Watch Them Grow

We've been working with this kid on pulling off some dribble moves during a game. She would do maybe one then just stop. It was a confidence problem, not an execution problem. You will run into the same thing. At least you should.

So she has been going behind her back on her way to the basket every once in a while. Sometimes she would pull it off, most times not. But we stayed on her. We practiced and demanded that she do it during a game. So I'm watching her play last week and she went behind her back in the 1st quarter. It went well, she got by her guy, and made a nifty pass to her post.

Then she did it again, with a little more confidence, and it was a little faster. She passed to the corner. Then again, and it was a little faster again, much more confident, and she pulled up for a nice little mid-range jumper. Then a fourth time to shake her guy on the way to the rim.

See, this is how it will progress. One day your players will have enough confidence to pull off a dribble move not because you tell them to, but because they have confidence in it. Then, the next move becomes much easier.

We're shooting for a between the legs then hesitation next.

More About Passing - And Catching

One of the drills we work on every day is how to catch the ball. It sounds simple, just put your hands up and catch it. But, no, it's not quite that simple. It is important that you teach your guys how to catch the ball in a position of power, and so that they are ready to attack on the dribble, or shoot it.

So we developed this little drill that is great warm up and addresses these issues. Actually, I don't remember if we developed this from our program, or if we stole it from someone else. It doesn't matter, you will find that most of your best drills have been stolen from someone else. That's what good coaches do - they steal.

Anyway, this drill is on one of our CD's - the first one. We spent about 3-5 minutes early in the season doing this drill but by the end of the season we would spend maybe 30 seconds on it. But the point of the drill is to catch the ball in such a way that your guys can make a one-handed pass, put it on the floor, and are in a power position. The drill is to rectify the maddening habit of allowing young players to catch the ball standing up or holding the ball in their hands not ready to shoot or attack.

For All That Is Good In The World Let Your Kids Play

Up 5 starting the 4th. Against a team that had beaten you the last time by 16. So what do you do?

Let me tell you what you don't do. You don't stall. You don't try and milk the clock for that long. You don't play like a loser.

I was at the game. The team ahead had the other team on the ropes. The other team was frustrated, tired, and ready to pack it in. Instead, by taking the pressure off, the first team, the losing team let them get their feet under them.

There is no team in the country that can milk an entire quarter with just a 5 point lead. It is this kind of stupidity, idiocy, downright malfeasance that this blog is about. This loss should be put right at the feet of the coach. Ridiculous. If you are ever in the same situation, and you do the same thing and lose the game, grow a pair and admit that it was your mistake that cost the game. At some point you have to look in the mirror and determine when it becomes your fault and not the kids.

You Will Be Making Game Decisions That Effrect The Outcome

So the score is tied at 26 at halftime. Yeah, I know, a real offensive explosion. And one team had this kid who had been carrying his team the whole first half. He was getting a lot of his stuff from put-backs and slipping in from the short corner. A great strategy when playing against this wide, gappy 2/3 zone.So I was quite interested in what kind of adjustments each coach would make. I had my suspicions, but reserved judgement until I saw it for myself.

Sure enough, the other team doubled down on the short corner and took away his lane to the basket. He was stuck from then on and the other team cruised to a 20 point win. So what does this mean to you? The youth coach?

First, if all you teach is a pattern offense, your guys will only know how to run patterns off of it. Not how to make plays from it. It would have taken a simple adjustment to their offense to keep this kid going. Just get out of the pattern and play basketball. Second, this story is a great example of what you can do as a youth coach to better your team. Move your guys around the floor to put them in the best position to succeed. If all you do is have them run through a pattern, then that's all they know. But if you teach them how to make a play, then you can put your guys anywhere, against the weakest defender for that guy, and he will make plays.

Again, and forgive me for hammering this home so much but this is critical, plays and patterns do not score. Players making plays score.

What You Do Now Has Lifelong Consequences

I was watching this silky smooth, extra quick guard the other night. She was beatiful to witness. She moved on the floor like water moves down a waterpark slide.

So her coach made a good move. She put her in a 2 on 2 game on the right side of the floor. She put her best 3 point shooter in the corner and told Ms. Silk to go to the basket. If the defense helped over on her she would kick it to the corner for the 3 ball. Great plan, right?

Except for two things. Ms. Silk's youth coach never taught her how to jump through a double team and come out the other side. And the 3 point shooter's youth coach never taught her to raise her shooting pocket and get rid of the ball quickly. So the defense would help over on Ms. Silk then they would close out on 3 point shooter before she could get a clean look. And, believe me, I've seen this team play defense before, they're not terribly good defenders.

