how to play like mike

3 point shooting

Form Shooting, Ball handling, passing, defensive footwork

+Passing drills
Basic 1 on 1
Dribble tag
Shooting technique

All the above.

+ Shaq Kill Mode

dribbling/pivoting
passing
shooting

I'd generally say shooting,
but
If you are starting from scratch, I would definitely start with Dribbling & Pivoting.
Most kids can throw a ball, and will have done a bit at school. And kids can easily practice shooting, if they haven't done so already.

You can't really play with dribbling, and understanding the pivot rules, especially to the point where it starts to come naturally, is vital.
It can depend on the reffing at that level. Some go easy on kids, others believe firmly in calling every travel to teach the kids the right way to play.

You'll have to refresh my memory, are they at full-height baskets yet?
Like it or not, you'll have to teach the kids to score. (Yes, its not all about winning, fundamentals ARE more important, but kids want to score and will get discouraged if they can't.)
IMHO u10's should be playing with 8ft baskets, and junior balls. If so, once they get the hang of dribbling, you can start teaching them to lay-up.
But if your league is playing with higher rims, I'd concentrate on teaching them to pull-up and shoot.

A long time ago i posted a full list, and received very high praise from following posters ( and I didn't pay them" Maybe someone can show me how to search this forum. anyway here's a start

If you want to teach the modern running, hustling game, you CAN start at u/10s.

I've got a player who just came back from a pro job in France who started w me form 9 to 16 yrs, and she was not a "tall"


Passing, running, catching, defense close to their player.

Form shooting when moving, ie two handed layups without stopping.


Dribbling comes last - last because you know they will spend hours themselves practicing this, and dribbling, you need only correct their form, they will rack up the 10,000 hours themselves.


make drills into games, and make them competitive.

eg for defence , passing, running and catching.

"winning game" split into two teams. Use the whole court, first team to make 6, then 7, then 8 consecutive passes wins. When they win the losing team does 5 pushups ( and get applauded for a good pushup afterwards by the winners - no teasing.

No calling out , they have to use their feet and hands to "call" for the ball. This rewards the players who learn to look up and use vision. after a with give a pushup to any offensive player who calls for the ball, or allow that call to 'turn the ball over"

pair the teams up, anytime you see a person without their defender within arms reach, blow the wstle and stop the games, and that defender does 1 push up. ( everyone claps them fpor effort after their pushup - no teasing) After a while make the entire defensive team do a push up when an offensive player leads and totally loses their defender.

Once they get this game, allow them to have one bounce to get clear to make their pass, then 2 bounces, but thats all.


once you see a full team of u/10s, all keeping on their players, intercepting the ball, bouncing once and passing up to the next player in sequence and finishing with a one bounce lay-up - then you've seen a group of kids that every u/12 coach will almost kill for , not to mention the u/14s.

the fact is that in u/10s-u14s there will be kids who stand out, often just because they were born early in the year ( google that jan-March birthday effect), and they will dominate the whole games if you let them, but the other players won't develop, and you will end up with a player who only knows how to do it all for themselves.

more to come if you like this.

This is a good drill as it gets them to use the whole court, and to catch and pass on the run ----eventually, the smart ones will start to anticipate the next pass after the current one. To facilitate this do not allow players to pass back to whoever they received it from, this makes the passer move to the pass after the one they gave, so some will be rewarded for having whole court vision.

It also rewards the defenders who keep close to their player, and who also see the ball as well as their "man". Get them to always have an arm "pointing" to the ball while they are concentrating on staying with their players - this introduces the defensive triangle of ball-me-players.

As a game with rewards, you use it to get them to find out for themselves that they need to learn how to avoid travelling, and catching, which means that you can then introduce some of the "boring" drills and they will see the relevance of the drill without you having to force them, or do a lot of explaining.

Go from the whole to the part at this age and you avoid wasting time on explanations, which they don't usually have the concentration / comprehension for anyway.

In the game, they will always hear your voice, reward with you voice for "good pass' , the kid who scores gets a huge immediate dose of "feel good' and plenty of "sugar" from their parents, so they don't need more from you, the kid who stole the ball, got the rebound or made the pass up-court needs to hear from you , it also gets the point across to at least some of the parents that your focus is on the team, and the hard workers, not the scorer.

after your team scores - the first ting on all the players minds should be "where's my player" - not celebrating.

here's a chance to get them to practice transition basketball before they (or most of their parents) even know the word, tell them just to get to the closest UN-guarded player 9 who they "claim' as theirs by touching 9 not grabbing) them., don't specify a number, that's for the pros, at this age its a chance to get them to look and find a player, The more confident will sprint for the 'star" the slower ones will automatically compete for the "slow kid' on the other team. The aim is to get them making their own decisions as often as possible, within the framework that you set. For a while I used to encourage their emphasis on defense by telling them to "find a victim" but it got a bit embarrassing so i stopped doing it other than at training.

