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Coaching Youth Basketball -- Tips, Drills, Plays, Philosophy, Tactics
You'll be teaching habits that will stick with these kids for the rest of their lives. And whether you like it or not, you'll be setting an example and teaching kid's lessons about life (good and bad). Kids are impressionable. They pick up on things.
You have an obligation and responsibility to teach them the right things - in both basketball and life.
When you think about it, teachers would do anything to get the enthusiasm that you get from your players. Kids actually like and want to play basketball.
Your players look up to you. They listen to you. And you have an amazing opportunity to make a POSITIVE impact on their lives!
You have a very important and rewarding job!
In this section of our website, we'll provide you with links to a variety of youth coaching tactics, plays, drills, and tips that will help
you become a better youth basketball coach.![]()
The articles discuss very important concepts to help you succeed. So read through each article, starting with the first one at the top.
If you don't have our free eBook yet, the first thing you should check out is our FREE Basketball Drills ebook. It includes 72 of some of our favorite basketball drills and it includes youth section so you can easily find the drills that apply to you.
We also offer videos with 60+ Youth Basketball Drills and Tips For Coaching Youth Basketball.
When working with young kids and running basketball drills, there are three very important concepts you need to consider:
Picture by
Shane Pope1 - Kids need to be highly active!
Just by using fast paced drills and keeping things moving, your players will have more fun and get in better condition. Your kids should be breathing hard and their hearts should be pumping.
It's good for them!
Avoid standing in lines as much as possible and keep the ball in their hands as much as possible.
2 - Kids want to feel successful!
With very youngs kids, competition doesn't always serve as a motivator. You should always provide activities that help them build their skills and confidence. Strive to focus on the learning process instead of measuring up to those around you.
You'll want to avoid adding pressure and competition until the players have developed their skills, confidence, and become proficient with the basics.
Put them in situations where they can succeed.
3 - Kids want to have lots of fun!
This is an important stage for young players and your actions could determine whether they enjoy sports or not.
It's important to make things fun so they can improve and become confident.
Youth basketball drills don't have to be boring. Almost any drill can be modified to provide high activity, high success, and high enjoyment.
Youth Basketball Offenses
I believe that using a very simple motion offense is the way to go for youth teams because it teaches them how to move and the players will begin to learn how to get open and play the game.
Motion offense also allows you to spend more time teaching fundamentals and skills (which is very important for young players).
The challenging part about motion offenses is that there are SO many options that it's hard for players to know what to do. But you can easily solve that problem by making simple rules and starting with the basics.
For example, you might want to just with just a couple simple options for your motion offense. You could start by teaching the players proper spacing, away screens, and v-cuts. Once they master those skills and get VERY proficient at cutting properly and setting good away screens, then you can start adding more options and building on your foundation.
You can add ball screens, rolling, and so on.
Just don't go too fast! Make sure they have good fundamentals before you start adding stuff.
You can learn about developing motion offenses by looking at these resources:
Offensive Theory & Introduction to Basketball Offense
Teaching Basketball Motion Offense
5 Out Cutters Offense - Easy to teach and it is a great building block for the motion offense.
You can also try this very simple patterned offense that you can use as a play or your entire offense:
Youth Offense - Michigan
Press Breaker Offense - Breaking the Press in Youth Basketball
3 Critical Player Development Tips For Your Offense
Youth Basketball Plays
When it comes to teaching plays to youth basketball players, it is typically better to teach them concepts on how to play the game of basketball.
- Triple Threat - How to get in triple threat position every time a player catches the ball.
- Footwork - Quick stops & pivoting
- Cutting - Basket cuts & back cuts
- Screens - Off the ball & On-ball
- Eventually, reading screens.
To read more on this topic, please read:
Youth Coaches: Destroy Your Playbook and Do This Instead
Should Youth Coaches AVOID Plays and Patterned Offenses?
Here are some very basic plays:
1-3-1 Cutters
Rolling
Swing Variation
Zone Shallow
Zone Overload
Quick Hitter Vs. 1-3-1 Zone
Best Overall Advice for Youth Basketball Coaches
1) Keep things fun!
Did you know that the #1 reason kids quit sports is because it's not fun anymore?!? It's very important to play plenty of games and keep a positive attitude.
Be positive and make things fun. Even if the kids get cut from the team or decide not play basketball at an older age, they'll still have a positive image of basketball and may continue to play it recreationally when they get older.
If you act like a drill sergeant when coaching a bunch of 10 year olds, the kid will get a negative image of basketball and have negative emotional feelings when thinking of basketball.
Kids will also get sick of basketball if they play TOO many games each year. As a result, they will not likely play basketball when they get older. It can even affect their feelings towards fitness in general. If a person dislikes fitness and becomes inactive, they are more likely to be unhealthy!
60+ Youth Basketball Drills and Games
2) Be Positive & Do NOT Correct Every Mistake!
Don't be too critical and stop them to make a correction on every mistake. Let them play and learn themselves. If you stop or correct them on every mistake, you'll get a basketball player with low confidence that is always unsure of what to do, instead of a confident player that reacts to the defense.
Now, if they continue to make the same mistake over and over and over, show the player a better way to do a certain thing. For example, if you see one of your players stand straight up every time they touch the ball and a defender crowds them and causes the offensive player to travel.
Say to the player, "Way to hustle, Johnny! Let me show you something that will help you when the defender crowds you. When catching the ball in this position, keep your hips back with your knees bent, and pivot. Be ready to attack. Then if the defender comes to crowd you, it will be easy for you to dribble right by him!" Notice, I did NOT focus on the negative and say "Stop bringing the ball up!"
Don't focus on the negative. Focus on the way to help them. Let's be positive as coaches!
