Show notes
- HeySammi.com: Takes all your kids’ sports apps and puts them into one daily plan so you know exactly where to be and when. Get on the waitlist.
- NukeHydration.com: Clean hydration made for young athletes, no artificial flavorings or additives. Use code YOUTHHOOPS15 for 15% off.
- CoachingYouthHoops.com: Brand new, revamped practice plans built by age level, with free samples to try before you buy.
What Skills Should Your Young Players Actually Be Working On?
Three skills per age group, and the drills to build them.
Learn more and get everything you need for your season at TeachHoops.com
Coach Collins shows up looking more relaxed than he has in years, with no season to plan and no tests to grade, and the guys dig into a big picture question: what are the best ways to develop grade school players in a short amount of time? Before getting to how, they start with what. For fifth grade and below, Coach Bill’s answer is ball handling, because one superior ball handler can beat a team at that age. Coach Collins adds handling pressure, meaning not panicking when doubled and knowing how to pivot. Round it out with layups, and those are the three skills that matter most.
Stationary ball handling is fine for a minute or two of warmup, but real development needs pressure. Coach Bill uses a drill called Stuck in the Mud, where defenders can move their hands but not their feet while players dribble through them, then finish with a layup at the other end. He also runs a one on one cone drill where the dribbler goes around the cones and attacks the hoop, with the defender’s cone moved closer as players improve. Coach Collins’ advice is to keep changing drills as kids master them, like letting the stuck in the mud defenders take one step in each direction. The best youth coaches he sees are always tweaking.
By middle school the priorities shift. Shooting comes first, and Coach Collins separates shooting from scoring: shooting is catch and shoot, and it is built on reps, form, and footwork, ideally to the point where players can self correct. Defense comes next, with stance, footwork, help defense, and how to shift in a trap. The third skill is a little more abstract: becoming a student of the game. Can a player adjust to different offenses and defenses, and run more than one system? That only happens if coaches put them in those situations instead of playing a two three zone for two straight years.
Coach Bill builds this through reads rather than plays. His Blitz offense is a base, and from there players learn to read and adjust to whatever the defense throws at them. You do not have time to teach every situation, but you can teach rules and scenarios that let kids figure it out on their own. Coach Collins adds that shared terminology, things like midline and helpline, makes all of it easier to teach.
The final takeaway is focus. Most youth coaches get a couple of short practices a week, so you cannot boil the ocean. Coach Bill picks three things to develop each season and drills down into each one, which is exactly how the new Coaching Youth Hoops practice plans are built, by age level, so you know what a second grader needs versus a fifth grader. As Coach Collins puts it, there are free samples on the site, just like Costco.
Learn more and get everything you need for your season at TeachHoops.com
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