Youth Basketball: How to Teach Layups

Youthbasketball123 is a website designed to provide ideas, drills by grade, books, teaching tools, basketball jokes, guest blogs, basketball quotes, and so much.

Layups are the best way to score at any level, but especially the early ages.

Here are our blogs completely devoted to teaching layups.

  1. Aim for Top Corner of the Square: This is the starting point, a player knowing the correct target for the shot.
  2. Block Shot Basketball Layup Drills
  3. Mini-Mikan Basketball Layup Drill
  4.  Elbow and Knee on a String
  5. No Dribble Layups & 1 Dribble Layups
  6. Basketball Scoring Series: Around the World Layups
  7. Basketball Skill Development: Individual Basketball Layup Drills

Basketball Shooting: Weekly Team Shooting Chart

Youthbasketball123 is a website designed to provide ideas, drills by grade, books, teaching tools, basketball jokes, guest blogs, basketball quotes, and so much.

It is always a challenge at any level of basketball to teach players who to be accurate shooters. No matter how much time or attention a coach gives to shooting form and shooting drills, a player must work consistently on his own or with a Basketball Buddy. However, if a coach stresses the importance of shooting the basketball well in practice and if 1-2 players work on the skills at home, the team will be much more effective offensively.

A weekly progress chart is a great way for a coach to evaluate the team’s progress. Often at this age, a team will only meet once a week so to have the same routine is easy for the coach and probably best for the players in this age group.

Each week the teams will compete in “AROUND THE WORLD.” Each team will start at one basket and complete one of the drills. The teams will shoot for 1:30. Coaches should record the scores and hopefully see some very good improvement.

There can be competition between the teams to see the high score, but we discourage this at this age level. Tell the team that you want to break the record of last week. Create a team from Ohio that beat your total by TWO! Try to beat THAT team, not the players shooting at the other basketball. With all the hard work throughout the season, we beat the fake Ohio team by the end of the season.

The ultimate goal should be for all the teams to improve the number of made baskets. After completing the drills, have the teams sprint to the next baskets. (This is more fun than shooting for some of the players.)

Shooting Progress Chart

Week12345678910
Left Block 
Right Block 
Right baseline
Center
Left baseline 
TOTAL
How It Works
  1. Divide the team into even groups with at least one adult at a basket.
  2. Set up two cones at each basket. Place the cones wide enough for the players to shoot comfortably. All players should shoot from directly between the cones.
  3. The coach will rebound and pass it to the next player in line.
  4. The coach at each basket will count the made shots.

  5 spots 90 seconds  7:50 plus time for scores Shot

  1. Right block bank shot: This is the million dollar shot for this grade. The goal is the ALL the players to make the majority of the shots from this spot.
  2. Right wing shot:
  3. Straight on shot:
  4. Left wing shot:
  5. Left Block shot: This is the million dollar shot for this grade. The goal is the ALL the players to make the majority of the shots from this spot.

Additional Spots: I found these spots to be too much. The players seemed to lose focus with 7 spots.

  1. Right baseline shot
  2. Left corner shot optional

When the around the world shooting is complete, it is a great time to move to

Youth Basketball: How to Teach Shooting a Basketball

Shooting Blogs

Before Coaching:

  1. #1 Book for Teaching Players How to Shoot a Basketball
  2. Basketball Shooting Fundamentals: Where’s the BEEF?
  3. Buy the #1 Book for Teaching Players How to Shoot a Basketball

A Coach’s Perspective: How to Be An All-Star Basketball Parent

Youthbasketball123 is a website designed to provide ideas, drills by grade, books, teaching tools, basketball jokes, guest blogs, basketball quotes, and so much.

A high school basketball team typically has between one to three all-stars depending on the team’s success during the season. What does it take to be all-star basketball player? Hard work, discipline, competitiveness, and amazing attention to fundamental skills. It is clear to any fan how the all-star player separates himself from other players on the court. But what makes an all-star basketball parent?

A parent can be an all-star in the eyes of their child or their child’s coach. Some truly amazing parents can be an all-star in the eyes of both. This post will focus on a coach’s perspective on how to be an all-star parent. 

Be Early and NEVER Be Late: The majority of youth basketball coaches, volunteer their time to coach your child and the team. Be on time, or even better, be early for all drop offs and pick ups. This is especially critical at the end of a practice. Youth coaches have busy lives, full-time jobs, families, and many other commitments. Do not waste one minute of their valuable time being late for pick up. Most youth coaches will stay until the last player has a ride. It is a simple courtesy that so many parents neglect. Coaches will appreciate your efforts to respect the value of their time.