3) Allow your players to be successful!
Sometimes competition is not a motivator for young kids. However ALL kids need to taste success (and hopefully lots of it). Now this doesn't mean winning. It means getting better and succeeding in practice. Allow your players to run drills that they can succeed at and feel good about. Celebrate small accomplishments and successes with your players.
4) Teach life lessons in your practices!
Read this article about teaching life lessons and improving team bonding.
5) Don't worry about winning!
You don't have time to worry about winning. There's only time to do the right thing... If you do things "right", winning will eventually be a by-product of your actions. Be patient. True success takes time to do things right. It doesn't happen overnight.
You must first build a SOLID foundation for these kids to build on. Taking the time to build that foundation will cause you to sacrifice winning some games. Trust us. This is better for your players in the long run.
6) Avoid year-round basketball and play other sports!
There is a reason that NBA GM's don't like their ELITE, PROFESSIONAL basketball players competing in the summer World Championships and Olympics. It's been scientifically proven that playing a sport year-round leads to tired muscles and a tired muscle has a much HIGHER chance of injury. Now, if these PROFESSIONAL athletes with proper nutrition and training are supposed to avoid year-round basketball, don't you think that a DEVELOPING, young athlete (most likely without proper nutrition and training) should be avoiding it as well?!?
If you force your child to play, it can also lead to burnout, injury, and resentment of the sport or fitness
altogether.
People are much more driven when they choose to do something they enjoy, rather than being forced to
do it. If you want your child to enjoy basketball, play GAMES with him when they want to, and watch
basketball-related activities with them. 9 times out of 10, kids enjoy sports that their parents enjoy if approached the right way.
At this age, it is best to improve overall athletic ability which is done by playing multiple sports,
such as gymnastics, baseball, soccer, martial arts, football, track, volleyball, softball, swimming, and so on.
Keep in mind, that you want to have seasons for these sports. Avoid playing 2 or 3 sports at once and multiple practices on the same day. If you want to focus on one sport at age 16 or 17, GREAT. Not at age 10 or 11. And who knows what your child will take an interest in or show talent in at age 10? Most of the time, things change a lot in the next 6 or 7 years!
7) Don't press or play zone defense!
You can read why and get advice here.
8) Use small basketballs and lower rims!
Using rims that are too high and basketballs that are too big will RUIN your players shooting form. They are NOT strong enough yet.
Do we send 6 year olds to Yankee stadium and start throwing from the big mound? No, we start with tee-ball, then parent pitch, then little league (close bases), and move up.
It's ridiculous to throw 5-10 year olds on a full size court with 10 foot rims and youth basketballs that are way too big! It's no wonder so many kids have horrible shooting form when they get to high school!
9) Teach the right things!
Just keep in mind that if you can teach your young players the following skills, then you should feel good that about what you accomplished and know that you're teaching your player the right things (that they need to be successful)!
Your young players should be able to:
- Dribble with their left and right hands equally well.
- Make lay ups with their left and right hands equally well -- and jump off the proper foot (left foot when shooting with right hand, and vice-versa)
- Perform a jump stop without traveling.
- Pivot on their left and right foot without traveling.
- Perform accurate chest, bounce, and overhead passes.
- Perform a defensive slide (feet wide, good balance, staying between the offensive player and the basket).
- Shoot a basketball with proper form.
These simple skills should be your number priority and your goal should be to help your players master these skills. Once they have truly mastered these skills, you can start building from there.
Breakthrough Bonus: Download this "Youth Basketball" article as a FREE PDF! (Download Now!)
Questions & Answers
If you have any questions about coaching youth basketball, post your questions on our forum.
A group of very experienced and knowledgeable coaches monitor the forum and answer questions.
Recommended Youth Coaching eBooks, Books, and DVDs
Here are the books and DVDs that we recommend to youth coaches:
The Youth Coaching System (By Jim Huber)
60 Fun Youth Basketball Drills
Motion Offense
Basketball Shooting Tips & Drills
M2M Basketball Defense Tips & Drills
Simplified Post Player Development
Coaching Youth Basketball - What Should You Teach?
By Joe Haefner
Home > Coaching > Coaching Youth Basketball > Coaching Youth Basketball - What Should You Teach?
Many youth basketball coaches don't know where to start or what to teach.
Well, we hope to help you out in this area. Below, we provide some advice on what to teach youth basketball players. We break it down between 3 levels. As you perfect each level, you can advance to the next level to teach more skills & concepts.
All beginner players should start with Level 1 no matter the age. We put ages next to the level as a general guideline. Depending on the
age and skill level, you'll progress through the levels at different rates. You may notice that you'll spend 4 years working on Level 1 with 7 to 10 year olds.
At the same time, you may be able to progress to Level 2 after two weeks working with a group of 13 year olds who are playing basketball for the first time.
I would advise to go back and start at Level 1 every year. A lot of high school and college coaches start at Level 1 every year. They just progress through the levels more quickly than a youth team. It's a great way to ingrain
the fundamentals into your players year in and year out.
We advise to take a couple of hours and write up a master practice schedule
for the season, so you can progressively teach them the skills mentioned below. It may take a few years to teach all of these skills at one level and THAT'S OKAY! For youth players, we want to focus on the long-term development, not how many games they win when they're 11 years old.
If you try to progress them too quickly, it will hurt them in the long-run. You want to have a solid foundation first. You shouldn't try to teach
them every dribble move in one year or every option in the motion offense. The same way in which you couldn't teach a person calculus if they did not
know how to do simple addition and subtraction.
Important Note: Throughout this article, you'll find many links to other articles on the website to explain concepts that we advise to teach. My
recommendation would be to read the entire article first, then go back and click on the links to read the other articles.
