Coaching Youth Basketball - Chapter 24

Chapter 24 - RUN, FORREST, RUN!

I've gone into philosophy, technique, drills, defenses, offenses, and lots more. Now let's talk about the nature of the game. The nature of basketball is running. If I catch one of my kids walking on a basketball court, it's extra laps or suicides.

Basketball is a running game. There is never a moment that the clock is running that you shouldn't be running. Defense is running. Offense is running. The only time you don't run is during a free throw, or when the ball is out of bounds, or during a halftime or timeout. Guess what? The clock is stopped during all of these exceptions. So when the clock is running, your players should be running.

So how do you incorporate getting into shape with your LS? Here is an example of what I personally will never do. I hated my basketball practices in jr. high and high school when I was a kid. Every practice, and it was never a learning session, started with 10 laps. Then we had to run up and down the stairs for another 10 minutes. Every practice started out negatively, I WAS HATIN' LIFE! Of course, my coach never got the best out of me because I started every practice using language that would put George Carlin to shame.

Now let's see how you are conducting your LS's. I have you doing 2 ball suicide competitive drills, that's running. You have your players doing lots of other competitive drills with laps for the losers, that's running. You are getting your team into shape by the use of competitive drills. Competitive drills are fun, teach a skill, and promote aggressive competitiveness. Do your kids hate you? NO! Are you a slave driver having them do mindless lap after lap? NO! You are making them run, and normally they ask for more. Is this simple, or what? AND SIMPLE IS GOOD. (I had to throw that in because I hadn't said it in a while.)

The real question is are you getting them in good enough shape? For your first several games, the answer is yes. If you sub every 3 to 4 minutes, if you let everyone get equal playing time, then the answer is yes. But as the season progresses, your kids will need to be in even better shape. As the kids in your league gain more experience and get a little better, the games will become faster and faster.

There's a term that a friend of mine, Rob Ellis, uses that I have adopted. He doesn't talk about getting his kids into shape, he tells his kids that they need to get their "BASKETBALL LEGS!" No one wants to hear they are fat, lazy, and out of shape. If you use the term "Basketball Legs" with your kids, they will look at you and ask what that means. Here's what I tell them, "It takes special legs to become a good basketball player, it takes Basketball Legs. We just need to play a little harder in our LS's and do a few more of our faster drills, and you'll get those special legs." From then on, compliment someone on using their Basketball Legs when someone is busting their tush running. Running will become contagious.

The main way to go to the next level is so simple, it's ridiculous. With each LS give out fewer and fewer tootsie roll pops, and make the losers do laps or suicides instead. The way to do this without creating a lot of attitude, is let your kids choose what the losers of a competitive drill have to do, 2 laps or a suicide. They get to choose, and you get off the hook. You are not the evil ogre who makes them run laps, they are!

Here's another way to get them in better shape and learn how to improve their dribbling at the same time, invite them to your 1st dribbling contest. Make this a big deal where the 3 winners get Baskin-Robbins. Pick a time when you don't have the gym, you don't want to eat up your LS gymtime with this. Tell them what day and time to meet you at your high school football stadium.

Once they are at the stadium, have them stretch and warm up. Next have them do a practice run, they have to dribble a ball up the steps of the football stadium. Make sure you have someone video tape this because you'll win a prize with this tape, maybe a Nobel.

You are going to see a gajillion balls flying down those steps and a loose kid running after every ball. If this doesn't get them their Basketball Legs, nothing will. All they will be doing is running up and down the steps the whole time. They are having a blast, and you are a hero.

After a while they will learn that if they can keep their dribble close to the ground and control their ball, they can make it to the top of the stadium without having to run back down, chasing their ball. The first 3 to make it to the top, dribbling the whole way without stopping, wins. If no one wins, tell them that you will do this another day so they get another chance for the ice cream. Or give them one last chance and the 3 who make it the furthest before losing their ball win.

The next time you do this LS at the football stadium, they will get better and thus, run less. When this occurs, have them dribble the ball down the steps. Even more balls will fly down the steps than before. When do you quit doing this? Never! My 8th grade girls team now does it dribble 2 balls at a time.

Remember, basketball is nothing but a running sport. The older your kids get, the more they have to run. The following is a saying I got out of a Nike Basketball Camp manual, author unknown.

"Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up

It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion, or it will be eaten.

Every morning a lion wakes up,

and it knows it must outrun the fastest gazelle, or it will starve to death.

It doesn't matter if you are a gazelle or a lion:

WHEN THE SUN COMES UP

YOU HAD BETTER BE RUNNING !!!!! "

Stay tuned for the next chapter is coming soon. Again, if I lose you and you don't understand something, e-mail me at firepow55@aol.com