Be Supportive: It is important to be supportive of all the coaches and players. It is best to follow the advice of Thumper’s mom from Bambi – “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.” Many times parents can be frustrated with the child’s play or a coach’s decision. Do your best to refrain from sharing any negative comments in public and always cheer positivity for all players.

Remember the Big Picture: Basketball and other youth sports help a player grow physically, socially, and emotionally. Having an opportunity to be with a committed adult and other players the same age is awesome. It is a strong possibility that no players will be going on to play professional basketball. And believe it or not, very few will play at the high school varsity level, so enjoy the opportunity that a child has to have some fun with basketball. 

Volunteer to Keep the Scorebook or the Clock: Youth sports are driven by parent volunteers. If you are comfortable learning how to do the scorebook or run the game clock, the coach will be able to focus on game strategies, substitutions, keeping the bench involoved and encouraging the players to play to the best of their abilities. 

Be a Basketball Buddy: If your child is passionate about basketball, do all that you can to foster that passion at home. Most basketball careers are short lived. Youth basketball is typically grades 3 –  8. Speak with the coach about what drills would help your child improve the most. Reinforcing what is being taught in practice will make your child a better player and will help the coach teach additional skills throughout the season. 

Bring Snacks and Drinks: Many youth teams provide snacks and drinks either before, during, or after a game or practice. Volunteer to bring water, gatorade, or snacks. It will help the coach and make the players happy. 

Write a Hand-written Thank You Note at the End of the Season (MVP points if you include a gift card): Parents often do not understand the time commitment of a youth basketball coach. To gain a better perspective, keep track of your child’s practice dates and times. Also keep track of games and pre-and post season tournaments. Be sure to Include travel time too. Do this JUST FOR YOUR CHILD! At the end of the season, tally the total hours. I am sure your will be amazed at the amount of time it takes to be a youth coach. 

Remember, you did not including the time spent preparing for a practice or a game or the time spent composing and responding to emails. Some coaches also keep track of stats or breakdown film. The additional time spent outside of practices and games will vary, but in most cases this time is substantial. I 

A very generous gift for a coach would be one dollar per hour. Pick a local restaurant or Dunkin’ Donuts and purchase a gift card for the coach or coaches. Cash also works very well. Your child’s coach has given a great deal of time and energy to your child and the team. It is important to acknowledge the effort. Most parents will not thank the coach at the end of the season, even thought it is easy and the right thing to do. This simple act will separate you from most other parents. 

Unlike being an all-star player, it is fairly easy to be an all-star parent. It does not take talent or even that much effort. All a parent needs to do is remember the basketball season is a great experience for a child. Be kind to other players and parents. Do what you can and remember, the coach is a volunteer doing his / her best to help children have fun and learn a little basketball. 

To be the MVP parent, you could host or organize an end of the season celebration. Bring all the parents together for a simple pizza party or cookout. Whether the team finishes as champions or are defeated at 0 -15, a gathering will create many great memories and will create stronger bonds with the players, families, and coaches. 

While the all-star parent is a hypothetical award. You will not be awarded a plaque, trophy, or certificate. However, your child’s coach and hopefully your child will realize how helpful you have been to make the season a very positive and enjoyable experience for everyone .

Coach, 

Here is my article for your magazine. The word count is 962 words. Sorry it took so long, busy with the start of school. Let me know what you think. I know you are busy, but if you feel the need to edit, please do. Also if you feel like it is not up to your standards that is fine too. 

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks,

Mark

How To Standout at High School Basketball Tryouts with Limited Skills

Youthbasketball123 is a website designed to provide ideas, drills by grade, books, teaching tools, basketball jokes, guest blogs, basketball quotes, and so much.

Here is a list of some of the ways limited skills players can make a high school basketball team.

