Image Credit: Dollar Photo Club | Julián Rovagnati | text added
We’re excited to invite our friend Craig Haworth from WinningYouthCoaching.com back to The Inspired Treehouse today to talk about some great tips for coaching youth basketball teams!
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Craig is a youth sports coaching guru whose mission is to help mom/dad coaches of youth sports teams plan their practices and seasons in an organized and effective way.
His weekly podcasts feature interviews with great coaches and other experts in the field and are super interesting! Do yourself a favor and check outWinningYouthCoaching.com! Take it away Craig!
Have you been asked to coach your son or daughter’s youth basketball team? The typical youth basketball coach spends the most time during practice on 5 on 5 scrimmages while working on multiple offensive plays. Here’s what a 1 hour 15 minute practice plan usually looks like:
10 minutes – warm-ups
15 minutes – shooting drills/lay-up lines
45 minutes – 5 on 5 – trying to teach kids multiple offensive plays while coaching the defense at the same time
5 minutes – sprints
There are 3 fundamental problems with this plan:
1 – The warm-ups aren’t basketball-specific
2 – Not enough time is spent on fundamentals
3 –Trying to coach offense and defense at the same time is very inefficient and confusing
Don’t make these same coaching mistakes – be different, and better! Read on to find out more!
Image Credit: Dollar Photo Club | Kuzmick | text added
Make your practices more focused and dynamic, and you’ll not only see happier, more engaged kids but also more visible results when it comes to game time.
The ideal youth basketball practice should include:
20 minutes – body awareness/performance – 6 skills to develop: Sprinting; Backpedaling; Defensive sliding; Pivoting; Jumping/landing; Lunging (check out this video from Alan Stein at Strongerteam.com )
30 minutes – fundamentals/skills in small groups
10 minutes – team concepts 5 vs. air (no defense) – Just teaching the kids how and where to move – keeping it simple
15 minutes – 3 on 3 games
Be sure to check out out our Basketball Dribble Challenge and read about some fun Leg Strengthening Exercises for Kids that will turn your little ones into the basketball stars of the future!
Want to learn more about how to be a great youth sports coach? Check out the resources, podcasts, and articles at winningyouthcoaching.com!
Craig Haworth is the founder of WinningYouthCoaching.com – whose mission is to help mom/dad sports coaches plan their seasons so they can be organized, effective, and win. Follow Craig on Twitter and Facebook!
