Coaching Kids Under the Age of 8: Offensive Philosophy

A while back I wrote a post about my general philosophy on coaching kids under the age of 10.  As a coach you shouldn't spend too much time exposing your players to exotic defenses or offenses.  What you should be doing is exposing them to the fundamentals of the game along with various coordination and athletic development drills (covered in another post soon). However, if you are going to expose them to games you do need to prepare them by introducing some basic ideas which will keep them competitive.  In today's post I will discuss some of the basic team offensive concepts you should expose your kids to.  I will break these down into 2 groups:
  • 7-8 year olds
  • 9-10 year olds
Today we will be discussing the 7-8 year old group.



7-8 Year Olds
With 7-8 year olds you have to keep in mind that these kids are just starting out.  What I like to do first is to have them understand the basic concept of floor balance. 


We like to play a 3 out 2 in at this age and although we like to expose as many kids to as many different positions as possible we also realize that time constraints and responsibility overload could cause confusion in the kids.  A confused player is an unproductive player so try to keep it simple.

Another thing we like to introduce to kids at this age is how to start an offense.  When kids this age play a game they tend to drift to the ball.  As more pressure is applied the more they tend to drift up the court causing the offense to be disrupted from the beginning.  To avoid this issue we like to introduce 2 basic concepts which help our wings get open even under pressure. 

  1. V-cuts - this is one of the most basic cuts in basketball and it is very effective when run correctly.
  2. Dribble at - this is a move that is intuitive.  Most kids that dribble the ball up the court will drift to the side of their dominant hand.  So what I encourage them to do is to keep dribbling all the way to the wing if they see the opening and then I'll instruct the wing to either fill his spot or go to the other wing and have the weak side wing replace the point guard.

The next thing that we want to expose them to is one basic baseline out of bounds play and one sideline out of bounds play.  This is another area where kids this age have problems.  2 plays we like to run are below.

Side Line Out of Bounds Line

Baseline Out of Bounds Line



Again, it's about keeping it simple.

The only other thing that you may want to start talking about in general terms is end of game situations.  Don't do anything elaborate but start discussing how time plays a factor and how it affects your team when you are winning or losing.

So there you have it, this is my 7-8 year old offensive philosophy.  Teach the kids the basics in team basketball.  Basics that they will be able to apply and build on as they get older.



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