First Time Basketball Coach

Picture Of Young Girls Basketball Team

I am coaching my first grade daughter and some other girls (K thru 3rd grade). I played high school basketball quite a few years ago, but have never coached.

I am just wondering what I should help the girls with and are there any tips you could give me to help with organizing basketball practice.

Any help I can get will be appreciated.

Thanks. Lori

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Dec 08, 2007
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Fun and Fundamentals
by: Joe Waters – webmaster Hi Lori and thanks for the great basketball question.

Being that you’re just starting out with coaching and the girls are all going to be either new or very inexperienced with basketball, your focus should be on teaching the basic fundamentals of the game as well as keeping everything as fun and positive as possible.

The basic basketball fundamentals you should work on are dribbling, passing, shooting, defense and rebounding. The girls will pick up on the offensive skills quicker because they will be working with the basketball AND offensive drills tend to be more fun.

I would keep your practice to 60 minutes (definitely not longer than 90 minutes). Find 1 or 2 drills for each of the above basketball skills and run each one for 5 – 10 minutes. At the end of practice let the girls scrimmage for 10 minutes or so.

Again, keep everything fun and very positive. Make the drills as simple and fun as possible. Relays, contests, group drills…these are all simple ways to keep the girls interested and participating.

If you’re seriously interested in getting involved with coaching basketball, you should look to improve your knowledge of the game as much as possible.

Thanks again for the great basketball question Lori. Best of luck with your season!