Who has coached youth sports?

[wnaplay1647545503]

I was curious to see and maybe get some pointers from people who have coached youth sports. I played alot of unorganized basketball as a kid, and since my first son was born, I wanted to coach one of his sports teams. However with my work schedule I was never able to. So when my son turned 13, I decided it was now or never. So I quit my job and found one that would allow me a schedule where this would be possible. The original plan was to coach just 7th graders but due to a lack of coach's, they mixed 7-9 grade teams. So now I am coaching kids that have more organized team play than I do. It doesnt help that I am how do I say shy in nature to begin with. Luckily, I have my dad as my assistant coach and he coached my teams as a kid and played the game for over 20 years. My question is, how do you decide what to focus on in practice? I have decided to not run alot of plays due to the fact that practices are only an hr long a week and I dont want to throw so much information at them that they forget everything on game day. I have come up with some drills to help teach proper technique, and I think this will be the focus of most of our practices. Am I setting my team up for a let down? I know at this age, most of them should know form and basketball basics. At this age, what should I focus on and what should I do to be an effective coach? Theres so many drills out there and if I wanted to, I can really get into driving home plays. I think I will focus on proper defensive/offense skills, transitioning from offense/defense, and so on. What do you guys who have either been coached or have coached think?

[Patrick]

I coached my brother's soccer team when I was in HS, I ran them to death every once in a while. They got quite fast, but I also made sure they did technical drills, such as dribbling in a small square moving around, and also small sided games.

 

In order to keep them interested, you have to mix it up. Same concept, but in a different manner. I also recommend a few warmup laps, stretches, then a bit of running. Thats how I would open and close practice and in between, drills.

 

You're on the right track though. The hardest part for me was keeping them into it.