  1. BE EARLY: Get to the gym early and work on the skills that will help you make the team. You are being watched from the minute you walk in the gym. Do not take crazy half-court shots. Focus on shots you will take during the scrimmage.
  2. BE THE LAST TO LEAVE: Tryouts are 1 – 5 days. For some players it might be the only days in the gym because they will be cut. Make the most of your time and stay a little after the tryout if you are allowed and work on some skills that will help you improve.
  3. BE IN THE BEST SHAPE OF YOUR LIFE:
  4. SPRINT TO THE PAINT ON DEFENSE: Transition defense is an important part of high school basketball. Do not mess around trying to steal the ball in the backcourt. Spring to the paint and be the 1st (or one of the 1st) player back on defense.
  5. TALK ON DEFENSE: This is one of the easiest things to do that will help you get noticed because almost no high school players do this consistently. Always be talking on defense.
  6. DO PUSH-UPS EVERYDAY! How easy is this. No basketball skill involved. Simply do 25 – 100 pushups each day. This will help with strength. Very few players do this.
  8. More Coming soon.

Top X Basketball Accounts

Youthbasketball123 is a website designed to provide ideas, drills by grade, books, teaching tools, basketball jokes, guest blogs, basketball quotes, and so much.

Google Search “Top X Basketball Accounts”

  1. CelticsLife.com @celticslife (285K followers) Boston, MA
  2. Jamy Bechler @CoachBechler (97K followers) Cleveland/Akron Area
  3. Brian Williams @BrianWWilliams (83K followers) Indiana A great amount of basketball knowledge to share! “Basketball Coaching Web Site Author: http://coachingtoolbox.net has 100s of free resources for high school and college basketball coaches”
  4. PragmaticMom @pragmaticmom (73K followers) Boston, MA Moms are so important to a child. This is one of the top moms on twitter and such a great resource. Guest Blog: Coaching Youth Basketball: Create Individual Award Certificates
  5. Coaches Toolbox @coachestoolbox (52.2K followers) Indianapolis, IN
  6. Breakthrough Basketball @BreakthruBball (28K followers) Orlando, FL and Marion, IA Guest Blog: TOP 6 QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN CHOOSING A BASKETBALL CAMP
  7. Basketball Scout @hoops_scout11 (8.6K followers) Montana
  8. Dave Hopla @davehopla (8K followers) Naples, FL Author of the #1 Book for Teaching Players How to Shoot a Basketball
  9. Steven Hardin @DMB_CoachHardin (8K followers) NC/TN
  10. Brian Hutton @Coach_Hutton (4.5K followers) Barrie, Ontario
  11. The AD Club @e3hoops (4.4K followers) 5 Questions for An Aspiring Athletic Director
  12. Mano Watsa @manowatsa (12K followers) Waterloo, Ontario, Canada A great source of knowledge and motivation for players and coaches!
  13. Coach Payne @coachrpayne (18K followers) Winnsboro, TX
  14. herrenproject @HerrenProject (13K followers) Book Review: Fall River Dreams: The Friday Night Lights of High School Basketball
  15. Coach Jon Schroeder @CoachSchroeds (2.5K followers)
  16. Coach Tom Barrick @Coach_Barrick (.8K followers) Wheelersburg, OH Guest Blog: Top 7 Reasons to Join a State Basketball Coaches Association
  17. Ryan Kilian – MassPreps @masspreps (5.8K followers) Massachusetts, USA A great account for high school and youth basketball as well as lacrosse! Guest Blog: Massachusetts Prep Stars Assists Massachusetts HS Athletes!
  18. Tony Casella @CoachCasella (1K followers) Adelaide, Australia
  19. Laken James @lakenjames5 (4K followers) A great resources of motivation and player development.
  20. Arizona High School Basketball Coaches Association @AZBballCoaches (3.2K followers) Arizona
  21. Sioux City East Basketball @SCEastHoops (1.6K followers) Sioux City, IA
  22. ihoopcrazy @ihoopcrazy (.3K followers) Based in New England
  23. JPII Girls Basketball @JPIIGHoops (.5K followers) Huntsville, AL
  24. STJ Trojan Athletics @STJAthletics1 (.3K followers) Montgomery, Alabama
  25. Ras Vanderloo @CoachRas (2.1K followers) Sioux City, IA
  26. Alabama Association of Basketball Coaches @AABC_Hoops (2K followers) Alabama, USA
  27. Shooters Touch @ShootersTouchIA (1.4K followers) Des Moines, IA
  28. John Michael Reitz @JMReitz09 (1.3K followers)
  29. Team VertiMax @TeamVertimax (1K followers)
  30. Tony Casella @CoachCasella (1K followers) Adelaide, Australia
  31. Sioux City East Basketball @SCEastHoops (1.6K followers) Sioux City, IA
  32. ihoopcrazy @ihoopcrazy (.3K followers) Based in New England
  33. JPII Girls Basketball @JPIIGHoops (.5K followers) Huntsville, AL
  34. STJ Trojan Athletics @STJAthletics1 (.3K followers) Montgomery, Alabama
  35. Don Showalter @dshow23 (17.7K followers) Author of the #1 Coaching Youth Basketball Book! He is one of the best teachers of the game of basketball AWESOME for youth basketball.
  36. USA Basketball Youth @USABYouth (35K followers) Colorado Springs, CO The ABSOLUTE best resources for youth basketball players and coaches of ALL LEVELS in the USA!
  37. Positive Coaching Alliance @PositiveCoachUS (72K followers) nationwide This is an amazing resource that helps coaches, players, and programs keep youth sports in perspective. They partner with professional leagues and have organizations in MANY U.S, cities.
  38. JJ Redick @jj_redick (293K followers) J.J. Redick Basketball Shooting Drills
  39. Basketball HOF @Hoophall (115K followers) Springfield, MA Youth Basketball Bucket List item!
  40. Hoop Group @TheHoopGroup (65K followers) Neptune, NJ Neptune, NJ
  41. Pure Sweat @PureSweat (73K followers) On a court or in the air
  42. NCAA Eligibility Center @ncaaec (68K followers) Indianapolis, IN
  43. College Scout – Arpan Dixit @arpanNPID (30K followers) Louisville, KY A great resource for high school players chasing the dream of playing in college.
  44. Changing the Game @CTGProjectHQ (19.5K followers) Bend, Oregon Best Advice for Youth Sports Parents: “I Love Watching You Play”
  45. USABJNT @usabjnt (18K followers) Colorado Springs, CO
  46. Jesse McMillan @NorcrossHoops (6.4K followers) Norcross, Georgia
  47. Steve Keller @SteveKellerNRR (9K followers) Neptune, NJ
  48. Ohio Basketball Coaches Association: OHSBCA @ohioBKcoaches (5.6K followers) Ohio, USA
  49. Georgia Basketball Coaches Association @GAcoaches (5.5K followers) Georgia, USA
  50. Trenton Burleson @trentonb32 (4.2K followers) Burnsville, NC
  51. National Alliance for Youth Sports @NAYS_edu (3.1K followers) West Palm Beach, FL
  52. Iowa Basketball Coaches Association @IowaBCA (3K followers) Iowa
  54. HowToCoachGirls @HowToCoachGirls (1.5K followers) Newton, MA
  55. NBA @NBA (40.4M followers)
  56. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar @kaj33 (2.2M followers) Los Angeles
  57. NBA G League @nbagleague (401K followers)
  58. NERR @NERRHoops (21.8K followers)