Are you willing to take the next three point shooter and go through an entire season of poor shooting as investment in this kid's future? Or do you just want to look good for this season and let the next guy worry about it?

If He Can Get 30, Why Not 40?

I watched a kid drop over 30 on another team the other night. He did it primarily through offensive put-backs. What he did NOT do is show any kind of sense or understanding of how to play offense. He had one post move, from which he scored maybe 6 of his points, and absolutely no understanding of how create a shot for himself with or without the ball.

Yeah, he was a relentless rebounder. But imagine what he could have done if he was a legitimate threat in the low post, high post, or anywhere else on the floor. Imagine if his youth coach had taught him some dribble moves, a jumpshot, or how to move without the ball. He would be a threat to drop 30 every night. But his youth coach just couldn't be bothered with the hard work of demanding that he expand his game.

What a shame. You could be hearing about him playing DI somewhere. Instead, you will probably never hear about him at all. Because his youth coach couldn't be bothered.

This 14 Year Old Kid Gets It - Why Can't You?

I was at a game last week and I saw a player who was performing at a very high level. No surprise there, happens all the time. Her game was far and away ahead of her peers and her competition. So I talked to her after the game and I asked some questions. Questions like, "how did you know..?", "Who taught you to..?", "Why do you...?"

Her initial answer to all these questions? "I don't know." So I pressed. Come to find out that these were things she learned just from experience. That as she played, she realized that the ways she is doing things is better. Faster, More successful. She is an undersized pt. guard, with decent speed and pretty good handles. So it's not like her God given abilities are anything to write home about. So she had to take what was given her, and make the most of them. By doing things that are faster, more aggressive, more attack mode than anything.

She intuitively gets it. You have the advantage of standing on the sideline and analyzing how effective what you're teaching really is. Why can't you see what this 14 year old girl sees?

Black Ops and Your Motion Offense

You want an easy way for your guys to remember how to run motion offense? At least one key component of it? Here goes:

I think everyone in the world has the game Call of Duty: Black Ops. And in that game there's an option to play against German Zombies. Quite a cool affectation, in my opinion. But here's your reference anyway.

In that game, the player gets to a point where there are just too many zombies attacking him to hold his ground. So the thing he has to do is run away and by some time. Reload, gather up with your partners, something like that. So I'm watching my son play the game (it's okay, he had two games that day so it was veg out time) and it struck me that the same tactic applies to your motion offense.

Here's how it works. Tell your guys that whenever there is too much congestion - defenders, other offense, or German Zombies, run away. Get out of the way. CREATE SPACE. Space is the enemy of good defenses and zombies and it is the friend of a really snappy, clicking motion offense. Once your guys have created adequate space, what do they do. Attack! With a cut, or a float, or a backscreen, there are tons of options.

Go With The Flow

Last week I was at a game between a team that was hovering around .500 and one that had won only two games all year. Early in the second half the .500 team put some distance between the two - up 12 I think it was. And a funny thing happened. I hope all of you take this lesson to heart.

So the bad team, down 12, started to get frustrated. And one of two things happens when teams get frustrated. 1) the wheels fall off and they completely break down. 2) they start to play with some urgency. This night, they played with some urgency. They started going to the basket hard, they rebounded hard, they stretched the game to the whole floor. Very little structure and a lot of just going at them. And the other team? They started to play back on their heels, they couldn't handle the new pressure being applied to them. Slowly the first team inched their way back in it, and cut the lead to 3 with a minute or so to go.

So what did the coach do? He called time out and put them back in their pattern offense. The result? Turnover. Game lost.

Please, teach your kids how to play, then let them play. There is a time for more structure and their is a time for less. Learn the difference. I'll help you if you stay tuned.

More Pattern Offense - 'Cause I See It All The Time

I saw this team play about three weeks ago and commented on their pattern offense. I got to see them again last week and this same pattern offense came back. Now, this team is quite good, but by this I mean they have some nice athletes, they shoot it well, and they run their stuff pretty well. But what ended up being a 12 point win for them should have been about a 40 point win.

This team has a pretty good point guard but she is unable to get to the rim with anything other than a simple crossover and she usually needs a ball screen to get there. Here is where the real crime occurs. Instead of working on that stupid 3 man interior pattern for hours and hours - which they obviously have been doing because they run it so well - they should have been working on getting to the rim, making moves, reading the defense and reacting, and generally working on BASKETBALL.

