Coaching Youth Basketball

Rating:
Summary: Youth Basketball Coach's Primer...Fundamental and Flexible
Review: I picked up this book last night at a local library, hoping to find one or two new drills for my 6th Grade Girls basketball team. From the look of its cover, I expected that the focus would be on "beginner level" coaching and player development, such as how to dribble, shoot, and defend. Although the book started slowly, with explanations of coaching philosophies and how to work with children (valuable information,of course), I was pleased to find a series of drills and skill development tools that I could use at the 6th Grade level. The drills were coded as appropriate for "Beginner", "Intermediate", and Advanced" levels of play, with several of them building on the prior in such a way that when you, as a coach, have different skill levels on your team, you could use whichever level was appropriate for the player(s) working on the skill/drill. There are also a number of practical sections on "Error Detection and Correction" that can help coaches identify when skills need some "fine tuning" with recommendations as to how to go about it within the framework of the skill/drill being taught.

I would recommend this book to other coaches looking for simple, yet effective methods of instructing basketball fundamentals for players at different levels of skill and understanding of the game.