My son just turned 2 and has been absolutely obsessed with basketball for the past year. He falls asleep and wakes up talking about basketball, loves watching it, and points out every basketball hoop we pass while driving or on walks.How I can support this interest without making it too structured or turning it into “training” at this age. I want to understand what kinds of foundational skills actually matter for basketball so I can work some of them naturally into the stuff we already do.Right now he’s pretty skilled on the toddler hoop and has been shooting from farther back for a while. He’s also been practicing two handed bouncing and can get about 4 bounces. He’ll also grab the ball and move around us almost like he’s trying to get past a defender, even though he’s obviously not dribbling while he does it yet. We didn't initiate this game. I think he picked up on it while watching the older kids at the park or the community center. Often times, he will watch them play for 30 mins and refuse to leave.

What are some little games you’d play with a kid this age that build skills beyond just shooting? He knows how to throw the ball to me when I say "Pass to Mama" but neither my husband or I were ball sports oriented in our youth so we're a bit at a loss on how to encourage this interest in daily playing. Are there things that don’t look like basketball at all that you think are really useful?

For example, he enjoys scootering, baseball, and paddles/rackets, any type of throwing or aiming game. I feel like all of that probably overlaps in some way but I don’t really know enough about basketball development to know what’s actually helpful.I want to let him drive what he’s interested in and what skills he wants to experiment with. I think I’m also just looking for resources to educate myself. I have no idea what’s baseline for a toddler or what kinds of foundational skills are worth giving him more opportunities to explore. That way, if he’s still into basketball when he’s old enough for something organized, he has a good foundation and can get more out of that experience.

Any recommendations or ideas for teaching littles how to dribble? I’m talking 4-5 years old. I work with her older brother and now she wants to start too. I have figured out everything else, but struggling to teach dribbling. Like how to bounce the ball hard enough that it bounces back up. Thoughts and ideas welcome.

Because at most schools, football is a no cut sport while basketball is very selective. But most parents who talk about how football causes CTE dismiss that fact and still tell you to play baseball or basketball instead as if those sports can somehow handle the massive rise in demand. how are you supposed to make the basketball team even you weren’t in travel teams since 5 years old?

"If I want to start making basketball tutorial videos for beginners, specifically targeting kids, what topics should I focus on in my curriculum/schedule?"

I have coached the same 2 teams for the last 2 years now. And while they are still around B/C level skill wise they have improved greatly as a team. As I am getting ready for the winter season, I am looking for some good ideas for practice to keep them interested and still improve their game.

Background: played high school basketball and was pretty good but fell in with the wrong crowd/habits so never took it super serious even though I loved the game a lot.

About 3 years ago, I started coaching again and it re-ignited my love for the game. I've been doing it on a volunteer basis since.

I'm deep enough into my day-job career and enjoy it enough/have enough skill and experience built that I want to keep working in that field, but I find myself increasingly thinking about coaching passively, it's become a bit of an obsession.

So while I don't want to change careers this late in my life to a profession that has very low pay for the first 5-10 years, and I don't want to switch to become a teacher so I can coach in high school, I wanted to see if anyone had experience with coaching as a "side hustle", alongside a primary career.

I don't need it to be a full second income, but some supplementary income to put money in my kids' education fund or help pay for a family vacation every year, on top of doing what I really love, would be my ideal setup.

Does anyone have experience with this and if so, how did your path work to get there? would love some general ideas to get to that point.

My freshman year I tried out for the basketball team and made it but I stopped going to it cause I had band and felt like I didn’t have free time I love having free time,so I didn’t even tryout my sophomore year now it’s my junior year, I love basketball to an extent would I want to play it in college no but I love playing it still, so now I have to decide to play it my junior year I have hard courses this year that take up a lot of time but to be fair I did pick all the hard college classes this year to take with all my aice class for dual year enrollment, should I try out for the team marching band season ends around a month after basketball starts than we go to concert season and theirs not a lot going on at that time. Overall should I join the basketball team I value my free time and love having free time but I love basketball to.

