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X's and O's by Mike MacKay - Things I learned in camp - July 18, 2008

Last Updated: July 18, 2008

I had the pleasure the last two weeks to attending some basketball camps. This is how I love to spend my vacation, playing with children. I find I learn so much from watching and talking with them about the activities we do.

1. There is a big difference between an 8 year old and a 14 year old.
If there is any one out there who think that you can coach children of different ages the same I challenge them to go to a camp where a variety of ages exist. It does not take you long to realize that you are in for a long day if you try to treat them all the same. The younger players do not have the focus or stamina to stay in engaged for long periods of time. You cannot force them to use proper skills when they are not ready. You also have to give them lots of breaks.

2. Teach the whole child
I made a concentrated effort to not just teach basketball. We spent a lot of time on leadership skills and team building. There was a direct carry over to the basketball. As we applied the lessons learned back to the game.

3. Demand attitude � teach skills
This was a phrase that Gord Herbert used at a recent clinic that caught my attention. It is important that we demand a standard of behaviour. Children need to know what the limits of acceptable behaviour are. If you constantly allow the standard to fluctuate the children will have a hard time knowing what behaviour is acceptable. The standard is unwavering; the consequences of poor behaviour should be dealt with individually. Every child deserves to be treated with the action he/she deserves and have earned.

One example came up when we started to allow the older group to play more physical. This can be a big issue with players at the early junior high age or players who are in the train to train stage. The players are at different stages of maturation. Some are very mature for their age and have confidence in their bodies. They tend to be more aggressive and often enjoy the physical contact. Others do not like the aggressiveness. This presents a challenge to the coach. Do you back off the physical play or do you teach them how to play with this new element to the game. Your first concern must always be the safety of the athlete. Be aware of matching children of different sizes. Do not assume that the children know how to use their bodies. Many children today have not been exposed to rough house play that some of us enjoyed when we were younger. Taught right they can learn that body contact can be safe and fun.

With females, often the other players may ostracise the aggressive player, cliques may form to exclude this player. Boys who are aggressive may show signs of bullying where the aggressive player enjoys exerting his new found power on others. The key is to be aware of these situations and deal with them when they occur. If you discourage aggressive play you are limiting the development of the players, but done improperly you may discourage some players from enjoying the game. You need to help the players understand what is happening. Ask questions and engage them in the conversation instead of just telling them what you expectations are.

Coach: �I am starting to see that we are getting a little frustrated with the aggressive play. You should realize that I am not calling all of the fouls on purpose. What is my reason for doing that?�
Player: �You want us to get used to it�
Coach: �That is correct! What would happen if I told the aggressive players to go easy?�
Player: �We would not improve.�
Coach: �Now, we have to understand the difference between aggressive play and dirty or dangerous play. What are some examples of dirty play?�
Player: �Hitting, punching, kneeing � �
Coach: �That is right and those will be called fouls and we do not want to do them. What are some examples of aggressive play?�
Player: �Getting close to someone, putting your forearm on them, reaching for the ball and sometimes hitting the arm of the player��
Coach: �Very good! Now I do have a concern that some of you are trying to get others invited to your �pity party� when you have been the victim of aggressive play. We have talked about pity parties before and how they can take energy from the team. Remember we have to deal with adversity in a positive way. This is just another example. What are some positive ways we can deal with aggressive play?�
Player: �Get low and protect yourself, pivot, attack the basket��

Note: My definition of a pity party is when players who are feeling depressed or down will try to get others to join their club. This is how cliques get formed on teams. True teams operate on the philosophy of truth over harmony. Someone has to tell the player who is down that he/she is taking energy from the team. It is him/her who has to change his/her approach not the others.

4. Observe what is going on and ask questions. They will have great ideas.
Some of the best activities came form the players. I have attached a document that demonstrates just one idea that came form the players.

5. Self-play leads to intrinsic motivation
I am a strong believer in getting the children to love the game for the games� sake not because of extrinsic rewards. We use a 1 on 1 pyramid at camp. Also foul shooting and 32 point shooting games. The players love to play for the fun of playing. They would play at all breaks and lunch time. There is nothing wrong with competition. We had to show them how to play at first. Once this was accomplished they ran it on their own.

6. Benchmarks
Provide bench marks help the players monitor their improvement. One drill we did daily was spot lay ups. The players started under the basket and dribbled out around one of the seven pylons. Circling the pylon the player re

Agility Ladder Dribbles
We made agility ladders by placing masking tape in the alley of the badminton court that separates the singles and doubles boundary. We made squares by making the length the same size as the width between the two lines. It gave us about 12 squares from the end of the badminton court to the half way line. We then used these agility ladders to work on footwork. We did such things as:
� One in the hole � forward, sideways and backwards
� Two in the hole - forward, sideways and backwards
� Hops � single leg, double leg, forward, sideways and backwards
� Icky Shuffle � starting to the left of the first hole, left, right left right, the right foot now goes down in the second square as you work your way down the ladder shuffling forward.

The idea for these dribbling activities came from watching Kristy Cook, a young lady in Grade 4, playing on her own during the break. She was dribbling the ball once in each hole. I then asked to show me if she could do it with her left hand. The other ideas came from me challenging her to find other ways to dribble using the ladder.

When dribbling in every second hole it helped her to understand the difference between a speed dribble and a control dribble. She had to run to keep up with the ball. She was not able to do three, but the older players could accomplish it.

The side ways dribbling was dribbling in a closed stance. We also call it a crab dribble. The only down side to this time of dribbling was the vision. The players had a tendency to look down at the holes. I encouraged them to look up by showing ten fingers to call for a pass. It did help them understand where the ball should be dribbled in relation to the foot and body.

The backward dribble could be done from a closed or open position. Be sure to work both hands.

The zig-zag was very effective for tight changes of direction. Be sure to switch hands.

Inside and outside the line was a nice lead up for learning to position the hand on the side of the ball to move it in and out. One dribble was outside the line the next was inside the line.

When dong the crossovers we challenged the players to get the ball low and wide in the dribble.

When doing the inside out we started outside the ladder. The inside foot was placed inside the ladders at the same time the player rolled their hand over the ball from the outside to the inside it. It helped the players� co-ordinate the faking action.

We also worked on a number of other dribbles with the older players. What ever agility footwork we did they had to do it while dribbling.

Kristy's favourite was to dribble in each square and then lift her leg over the ball. It was great for hip flexibility!

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