So should you. Teach them how to play the game, not how to run some stupid offense you read in a book of devised on a Burger King napkin. The team I referenced above is currently ranked 2nd in our state. If someone along the way had taught them how to play the game, they would be so far ahead of everyone else that a state championship would be a lock. See, this is where you are so instrumental to their eventual success. You get none of the glory but all the credit - and you may be the only one who knows it.

Strangely, the other team caught on to the pattern, as all teams do, and defended it pretty well.

The Basketball Jump Stop

A few weeks ago we talked about the most ridiculous "fundamental" of the game. And last week I saw the result of this archaic thinking come to the fore. It could have cost someone a game. Here's what happened:

A kid got a steal and broke free on the dribble. There was one defender back. The dribbler had help on his left wing. There was a defender running right behind the dribbler. It was going to be a bang-bang play, but the offense had a 2 on 1 going and they should score out of it. I would have been tough, but a good team should make this work.

So the dribbler came down to about the free throw line and his wing was a couple of steps ahead of him. The dribbler came to a jump stop at the free throw line - JUST AS HE HAD BEEN TAUGHT - from first grade until now, a varsity player. Remember when I first broached the subject of the jump stop? I wrote that when one does this one becomes immediately weaker. His defender, splitting the difference between the dribbler and the wing, instinctively knew this. He dropped down to guard the cutting wing. And the guy behind the dribbler caught up to the play and stuck a hand into the passing lane and knocked it away. Turnover. What should have been 2 points turned into a turnover.

Because someone along the way taught him the jump stop because he had been taught it before by his coach who had been taught it before by his coach.

Here's my guide: if you jump stop, you had better be shooting.

Two Hand Chest Pass? Did You Read It?

I was expecting a flurry of comments regarding my post about the two hand chest pass. Really? All you guys that read this blog agree with my opinion?

If so, how come I see minutes and minutes and hours and hours of wasted practice time used to teach the two hand chest pass?

Shooting and Dribbling - You Must Dream It

There are two things that should take up 90% of your practice. No, I'm not using that figure as a hyperbole. I really mean 90%. Dribbling and shooting. Your guys need to learn how to make moves, get to the basket, create a shot for themselves or others, and they need to be able to shoot it.

To that end, at some point you must demand that your players move their pocket up so that they can get a shot off under pressure. That is a must.

Last week I witnessed a great example where a youth coach effected the outcome of a game years later. A team was down three with seconds to go. This team had one pretty good perimeter shooter and she was certainly their best 3 point shooter. So the play went to her. But she never got it off. Why?

She still shoots from her waist, exactly where she shot from as a youth player. No one along the way demanded that she move her pocket up and shoot a perimeter jumpshot. In all the coaches she had as she progressed, no one took the trouble to demand this from her, becauseI would have been difficult. She would have spent the greater part of a summer missing everything.

That's where you come in. You have to think long term. Do you want immediate success so you can look like a good coach? Or are you willing to give that up to actually be a good coach.

Hoops and Drums

Last week I was at a game and the home team had a female drummer for their performing jazz band. As you follow this program, these ideas, your going to encourage your guys and gals to be drummers.

What do I mean? Let's be honest here, girl drummers are uncommon. Not unheard of, but uncommon enough where a girl from a small town might think twice about playing drums. But at some point this girl said to herself, "Heck yeah, I'll go play drums." And that's the kind of attitude you are encouraging, that "heck yeah, I can go do that."

When you teach your guys to pull off an ankle breaking crossover or between the legs dribble you are also encouraging them to be drummers, and engineers, and veterinarians, and anything else their dreams tell them.

 In fact I asked her how she came to be their drummer. She said, "When I started the class they already had a saxophonist and my teacher said they needed a drummer. I thought it would be cool for a girl to be a drummer." Exact words. I wrote it down. Because that's what we're doing here. Remember the coaches from a few posts ago that criticized their players for throwing a behind the back pass and making some dribble moves to beat her girl? Those are the same guys that would tell a girl she can't be a drummer.

The Best, Easiest Drill To Start Your Practice

I have a great drill that you should do every single day of practice. I'll post it soon on the website, but what this drill does is get your guys in the frame of mind to practice like a player. See, I've always believed that if you think like a player, you will play like a player. And the reverse is true. If you act like a player you will think like a player.

There are two things great about this drill. 1 it's terribly easy and it will positively effect everything you have your guys do. 2 you can get this drill done in under a minute. At first you may need to take 5 minutes and really get it done right. But after only a couple of practices you can knock this out in under a minute.