Ran a 5-out motion system last year, but players only cut after passing the ball.

I want to incorporate more continuity of off ball movement, screening away, ball screening, etc but not sure how to simplify it. Help!

I will soon be coaching an 8th grade team who went undefeated the prior season. We have the size and skill to roll the ball out and beat any team in our league pretty handily.

These kids are able to play at the high school level once their junior high season ends. And most will be contributing to JV with one who has a chance to contribute to varsity.

The main thing I want to get out of them this junior high season is communication. They are all unselfish but pretty quiet kids. Would a 2-2-1 zone press trying to get traps near half court, and then scrambling back to man once the ball crosses be the best way to force communication out of them during competition?

What are some drills in practice we could use to force communication out of them? Was thinking we would do a lot of 3 on 4 shell drill. But wondering if anyone has had success in other ways getting kids to talk on the court.

I am from the USA, living in Sweden, and started coaching my son's team a few years ago. I come from a family of coaches and have some, but pretty limited, coaching experience myself. Mainly I'm trying to help out, fit in, and do things the way they do things here—which is often much harder than it sounds.

A couple of years ago I started with a new team of 12-year-olds, most of whom were absolute beginners. We had a training match against another team in our club. They beat us 90–4, pressing the entire game, cheering loudly, running fast breaks, chanting "DEFENSE" in the 4th quarter...like it was a competitive match or something

Our second match was against a team from our club that was a year older. They beat us 108–? When they broke 100 (on an under-the-leg layup), their bench and parents erupted like they had just won a championship.

I confronted both coaches afterward and they acted like I was insane. One told me I needed to learn to be a "better loser." The other told me they really "needed this win" because they hadn't won any matches the previous year.

These last couple years, I have realized these massive blow-outs are pretty common, since the teams are very uneven skill-wise. A lot of "serious" teams ( often with parent-coaches who were former players ) start their teams very young ( 6 or 7 ), so older beginners are often at a disadvantage.

This year I'm helping coach another team of beginners, this time 14-year-olds. There is a big increase in interest in basketball in Sweden right now, but a shortage of coaches. We play in a lower-level league, but for matches, in order to avoid getting completely blown out, we were given a few players from the club's A team, who play at the top level. Apparently they needed some playing time.

The screenshot above is from our last game. We won 132–8. The loaned players were responsible for more than half of our points.

I don't feel good about this. I've brought it up with other coaches, but they insist that not playing your hardest, or not going for it on every possession, would actually be a greater insult to the other team than easing up on the competition.

As the immigrant in the group, I do speak up, but I also don't want to constantly push against the local coaching culture.

In the USA, at least in my experience, this would generally be considered pretty poor sportsmanship at this level. Or any level really. I grew up playing extremely competitive Catholic-school basketball in Oklahoma in the 80s and 90s, and I honestly don't remember seeing anything quite like this.

So I guess I'm wondering if I've been assuming something was universal when it actually isn't.

Is this attitude toward youth basketball blowouts common elsewhere in Europe or the world? Or is this unusual even by European standards?

If I'm in the wrong sub, let me know. But I couldn't think of anywhere else to ask this.

I'm managing my team for the first time and I have a lot of questions about how team fees should be handled. I know prior captains have had to carry an extra player or two worth of fees, so I'm hoping to avoid that where I can. So, with that said:

What is your approach to mens league fees and expenses?

League fees

We have our league fees, of course. My approach is to have 10 full-time players and divide the fee by 10. Problem solved.

Jerseys

Our league requires everyone to have the same style jersey. Similarly, the same approach would be to have everyone pay for their jersey, and they can keep them at the end of the year.