You may also want to add this article to
your "Favorites" or "Bookmark" it, because there may not be enough time to read all of the links in one sitting.
Level 1 (7 to 10 Year Olds)
Here's what to teach, ordered by priority:
- Lay ups - You should practice lots of lay ups with both hands. Your goal should be to get all players to make lay ups with their left and right hands equally well!! Teach them to jump off the proper foot. They should jump off the left leg when shooting a right hand lay up. They should shoot off their right leg when shooting a left hand lay up. It will be difficult but work on it. You'll probably need to start really close to the basket, with no dribble, and take just one step to practice the footwork. Once you add the dribble, they should dribble with their left hand when shooting left hand lay ups. And vice versa.
- Footwork - Teach them triple threat positioning, pivoting on their left and right foot without traveling, jump stops, and to square to the basket as soon as they catch the ball in a triple threat position.
You should spend a lot of time on footwork! - Shooting form - For this age group, we highly recommend using smaller balls and lower baskets. If that is not possible, allow the players to dip their elbows which will give them more strength. To learn more on shooting, we also have the Breakthrough Basketball Shooting Guide.
- Ball handling - You should teach your players to dribble with left and right hands equally. Basic dribble moves such as the speed dribble, crossover, protect-the-ball dribble, and back-up dribble.
Resource: Progressive Youth Ball Handling & Footwork Workouts App - Players can do the workouts from anywhere. The coaching dashboard also allows you to monitor multiple players or your whole team.
- Athletic & movement skills - Teach them how to run, jump and land, skip, stop, move laterally, squat, lunge and any other basic movements. If you don't know how to teach these movements, ask a professional or PE teacher to show you how.
99% of the time they would be more than willing to help, and they may even come and show the kids themselves.Should We Teach Basketball Skills To Players Under the Age of 10? - Useful information for all levels of coaches, not just coaches who work with players under the age of 10.
- Basic passes - Teach and practice the basic chest, bounce, and overhead passes.
- Play plenty of 2 on 2 and 3 on 3 games to teach concepts (no dribble keep away). It gets the players more experience and allows them enough space to operate and use the new skills they have learned. Make sure to use plenty of age-appropriate drills & games.
For more on this, read Could 3 on 3 Basketball Be the Best for Youth Players?
- Offense - Do NOT use any structured or patterned offenses. First, get them comfortable on the court. They will start to figure things out on their own. Your main concern should be to have them move & not stand still.
If you use a few basic cuts and maybe screens in your shooting drills at the beginning of practice, then your players will already know how to move in a motion offense.
Then you don't have to waste time teaching offense. Just let them play.
Once players feel comfortable on the court, show them proper spacing.
As they progress, you can start to introduce them to motion offense situations.
- Basic cuts & how to get open - If time permits, you can introduce the basket cut and straight cut. I would suggest that you just work these cuts into your shooting drills at the beginning of practice. This will save loads of time.
- Defense - Teach the basic stance, defensive slide, and basic off-ball principles. Don't worry about spending as much time on defense. As they get older, you'll gradually spend more time on defense. Focusing on it 5 to 10 minutes per practice would be more than sufficient.
Basic Off Ball Principles:
- Stay between man and the ball
- Always stop the ball if it is in front of you!
For this age group, we are against zone defenses for development purposes.
For anyone coaching this age group, we HIGHLY recommend the DVD The Youth Coaching System (By Jim Huber).
You'll gets lots of drills and learn exactly how to teach the most important fundamentals the to kids "right way". We truly believe this DVD should be required viewing for ALL youth coaches.
Level 2 (10 to 12 Year Olds)
You should expand onto more advanced skills for everything mentioned above. But remember, if your 10 to 12 year olds are inexperienced, you should start in Level 1. And at the beginning of each season, you should start at level 1 until those skills are perfected. Then you can progress into the more advanced stuff below.
- Lay ups - jumping off one foot and jump-stop lay ups.
- Teach more cuts: back cut, curl cut, etc.
- Continue to focus on shooting form and introduce some movement for shooting drills (shooting off the dribble and off the catch). To learn more on shooting, we also have the Breakthrough Basketball Shooting Guide.
- Ball handling & dribbling - teach more dribble moves such as the inside-out dribble (fake crossover), hesitation move, and between-the-legs.
Resource: Progressive Youth Ball Handling & Footwork Workouts App - Players can do the workouts from anywhere. The coaching dashboard also allows you to monitor multiple players or your whole team.
- Passing - continue to teach basic passes and introduce some advanced passes (baseball pass and wrap around pass). Use other drill such as machine gun passing and pass and switch.
- Passing under pressure - you can use pair passing with a defensive player in the middle running back and forth to pressure the passer. You can use this drill to practice breaking pressure: full court press breaker drill.
- Teach basic screens.
- Footwork - introduce jab steps and ball fakes (pass fakes and shot fakes).
- Rebounding - introduce rebounding technique.
- Basic post moves. drop step and jump hook.
- Spacing - introduce more basic spacing concepts.
- Offense - keep playing 2 on 2 and 3 on 3 to teach concepts.
You can also start to introduce more motion offense situations and play some 5 on 5.
- Defense - keep emphasizing and spend a little more time on the defensive stance,
defensive slide, and off-ball principles mentioned in Level 1. If you feel that your players are ready, work on more
off-ball defense principles.
In our Man to Man Defense System, we provide step-by-step how to build and teach your defense.
For this age group, we are against zone defenses for development purposes.
For anyone coaching this age group, we HIGHLY recommend the DVD The Youth Coaching System (By Jim Huber). You'll gets lots of drills and learn exactly how to teach the most important fundamentals the to kids "right way". We truly believe this DVD should be required viewing for ALL youth coaches.
