Coaching younger athletes forces coaches to focus on what really matters, keep things simple, and find the best ways to make practices both engaging and useful for their players.

Here are 7 lessons I’ve learned coaching youth basketball:

1. Keep it simple, stupid

Often, when coaching youth basketball, you don’t get to work with your team every single day. Sometimes you only see them 1-2 times between tournaments.

In an optimal world, you’d have gym access and daily time with your team. This likely won’t be the case for you.

WIth that in mind, you must learn to keep things very simple.

Focus on the things that are truly important and cut out any extra fluff that isn’t going to help your team be ready for their games.

2. Plan in detail, but be flexible

I can’t tell you how many times the length of practice changed last minute, we ended up having access to 2 baskets instead of the 4 I thought we would have, or we only had 6-7 players available to show up for practice.

Flexibility is your friend.

Practices are probably not going the way you picture them in your head or wrote them down on your piece of paper. And that’s okay.

Your ability to adjust on the fly, make changes, and use whatever resources you have – while remaining positive – will go a long way.

3. How to use your time wisely

When you only have an hour to practice once a week, you learn how to use your time more wisely.

Choose the most important things you need to work on and spend the majority of your time there.

The main questions I would ask here are:

• What do we need to be able to do in the game that we can’t do right now?
• What skills are we lacking in?
• What fundamentals of the game do I need to teach my players?

Do those things instead of cute passing drills, silly games, or wasting everyone’s time with long-winded pre-practice speeches. 

Also, try to avoid stopping drills if you can!

4. You can not over-communicate.

This is true for players and parents.

With your players, constantly communicate your expectations, what they are supposed to be doing, where they are supposed to be cutting, how playing time works, etc.

When you coach younger athletes, you WILL have to constantly remind them about the smallest of details. And they will still do it wrong during the game. That’s okay. It’s part of the process.

With your parents, communicate in as many ways as possible about things like playing time, practice and game schedules, expectations, volunteer opportunities to help, your rules etc.

Start a small email list with your players, use a text chain, have meetings from time to time.

You can not over-communicate!

5. Keep your practices super engaging and interesting.

Choose drills that will teach your players how to play, but will also be interesting and engaging for them.

Avoid having your players standing in line at all costs.

Enlist parents or siblings of your players to help in drills.

Spend 5-10 minutes on a single thing before moving on. Younger athletes just don’t have the attention span to truly stay focused on the task at hand for longer than this. Introduce it, work on it, move on!

6. This should be fun

Youth sports are supposed to be an enjoyable experience for your players. If they aren’t having fun while getting better, you need to adjust how you’re doing things.

Your players should look forward to practice.

I always made it a personal goal to make sure everyone on my team felt good at the end of the practice – this can be achieved through telling a story or joke that makes everyone laugh, having fun with the post-practice huddle, or ending practice with some sort of contest against coaches.

When they leave, they should leave feeling like they love basketball, they love coming to practice, they had fun with their teammates and friends, and they maybe learned a little about basketball along the way.

7. It’s not about you.

We see it all the time on social media – examples of coaches taking themselves too seriously, stealing the joy of youth sports from kids, and making it all about the reliving of glory days or some made up goal in the future.

Don’t be these people.

Make every decision around how it will impact and benefit your players. Put them first, advocate for them, and drop your ego. 

Ten years (days?) from now, nobody is going to care if you won the county youth parks and recreation basketball league. They will care that you helped them love the game, helped them get better, and were a positive adult role model in their lives.

The post 7 Things I Learned From Coaching Youth Basketball appeared first on The Hoops Geek.

Here is a list of several popular cuts used in basketball – with information and a diagram for each.

Basics when cutting:

• Make eye contact
• Provide a target
• Set it up
• Sell it
• Read the defense

1. V-Cut

• This classic cut is used to get open on the wing (or other areas of the court).
• Players use this cut most frequently when trying to receive a pass on the wing.
• To get open, take your defender DOWN before popping out UP – in the shape of a V.

2. L-Cut

• This is similar to a V Cut, but you will cut in an L shape instead of a V.
• The cutter will cut up and then out to get open to receive a pass.

