Who: Boys and Girls ages 5-7

What: Ten (once per week for 10 weeks or twice per week for 5 weeks) 90-minute sessions

Why: Develop basic skills — movement, ball handling, passing, layups, and footwork here

• Basket height: 8’0 (or lower if available).

• Ball: Junior/Size 4 basketball.

• Free throw line: 13’.

• Three-point line: None.

• No set teams and no team coaches. • Coaches instruct all players during practice sessions.

• Coaches observe and settle disagreements during the games, and provide post-game feedback.

Set your expectations on the first day. The initial Free Ball Handling and Court Awareness Drills provide the time to set your basic rules.

My basic rules are:

1. When instructed to go somewhere, run.

2. When you don’t understand, ask a question.

3. When someone else is speaking (coach or player), be respectful and listen. No dribbling or talking.

Add your own rules as necessary, but keep them brief. For instance, you may ask players to freeze and picks up their balls when you blow the whistle (or verbal cue).

You may want to add that a second whistle means to run to the baseline or to put the balls in a bin. There are two concepts fundamental to the league:

(1) Introduce games without the ball where possible and add the ball after the participants understand the rules. Games without the ball focus on general movement skills that are essential for development. Young children need to try the movements first before trying to execute the skill.

(2) Start with the game. The game is the best teacher. Use the game to decide on the appropriate path for the next activity. Minimize stoppages and instructions within the games. Use key words, but save explanations or instructions for the end or use the next drill to instruct. The exception is when players clearly do not understand the game; sometimes the coach must stop the game and re-explain the rules or the purpose to assist the players.

Games Each session starts with a clinic or practice for roughly 60 minutes followed by the games or daily tournament for the final 30 minutes.

The games grow progressively more complex as skills develop.

Week 1 — Steal the Bacon

Week 2 — Steal the Bacon

Week 3 — Rabbit (2v1)

Week 4 — 2v2 Tournament

Week 5 — Netball

Week 6 — Netball

Week 7 — Rabbit (2v1)

Week 8 — Rabbit (3v2)

Week 9 — 2v2 Tourmanent

Week 10 — 3v3 (Full-court)

Each session has a theme or emphasis, and the subsequent sessions involve some review followed by new exercises for the new theme.

Session 1 Emphasis: Movement Teaching concepts: Quick feet, contact the ground on the ball of your foot, hips down to decelerate.

Session 2 Emphasis: Ball Control Teaching concepts: Hand on top of the ball, pound the ball, eyes up to see obstacles.

Session 3 Emphasis: Layups Teaching concepts: Hand behind the ball, high off the glass.

Session 4 Emphasis: Live-Ball Moves Teaching concepts: Stay active with the ball to protect it, quick first step, use fakes to off-balance defenders.

Session 5 Emphasis: Passing Teaching concepts: Pass away from the defense, create a passing window.

Session 6 Emphasis: Shooting Teaching Concepts: Start small, finish tall; hand under the ball; shoot through the ball.

Session 7 Emphasis: Finishing Teaching concepts: Shoot high off the glass, follow through, understand your advantage verse the defense.

Session 8 Emphasis: Attack Moves Teaching concepts: Set up in one direction, keep the dribble low, extend away from defense.

Session 9 Emphasis: Individual Defense Teaching concepts: Move your feet; arm’s length away; contest vertically.

Session 10 Emphasis: 1v1 Play Teaching concepts: Create separation; quick decisions; protect the ball.

• Athletic stance: Shoulders over knees and knees over toes; sit hips back and down; chest and eyes up.

• Ball cocked into shooting position in the shot pocket (roughly the armpit).

• Square body to the basket, eyes toward the basket and lead foot forward.

• Keep the ball active, using pass fakes, ball fakes, shot fakes and pivots to protect the ball. Use the Hard2Guard position rather than “triple threat.” When players learn the triple threat position, they put their pivot foot forward and tuck the ball on their hip, away from the defense. These players are a half-step from turning their back on the defense and “turtling.” Turtling is the common position in youth basketball where the player turns his back to the defense and bends over to protect the ball. At all times, we want players to be “Hard2Guard.”

The Box: When defended tightly, do not rip the ball from side to side in the middle of one’s body (between the knees and chest); rip across the hairline or below the knees. Drive step: First step to the basket on a direct drive; i.e. with left-foot pivot, player steps with right foot and attacks with right hand.

Crossover step: First step to the basket made across one’s body; i.e. with a left-foot pivot foot, player steps with right foot across his body and attacks with a left-hand drive.

Jab step: A short step to fake a drive step.

Space Step: A longer step into the body of the defender to create space. Cues: “Hips down” “Shoulder to hip”

• Use an athletic stance with chest and eyes up to see the floor.

• Dribble with the finger pads and calluses, not the palm.