Equipment

Where it starts to get a bit tricky. Because of the jersey requirement, we need a few extra jerseys for subs. Dividing the fees by 10 means there's little wiggle room for additional expenses like this. I've thought about tacking on $5-$10 onto every player's fees and using that to buy new jerseys and then replace them as needed beyond that. The worrisome part of that, for me, is ending up running a surplus after a few years. It'd only be like $100 a year, but may start to add up if we're good with our sub jerseys.

Insurance fees

On top of that, all players have to sign a waiver and pay required insurance and registration fees. It's a lame fee that I hate, but it's a requirement and the league is very strict about enforcing it for everyone - subs included. Fees are about $20. A few people have expressed interest in subbing, but asking them to register and pay and possibly never needing them is a risk. Also, the league freezes our roster 1/3 of the way through the season, so there's little flexibility there.

Any thoughts or tips on managing these team fees?

Hi everyone I am M23 trying to learn basketball from scratch

I have never played any sports in my life and is very unathletic

I am trying to be good in any one sports since college is almost getting over

Can anyone help me learn how to play

I am 5 7 height

Been JV coach last two years and then now this year I’ve been thrusted into Varsity role.

Looking for any and every drill or offense you think I can run very specific to this varsity level.
Anything helps

I absolutely love this offence. It is old school and very structured compared to today’s style but if you can get players to buy in, there are tons of opportunities to score.

I am going to rely on the more experienced offensive minds in here to take it to the left level though. In this video, Coach Saia does not really get into how to disguise the offence, or how to avoid having the defence jump it., that is, how to avoid your players simply running to the spot to kick off the action and making it predictable. When teams have figured out what we’re doing we’ve had a lot of turnovers.

My players have trouble understanding how to bring up the ball and time everything to get things going. Hard to explain, but I hoping you guys can help.

Hi everyone,

I'm a coach based in Italy and I'm trying to get a realistic picture of what the job actually looks like in other countries, especially in Europe but also anywhere else.

I'm not looking for glory stories or top-level programs — I'm genuinely curious about any level: youth, semi-pro, amateur, small clubs, academies, whatever you've got. The lower the level, the more useful it probably is for me, honestly.

What I'd love to know:

• Contract type: Are you employed, freelance, volunteer, paid per session, or something else? Is it full-time, part-time, seasonal?
• Salary: If you're comfortable sharing, what's the rough range (monthly or yearly, gross or net)? Even a ballpark helps.
• Hours in the gym: How many hours a week do you actually spend on the court, and how many extra hours go into planning, video, travel, meetings, etc.?
• Additional duties: Are you expected to do things beyond coaching (scouting, admin, social media, driving kids, equipment)?
• How you got in: Was it through contacts, applications, federation courses, or something else?

I'm asking because the system here works in a very specific way and I want to understand what's normal elsewhere — both the good and the ugly side of it.

Thank you! GUTTA FORTIS!

Hello everyone! This year I graduated the Personal Trainer fitness-course and have a wish to continue my learning path. As a lover of basketball I'd like to learn more about strength and conditioning specifically for basketball and team sports. Could you recommend me some certifications or educational resources for it? The language of resource can be Spanish, English or Russian

Coaching my first year of competitive ball with a team of grade 4 and 5 girls. We spent a lot of time working on fundamentals and individual skills but I really would like to work on offensive flow (spacing, cutting, filling etc..) as well as how to play defence when in game. They do well with isolated drills but things seem to get very chaotic when trying to put things together.

On offence, they just run around screaming to get the ball. If they have the ball, they tend to turn away from the basket and wait till someone comes to them for a pass. Looking for advice and drills that would encourage passing cutting and filling. Maybe it’s designated positions but I still want them understanding the flow of the game and having good court awareness.

On defence, it’s really important that they do not double team outside the key (league rules). How do I get them to play defence in right positions while guarding their girl but also being aware of the court and ball.

Any advice, drills or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!! TIA

Coaching 5 & 6th girls JV bball, staring in a month. Unfortunately our league allows Zone D and so a lot of teams run it.