Level 3 (12 to 14 Year Olds)
You should expand onto more advanced skills for everything mentioned above.
- Lay ups - practice contested lay ups. Also, you could start to teach players, same-leg same-shooting hand lay ups. I know that is against conventional wisdom, but think about it for a second.Your player just blew by a defender or is on a fast break. Do you want them stutter-stepping to give the defense time to recover and contest the shot? So if that means jumping on your right-leg and shooting right-handed on the same side, so be it.
- Continue to teach basic cuts and add more cuts.
- Continue to emphasize shooting form (move to big baskets and bigger balls).
Practice shooting on the move off of the pass and the dribble. To learn more on shooting, we also have the Breakthrough Basketball Shooting Guide.
- Ball Handling & Dribbling - teach more dribble moves such as the spin move, behind-the-back. Incorporate some double-moves (crossover followed with a behind-the-back).
Resource: Progressive Youth Ball Handling & Footwork Workouts App - Players can do the workouts from anywhere.
The coaching dashboard also allows you to monitor multiple players or your whole team.
- Passing - introduce some other advanced passes (dribble pass, behind-the-back pass, pick and roll pass).
- Passing Under Pressure - You use Pair Passing with a defensive player in the middle running back and forth to pressure the passer. You can use this drill to practice breaking pressure: Full Court Press Breaker Drill.
- Teach Basic Screens.
- Footwork - continue to work on jab steps, pivots, and ball fakes (pass fakes and shot fakes).
- Rebounding - put more emphasis on rebounding technique and spend more time on rebounding drills.
- Post moves - keep practicing post moves mentioned above while introducing a few more when the players are ready drop step
counter and up-and-under move.
- Spacing - advance to higher levels of spacing drills.
- Offense - introduce more motion offense situations.
You should start to notice that your players are becoming much better at reading the defense.
- Defense - Emphasize basics from previous levels and move on to rotations and situations.
In our Man to
Man Defense System, we go into great detail about rotations and situations.
For this age group, we are against zone defenses for development purposes.
Sample Practice Plan for 7 to 10 year olds.
Sample Practice Plan for 11 to 14 year olds.
Do you have any questions or suggestions? Let us know by leaving your comments...
High School Basketball Coaches
NBA Player Sayings (90)
Basketball. Scientific and methodical bulletin. Issue 9 (2010)
Contents
| Alexander Konovalov. Concept for the development of student basketball in Russia (3) |
Sergei Elevich. The third graduation of the Higher School of Coaches at NSU. P.F. Lesgafta (15) |
| Alexey Solodkov. Physiological characteristics of the sports game of basketball (16) |
| Dusko Vuyoshevich. Basketball team formation (22) |
| Roberto Carmenati. The evolution of the attack in European basketball (25) |
| Svetislav Pesic. Transit assault (35) |
| Kevin Sutton. Exercises in throwing against the background of fatigue (53) |
| Panagiotis Giannakis. European Champion Attack 2005 (61) |
| Andrey Ulyanov, Roman Abzhalilov. Piezoelectric remote shock wave therapy for diseases of the musculoskeletal system in the practice of a basketball club doctor (66) |
Boris Losin. Evaluation of coordination abilities of basketball players of various qualifications (73) |
| Lidia Kostikova, Pavel Ponomarev, Jia Zhi Qiang. Features of managerial influences of a coach on basketball players in competitive activity (76) |
| Vladimir Shamis. Major changes to the official basketball rules (2010) (84) |
| Ettore Messina. What to do with the World Cup? (88) |
| Statements of players and coaches (90) |
Basketball. Scientific and methodical bulletin. Issue 10 (2010)
Contents
| Sergei Elevich. Actual problems of optimizing the training of coaching staff in Russian basketball (3) |
Mikhail Davydov. NBA and international basketball (4) |
| Alexey Vasiliev. Standardization of actions of attacking players when playing the interaction "deuce" (12) |
| Evgeny Yakhontov. Varieties and techniques of jump shots (19) |
| Chuck Daly. Attack principles (29) |
| Kevin Eastman. Individual player development (35) |
| Bill Foran, Robin Pound. Physical fitness tests (54) |
| Pavel Goykhman. Ways to develop sports training (74) |
| Statements from players and coaches (91) |
Basketball. Scientific and methodical bulletin. Issue 11 (2011)
Contents
Boris Sokolovsky.
Training and competitive management of women's basketball teams (3)
Sergei Elevich. Fourth Graduate of the Lesgaft University School of Basketball Coaches (20)
Lawrence Frank. Productive Workouts (22)
Dave Wol. Successful combinations for the last seconds (40)
Bill Foran, Robin Pound . Conditioning of basketball players (54)
Nikos Apostolopoulos. Microstretching: A New Technique for Rest and Recovery (79)
Jay Wolf. Nine ways to increase the effectiveness of shots without changing their structure (85)
Ettore Messina. General over individual (87)
Statements of players and coaches (89)
Basketball. Scientific and methodical bulletin. Issue 12 (2011)
Contents
Mikhail Davydov.
Where can young people play? (3)
Bill Foran, Robin Pound. Basketball strength training (5)
David Blatt. Point guard position is the weakest in the national team (78)
Mike Krzyzhevsky. Outside of basketball. Dictionary of Success: Basic Technique (79)
Bobby Knight. Throws (80)
Evgeny Yakhontov. The evolution of basketball dribbling (84)
Statements of players and coaches (91)
Basketball. Scientific and methodical bulletin. Issue 13 (2012)
Contents
Sergei Elevich. Blatt achieved an outstanding result thanks to the credit of trust (interview) (3)
Bill Foran, Robin Pound. Increasing the power of basketball players (7)
Vitaliy Usenko.
