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Youth coaching

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by flexmaster33, Nov 23, 2011.

  1. flexmaster33

    flexmaster33 Well-Known Member

    All right everyone...my daughter is a first-grader, so I'm jumping in to coach her mini-hoopers team this winter. I'm excited. Anyone else have stories to share from youth coaching?
     
  2. Versatile

    Versatile Active Member

    Wrong board? Unless you want to discuss the ethics of coaching a youth team while covering prep sports and the ramifications when those kids you coached as first graders are elite 10th graders.
     
  3. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Don't shower with any of her teammates.
     
  4. kingcreole

    kingcreole Active Member

    Avoid the three Ls (Laps, Lines, Lectures). Have a shit-ton of fun. The more fun you have, the more the kids will.
     
  5. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Create some kind of silly incentive that has nothing to do with whom scored points or won. I freeze a couple of sports drinks overnight and give them out as "hustle" awards. That way I could give it to just about any kid at any game. I could not believe it myself how much kids aim for that award. They have come to care more about it than about who scores goals.
     
  6. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    My kids are younger than yours, and every time I go to one of their sporting events, I remind myself why I will never, ever coach youth sports.
     
  7. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Trust me, you're going to wish you were sitting with the kids instead of the parents.

    Also, the only way to ensure your kid isn't stuck with a nut job is to be the coach. My son had one of those nut jobs when he was 7 -- always yelling, major lap-running etc. Shocking, then, that he didn't want to play when he was 8.
     
  8. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I've been very, very impressed with the coaches my kids have had.

    The problem is the parents.

    My kid's first year playing baseball. Everybody got at at-bat, if you played in the outfield one inning, you played in the infield the next. If you batted last one inning, you batted first the next. It was done in a way that no sane person would be able to complain about it.

    The bitching and moaning and yelling from the parents was a colossal embarrassment.
     
  9. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Stick with teaching fundamentals.

    Toughest thing for kids that age to understand is the transition game.

    2nd toughest is spacing on offense.

    Dribble relay drill is fun and good teaching tool for dribbling. 2 teams divided - have girls dribble from one
    end of court to other ( one hand one way /opposite on return) and give ball to next girl. You can also have them make shot at other end to spice up.

    For teaching spacing play game in half court with you being point guard for both teams - stay at foul line area,
    in transition have rebounding team get ball back to you.
    keep ball moving. blow whistle every now and then and tell them to freeze. Point out spacing mistakes and defenders not near who they are covering.

    If you are out to win get the good dribbler and have them fast break.

    Hard to grasp but nothing wrong with introducing box out concept and going for rebounds when shot goes up.

    When in doubt over picking better player over hot mom go with the sideline eye candy. Low scoring games get boring.
     
  10. 21

    21 Well-Known Member

    Um, Coach, you know I still post here, right?
     
  11. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Oops- Just advise I was giving. Not something I would follow.
     
  12. KYSportsWriter

    KYSportsWriter Well-Known Member

    This post made me LOL.
     
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