defensewinsgames wrote:BasketballMind wrote:Elementary and Junior High coaches need to be far more focused on shooting mechanics and ballhandling and less on winning and losing. Sadly, we have too many that would rather work on specialty stuff and don't work on the boring stuff on a daily basis. Junior High coaches and shockingly, some elementary coaches that sacrifice fundamental skill work for specialty plays, complex defensive schemes, and other stuff that takes waaaaaay too long for the average JH team to understand and do properly are a big part of the problem.
Players, coaches, and parents get tired of doing the "boring" fundamentals. Three move combos, cross-over pull ups, dunks, and this other flash stuff is a lot more fun to work on (especially in the off-season by yourself) than form shooting, weak-hand ball handling, and other things that we know give more bang for your buck in the results category. Some things are done every day because they need to be like brushing your teeth, showering, or eating breakfast - it is about utility and preparation not fun. I have heard a lot of complaints about coaches that include they are doing the same thing too much/every day. Fundamental fatigue is a real problem.
Fundamental fatigue is a great way to phrase it, but it's on you the coach to get them to commit to becoming great at it and forcing them to work on it. There are plenty of ways to make fundamental based drills more exciting, competitive, and game like. They need to be timed, short bursts of one type of dribble, pivot, pass, etc. and then change. 45-60 seconds tops and you could easily get through 4-5 different two and one ball dribbling drills, there are hundreds of drills online, but you as the coach need to emphasize the skill and not the drill.
Don Meyer has a thousand great quotes and one of my favorites is, "Be a skill coach. Not a drill coach." You should still be emphasizing pivots, footwork, and dribbling with your head up in your defensive shell portions of practice, full court stuff, out of bounds plays, etc. Too many coaches get fixated on running their precious plays to the exact specifications, but it doesn't matter because none of their players have gotten a lick better at handling the ball, passing and catching, pivoting properly without traveling, or their basic shooting form. Some kids don't get that figured out until they're 9th/10th graders and they become what you'd call a good shooter. You can't quit on it because it isn't fixed overnight.
Junior High coaching should be about process over outcome. The sad thing is plenty of coaches at the 5th, 6th, and 7th grade level have that flipped. By 8th grade, being a little more focused on the outcome is okay, but it's still a huge opportunity for skill development and basketball IQ development with zero pressure to win or lose.