Full court personal pressing (37)
Avery Johnson. Attack Assault (43)
Dean Smith. Improvisational passing game (57)
Fess Irvin. Sports.ru interview January 11, 2011 (75)
Statements of players and coaches (90)
Basketball. Scientific and methodical bulletin. Issue 14 (2012)
Contents
Sergey Belov. About London and beyond (3)
Petr Manin. Convertible Zone Defense 3-2 (9)
Dean Smith. Pre-Shifts (14)
Phil Jackson, Tex Winter. Triangle Assault (31)
Rich Delatry. Modern Conditioning Methods (58)
Bill Foran, Robin Pound. Increasing the speed of basketball players (77)
Sayings of players and coaches (90)
Basketball.
Scientific and methodical bulletin. Issue 15 (2013)
Contents
Mikhail Davydov. Basketball rules: evolution continues (3)
Sergey Elevich. Reflections on the training of young basketball players (13)
Darius Soriano. The death of the "triangle" (15)
Victor Shestopalov. Basketball psychology basics according to Phil Jackson (17)
Bill Foran, Robin Pound. Improving Basketball Agility (21)
William Healy, Joseph Hartley. Zone Defense 1-3-1 (35)
Steve Jordan. Simple attack systems (42)
Harold Wissel . Basketball Interval Training (47)
John McLeod. Situations in the last minutes of the game (50)
Dean Smith.
Defense 20: Personal pressure (56)
Player and coach statements (90)
Basketball. Scientific and methodical bulletin. Issue 16 (2013)
Contents
Mikhail Davydov. Basketball rules and refereeing: on the eve of the FIBA Congress (3)
Alexander Moroz. More is not always better. NBA Teams Increasingly Use Light Fives (14)
Eddie Jordan and Pete Carril. Princeton Assault (18)
Mike Fratello. Twenty-five coaching truths (44)
Dean Smith. Protection 40 (48)
William Healy, Joseph Hartley. Zone Defense 2-3 (60)
Ettore Messina. A number of considerations about the basics of basketball defense (67)
Alexander Nazarov . Jason Kidd and the role of the coach in the NBA (72)
Andrey Polozov.
Basketball rating (75)
Max Fomichev. The youngest scouting coach in Europe (77)
Vladimir Fiskalov. Problems of commercialization and professionalization in sports (83)
Statements of players and coaches (90)
Basketball. Scientific and methodical bulletin. Issue 17 (2014)
Contents
Sergei Elevich. The champion was known in advance (3)
Vladimir Gomelsky. USA will also beat the world team (8)
Science to coaches and players (Two sides of motivation) (9)
Science to coaches and players (Specificity of sports training) (9)
Mikhail Davydov. FIBA: On the eve of the new five-year plan (10)
Science for coaches and players (Instructions and demonstration) (20)
Andrey Matyukov. French Cooking Secrets (21)
Science for Coaches and Players (Recommendations on the Use of Punishments) (23)
Phil Johnson.
Screening and Screening Interactions (24)
Science for Coaches and Players (Working with the Formed Team) (48)
Dean Smith. Protection 50 (49)
Glenn Wilks. Attack against pressure (69)
Science for coaches and players (Instructions and demonstration) (89)
Sayings from players and coaches (90)
Basketball. Scientific and methodical bulletin. Issue 18 (2015)
Contents
Mikhail Davydov. New interpretation of the basketball rules came into force (3)
Andrey Matyukov. Arvydas Sabonis: The work of the federation is evaluated by the performance of the main team. (16)
Stan Van Gundy. Activities on the perimeter. (20)
Jimmy Rogers. Celtics Quick Game Review. (40)
Science for coaches and players.
Presence of strangers at the training. (50)
Science for coaches and players. On the "qualities" and functional specialization of the body. (50)
Science for coaches and players. Leader or manager? (50)
Ruben Magnano. Attack Flex. (51)
Science for coaches and players. Recommendations for trainers. (64)
Science for coaches and players. On the personal differences of athletes. (64)
Dick Motta. Pre-arranged positional attack against personal defense. (65)
Science for coaches and players. Coach as a role model. (70)
Rainer Martens. Motivation in sports. (71)
Science for coaches and players. About obedience. (89)
Statements of players and coaches. (90)
Basketball. Scientific and Methodological Bulletin. Issue 19(2015)
Contents
Mikhail Davydov. New directions. (3)
Science for coaches and players.
Laying the foundation for future success (17)
Andrey Matyukov. Development of basketball according to the Slovenian methodology (18)
Science for coaches and players. Principles of training: (principle of specificity, principle of progressive overload, principle of reversibility) (33)
Zmago Sagadin. Protection is a constant! (34)
Sasho Filipovski. Study of opposing teams and preparation for the match (40)
Science for coaches and players. Principles of training: (the principle of progressive increase, the principle of diminishing returns, the principle of change) (48 )
Alesh Vicic. Psychological characteristics of youth (49)
Science for coaches and players. Training principles: (principle of individuality, principle of moderation) (57 )
Nina Rems. From game basketball to children's (58)
Science for coaches and players.
Sports Physiology Test (63)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Methods of playing the center player (64)
Konstantin Kucher. Special purpose statistics (87)
Statements of players and coaches (90 ) Scientific and methodical bulletin. Issue 20 (2016)
Contents
Mikhail Davydov . FIBA: new horizons, new competitions (3)
What is the difference between muscle strength and endurance? (17)
Offensive theory: How to score more points by understanding offensive theory and philosophy (18)
Is the effect of weight training on female and male bodies the same? (45)
Brendan Malone. Throwing the ball into play from out of bounds (46)
How much should you train (71)
Larry Bird.
