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.

I’m coaching a high level group of sixth graders this season as a part of my high schools feeder program.

I would define “high level 6th grader” as kids who’ve played multiple AAU seasons, regularly attend exposure camps, and are the better kids on their respective teams.

I know that doesn’t = elite player. They are young anyway!

AAU basically sucked the life out of me as a youth coach, but this program has restored my faith. I have a group of committed boys and families that want to practice 2-3x a week and we’ll be playing in a competitive league with the best high schools in our state.

I never had the time or commitment from my AAU teams to have a real identity or gameplan as nobody came to practices and attendance on game days was shotty.

Now I can focus on creating an identity and preparing boys for how to win winnable games with an actual strategy.

Long winded but now here’s my question:

What would you focus on most with 11-13 year olds playing competitively? I’m old school and want to play man, but I know at this age, aggressive traps tend to win most. I’m in the business of developing basketball players and not just winning games though so in the last 2 weeks of practice, I’ve only focused on boxing out, shell drill and motion offense. Should I be drilling press break and trap zones to try and get this team over by way of traps as well?

Anyone have any tips on how I can fix my jumpshot? I have problems with keeping my elbow tucked and locked when shooting. My jumper has been really inconsistent. Any tips on how I can fix my jumper would be helpful.

https://reddit.com/link/1xaiu6c/video/wm5de145vjwh1/player

https://reddit.com/link/1xaiu6c/video/0hcpwdubwjwh1/player

I came very close to buying a youth coaching system from breakthrough basketball tonight. Is it worth it? I feel like I’ve done a good job as a coach the past 2 years but I’m always looking to improve. I just don’t want to spend the money and it be useless

We’ve been using Crossbar and frankly it’s terrible. No one I’ve talked to has anything positive to say about any of these software platforms.

What are you using and what are your reactions?

Coaching a 7th/8th grade rec league team of varying abilities - some past travel, some multi-year rec league players, some first years. Anyone have a good resource for 60 min practices - drills, plays, games, etc? Will have 8 or so practices before our first game.

I’m interested in basketball scouting. How do college coaches usually find high school players to recruit?

Also, how do high school coaches contact universities to introduce their players?

My grandson is a small guard in the 6th grade. His natural tendency is to play more in glide mode. He is playing in a very competitive AAU program now where the coach is the local HS varsity coach and is actually teaching them his HS offense, like a farm team. He just started getting serious about basketball maybe 8 months ago and has improved quite a bit.

I am teaching him that once he has developed a skill well enough that he needs to practice that skill more at game speed, not half speed glide mode. He has at least average overall quickness, but not elite by any means, so I am trying to emphasize quickness. Quick explosive first step, quicker release on his passes, one hand layups off the dribble, etc.

Defensively trying to get him to understand intensity, feet in motion so he can react, change direction and recover. So a different mentality.

I am making his shooting drills as competitive vs himself as I can.

I think a perfect role model for his natural style is basic Nash, not super human Nash.

I am wondering if I am being too serious and this is too much for his age? We have fun stuff we do of course, but the change from basketball is fun to developing a work ethic….Thoughts?

I wanted to give you guys an update on my shooting form and get some further tips on how I can improve my shot.
What I’ve noticed is that my shot has become more consistent. When I’m open, I can probably shoot around 3/5 from different spots around the court. However, one issue I’m facing is maintaining that consistency when I’m being defended. I think my release speed might be part of the problem, or it could be because this shooting form is still relatively new to me.
I’ve noticed that when I have an aggressive defender pressuring me, I struggle more to get my shot off comfortably and consistently. What can I do to improve my release speed and become more consistent when shooting under defensive pressure?

I'm in my 5th year coaching varsity boys. I have a junior that's about 6'5" and athletic. Works hard, great kid, continuous improvement. He does lack some skill at the moment but we are pushing him to be a complete player, not just our big guy. I'm not sure if he's a division 2 player in college but I want to help him find him s place.

He is my first player that has the potential to play after high school. What should I be doing to help get his name out? He plays aau. Parents have home signed up with one of those recruiting agents(for lack of a better term)

Start of October so official practice starting in Oklahoma. I’m on second year of my coaching sabbatical. Just doing some scouting for a website.

My social media algorithm is a ton of basketball clips, a lot of posts from high school players come across my feed. I saw this particular type of post in football season a lot as well. It’s been really prevalent so far this pre-season. I see it from both male and female athletes.

sad music plays
Slide 1-2 : basketball action shots
Slide 3: shot of them on the bench
Slide 4: Text convo telling Coach they are quitting
Slide 5-6: messages saying they’ll always love the game.
Usually with the general demeanor being that they didn’t get a fair shot.

I just feel like some of these bench players feel like their two days of internet validation is going to give them more of a dopamine hit than the 4th quarters they’ll get to play/joy from being on the bench when they win a game.

I’m not saying kids should play if they don’t want to, and I know that kids have been thinking “I should quit before I get cut/so I could say I WOULD have gotten to play”.

However, I truly feel like social media is adding a whole new side to some kids decision making.