Top 3 Keys to Building a Successful Basketball Business

Youthbasketball123 is a website designed to provide ideas, drills by grade, books, teaching tools, basketball jokes, guest blogs, basketball quotes, and so much.

My name is Nick Manzoni and I am the Founder of SportsLab360, a Basketball IQ platform.

I embarked on my journey to become an entrepreneur back in 2016 when I was entering my senior year at Drake University. Here are the top 3 lessons I learned along the way:


1) DIVE IN!
This is the most valuable piece of advice I can share, and it’s not even close.
Pretend you are me, an overzealous college student with a dream to build a successful company; specifically, an app that helps players learn the game of basketball and make better decisions on the court. Of course, you want to build the best possible product before unveiling a finished product to the world. 

Guess what? You’ll be lucky if 0.1% of the world sees it within the first year. So, don’t be afraid to put out something that maybe isn’t perfect! The best thing you can do is put your MVP (minimum viable product) out there, and then open up your ears to the praises and the complaints of your users. And by the way, there’s nothing wrong with giving an incomplete product out for free or at a discount at the beginning. 

The same “Dive in!” logic goes for tasks and roadblocks along the way. How often have you had something on your “to-do” list that lingers on there because there is some unknown element to it? With the resources we have in the modern day like a simple Google Search, or in many cases Chat GPT, there’s no excuse to delay your action towards overcoming roadblocks. 

Getting an action plan written down is something so easy yet so powerful that will help you start moving in the right direction. You don’t have to jump from A to Z…that’s how you get stuck. You just need to find a way to move one decision – one letter – at a time, from making a list, to executing each item on that list. If you’re a solo Founder like me, picking up the phone and calling a friend can also serve as the jumper cables you need to tackle some of those roadblocks you’re facing. 


