r/basketballcoach

Randomly watching the FIBA three on three championships and it is so amazing. It’s a little different pace than how we play three on three in the states where basically the game never stops even after a made basket, so the pace is so fast. There’s so many more touches and good offensive actions and no wasted up and down the court and crappy full court press, zone defense that we see here in AAU. This would be so beneficial for our youth to be playing versus 5 on 5.

If you were to rent a basketball gym for middle school and high school practices, which of the following would you rather rent:

Option A: Basketball gym with one high school full court plus a half court (high school full court length is 84' long).

Option B: Basketball gym with 2 full courts that are a little shorter (each court is 72' long).

Sorry if this seems random but the info from this poll will extremely helpful.

Thank you for your help!

Our kid just started 5th grade. She has been playing club ball for three years now and typically plays at least one year up, and sometimes two (for the lower level team 2 years ahead).

Elementary school ball starts this year. I get the experience aspect of playing with your classmates. It’s already been decided that there will be two teams of 12, and it will not be an A and B team (rather a mix).

Of the 24 kids, about 15 of them have only played Rec. 8 of them have never even played Rec. Our daughter is the only one who has played club ball.

The guy running the team straight up does not like us and does not like our daughter because shocker, his kid is the 2nd best player.

I just don’t think it’s worth the drama/time overall. Practicing 2x/week with kids who really haven’t played before (meanwhile skipping club practices) doesn’t help my daughter long term. She isn’t really friends with anyone who would be on the team either (she is friends with and gets along with her club team in bball and in soccer, so she’s not short on relationships).

Has anyone been in this spot? To be clear, we are talking practices would likely be kids standing in a line and doing basic dribbling and layup drills.

My daughter’s club has installed multiple offensive sets, multiple sideline plays, and plays three different defenses (deny and gap mostly….zone only when necessary and 5 percent of the time).

Thanks.

I’m looking for a good program for my two boys to join. They are in the 6th grade and 4th grade. I want a program that is focused on team play and not daddy ball coached. Any recommendations?

I’m also Looking at schooling in the area for their development. I found a program called Togethership in San Clemente? but that may be costly and then there is ABA in garden grove? And 1 percent in lake Forrest?

Has anyone had any experience with any of these?

Are all The coaches background checked at all? This is very important to me as I have had past experience coming from the east coast where a particular program I won’t mention did not properly vet their employees and to say the least there were issues.

Now that I have moved here I need a good program for my Boys. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks again.

Hi all, I'm helping my daughter in her offseason training for 10U basketball. I have no coaching experience, let alone youth coaching experience. my daughter is taller for her age (although not crazy tall), and I'm wondering what I should be working on with her in the offseason?

she is naturally a good rebounded but i feel like she could be even more dominant there. she is very shy on offense, but when she remembers to be aggressive, her size helps her get to the rim. she could work more on her finishing and handles, as with many girls in this age range.

her club team plays 5 out and she plays the 4 or 5. i think this is very hard for her to know where she should be on the floor and what motions to do. i coach her rec team and i let her play the 1 so she can work on her dribbling and confidence with the ball (in rec, everyone has a turn at every position).

Would appreciate any tips on what to work with her on in the offseason, thank you!

My son just turned 14 (heading into his freshman high school years) and is currently sitting at 6'8". We are based in Europe, so he is coming up through a traditional club system-meaning 4 to 5 days of skill and mobility work, and only 1 game a week, keeping his joints safe while his growth plates are still open. He's a natural lefty playing point-forward, but our absolute main priority right now is maintaining his 3.8 GPA.

For those who understand the high school and college recruiting landscape: if the ultimate goal is a D1 academic/athletic scholarship, does staying in the European club system put a kid off the radar? Do US recruiters appreciate the lower game-mileage and fundamental focus over here, or is there a specific age where making the jump to a US prep school becomes necessary to get noticed?

(Note: I posted in here recently asking about early developmental archetypes and positional reps, and the feedback from the coaches/evaluators was incredibly helpful. My goal with this specific post is strictly to understand the logistical and recruiting pathways between the EU and US high school systems.)

I'm a 7th grader and I"m in on a club basketball team. I play as center or power forward and I have this one person on my team who is taller than me and gets all the playing time. She plays center. I was wondering if there were any drills or tips to get mor Playing time. P.S. this my first post and im super excited!

I’m 17 years old turning 18 in a few weeks and have played basketball in outdoor leagues for all of my teen years, but never in high school since I never made it past tryouts. I’ve recently become really interested in the coaching aspect of the sport, — although I’m not expecting to become a head coach right away, or even be in a coaching position I would really love to get my feet wet and hear some advice from people who specialize in this while I’m still young. Any tips would be much appreciated!!

Hey coaches,

Looking to get some perspective from those of you who have handled elite physical prospects at a young age.

My 14-year-old (turned 14 in April) is officially measured at 6'8" (2.03m) barefoot. We just got his knee/wrist X-rays back, and his bone age matches his real age perfectly—growth plates are completely wide open, meaning he has a long way to go (doctors projecting well over 7'0"). He’s coming off a high-level European invitational camp experience where he held his own, but we are entering a crucial development window.

My biggest fear right now is the traditional trap: local coaches wanting to lock him under the rim as a permanent 5-man just to win youth games today, sacrificing his long-term modern game.

