Notes from a Coaching Clinic

The importance of playing early and often for youth players

I spoke to some of my club’s youth coaches about general practice organization. I based my beginning remarks largely on a presentation I gave in Finland several years ago, and then demonstrated some ideas. My presentation is summarized below.

Many practices are a collection of drills: There is no real purpose to the activities. Coaches plan activities to check boxes (a passing drill, a shooting drill, a defense drill; scrimmage) rather than devising activities to address specific problems or issues.

The purpose does not have to be skill development. Coaches may use activities as a general warmup, for fun, motivation, to break up the monotony of a long season, to build enthusiasm or team camaraderie, to prepare for a specific game or opponent, and more. One activity may be appropriate for one purpose, but less so for another. The activity is not wrong per se, as long as coaches use an appropriate activity for their purpose. I may use an exercise as a fun warmup, but another coach may see it as a specific skill development drill, then question me when the skill does not transfer to improved game performance. They copied the what without understanding the why.

The purpose should be specific; many coaches are too general when discussing goals for activities. There are dozens of ways to improve passing: Choosing the preferable pass, throwing harder passes, making faster decisions, using deception, using eye contact and body language to communicate, creating easier decisions, stopping before passing on the move, and more. Which one does the activity address? Does the activity address the weakness or limiting factor for a team’s passing in games? Just checking “passing” off the list does not necessarily address the team’s or individual’s problems.

There are two primary ways to improve: Decrease errors or mistakes and increase options or opportunities (Seeing What Others Don’t, Gary Klein). Most focus on decreasing errors; committing fewer turnovers. I emphasize expansion of skills. I want players to develop different types of passes, making more difficult passes, and more rather than focus on committing fewer turnovers. I want hook passes to the opposite corner off the dribble and behind the back passes and jump passes where appropriate. I want players to add to their games, not subtract, minimize, or limit. Restricting parts of one’s game is a win-now behavior; development should add options to and expand one’s game.

Daniel Coyle, author of The Talent Code, described three types of practice: Comfort Zone, Sweet Spot, and Thrash Zone. Learning spirals as one starts in the thrash zone, moves to the sweet spot, and then the comfort zone, before the coach adds something new to return players to the sweet spot or thrash zone. As players return through the stages and reach the comfort zone again, they have added something to their skills: They have expanded or developed. Most practice should occur in the sweet spot where there is a challenge, but also sufficient success; activities that are too easy or too far beyond one’s current skills often are de-motivating. The goal is to be right on the edge of one’s current skill level where mistakes are made, but players can learn from the mistakes and improve.

Individual Training and the Learning Spiral

Finally, children learn through play. Fred “Mr.” Rogers said, “Play is talked about as it if was a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” Children’s learning is characterized by large variety of movements, small number of repetitions, and a small tendency to follow instructions” (Torrents & Balague, 2006). Most practices, however, minimize the movements, increase repetitions, and focus on following instructions; we treat children like adults. Repetitions and following directions are part of sports and development, but we can improve these over time; we do not need to demand strict obedience with young children from the first day. Coaches place players in lines and demand a single execution over and over, and then are mad when players at the end of the line are not paying attention or when players cannot repeat the same thing from repetition to repetition. We are fighting against their natural learning and curiosity rather than embracing the ability for children to learn rapidly with minimal repetitions.

Solving developmental problems with free play

Play connects all of these concepts. Play has a purpose as it is the closest to a real game. Play creates an environment to expand one’s skills. Players generally play in the sweet spot, challenging themselves to perform new moves or shots. Play includes variability and minimal repetitions of the same movements and engages players’ minds without having to follow explicit instructions. We need to encourage more play and playful environments in and out of practice for children to learn and develop. Players acquire the skills early and can improve accuracy later in their development. Nobody needs to master every skill in his or her first season.

Learning Theory

I started the demonstrations by introducing a simple dribbling warmup as a counter for stationary or straight-line dribbling and layup drills.

Next, we moved to tic-tac-toe layup races as a fun way to practice layups and speed dribbling.

Then we progressed through some tag games, which I use to train evasion skills and multi-direction dribbling.

Through these activities, nearly every player was involved and engaged with a ball in their hands at all times. No standing around, no lines, no waiting for a turn without a ball.

Then I introduced a few of my favorite games for youth basketball that I invented when coaching U9s in Los Angeles 20 years ago.

Finally, in the Q&A, I answered questions about the competitive cauldron.