Planning for the Season (Youth Coaching)
As a youth team coach, one of your most important responsibilities is to properly plan your team practices for the whole year. The way I like to plan practices is by asking myself what I want my team to be able to run come playoff time. The line of questioning is general but the answers that you give should be very detailed. You should list the following:
Once the coach has figured out what he wants to run during the year, he needs to see how he will incorporate everything as the year progresses. He will need to determine what he will want his team to know on opening day and what he will implement as the season goes on.
The coach needs to be realistic as to what he will teach his kids but he should also try to teach as much as possible.
In terms of what to teach, I'm a firm believer that on offense a coach needs to spend time teaching spacing, how to get open, floor balance, and pass, cut and fill. Don't teach a set offense but teach the kids a motion offense that you can add to as the year goes on.
On defense, the best thing to do is to teach the kids how to play man to man. Teach them the basics, teach them the concepts of on ball defense, one pass away, and help line then build from that.
You also should teach the kids how to play transition offense and defense. Teach them how to turn good defense into easy baskets. Teach them how to look up the floor for the man who is closest to the basket. On defense, teach them how to get back and locate the ball. Teach them how to defend the basket and when to pick up the ball.
A good coach will also spend some time going over some basic game situations. Teach the kids how to play with a lead, and what they need to do when they are behind. Teach them how to defend on a free throw, and how to defend an out of bounds play. Show them a couple of simple out of bounds plays and maybe a go to play that can be used when you need a good shot.
Your goal as a coach at the youth ranks is not to be exotic but to teach. These are the most important years for many kids. These are the years where they get into good habits or not. If you teach them the fundamentals then whoever coaches the kids after you will have a good foundation to build on. This is what you want.
- Offense
- General Offense
- Set Plays off of your general offense
- Defense
- Man to Man
- Zone defenses
- ½ court press
- Full court press
- Transition Offense
- Primary Break
- Secondary break
- Transition Defense
- Finding the ball
- Finding your man
- Beating the offense down the floor
- Game Situations
- SLOB – offense
- SLOB – defense
- BLOB – offense
- BLOB – defense
- Free Throw Rebounding
- End of game situations
Once the coach has figured out what he wants to run during the year, he needs to see how he will incorporate everything as the year progresses. He will need to determine what he will want his team to know on opening day and what he will implement as the season goes on.
The coach needs to be realistic as to what he will teach his kids but he should also try to teach as much as possible.
In terms of what to teach, I'm a firm believer that on offense a coach needs to spend time teaching spacing, how to get open, floor balance, and pass, cut and fill. Don't teach a set offense but teach the kids a motion offense that you can add to as the year goes on.
On defense, the best thing to do is to teach the kids how to play man to man. Teach them the basics, teach them the concepts of on ball defense, one pass away, and help line then build from that.
You also should teach the kids how to play transition offense and defense. Teach them how to turn good defense into easy baskets. Teach them how to look up the floor for the man who is closest to the basket. On defense, teach them how to get back and locate the ball. Teach them how to defend the basket and when to pick up the ball.
A good coach will also spend some time going over some basic game situations. Teach the kids how to play with a lead, and what they need to do when they are behind. Teach them how to defend on a free throw, and how to defend an out of bounds play. Show them a couple of simple out of bounds plays and maybe a go to play that can be used when you need a good shot.
Your goal as a coach at the youth ranks is not to be exotic but to teach. These are the most important years for many kids. These are the years where they get into good habits or not. If you teach them the fundamentals then whoever coaches the kids after you will have a good foundation to build on. This is what you want.
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