Currently, he has solid perimeter instincts, decent handle for his size, and good shooting mechanics.

If you had a 6'8" 14-year-old in your program with this physical profile:

1. Skill Balance: What percentage of his workout load would you dedicate to perimeter/guard skills vs. interior footwork at this exact age?
2. Physical Load Management: With wide-open growth plates and constant height adjustment, how do you handle his lateral mobility, deceleration, and knee care without overtaxing him?
3. Game Reps: How do you convince team coaches to let a 6'8" kid make mistakes handling/initiating on the perimeter during actual competition?

Would love to hear how you guys approach long-term prospect development over short-term wins.

UPDATE
Quick update on this. A high-level coach actually evaluated George in person through a camp he just attended, and his feedback lined up with the smartest advice on this thread.
He told us to keep him strictly on the wing as a 6'8 point-forward rather than burying him under the rim just because he is currently the tallest kid on the floor. He emphasized letting him initiate offense and make decision-making mistakes on the perimeter now so he actually learns how to process the game.
He also gave a strong warning about protecting his joints while his growth plates are open, saying heavy lifting or burning out on huge game mileage right now is a massive mistake. He really liked our European setup where we do 4 to 5 skill and mobility practice days a week with just 1 game on the weekend, compared to playing 4 games a day in AAU.
Finally, he noted that combining a perimeter skill set at his height with his 3.8 GPA keeps every door open for a free top-tier college degree, which is our primary goal anyway. Really encouraging to have a top coach evaluate him at camp and confirm that long-term movement, IQ, and joint health beat short-term post points every single time.

I have a team of 12 years old and a lot of them come from a "free for all" basketball understanding where they all want to get their hands on the ball and bring the ball up etc. Im after some drills we can use to get them to understand that we want the ball in the ball carriers hands to advance the ball and we want the forwards getting down the floor without bunching up their defenders around the ball, being in a position for rebounds etc.

Something repetitive would be good combined with a bit of running/full court to generate some fitness.

So if you don’t understand my title, I’m trying to figure out what to do during the week because I am trying to get better and eventually be at such a high level and everything but what should I be doing to get more playtime and to be on the coaches, good side?

For reference I’m a center

3v3 is an Olympic sport. It's fun and fast.

How many 5v5 coaches let their kids play 3v3? My AAU coach recommended not allowing my kid to play. Why?

Does your area have a 3v3 tournament? What would a good route be for a wanna be premier 3v3 player?

So the thing room needing help with is what does a coach look for in a big and how to be a better big man?

I obviously know I can go on Google and everything, but I would rather ask coaches in general than anything else. All I ask is honesty don’t sugarcoat anything.

I’m looking for a few under the radar basketball resources, social media accounts, YouTube channels, etc to get some different perspectives and ideas for this upcoming season.

What are a few you guys recommend?

Hey all coaches, school season and basketball season is fast approaching and I've been thinking about what to use for stats/boxscore analysis from game film. Does anyone here have a program they slot their game film into? And if so how expensive does it get?

I know Hudl does a lot of that stuff but it takes a bit to get back to us- this hurts us when we're in tournaments where there's 1-2 games everyday in a short span of time. If anyone knows of Hudl special features that I can quickly flip through I'm all ears as well.

Any suggestions are well appreciated!

Curious how other coaches handle this. When a player moves teams or gets older, do you keep any of their history, highlights, stats, etc., or does most of that stuff just get lost over time?

I'm helping coach at a HS and we are very skilled, great off the bounce, can put pressure on the ball, etc. - all the things smaller teams can do.

But rebounding is going to be a massive issue.

Even if we are boxing out, we have struggled to finish plays because we are just so...dang...small.

What has worked for you guys with coaching rebounding with smaller teams?

I used to manage the JV basketball team, and now I’m a high school senior. I’m working on creating a free basketball analytics platform to help teams like mine manage stats more easily and avoid the high costs of software subscriptions.

Before launching, I want to make sure I’m building things coaches actually use.

1. What’s your biggest headache when using tools like GameChanger?

2. What stats or metrics do you actually care about during live games?

I would greatly appreciate any insight you could share!

Just finished my first season as an assistant varsity coach (ran film, scouting, and practice planning) and I'm adding an 8th grade head coaching job to that this year. Trying to keep building toward a long-term career in basketball ops/coaching.

For anyone who's made the jump from assistant to HC at a lower level — what caught you off guard? What do you wish you'd focused on in year one as a head coach that you didn't fully appreciate as an assistant (practice planning, in-game management, parent communication, etc.)?

Also open to any general advice on how to keep developing as a young coach — anything you'd tell yourself at this stage.

(im also not a big yeller, if at all but I know thats definitely something I might have to incorporate with the youngins lol)

I’m an American with NCAA playing and coaching experience that moved to the UK about three years ago to play and continue coaching some. I’ve taken all the courses, have my Level 3 coaching certification, coached within the Basketball England system, coached Prem and Conference boys basketball, all to realize there is absolutely no route of progression. I’ve tried for three years to get into the adult side of the game (NBL D1, SLB, BCB, etc.) and there seems to be no way in. The coaches here have their people and stay with their people. Programs don’t hold coaches accountable for bad seasons so staff never change. I guess I’m just at a loss trying to figure out if I made the right move.