hi u should warm up with lay ups and free trow shots then maybe go into some dribilling drills

I am doing the same thing and it is so much fun! We play monkey in the middle where the defender in the middle follows where the ball is passed. We also play red light green light while they are dribbling, I make them look at a number I am holding up with my hand to make sure they can look up and keep their dribble. We do shuffle stepping and add passing in with it. The kids favorite is 2 line shooting from the free throw line they must dribble to the block and shoot. there are 2 teams and the first team to 10 points wins. We end our day with this drill. I have used cones for them to dribble around and I have added a defender in front as well. Hope some of that helps, I'm still learning as well.

That's really ironic because those same drills I do myself and the kids love them. I take it you did your hours of research like I did. My boys are 5th and 6th graders and one is my son, so far, it;s been great,
I have a structured practice, which I feel is necessary. I played this sport since 2nd grade through high school and never really stopped since i have two boys ages 19 and 10.
For 5 minutes, we warm up. Being in shape is a necessity. We do to push up, 10 sit ups (were they have partners so someone can hold the other boys feet down and their arms are across their chest in an x shape), then we do ten stretches that really stretch out that back tendon behind the ankle and the calf muscle at the same time, finally, we do a running drill were they run to the quarter court line, touch line, run back, run to half court touch line, run back, then run full court,touch line and run back. This gets their heart in shape.
We usually try to let the boys scrimmage for 20 minutes at the end of each practice too so they can get scrimmage experience and learn to work as a team. I am now starting, or all-but have, picked the proper positions for each of my boys, I have 9 so of course some will learn more than just one position but they should pay attention and know about them all. Because I played so long and had excellent coaches, I have learned the best thin at this age it to teach them proper techniques and forms (Like shooting, man to man defense, offensive positions and what they entail and proper layup techniques, etc.) I find that if you teach the kids the right fundamentals at this age, the rest of their sport experience will be easier and more fun because when something is done right,it becomes almost effortless to play. I know I can swish that ball from any three-point spot and I'm 39 and I always could once I leardned the proper technique. Dribbling and all other aspects are the same. My advise to you as a skilled player who loves kids and the sport is to research toteach things properly, to tell them its all about having fun and with practice you'll get better, plus noone is perfect. And, especially at their age, they need to understand that this is the time to learn the sport, not be great at it . That will come.

Thank, you
Janet

Check out the Haefner brothers' "Breakthrough Basketball" (www.BreakthroughBasketball.com). They have a section specifically on coaching elementary kids in basketball. They're philosophy is focusing primarily on developing kids' playing skills and them having fun and very little on winning games. They have very detailed information including practice plan, drills, offense, and defense specifically for this age group. The information is almost overwhelming, but just take what you can use and throw out the rest. Hope this helps! :-)

Um, I just finished coaching a group of Pee Wee players (4-6) and I had guys on my team who could barely throw the smaller ball up to the 8 ft rim.

Ours was a recreational league with the emphasis on fun. Here is what we did.

First, get a whistle. The kids respond to it very well. The red light green light drill is a good one. It gets kids used to responding to the whistle and to following your instructions when you use your voice instead of the whistle.

We started with some basic stretching. Touching their toes without bending their knees. Crossing one foot over the other and doing the same. The crossing the other foot over. Spreading their feet and leaning one side to the other. Jumping Jacks with the kids counting to ten. Simple things like that. A slow jog around the court, if anyone passed the coach they had to go back to the start.

Drills: For lay ups split in two groups. Just start by hitting the backboard. Later aim at the square above the rim. Then worry about it going in.

Drill them on this until they start to get bored then play a game. Start with two lines. They have to hit the backboard with the ball or they are out. Believe it or not this will eliminate half the first time through. They will hit the rim, swish the ball, or just plain miss. Then do it again if everyone can hit the backboard. Then narrow it to the square on the backboard or close to it. Then if they can all do that, a basket. The kids loved this game, even the ones who could barely throw it loved the game. You can split the team into two halves and without saying it put the better players into one group and the not so better ones in the other. I never had one kid get bored with this game.

In our league in a 40 minute game, 3 baskets would win the game (even though we didn't keep score, the kids and parents did) so concentrate on the fun aspects like a team cheer, etc.

I let every kid play every position and tried to give them all equal playing time by substituting just one player in every 5 minutes. In other words, Abby would play 5 minutes at center and then go to the bottom of the sub list and Billy would come in at center and play. Cindy would play 10 minutes at power forward and Danny would come in and play. Eddie would play 15 minutes at small forward then Freddie would come in. Gary would play the first half at shooting guard and then Harry would come in. Ida would play the first half and 5 minutes at point guard then Jack would come in at point guard. Abby would come back in for Billy at center at 10 minutes in the second half. Cindy comes back in for Danny with 5 minutes left.

With 40 minutes of playing time times 5 players there are only 200 minutes. This way everybody plays and the least amount of playing time is 15 minutes. Plus it keeps the kids on the bench interested because they are going in. The advantage of this over having two complete teams is you are only integrating one new player at a time, so everyone knows where they are supposed to be. The player who is going in is told who to watch so they know what to do.

Having two complete squads is a mess from what I have seen on other teams and what happens if you don't have enough for two squads or have too many? How do you decide who to play? With mine you use the same list, so the person who was the next sub to go in if they didn't get a chance to go in, starts the next game.

My system sounds complicated but the parents saw how it worked and that it was fair and everybody got to play so I never had a single complaint about how it worked. I even had the parents do the time and make the substitutions so I never could be accused of showing any favorirtism to my son or anyone else.

There is so much more, but I don't want to be boring. But what fun, frustration and thrills all in one evening or Saturday!
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