2) Dogs are great, but dogmas are dangerous
To be more specific, the dangerous dogma(s) I am referring to is ironically one that goes both ways:

“Trust your instincts – don’t let negative feedback impact your decision-making as an owner.” & “Listen to and take into account everything you hear from your market”

If you stick to your instincts 100% of the time and discount customer feedback, you’re on a fast track to becoming obsolete. On the flip-side, if you listen to everything that every customer says and try to adapt your product to serve them, you better have the backing of the Sovereign Wealth Fund or else you’ll reach the end of the road real fast. 

The ability to synthesize information coming in and make smart business decisions is key. If you hear 50% of your market saying the same thing, you have to listen. If you have a one-off request from a lite user of your product, don’t feel like you need to be spending development dollars to make changes. 

Similarly, you should ALWAYS keep your mind open to how your product should be positioned in the market. For example, Play-Doh was created first as a Wallpaper Cleaner. Luckily, their leadership team was open-minded and willing to rebrand based on what they were seeing and hearing from their market. We always say in marketing that people don’t know what they want, you have to tell them. Well, sometimes businesses don’t know where they fit in…and this is where we as business owners need to keep our ears open. 

3) You are only as good as the team you build 

In sports, there are differing philosophies on doubling down on your strengths vs. trying to improve your weaknesses. Luckily in business, we don’t necessarily have to worry about this as much. You might get a few months into building your business and realize you have a skill you didn’t quite realize. 

For me, I found that I both enjoyed and was successful within the creative side, specifically building out the UI/UX design of SportsLab360. Therefore, I doubled down on this newfound skill, cutting costs and taking on all of the design work myself. I worked directly with my development team to implement what I had built, and avoided ever having to outsource that function. 

On the flip side, I realized that selling face-to-face wasn’t my strong suit, nor was it something I enjoyed. So, I hired salespeople and created an ambassador program to compensate for my personal weakness of face-to-face selling. 

So, whatever it is that you are trying to build, if you can live by these three tenants, you’ll set yourself up for success. And by the way, having an unrelenting work ethic and passion about what you’re doing was left off the list – hopefully that one is obvious ☺ 

High School Basketball: August Action Plan

Youthbasketball123 is a website designed to provide ideas, drills by grade, books, teaching tools, basketball jokes, guest blogs, basketball quotes, and so much.

Each year of high school presents a new set of challenges and realities for a basketball player. August in many ways can be the most important month of the high school basketball season for a player. In general, it is always important to remember the forest through the trees and step back and look at the entire basketball year to understand what role August plays in becoming a complete high school basketball player. 

August for a high school basketball player is a critical, critical month. In many states, it is the start of the school year, so that means a student-athlete needs to get off on the right foot academically. In addition to being the start of school and the official start of the fall sports season, it also can be the final weeks of summer. 

Basketball Thoughts for August 

  1. “Don’t count the days. Make the days count” Muhammad Ali: For many student-athletes, August is going to be the month with the most free time available to improve as a basketball player. There are many ways to improve like attending a skills camp, playing summer league, trying out for an AAU team, and most importantly, for basketball players at any level, improving your skills to individual workouts. Each player has a role to fill on a basketball team. It is important for a player to really understand that role and to have a plan to develop and improve the skills necessary to succeed in the upcoming season.
  2. Complete Your Summer Schoolwork: Basketball is an amazing game, but for the MAJORITY of high school players, high school will be the end of the competitive basketball journey. A very small percentage will go on to play college basketball. An even smaller percentage will get an opportunity to play overseas. And the unbelievably talented, gifted, athletic and tall players will have an opportunity to play for a short amount of time in the G league or the NBA. So please take care of the brain and schoolwork. Complete the assigned summer reading. Go the extra mile and do some reading on your own. We have a list of basketball books that we find helpful along your basketball journey.
  3. Complete Summer AP Summer Work WELL: For many student-athletes, taking challenging AP classes is part of the high school experience. AP classes (with high scores) will open many doors to competitive academic schools and basketball programs. It may be the difference in having an opportunity to play college basketball or ending a career in high school. Most AP classes are rigorous, and require a significant amount of summer work to complete. Stay ahead of the game. Once school starts, it is important to focus on your academics in all classes and the upcoming basketball season. School, as we all know, can be very stressful. Bombing an assessment during the 1st week of school because you did not put in the time will only make the start of the year more challenging than it already is