Prepare yourself for victory (72)
Evgeny Yakhontov. Diagnostics of the abilities of young basketball players (80)
Cases of selection (G.P. Vinogradov's selection) (89)
Statements of players and coaches
Basketball. Scientific and methodical bulletin. Issue 21 (2016)
Contents
Mikhail Davydov . New in basketball rules (3)
Kirill Martemyanov. "Threes" decide everything, or how the Golden State justified D Anthony (15)
Tips coaches (26)
Mike Fratello. Pressing against a ball carrier (27)
Renat Salakhetdinov. "I created a monster." Where did Hack-a-Shag come from? (44)
George Karl, Doug Moe . Fast Break Principles (47)
Ernie Woods.
Zipper offense (63)
Statement by players and coaches
Basketball. Scientific and methodical bulletin. Issue 22 (2017)
Contents
Ten years later (3)
Mikhail Davydov. International Federation - On the Way to Improvement (5)
Brooklyn Bridge Project (17)
Bill Kuchar. Attack system organization and identification (18)
Tom Haberstro. Why centers missed, miss and will miss free throws (31)
Don Nelson. Nelly-ball (46)
Onim A.N. Where can basketball coaches come from? (50)
NBA stole basketball (55)
Dmitry Materansky. Interview (60) 9Basketball. Scientific and methodical bulletin. Issue 23 (2017)
Contents
Mikhail Davydov.
FIBA Evolution - Basketball's Natural Development Process (3)
John Cooper and Daryl Sidentop. Motor learning principles applied to basketball skills. (19)
Bob Cloppenburg. SOS pressure defense (42)
What does "Double-double" mean in basketball (78)
Roman Sprikut .NBA Draft for Dummies (80)
Evgeniy Kolesnikov About the NBA (87)
Sayings from players and coaches (90)
Methodical literature:
1. Teaching aid. Portnykh Yu.I., Losin B.E., Kit L.S., Lutkova N.V., Minina L.N.
Basketball training games
2. Giorgio Gandolfi. Rings! Hoops!
3. Tutorial. Yakhontov E.R., Losin B.E., Elevich S.N., Minina L.N., Rudakas S.V.
Training of highly qualified athletes (basketball): popular systems of positional attack in modern basketball.
4. E.R. Yakhontov . Methodology of sports and pedagogical research.
5. Tutorial. Yakhontov E.R., Losin B.E., Elevich S.N., Minina L.N.
Sports training technology: analysis of creativity of domestic and foreign basketball coaches.
6. E.R. Yakhontov. Physical training of basketball players.
7. E.R. Yakhontov. English-Russian Dictionary of American Basketball.
8 S.S. Filippov. Management in the field of physical culture and sports.
9. Geno Auriemma. Top Position Offensive and Triangular Attack Combination (From FIBA Assist Magazine and Educational Films)
10. Kevin Sutton. Training of post players. Exercises for center players. Preparing perimeter players. Exercises for perimeter players. (Based on FIBA Assist Magazine and educational films)
11. Steve Nash. Basic basketball technique.
Team play and organization of training. (Based on educational films)
12. Elan Stein. Speed, Quckness & Reaction Drills. Exercises for speed, quickness and reaction time. Strength, Power & Explosiveness Drills. Exercises for strength, power and explosive strength. (Exercise description)
"By the age of 15, we get a screwed up person who we force to play basketball." Anton Yudin on working with Itoudis, Russian coaches and youth Do not regret the pluses - and there will be more interesting people.
Anton Yudin joined CSKA at the same time as Dimitris Itoudis and has been working at the club for the eighth season. During this time, he managed to become one of the most prominent Russian specialists and work with the Russian youth team.
Here's what we discussed:
• Starting a coaching career
• Joining CSKA
• Working with superstars
• Criteria for evaluating a coach's work
• Problems with the U20 team
• Working with children
the coach must kill the player in himself.
I had no problems with that” — Why did you decide to become a coach after finishing your career?
- Long before that I decided that I wanted to coach, it didn't happen in the last year of my career. Everything even went to the fact that I would stay in the St. Petersburg "Spartak" immediately after I finished playing. But, to my misfortune, then Zvi Sherf, a great specialist, came to the club. With all due respect. It so happened that in the headquarters of Zvi Sherf such a person as Anton Yudin was not useful. So I had to skip a year and wait for Sherf to show his level. The team played quite well, but Spartak lost a chic match with Khimki, which, in fact, had already been won. To my happiness! And so the next year I ended up in the coaching staff of Spartak, which was then headed by a great specialist, person, player Jure Zdovc.
— Did I understand correctly that it was irony about Zvi Sherf?
— It was both irony and absolute truth.
My opinion: a very weak specialist, just a fake. More politics than basketball.
— Did you discover anything new when you became an assistant coach?
— Of course, getting into coaching is difficult, even if you have played for many years at a high level. Still, there is a different functionality, other duties, and everything else in general, even if it is still basketball. I won’t say that I was directly very hard to join, but it still took time to adapt. And, you know, many people say that you need to kill the player in yourself ... I didn’t have any problems with this at all. It's just that when a person enters a new profession for himself - even if he has seen a lot how they do it, and he also knows something - it still takes some time to get used to it. I had the same.
But Yure helped me both with support and with his advice. He is a great person and professional. We had not only professional, but also friendly relations. And not only with Zdovets, but in general in the entire coaching staff.
The Greek Stefanos Dedas was still working with us then, he is now the head coach at AEK. We were all interested together and very comfortable.
