you handle it through individual conversations, specific drills, or reduced playing time?

Would love to hear what has worked for other coaches.

My son just turned 3 and I was asked if I could coach the team. I’ve played Football,lacrosse and wrestled through out highschool but never any organized basketball. I understand at that age it’s not going to be real basketball mostly just the kids running around and playing with the ball. What can I do with them to teach them some of the game but also keep them interested in the sport?

6th, 7th and 8th grade. What are you running at practice? What are your favorite drills? What is your messaging to the kids? Thanks in advance!

I have several, high energy guards this season, but my forwards are brand new to organized basketball. What type of press would be easiest for my newbies to get? I'm leaning towards 2-2-1 or Diamond. Anyone experienced this before?

Have a guard/small forward heavy team. Only have a couple “bigs” who are thick but NOT TALL. Hence slow and lumbering. 7th grade boys team.

Any suggestions on some offensive plays that may work for this team. Thank you in advance for your guidance.

My son is a 6’7” basketball player in the Class of 2027 at a highly competitive public high school in Georgia. He already has some D3 and NAIA offers, but his high school coach believes he has the potential for higher-level opportunities.
His coach suggested hiring a professional recruiter who can actively contact college coaches, send highlight videos, and follow up, since he doesn’t have the time to do so himself.
Can anyone recommend a reputable and experienced professional who provides this type of service?
Thank you!

My son is in 3rd grade and is playing basketball with a school-based rec league. Coaches are parent volunteer, and they as a small group have decided they'd like to separate the boys into A and B teams. I don't even care what team my son would make - but it feels really early to be doing that, especially in a rec league where many boys haven't even played competitively before.

What's the general take on this at this age? Is this standard or generally looked on as being too early within that type of setting.

I’m 5’9, with shoes I’ve been running positions 1,2 and 3 and I’m a 16 year old sophomore and my team went 21-3 last year on varsity. I sat almost end of the bench on varsity and 4 juniors on jv played over me and once I got In I impacted the game but I only averaged like 4-6. I was singled out a lot during last years practices. I averaged 15 during middle school. but as of now I may be starting. We have a new coach now but we lost all of our seniors who were starting last year and only have 1 junior from last year that started. I’ve often been waking up mentally exhausted and hating going to practice/ anything basketball related but after I get done with it I feel better. It’s been making me so depressed/burntout to the point where I can’t enjoy anything basketball related at all. What would you do in my situation ?

Coaching 4/5th grade boys team. We had a training camp yesterday and another today. I’ve coached for a 4-5 years (basketball, baseball/softball, and soccer). The boys didn’t look bad at camp, they wanted to show off their flashy lay ups and shoot 3s etc etc. My main sport is baseball but i also enjoy coaching basketball. I’ve never coached at a higher level than 2/3 grade but I’d like to help develop and guide them. Any tips on drills, how practice should be, in game plays or anything in general. I understand the fundamentals and everything but I feel like I need a better understanding of the game so i can be a better coach for the boys. You know?

I’m heading into my 4th year as a basketball coach. I coach 3rd-8th graders (separate seasons) This is my first year coaching up a level (6th-8th) I coach at a very small school, so at every level of basketball it is the same group that started playing together in elementary ball. For this fall I have the same group that I coached in the spring for elementary.

They are a great group of boys and most play multiple sports together so friendships grow tight from a young age. But I have a few players who have major attitude issues which I have addressed to parents with the help of school administration in the previous season. They have good and bad days, but also loud mouths. I do my best to nip all negative behavior in the bud as it happens, but there is always stuff that happens behind coaches back. In the locker room, in the school day, and whispers on the court. I accept that and do my best to be aware of what happens, but my major concern right now is I have one player who is pretty talented but runs his mouth constantly and makes an enemy of himself. So when this specific player is on the same team in a practice scrimmage as some of my other hard headed players there is clashes and trash talk and no productive basketball being played. (Ball hogging, dumb shots, bad passes and blaming each other)

I’m looking for any suggestions on how to improve my team’s chemistry with each other. Anything I can say as a reminder or mantra every day to start practice, any drills that force them to work together, or any experienced coaches opinion on how to handle this situation. Thanks in advance!