3. Veer Cut

• Without fouling your defender, take a few steps toward them and in the last second, veer off in the direction you want.
• This uses the law of physics to help you get open and doesn’t give the defense enough time to react to your movement.

4. Face Cut/Front Cut

• This is a simple cut right in front of the face of an opponent.
• This is commonly used after you make a pass.  You make the pass and follow it with a front cut to the rim.

5. Backdoor Cut

This cut is used to go behind your opponent, specifically when they are overplaying the ball.  You can use this cut to punish the defense for being overly aggressive.

6. Dribble At Backdoor Cut

• You can also dribble at an overplayed player to force them to go backdoor
• In this diagram, x2 is overplaying 2
• 1 dribbles at 2 which sends him backdoor to the rim

7. Curl Cut

• When receiving a screen from a teammate, you can choose to “curl” the screen to the rim or perimeter.
• When curling, you want to cut towards the ball and provide a target for your teammate to throw to.
• This cut is commonly used when the defense is trailing you on the screen.

8. Pop

• Instead of rolling after the ball screen, the screener can pop to an open area.
• This is a good move if the screener is a good shooter.

9. Flare Cut

• A flare screen is a unique screen that requires the player to actually cut away from the ball.
• The player should set this screen up by taking a step towards the ball before fading away using the flare screen.

10. Ghost Screen

• This action is getting more and more popular in the modern game.
• The player goes to set a ball screen but instead of planting their feet, they fake the screen and usually pop.
• This can open up a driving line for the ball handler or a pop out for the screener for an open shot.

11. Roll

• After setting the ball screen, this is the classic roll to the rim action.
• The screener sets both feet.  When the ball handler dribbles by the screen, the screener rolls to the rim.

12. Slip

• This ball screen read is similar to a ghost screen, but the screener is now slipping to the rim instead of popping out.
• Right before the screener gets to the ball, they slip to the rim.
• This can be used when teams are defending ball screens aggressively with a hard hedge or trap.

13. Flex Cut

• The flex offense used to be very popular due to its difficulty to defend.
• One of the main actions was a cross screen.
• The “flex cut” can be made above or below the screen.

14. Shallow Cut

• This cut often happens after the ball has been passed.
• The player will pass the ball to a teammate and then “shallow cut” inside that player to the same side corner or wing.
• This often opens space up to drive.

15. UCLA Cut

• Made famous by John Wooden in his UCLA days, this cut uses a back screen after a pass to the wing.
• The goal here is to get a layup after using the screen.

16. Iverson Cut

An Iverson cut features the player cutting above screens to catch the ball on the opposite side of the floor.

17. 45 Cut

• The 45 cut is named as such because of where the cut takes place (usually the 45/wing).
• This cut happens when the help-side defense is occupied with other action like a ball screen or baseline drive.
• The player cuts into the gap behind the defense for an easy shot.

18. Shake/Replace Cut

• During ball screens, a third defender is usually used to prevent a layup.
• If your man is helping on the ball screen, using a “shake” or “replace” cut can make it difficult for the defender to guard both the roll man and cutter effectively.

The post Basketball Cuts – 18 Different Types of Cutting in Basketball appeared first on The Hoops Geek.

Keeping it simple allows your players to focus on mastering fundamentals, grasping the basics of the game, and learn from the mistakes they make along the way.

How to Introduce First Plays for Youth Teams

When you are first introducing plays for younger athletes, one strategy to use is whole-part-whole.

First, show your team the entire play, explaining the basic concepts of whatever you are showing them. Then, start breaking the play down part-by-part – slowly. Finally, let them run it 5 on 0 before introducing the defense.

Sometimes, the best way for your team to understand the offense is to teach it in 5 on 5, stopping play in order to explain reads, reactions, and the play in general.

There’s a lot of debate in youth circles about what youth teams should be running on offense. Some believe youth players should just be taught motion offense without any real plays being called. Others believe the structure of plays help players understand the game better. A lot will depend on the skill level and basketball IQ of your team.

Easy Plays Against Man Defense

Easy Basketball Plays Against Zone Defense