No player in u10s should be subbed off because they are tired, if they are you have left them out for too long. don't just do a set rotation, that's for the pros. Have a few rules, if a player cant find their player, or fails to pass up the ball, call up a sub, ask them why 'johnny" is coming off, if they don't know say ' because he left his player" or " because he did not pass up the ball" , I g'tee EVERY kid on the bench will know what they need to do to stay on. When "johhny" comes off - everyone claps - ask then why they are comeing off - if they don't know, GENTLY say their N0# got away from you, or "you didn't look up and pass to *&", and then say "when i get you back on just go have another go - you were running well ( or some such +) . I g'tee they will get the message. And if you a calling a sub every 3 minutes - so what - its u'10s - the strategy is in the teaching structure - not the composition of the team on the court. Remember in minor rounds games - everyone gets equal time - provided they were at training and on time to the game.

Teach lay-up from a hand off first then a pass hand off.

IE

you stand a long ( for u/10s) 2.5 steps from the ring. For a right hand layup stand outside the imaginary line between the backboard at the side of the ring, and the player ling at the 3 point line, Hold the ball in your right hand out tm your right side at hip level. Have the players run to the backboard, and jump off their left foot to grab the ball so they land on their right foot, and then they take one more step 9 on the move" toi their left foot and trow the ball up to the backboard with two hands, finishing with their hands above their head.

The aim is to score your points off fast breaks, and this form means they never stop or slow down.

Just ensure that you spend equal time on the other side , just reverse the feet etc. Have the previous shooter pass you the ball and then they go to the end of the shooting line. you use two or three balls. You can adjust you position front of back depending upon the size/speed of the kids.

Even at /10a you will have some starting from a surprising far distance with the step and a half.

Get them to lay the ball up onto the backboard and not to the rim.

one of the common mistakes is that they will go directly to the rim and fire the ball into the bottom of the ring. you must get them to run to the backboard and to pass under the backboard and not under the ring.

if they het 2 years of this, buy the time u/12 comes to an end, they will all be doing left and right hand layups with the correct footwork and often with a single hand, without slowing down,

in fact, when taught correctly, the player actually speeds up once they collect the ball and ceases the dribble.

One htye have this, then have them pass the ball to each other from a line to the side of the keyway. then they are learning to judge their passes as well.

The thing in u/10s ans U12 is to at least "do no harm"

Do emphasis team
don't reward scoring anymore than it rewards itself.
don't make tall players play ONLY tall

don't teach things that need to be un-learn't later
- like stopping on a fast break do do a set shot
- like Dribbling the full court with your head down and not making the pass
- like not supporting all your team mates.
- like leaving your player undefended and ball watching.


Have them play defence baseline to baseline, don't do the half-court pick up, that's just teaching mediocrity, no one will thank you for that in 4 years time.

2/3rd through the first season or at the start of the second, you can introduce the concept of "hot pursuit" - that's where if they find that their "designated victim" is walking up the court, then they can leave them and chase the ball, but once "their' player is over the half court, they have to play to the anticipated passing lane to that player and go back to being close enough to touch them - that's defense for u/10, don't do shell drills or "help" defense from the Bob Knight school of defense - that's for u/14 and up.

U/10s can learn to do basketball skills well and properly, they can't ( or shouldn't) do 3 point shots, set tough screens, or dunk the ball - but they can get the basics totally right from the start.


Don't turn them off the sport by being critical or overly intense - never "punish" just give consequences ( like push-ups) and you and the rest of the team ALWAYS praise them ( clap) for doing the consequences ( push ups) well.

Players who don't get the "jump step and a 1/2" moving release, can start 2 steps away from the backboard, holding the wall at their side with straight arms ( right hip for a right hand lay-up) and the have then take a single left foot step and then scoop the ball up with both hands to the backboard as their right foot and leg comes up, so that they release the ball BEFORE their right foot come down to the floor.

in 6 years I never had a single u/10 boy or girl ( other than those who only had a 1/2 season in u/10s) , who did not move to u/12s with being able to do a moving layup on both left and right sides.

Its not easy or super quick - but it made the u12s and u14s fun to watch, and easy to find coaches for :)

Some great coaching tips for you Coach Jay, I am sure you can put them to good use.

Having spent quite some time coaching similar age groups I can share some ideas that work with you.

I will keep it simple, because that's how I like it myself.

FUNdamentals are crucial, keep it FUN, no matter what you do at this age they will enjoy it more and listen to you more if you keep the fun happening. Try not to have them standing around bored or not active in some way, they only have very short attention spans at this age.

Passing and catching (ball-handling and using your eyes) is the first and most important skill, why, because no kid will be able to play the game until he/she can actually catch the ball properly and learn to pass it to someone else.

There you have it, the most important starting point before all of the other stuff, good luck...

Thanks so much guys! You've given me a lot to think about! The youngest age group i've had so far is U14 so this is definitely something different. Kids lost their first game yesterday but given none of them had trained yet, i saw a lot of positive signs, especially defensively! Going to have a lot to work on when training starts tonight!

all training should be ball in hand stuff. No time on pure fitness should be spent. Ball in hand drills cover that aspect.