So it happened. My kid played last year, made JV level, worked up to more play time and once or twice start. She worked but did not do AAU team in the off season. During the school year she did play with an upward style team and did weekly training. The kids coming up from middle school had a strong team, they all play on the same AAU team and they all made team.

My question for the coaches, how long should my child wait to talk to the coach about deficiencies that got her cut? Is it worth it to have the conversation? It should be noted that while she played last year she was accommodated for never missing practice is very coachable and tends to be well liked by teachers. Zero issues with academics or behavior at school.

So as a coach would you want the player to make an appointment to talk about it? Or would you be offended that they asked? Should player do it on their own or have the parent there?

She wants to continue to play but is wondering if this is the sign to let it go. Tryouts are closed so I have no idea what the issue was. I am dying to know myself but I don’t want to helicopter.

Anyway just wondering from the coaches do yall appreciate when players do this or does it annoy you?

I’m a dad coaching my son’s 4th and 5th grade school team. I’ve coached younger age brackets before. Never had much basketball experience myself but my son loves it and I want to support him as best as I can.

Team has seven guys of varying experience. Three practices into the season and we scrimmaged another school team. Long story short, it’s very obvious how unprepared I was. Other team had plays, audibles, pressing strategies. Our practices were focused on passing, spacing, shooting form and how to play defense. This team ran circles around us. My son is bummed about it and I feel like I let him down. So I need to make our practices more effective!

What are some plays you like to run at this age bracket? In bounding the ball and strategies for bringing it up the court. I know some basic ones like box or stack.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

My daughter is in 7th grade at a small private school. Last year was her first season playing JV basketball, and despite many girls having little to no experience, she received very little playing time.
Determined to improve, she began taking weekly private lessons immediately after the season and attended Nike basketball camps. Her improvement has been incredible! She’s consistently one of the top players at lessons, is frequently used as an example, and recently scored 18 points in a scrimmage.
Fast forward to school tryouts: 26 girls tried out for JV and varsity, and only four were cut. Most of the girls have never played or if they have, have done no offseason training. Some are completely unfamiliar with basic basketball terminology.
We were told JV and varsity rosters would be determined during the first week of practice. Her school is very small, so often times 7th-8th graders can be double- rostered. However, after less than a full day of practice and very little evaluation, the coach moved several girls, including some with no basketball experience, to varsity.
I’m realistic and never expected my daughter to make varsity, but I’m confused by the evaluation process. My biggest concern is whether she’ll actually get opportunities to play and continue developing this season, especially after barely playing last year.
She has worked incredibly hard and genuinely loves basketball. I just want her to receive a fair opportunity to demonstrate her improvement.
What would you do in this situation? Should I approach the coach, give it more time, or consider other options? I would really appreciate opinions and advice!

Not necessarily a coaching question, but I figured this would be the best thread for me question with so many coaches at different levels in here.

When I played high school basketball 12+ years ago, AAU was obviously a thing but it wasn’t like everyone on my team actively participated in it for years leading up to high school. Maybe that’s due to the fact that I’m from a smaller town? I don’t really know. But it seems like nowadays AAU ball almost feels like a requirement for kids to have a legitimate shot at being selected for school teams.

I moved to a much bigger city when I graduated and youth sports all around now just feels vastly different than when I was a kid. I’ve always said that I want to avoid putting my 7 year old son in AAU ball to avoid the travel schedule and fear of him losing the joy in it. Am I doing him a disservice by this and hurting his chances at being able to play school ball as he gets older?

He still gets tons of practice both at home and during normal rec ball seasons as well as attending a few private training sessions here and there. AAU is just something I’d like to avoid if possible.