Teaching the Fundamentals So Young Basketball Students Can Learn Improve and Become Elite.
As a coach of an elite youth basketball team I have to look at the strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies of my players and formulate game plans. With limited time to prepare my team for competition it's imperative that I maximize every minute and focus on the areas that are most important. Here are the 5 tips for making your youth basketball practice effective:
Elite Hoopers (some missing) at weekly Skills & Drills @Frisco Field house, TX So proud of these young athletes - they showed up every Friday and put in work to get better. Each of them coachable. Each of them focused. Each of them got better! Coach William demonstrates the importance of 'squaring up' during Skills … Continue reading Putting in Work: Winter 2021 Skills & Drills
After demonstrating the proper technique it was my kiddos turn. After about 5-minutes of attempting the move my son - clearly frustrated- stopped abruptly shouting two words that I never ever thought I would hear as a dad-coach.
Someone sent me this pic of me coaching my son this weekend and It prompted me to share a thought about criticism and feedback- clearly my 8-year old has got it down ...
Master the fundamental footwork and mechanics for shooting a layup.
Yeah I get it. When it comes to basketball we all want our child to be the highest jumper, the quickest and best athlete on the floor. After all, if our kids are going to make their middle-school team, that AAU select team, or start on Varsity at the local high school- they gotta be the best...right?
When the ball-handler retreats in his/her dribble- it's almost a natural reflex for the defender to relax and come out of their stance, which is when the player with the ball attacks.It's also a great move for the offensive player to scope what's going on behind his defender and base the next move off their … Continue reading Move of the Week: Retreat Dribble
Dick Bennett -- who is best known around these parts as the creator of the "Pack Line" defense (and as Tony Bennett's father) -- has a simple four-step checklist for defense that I believe every coach would benefit from adopting. As follows: 1. Get Back and Stop the Basketball As we chat about all the … Continue reading 4 Steps for Great Team Defense from Coach Dick Bennett
Five Spot Shooting is one of the best all around shooting workouts developing players can utilize. In fact, if there's ONE workout you ever use to become a good shooter- this would be it!Five Spot Shooting is a progressive workout that covers every aspect of shooting from every spot on the court. It's extremely thorough … Continue reading Five Spot Basketball Shooting Workout
When we survey NCAA student-athletes about their expectations of moving on to professional athletics careers, the results indicate surprising confidence in that possibility. The reality is that very few go pro. Estimated probability of competing in men's college basketball High School Participants NCAA Participants Overall % HS to NCAA % HS to NCAA … Continue reading What Are the Odds of Competing in Men’s Professional Basketball?
Yesterday I read an interesting article by a man who says young players shouldn't watch the NBA. And he backs this up with many solid points: The NBA is chock-full of: Poor sportsmanship Yelling at referees Technical fouls and ejections And it's not great for our young, impressionable youth to see these things on a nightly … Continue reading Why Young Basketball Players Should NOT Watch the NBA