Coaching Youth Basketball

Coaching basketball is certainly a challenging task, whether you're a beginner or an experienced coach. Its a great responsibility that calls on you to not only improve basketball players, but to improve character and discipline as well.

One of the toughest problems coaches face is not being to captivate their players' attention. Grabbing and holding the attention of your players is the 1st step to becoming a good coach. In order to this, you have to first relate to them at their level and then establish yourself as a credible authority. If you're distant from them, or you don't understand them, and you come off as not knowing what you're doing, then you can forget about your players ever listening to you.

The 2nd step in coaching youth basketball is to develop your overall philosophy. This means, are you more offensive or defensive oriented? Do you prefer fast-paced or slow-paced? Are you into big-men or shooting? All these questions have to be answered before you can fine-tune your offensive and defense.

The 3rd step in coaching youth basketball is to develop your teaching style, or the methods you use to teach skills and drills to your young players. Your teaching style is very important, as it can mean the difference between a team that improves and a team that doesn't go anywhere.

The 4th step is to choose your offensive and defensive formations, and convey these to your kids in a very simple manner. The best way is to first sit them down and show easy diagrams or videos. Then, demonstrate everything on the court with yourself and a couple of good players at a very slow speed. Then, show everything at game-speed and finally have all your players practice.

Finally, you have to choose an effective set of basketball drills that fit into your philosophy and your formations. It you get the above steps down, coaching youth basketball becomes fun and exciting. Remember, it all starts with establishing yourself as an authority and grabbing the attention of your players. You can't do this until you gain some knowledge of coaching the game.

Knowledge, patience, & determination...these are the three best qualities in a coach. Your players will literally feed off your motivation and enthusiasm, so the more you are into the sport, the more they'll be into it as well.

Check out the links below to fine-tune your knowledge of coaching basketball:

Elite Basketball Coaching System

Basketball Coaching Guide

Basketball Plays

Team Basketball Drills