But let me emphasize that the added benefit of getting your kids in the frame of mind - and in the physical presence - is priceless. It just sets the mood of "oomph" it's time to get after it. That can not be minimized in any way.

Star Passing Drill

I happened by a youth team practice the other day and I was struck by a huge mistake this coach was making. Now let me state AGAIN that I get to make these evaluations because I have made EVERY SINGLE MISTAKE THESE GUYS ARE MAKING.  I've been where they are, I've done the dumb things they are doing. So I'm taking some license here because... well... you get the idea.

Anyway, they were running that star passing drill and finishing with a layup. The drill is fine. Nice little warmup and the kids pass the ball four times before a shot. All of that is fine. I don't like it, but that's okay. Different style.

No, what struck me was that the coach would cheer (as we need to do with little kids, cheer at every opportunity) when they made the layup. No, no, no. The layup is not the point. The point of the star passing drill IS THE PASSING AND THE LAYUP.

Here's what I saw. The kids were passing standing straight up, throwing a two hand chest pass (see previous post) catching it standing straight up, and jumping for their layup from too close to the basket.  The point of the drill is the passing: passing from an athletic position (and I would incorporate going off the dribble), catching it the same way, and shooting from the right spot on the floor. NOT THE LAYUP!

Behind The Back Pass

Something like this has happened twice in the last few months. One of our guys got in trouble with his other coach for throwing a behind the back pass. The coach said, "Stop showing off." This is INSANE. A behind the back pass is a key component of your player's entire arsenal of passing strategies. Your players should be able to dime a behind the back pass, between the legs, underhand flip, running bounce pass, and a baseball bounce pass.

Here's what happened the other time - and it's strange but both coaches said the exact same thing. I had been working on getting our guys to freeze their defender with some shimmy-shammy dribble moves then blow by him. So our kid was practicing with another team and he put some moves on his defender and went right by him and scored. What did the coach say? Nice shot? Nice move? Nope. He said, "Stop showing off." That is ridiculous. This coach wants this kid to play hard and play to win (I'm assuming, but one might wonder) but he won't give him the freedom to play the game? Craziness.

Two Handed Chest Pass - Part Two

When you introduce passing, which should be during the first month some time because all of your previous practices you have been working on dribbling - okay, that's only SLIGHTLY tongue in cheek - you will probably work on passing the first day. That's fine. I wouldn't, but I get it. Anyway, we're talking about passing, not receiving. Begin with the one handed push pass, first the right for 2 minutes then the left for four minutes. From there, graduate to throwing that pass right off the dribble. I have an easy drill that is hugely effective for this and it will be on my website http://www.makemykidaplayer.com/ soon. The site is in development right now and there you will find tons of stuff to help you.

You know, I get that as your kids move on to other coaches they will probably want them to two hand chest pass. But that's the point of this blog and the website. You are not coaching your kids to support the stupid things other coaches might do, you are coaching your kids to make the best players possible. So that one day, when they are playing at a high level, you will have been a big part of their success because you started them off right.

Two Hand Chest Pass

Let's talk about the two hand chest pass. Now I know most coaches of youth teams think that's where they should start to teach passing. I mean, it's the most basic passing fundamental in the game, right. I disagree. Here's why.

To throw a two hand chest pass, you first have to stop and come to a two foot jumpstop. Let's take both of those and toss them on the ash heap of history. When you jumpstop what happens? Two things, you have allowed your defender to catch up to you and you have allowed the defender of the one getting the pass to catch up to him. You have slowed down the entire play.

Second, the player with the ball becomes weaker. How many times have you seen a youth player come to a jump stop and kill his dribble, only to be swallowed up by his defender. How about every time?

No, to start to teach passing, you must first teach dribbling. From there you teach a one handed pass right off the dribble.  More to come on that

The Pattern Offense Giveth and Taketh Away

A few weeks ago I told you about Number 11 and how she should shoulder more responsibility. Because she is that good. Well, I got see her play again a few nights ago and... well... let's just say it didn't go well. So what does that mean to you? Two things.

If you must run a pattern offense - and I strongly - with all of my strength - advise you against that. But if you must run a pattern offense, then pick one that takes advantage of the skills of your best player. Number 11 can consistently get to the rim anytime she wants. But the pattern offense she was forced to run made the paint so congested that while she could get there, she was always going 1 against 2. Or 3. Or 4. She's good, but not that good. See next paragraph.

