Jim Calhoun’s Basketball Coaching Advice to Youth Coaches

Youthbasketball123 is a website designed to provide ideas, drills, books, teaching tools, guest blogs and so much more for basketball coaches, players, and parents.

“You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.” 

Many years ago, Jim Calhoun spoke to youth, high school, and colleges coaches at a pre-season clinic. The focus of his session was the 2-2-1 defense that was a trademark of his UConn basketball teams. His teams executed this defense magnificantly throughout the years. Coach Calhoun provided explanations and handouts that clearly explained the defense, alignments, and pregression drills  that would help a team succeed defensively. 

Before Coach Calhoun started with the Xs and Os of the 2-2-1 he shared the following quote: 

“You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.” 

Coach Calhoun shared how this season he would focus on three things with his UCONN team:

  1. Rebound
  2. Run
  3. Defend

The goals were pretty simple and effective. He won the National Championship that season. 

How Does This Apply to Coaching Youth Basketball?

Coaching youth basketball, at any age or skill level, can be very overwhelming. But with the best rule to follow in coaching at any level, even the NCAA Championship lever, is to Keep It Simple Stupd. 

A coach should consider all the factors of his team (age, skill level, commitment) and his practice schedule when deciding on the focus points for the season. 

Since we are sharing resources for they youngest age group first, our suggestion for a 1st grade recreation team would be:

  1. HAVE FUN: Remember the age of the players. It is all about fun. Everything from the minute practice starts to the minute it ends needs to be about FUN! Players should look forward to the basketball practice as a highlight of the weekend. 
  2. MORE DRIBBLES PER PLAYER THAN ANY TEAM IN THE LEAGUE: Dribbling a basketball is the easiest skill to teach younger players. It is age appropriate and something players like to do at this age. If a coach wanted to JUST focus on this goal, it would be more certainly be acceptable and would likely best prepare the players for the next year of basketball. There are so many ways to develop ball-handing and dribbling skills that practices would never be boring. 
  3. MORE MAKES PER PLAYER THAN ANY TEAM IN THE LEAGUE: Players love to see the ball go through the basket. If a player makes JUST ONE SHOT, he will be happy. He will enjoy his success and will be more likely to practice at home during the week.  Provide many opportunities for players to shoot the basketball and score! 

KISS! Just THREE things. Verbalize the goals to your players. Remind them every week. Send an email to the parents to share your goals and philosophy. This will help some of them be a better Basketball Buddy. 

Good Luck!