— But it didn’t work out with Zdovets for all three years at Spartak…
— In the second year, the management began to reorganize the club. A new manager from the banking industry came in, not very knowledgeable in basketball. Naturally, he fell under the influence of local comrades. He was engaged not only in the reorganization, but also intervened in the work of the coach. And in the middle of the season, we lost Patrick Beverly, who left for the NBA. It is impossible to replace such a player during the season.
We inevitably sank and lost to Kyiv for reaching the Final Four of the Eurocup (in the quarterfinals, Spartak first beat Budivelnik at home "+11", but then lost on the road "-17" and did not get into the semifinals - approx. "Interception"). This was the last straw, Yura was fired, and I stayed to finish the third year under the contract.
Gundars Vetra became the head coach.
— What have you learned during these three years at Spartak?
— I can't say that I discovered basketball from some new side. But there were some unusual moments. For example, when you play basketball, someone explains something to you and you succeed, you don’t think about why this happens. Conventionally, you can throw - they showed you how to do it, corrected the technique, corrected something, you throw and hit. But when you need to teach and explain all the movements yourself, the whole system of how it works, then you begin to think and analyze. Because when you play, everything is natural, you do what is given to you, on instincts; and when you are a coach, you need to be able to show, explain if a player makes any mistakes, pay attention to them, explain why they happened and prove why you need to do it that way.
“A Russian in the coaching staff is the position of CSKA”
— How did you get a chance to be in CSKA?
- By that time, Spartak ceased to exist, there were problems with financing.
And it just so happened that the coaching staff changed in CSKA. I became one of the candidates, and I am grateful to the club's management and personally to Andrey Vatutin for including me on the list at all. I know that I was not the only candidate, so I can only say thank you for the chance here.
— The leadership of the “army men” wanted a Russian to be in the headquarters, right?
- Yes, a Russian in the coaching staff - this is the position of CSKA. For this club can be respected. Because, as you can see, this is far from happening in all Russian teams. Often they give everything at the mercy of foreigners. Besides me, we also have Denis Godlevsky and Pavel Gerasimov working here (a scout and an assistant physical training coach, respectively - note "Interception").
— You came to CSKA the same summer as Dimitris Itoudis. What do you remember about your first season?
— Then I was young and handsome. And now only handsome… (laughs) Yes, it was also interesting, because each coach has his own view of the game, his own system, his favorite elements in tactics.
Compared to Zdovets, this is a different style of play. It is clear, of course, that CSKA still has other players, European stars. It was very interesting and surprising, especially in training - Teodosic, de Colo were there ... I don’t know, it seems to me that this experience can only be felt by yourself when you watch how these people interact with each other and how high their understanding of basketball is.
- Did someone strike you with their approach to business? For example, they said about Marcus Brown that he made the club better as an organization - it seems like he demanded some kind of restoration conditions, fulfilling which, CSKA went to a completely new level for itself.
Who said that?
— Some of my older comrades in paper and air scribbling.
- I think it's all rumors about Brown. I played one season with Markus at CSKA, and it seems to me that the club brought Sergey Kuschenko and Dusan Ivkovic to a new level.
Surely, along the way, some needs of the players arose there, but initially this is not all about him. I now read a lot of interviews that relate to the time when I myself played. Human nature is such that people love to embellish what was. So if we talk about who struck me with their approach, then these are Kushchenko and Ivkovich.
As for the professional approach of the players, there were many other examples in my career - the same Nando de Colo, Nikita Kurbanov, Corey Higgins and many others. These are people who never make a distinction between training and games, always working out to the fullest.
“A coach does a good job or a bad one is all convention”
— In one of his interviews, Itoudis said that some assistants don't even want to become head coaches, and that's fine. I agree with him, but the question is: do you want to?
— Yes, of course. I know that there are assistants who are completely satisfied with everything. And that's okay.
At the same time, I think if someone told me when I finished playing that I would work as an assistant coach for the 11th season without much chance to lead a team, I would have twisted my finger at my temple.
I want to [become the leader], but there is a “but” — if nothing has changed in 10 years, then I don’t know what should change now. This is to be honest. This does not frighten me, but it is alarming, because for Russian specialists such a sad situation has now developed. Probably, I can't change anything here, I just have to work and wait until there is an interest. By and large, it's just a matter of one chance. And this applies not only to me, but to all Russian coaches.
Unfortunately, in Russian basketball, in principle, there are not very many Russian assistants and those specialists who can potentially be head coaches. And they choose mostly all the same from those who are in sight. It's sad that there's not even a chance. Whether it will work out there or not is another question, but sometimes foreigners also work here unsuccessfully.
- In addition, the work of a coach is almost impossible to evaluate - whether he works well or badly. The results don't tell the whole story.
- Of course. Conventionally, in "big" clubs like CSKA, Real Madrid or Barcelona, the success of coaches is measured by victories and cups. At the same time, most of the clubs have a ghostly chance of winning titles, but this does not mean at all that their coaches do not work well.
Players are easy to compare. So I went out to play against you and scored more goals for you than you did for me, and then defended again. It will be, of course, a rough comparison, not one hundred percent, but it will mean that I am a stronger player. It’s almost impossible to compare coaches, completely different inputs: budgets, players that you can afford to acquire within the budget, management, other conditions.
- When you left the Russian U20 team, Stanislav Eremin advised you - it was a collective image of a Russian coach and he had in mind not only you, just using your example - go to work in the Super League and from there go to the position of head coach in United League.
Do you think it makes sense?
— It seems to me that the Superleague is quite an interesting tournament. But for now, I see that there is one-way traffic on this road: from the United League to the Super League. So far, almost no one is going in the opposite direction, and I don’t think that there are any big chances here. The only thing is, if a team leaves the Superleague for the United League, it may want to keep the same head coach. But for now, this is the situation. If Eremin thinks differently, then he has every right. I just think differently.
