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Practice 101-A Guide for First-Time Youth Coaches
By Coach Randy Brown

Many parents have indicated an unsettling feeling when the commit to coaching a youth sport. At this moment you realize, "I am the coach..........NOW WHAT?" The feeling is a natural one and should not detract parents or students from becoming youth coaches. Give yourself credit for being halfway there because you are. Hopefully this article will help you with the other half.

Practice is the core activity when organizing a youth basketball team. There is a lot to think about and organizing your thoughts into an outline is a good start. Contacting players and parents, equipment, facilities, and practice are some of the major items to consider.

For the first-time youth basketball coach, organizing practice can be an intimidating task. To make this process easier, I encourage you to take a look at the following elements:

1. Number of players.

2. Number of basketballs available.

3. Size of your facility

4. Assistant coaches to help out

5. Amount of time for each practice

6. Your overall Coaching Plan (see below).

Your approach to practice will dictate the overall success and amount of enjoyment that your players experience. Like any big task, it needs to be broken down one piece at a time. In this article I will offer advice on topic areas, but will not detail each of them.

Your Coaching Plan will require some time and thought. Ask advice from others who have done some coaching. Ask them to help with ideas on how to create a plan. Just as with your job or family, a philosophy is needed as a base to everything you do. All activities, drills, and instruction should be directly related to your Coaching Plan. For example, if you choose to let all players gain the same amount of experience, you will split the playing time equally. By letting three players play the entire game would be directly against your Coaching Plan, and is a recipe for unhappy players, parents and coaches!

Components to the Coaching Plan:

1. Your overall philosophy on participation. Decide between equal opportunity for all players and a philosophy geared more toward winning. The latter will not be based on equal opportunity.

2. Simple vs. Complicated. Do yourself and everyone else involved and adopt a simple approach to coaching basketball. An important saying to remember is KISS; Keep It Simple Stupid!

3. Commitment to fundamentals-From youth to the NBA, fundamentals are the basis of the game. I recommend that you establish the fundamentals of passing, dribbling, and shooting from the very beginning. As the season progresses you have a very important choice:

a. Stick with fundamentals every practice and game during the season.......OR...........

b. Get away from the fundamentals as the season progresses and spend time on pressing, set plays, and strategy.

Personally, I firmly believe youth sports are young people and teaching them skills and teamwork within the framework of fundamentals. If your primary goal is winning games, then choice (b) is for you. Those who want to provide a solid base for playing the game, then sticking with the fundamentals will be your choice.

Face it, if fundamentals are important to Jerry Sloan, Gregg Popovich, and Don Nelson, than they MUST also be a daily part of your coaching. If Tim Duncan needs daily work on passing, dribbling and shooting, do you think your 10 year old players need it too?

4. Plan for communicating with parents. By establishing a policy from the start, you will eliminate most of the problems that come with coaching someone else's kids. Be fair and up front and you will have very few problems. For example, your philosophy on participation needs to be explained to all parents before practice and game start. It will help you out down the road in terms of disgruntled parents.

5. It's all about the kids. Make the entire experience of youth basketball about the young people you are coaching. A fair, organized approach anchored in simple, well planned practices and fundamentals is a fail-proof system. As long as the focus is on the kids, the experience will be beneficial to you, your players, and the parents.

By taking on this challenge, you are contributing the to growth and development of eager young participants. If you played youth sports, remember how influential your coaches were and commit to providing a safe, positive environment for you team. Good Luck, Coach!