• Pound the ball: Extend from the elbow, not just the wrist, and follow through on the dribble.

Cues:

“Fingers”

“Push through the ball”

“Make noise with the ball”

“Eyes”

• Jump Stop: A two-foot stop on a one-count, either when receiving a pass or off the dribble, with feet shoulder width, knees bent and butt down to stop under control. The player jumps off one foot and lands on two feet. Land like a ninja, without a sound.

• 1-2-Step: A quick step-step stop off the catch or the dribble, often using a long step-short step pattern. The first step becomes the pivot foot. Sit the hips back and down; flex the ankle, knee and hip to diffuse the force over a larger area and reduce the impact on any one joint. Stop with the shooting foot forward. When a right-handed player stops right-left, he stubs his left foot rather than take a full step to keep his right foot forward.

• Stride Stop: A similar step-step stop, but with a short step-long step pattern, and often a slight turn to angle the final step perpendicular to the movement to provide greater breaking. The first step becomes the pivot foot. Rarely used when shooting (especially with non-professionals), except for power layups or to set up the “Rondo” series.

Cues:

“Balance”

“Land like a ninja” (soft and quiet)

“Drop your anchor” (sit your butt down)

“Hips down”

“Sit in a chair”

“Hard2Guard”

• Start with the outside hand layup (right hand on right side).

• Start with a power layup: Jump off two feet.

• Stop with a quick stop or a stride stop.

• Shoot high off the glass.

• Encourage players to jump off two feet on lay-ups (one study found that high school girls shot 30% better on layups off two feet compared to one) To teach the traditional layup off one foot, use the following progression (on the right side):

Step 1: Start just beyond the block facing the basket with feet together. Step and jump off the left foot. Lift the ball into shooting position and follow-through all the way to the basket. Imagine a string running from the elbow to the knee; if the right elbow extends up, the right knee drives up.

Step 2: Start one big step away from the block. Step right foot-left foot. Jump off the left foot, lift and follow-through.

Step 3: Start from the elbow. Use three steps: Step left-right-left. Dribble on the first step and pick-up the dribble with the right hand; move the left hand to meet the ball. Jump off the left foot, lift the ball and shoot. Eliminate baby steps; use three full strides. Increase speed and move further from the basket.

Cues:

“Jump up like a rocket, not out like an airplane”

Use the BELIEF shooting method. Before a player can be a great shooter, they must believe in their shooting ability.

BELIEF

Balance: Make sure players squat properly; many mistakes result from an improper bending movement. Shoot with shoulders over the knees and knees over the toes in an athletic position.

Eyes: Fine center on the basket. Choose a spot (front, back, middle), but be consistent.

Line (alignment): Straight line extends from the ball, through the hand, wrist, elbow, knee and inside the foot.

Index Finger: Center the ball between the index and middle fingers.

Extension: Extend from the ankles, knees and hips to power the ball. Elbow extends overhead, so the elbow finishes above the eyes.

Finish: Finally, wrist flexes to follow-through. Shoot all the way through the ball and keep fingers relaxed and spread through the shot. Start from a stationary position. Focus on the starting position (balance and alignment) and the finish (follow-through). Start in an athletic stance with the ball in the Hard2Guard position. Move from stationary (and self-regulated) shots, to shots off the catch, forward movement, and off the dribble.

Cues:

“Small to tall.”

“Shoot out of a telephone booth.”

“Finish your shot.”

“Hand up and through the ball.”

“Reach to the rim.”

“Strong at the finish.”

Create a window. If a defender holds out his arms to the side (so the player looks like a cross), there are four windows:

Above and below his arm on the right and left side. A defender cannot close all the windows. The passer simply has to find the open window, or use a ball fake to open the desired window.

The chest and bounce passes are the basic passes that every young player should learn.

The push pass and other derivatives are used more often against defenders.

Worry less about technique and more about finding a passing window.

• Chest Pass: Hands on the side of the ball, extend straight from one’s chest, aiming for teammate’s chest and finish with thumbs down, chest over thigh.

• Bounce Pass: Similar to a chest pass, but bounce the ball one-half to two-thirds of the way to your teammate. The ball should bounce up to the receiver’s thigh.

• Push Pass (air or bounce pass): One or two-hand pass; with one hand behind the ball, push with arm extending like a horizontal shot. Combine with the pivot foot to create the window wide of the defender’s hands. Commonly-used pass because it protects the ball from the defense by using the outside hand away from the defense, especially off the dribble. Quickest pass off the dribble.

The give-and-go is just as it sounds. The first player (P1) passes to a teammate and cuts. The pass receiver (P2) catches the pass and passes back to P1. Defenders often relax when their opponent passes. By passing and cutting immediately, players catch their defenders off-balance. This teaches players to stay active rather than passing and standing.