Second, teach your kids what to do when they get to the rim. Teach them some moves then let them do them. Teach them to dip their shoulder to get by their guy then explode. Teach them to go between the legs, short and quick, and then explode to the other side of the basket.

In short, number 11 got rooked. She should have had an easy 15 but instead she had a hard 12. This is a great example of where your system can hurt your players not help them.

They lost, btw.

Dribble Drills Again

Anyway, about dribble drills. Really, you could work on dribbling for an entire 2 hour practice. And that would not be a bad thing. Let me put it this way, the younger your team is the more you need to practice dribbling. Junk the offensive sets, scrap the entries, just dribble. Dribble all day if you can.

Dribbling is the first and best skill you can teach your guys. Look at any team playing at a high level and you will find that every guy out there can put it on the floor. It is that critical to your player's success and your team's success.

Now I get that most of you won't use your entire practice and just dribble. But, really, if you want to make your team better faster, you might consider it.

Dribble Drills

We were producing our instructional dribble video the other day and I thought it might be a good idea to talk about where dribbling fits in your overall practice schedule.

You will, of course, have a year long practice plan. Now I know I've been harping on you to give up much of your control so that your kids can just go play, so what sense does it make to have a year practice plan? Plenty, see you're not really giving up any control, you're just teaching different things. Skills that will make your athletes better players. We'll get to that more as we go. Back to dribble drills...

Our first video is about ten minutes long. It shows simple, effective dribble drills that you can use during your practice. And what makes this video different, and all of our videos have this, is that this DVD will have specific teaching points that make a particular dribble skills most effective. It's been my experience that most coaches will overlook these key factors in pulling off these dribble moves and that's not good. Remember, your job is to make your players as accomplished as possible. One way to do that is to concentrate on the elements of a move that makes it go.

Btw, our website will be up soon where you can get this video and more as we get them produced. And there are tons of other great coaching tools that you need so stay tuned.

Winning Is Everything

I've been the guy accused of having the win at any cost attitude. I get where that comes from. When I have a team, and I will be coaching my own team in the spring - probably two - I demand things from them. Like a great effort, and aggressiveness, and being completely vested in the outcome of the game. But winning the game? Trophies? B.S. like that? Nah, not for me. And it shouldn't be for you.

No, what I'm after is empowering my players. And that comes from failure. Yep, you are empowered when you fail then try again. I was talking with a very dear friend of mine - someone you will get to know as you continue to read - and she has a book coming out about this from a different perspective. More on that as we go. But we were talking about how being empowered means that you have the consciousness to fail and then try, then repeat. Sometimes hundreds of times.

So I push my players to go beyond what they know they can do and try what they think they might be able to do. Then, after hundreds of failures, they succeed that one time. And they run down the floor thinking, "Hey, that was pretty cool. I'm gonna do that again."

I'll give a concrete example from a game last week. I was watching this kid play. He's an exceptional technical player. He knows how to play, but physically he is behind. He's a bit slow, he's smaller than the guys he's playing against, he hasn't gone through that next stage of development. Where the guys he's playing agains have muscles, he has skin. So he found himself under the basket, being checked by some huge monster who has 6 inches and 60 pounds on him. And his coach has continuously demanded that in that situation he shoot it. 1 foot from the goal, it's gotta go up. But what to do? Any other day, he would have tried some weak crap that would have been slapped down on his forehead. So what did he do?

He ball faked, Then ball faked again, and got his goy off ballance. Then he pivoted and used the basket to his advantage and shot an underhand scoop shot on the other side of the goal. Last week, he would have passed it and got yelled at - rightfully so. A year ago, he would have gotten scared and turned it over. But this day? He did something different because that was what was demanded. And he made it.

He ran back thinking, "Hey, that was cool. I'll do that again." That's empowering. That's basketball.

Basketball Offenses and Defenses: The Hard Truth

First, have a happy New Year. I'm wishing you a prosperous and blessed 2011 filled with you making good decisions about how you lead your charges.

To that end, we are going to take 2011 and get down to some specifics about what you should be teaching your kids. We will be talking about specific basketball skills, your practice schedules, how to prepare for games, anything and everything that you will need to coach your players the best way possible.

We will begin soon, so stay tuned. And our website will be up soon as well, where you will find even more information to coach your kids. There will be everything coaches need to get it done. It doesn't matter if you are coaching the tiniest youth team to high school programs, you will have access to tons of stuff.

Wishing you decisive dribble moves, aggressive defense, and quick jump shots.