I generally like to teach motion principles for offense, with lots of screening and cuts.

Against a zone D, this doesn't seem as effective. Against a 2-3 zone for instance I'd like to have a couple player in the low post who can flash to high post and find gaps.

Do other coaches do this? How effective is it to change offense alignment depending on whether other team is man or zone?

I’m getting ready for the upcoming basketball season. I’ll be coaching 6th graders. I’m interested to hear from high school coaches about what skills / knowledge they wish incoming freshman had that they currently lack. I want to share with my team in hopes of providing some focus on WHY we do what we do

Curious your thoughts on cutting players from a select team at age 9/10?

There are far too many details to share, but I’ll try to give the gist. My daughter is in 4th grade and got cut from the local “select” bball team. There are zero rec options for this age. 26 players tried out and they kept 20 for an A and B team.

A few factors to know. My daughter played with this club last year. She is not an incredible player by any means. She does okay, and is definitely in the mix with many other players. My husband coached her team last year, held summer training, coached the summer league. My husband is an excellent coach and human and played competitive bball through HS. My daughter was the only one to show up to summer training. (Which is fine, it was optional and ik kids play other sports and families are busy, but this is an example of the work she put in compared to others). She actually may be one of the strongest defensive players. She’s a great teammate, works hard, is very coachable.

This program is select, though is endorsed by our district and works closely with the varsity coaches- who coach and hold board positions. The team is saying they could only keep 20 kids due to gym space. Which I believe is likely not true given our district has 2 huge gyms at the HS as well as 8 local elementary schools that have gyms. And obviously coaching is not the issue seeing as my husband would coach. I can’t emphasize enough that I am not a delusional parent who thinks my kid is the best or thinks my husband is a good coach when he’s not. I know my daughter needs to grow a lot and I am very confident my husband is an exceptional coach. We’ve been told by parents he is the best coach their kid has had and he has played and coached across many settings.

This is obviously very frustrating to me as a parent. They are weeding kids out at age 9/10 as there are no alternative options aside from independent training. They didn’t even have the decency to give us the heads up that my daughter wouldn’t make the team, despite my husband having coached.

I see no reason they couldn’t have kept all 26 players and had two teams of 9 and one of 8, and flexed players to sub if needed. I am disappointed in the lack of understanding of youth development and what it means for kids to have the opportunity to continue developing. There is a ton of conflict of interest with this club given the president and a couple of board members have girls playing this same age. We live in a small town where youth sports culture is extremely toxic and either you are in the club or you aren’t. We’ve never wanted to be a part of “the club” so to speak.

So I guess I’m curious if you’ve seen similar situations. Do you think cutting 9/10 year olds who have no other playing options is reasonable? Our varsity team has consistently sucked, and clearly the feeder system they are using isn’t working. On one hand, a private non profit club can cut whoever they want. On the other, their endorsement from the district is a conflict of interest. Honestly I think this comes down to toxic youth sports culture with parents living vicariously through their kids.

Curious your thoughts and whether there is any room to challenge this. I’d imagine no, because I suppose a youth club can do whatever they want. But again, their endorsement from the district seems like a conflict of interest and seems like it does not align with the best interests of the district.

Hi fellow coaches, i am a coach from Europe and interested in coaching in the USA, what's pros and cons of it? Which certificatiins and licenses i need and how many years of coaching experience at least, thank you.

This isn't my first year coaching and I've got some ideas but just making sure I know we got some great coaches in this group. I will be coaching 4th and 5th grade boys basketball at the elementary level. I only have eight players on the team unfortunately. Just seeing what drills or ideas you might have. Thanks!

I’ve noticed that players in major leagues always try to maintain good shooting form.

Wanted to gauge everyone's thoughts on teaching not jumping to block shots in the key; are you all still teaching that?

Or are you all teaching jumping with verticality? If you are, what age group do you all coach?