"Few people were interested in playing for the national team"
- Ok, let's talk about the U20 team then. How would you rate two years at the head of the youth team?
- It was not possible to fully realize oneself. First of all, of course, we are talking about the fact that we did not rise to Division A - this was the task that stood in front of me. There were two teams, completely different reasons why it didn’t work out.
But I do not relieve myself of guilt.
— What are the reasons?
- There was an incredible amount of injuries in the first year. We lost five people then, Andrey Lopatin played with an injury and could show, probably, 50% of what he was capable of. And then he did not play from the first match, we took him at risk ... And because of this, we also had to redraw everything.
And in the second year there was a world championship, so we didn't get enough players who could really strengthen the team. So we went with what we had. I am grateful to the guys and I know that we did 100% of what this team was ready for.
Unfortunately, we did not solve the problem in both cases. But there was something that united those teams: not very many people want to go to the national team…
— Why?
- For various reasons. Someone doesn't go because "well, Division B, it's not interesting."
— “No one will see me there”?
Yes, something like that.
Someone goes to show himself to some scouts, does not play for the team. Agents or parents told someone that it is better to spend time on training, to work individually. The reasons were completely different.
And in the second year we didn't get enough people because of the World Championship, because after it some people already booked tours and went on vacation to Turkey or somewhere else. We were expecting a guy from the States who didn't come in either the first or the second year. Few are interested in playing for the national team.
— …
— A lot has been said about the training of young players, we won't repeat it. It’s just a shame for me that in two years we lost the four most important games on which the final result depended - the semi-finals and matches for third place (if the Russian U20 team had won at least one of these matches, they would have advanced to Division A - note "Interception").
And not once in these matches did any of our players play above expectations.
Perhaps it's my fault that I somehow didn't set them up... I don't know. But not a single player played beyond his capabilities. While supermatches were given out against us. In the first year we played the semi-finals with Slovenia, the center there scored 19 points and grabbed 19 rebounds, hit two three-pointers out of two, although he was accurate three times in the entire tournament from behind the arc. There were such performances, someone always gave out some kind of super-effort against us. From my team, unfortunately, no one played above their capabilities. This is still a question for me.
— Are young people just as reluctant to join the national team?
- It's hard to say, I don't coach the youth team anymore. I can only speak about my experience. Based on the conversations that I had, on the basis of the cases that took place then, I came to the following conclusion.
But, of course, this is not about everyone. Someone travels with a very great desire, burns with it.
But many of those who could really strengthen the team did not show zeal. I do not know why.
“When they start training children, they say – you must, you must, you must… But he doesn’t have to do anything”
— In your opinion, do Russian basketball youth have any problems? Attitude, attitude, whatever.
— It seems to me that when you are 20 years old, you should already have your own head, you should understand who you are, what you are and what you are for. At this age, saying “I didn’t know” doesn’t work, there is a lot of information, just take it. Even if someone didn't tell you something, you can find it yourself.
On the other hand, I never blamed and never blame the player for being good at something. There is always a question of what a person was not taught at some stage of his basketball development. Of course, I impose a great responsibility on those who worked with these children at a young age. I am 100% sure that in terms of mentality and pedagogy, we almost do not work with players.
My eldest child was involved in basketball, the youngest is engaged in it - I saw it all, it all passed before my eyes. When children begin to train, they say - you must, must, must ... Yes, he does not have to do anything. This is some kind of "pumping system".
I saw this situation last year. 9-year-old children, the team came from a small town for friendly games, the coach is a young guy. Naturally, CSKA is a cut above, the score is devastating, 100:15 or something like that. I sat closer to the bench of opponents and saw how the coach communicates with them. You brought the children to play, to get some experience. Let them love the game, the setting, the situations. And in timeouts - “why did you come here”, “what are you doing”, “look how he beats you”. For me, it's over the edge. Then by the age of 15 we get a screwed up person who we want to make play some kind of basketball. And he never played in his life, he just carried out some installations. When there is a system of prohibitions - it's impossible here, it's impossible there - that's all, the end.
Moreover, the psychology of children is different, you forbade something to someone twice - and he will not do anything else at all.
I think that such problems are not the problems of children, but our problems, the problems of those who educate and train them.
- This is a big question, but there seems to be shifts. The RFB holds the Minibasket festival, and under Vladimir Dyachka, one of the shifts there refused to count.
— Yes, Volodya is doing great and important work. Fortunately, now in children's basketball they play in fives of four minutes, so that everyone can get game practice. And rightly so, because at this age there is no point in playing for the result.
And we know that all our coaches and their salaries depend on the result. It's the fault of the system. But they still admire the article on Sports.ru about Danish football, how people reorganized the system there. We should have the same. When I hear that children at the age of 10 are tied to some positions, they say that you are a center, and you are a defender, it's just ridiculous.
And if you're a center, then you can't dribble the ball, for example. I can cite a million examples of which I myself was a witness.
- Got you. Let's finish the conversation about the national team - did you leave on your own?
Let's say I made the decision myself. But they don’t leave the national team on their own, I had a contract for a year, and it ended. It wasn't even a matter of leaving before you got fired. I have already given the reasons why this happened.
I really enjoyed working with these teams and I hope the players enjoyed working with me. It seems to me that some players benefited from me. Max Lichutin comes to mind. I had a national team born in 1999, and in 2000, our most talented generation of recent years, they played the world championship. Max did not get into the squad then, and we took what we could take. Because it was hard to recruit even just to recruit the required number of players. We took Lichutin, who then played a season for the MBA.
