Basketball Coaching Tips

Coaching a minor league or youth sports team is a very valuable experience for both players and coaches alike. However, coaching a sports team is never an easy task. Coaches have to be able to think and react quickly to all types of situations, dealing with everything from getting the unenthused kid to participate to dealing with the battling egos of the team’s star players. Here are some simple basketball coaching tips in order to make your job as coach just a little bit easier so that you have more time to concentrate on making the most of your team.

Before arriving at practice, make a list of what needs to be accomplished and plan your practice time accordingly. During a practice if something isn’t going as expected, instead of dwelling on it and using up time that was supposed to be devoted to another aspect of the game, stick to the initial plan and follow up on the problem at a future practice.

Another of the simplest basketball coaching tips to remember is that some of your players may not understand all the terms you use such as “front court” or “free-throw line”. Make sure to define terms clearly because some players may be afraid to speak up and ask questions even if they don’t fully understand something.

Keeping things fast-paced is another basketball coaching tips that works wonders at practices. The average attention span for a child these days is between 10 and 15 seconds, so keep things fresh by constantly varying the drills. Always be open to suggestions from your players and fellow coaches. If something isn’t working well, there is always a way to improve it as opposed to getting frustrated and ditching the idea all together.

When demonstrating a new skill to your team, always walk the players through the skills by showing them personally. Many sports concepts can seem abstract when just talking about them but as soon as the visual reference is given, most players will catch on quickly.

Once you start to learn who on the team catches on to things quickly and which players require a little more time and personal one-on-one training to catch on, ask the skilled players to help the weaker ones. Sometimes it can be much easier to practice a skill with a peer as opposed to a figure of authority. Always insist on developing proper skills. Drills are useless if the skills are not properly executed. It is better to fail at a drill but still attempt to get the fundamentals in place then to practice the skill sloppily. While mistakes are a normal part of the learning process, instead of overreacting or dwelling on them when they occur, work on improving your players’ skills or finding other skill in which they excel. Positive reinforcement of a job well done is one of the best ways to improve your players’ performance on and off the court.

And finally, the last of my basketball coaching tips, demand the respect of your players and fellow coaches by having a no tolerance policy towards disrespect. Keeping your environment positive and free from disrespect will lead to an all-round better game and will teach your players some life skills they will carry with them for the rest of their days.