Coaching u/12's

Im going to be coaching a basketball team for the first time this season, and I got stuck with a group of under 12's. For the life of me I cant remember what my capabilities were at age 11 or 12 to determine what sort of drills to do at training. My problem is that I will be trying to teach them something that is too complicated

Does anyone know some good drills/plays to do at training for an u/12 side, or am I just worrying about nothing... ?

I coached under 12's/14's/16's, the main thing with the younger kids is to just make sure they have fun. I guess I'd suggest:

Lay up drills... it's easy for the kids to understand and they enjoy it, but also vary it a bit, i.e make them do the same drill, only with jump shots instead of lay-ups.

1 on 1 or 2 on 2 games... make a little tournament or something out of it, actually 3 on 3 would probably be ideal.

Simple dribbling drills... make them dribble from half court in for a lay up with their right hand, then dribble back to half court with their left hand. It's like an extended lay up drill only with the dribbling emphasised.

Rebounding games... i.e throw up 15-20 shots, whoever gets the most rebounds wins something (buy them something from the canteen or something, they seem to like that). Don't go into boxing out or anything like that just now, they won't understand it and they'll probably just end up getting hurt.

Defensive stance... they won't use it in a game, but it's good to run a simple defensive stance drill with them.

Passing drills... not 4 corner or the star passing, but just simple things like 1 kid on the FT line, 1 kid on the baseline and throwing simple chest passes to each other.

REALLY simple motion play... just show them where to stand on the court, how to run a BASIC offence. Don't get too complicated because they'll forget it, but just emphasise ball moment and court positioning.

The netball drill... just make them play a 5 on 5 half court game, but with no dribbling. It'll teach them to look for their teammates more on offence, but don't use it all the time.

If you need any more let me know, I'm sure I could think of a few.

Edit: One more thing, DO NOT get them to do 3 man weaves... that is an absolute disaster, so avoid that one.

I was just going to recommend you get them to do 3 man weaves, that was until I read Jae's edit

Jae's right though, at that age, fun has to be the name of the game....surely they are old enough for a simple 3-2 zone or something like that, or do you reckon man-to-man is the way to go?

I think you could teach them where to stand in a 3-2 zone, but I mean I've seen under 16 teams who still don't know where to go position wise. Then again, Under 12's don't usually have 3 point bombers on the baseline

The easiest way is to say "follow him around", but if you wanted to I think you could set up some sort of successful 3-2 zone.

Thanks for your help Jae and X

For defence I will teach them 3-2 and 2-3 zone, and a man, thats all thats really needed. maybe a 1-3-1 if I get a good, quick defender.
I should be able to teach a good zone defence...I know how to do it really well

I was thinking of a drill where the aim is to get say, 50points.
You get 1 point per pass, 5 for a goal and 10 for a goal off a basket cut.
It is like the netball drill, in that there is no dribbling allowed

Is it worth doing layup drills where there is two groups, one playing defence while the other does a layup?

Last edited by Laxation on Sun Mar 12, 2006 9:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Teach em fundamental stuff not that aNd1 bullshit. Our coach does the bounce pass into the key for a layup, works wonders.

Is it worth doing layup drills where there is two groups, one playing defence while the other does a layup?

It could work, worth a try to vary things a bit.

You didnt thank me Dribbling drills: Walk backwards down the court right hand first then switch on the way back or vice versa.

I'd also remember to keep the concept of fun in mind when you're coaching the games as well. As they get older, if you're still with them you can start teaching them more complex aspects of the game and teach them about playing more competitively.

You also want to really make sure everyone gets a fair go at this stage. One of the worst things about coaching junior basketball - even in the higher grades - is having parents in your ear about why their kid isn't playing enough. Hopefully you won't have to deal with it but might be something to look out for.

yep, everyone has to play....play the team like the Memphis Grizzlies of a couple of years ago

I think I was the only under 14's coach in history to have the players complain about playing time.

Benched the pin0ys?


You cant spam in a basketball match, Jae.

Last edited by peaches on Sun Mar 12, 2006 10:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

last season i coached my bros under 12 team, they missed out on the grand final by one goal

Benched the pin0ys?


You cant spam in a basketball match, Jae.

They kept yelling MABUHAY!!!! after every basket.

What? No ASSITTIIG!!?

You know it gets out of control when they start exchanging CD Keys to the other team at half time..

Hey Laxation, Jae, X... I don't think they allow zones in U12s orr U14s... only in U16s. Could be different for you guys but my team wasn't allowed to play a zone.

Yeh.. just to add onto what you were saying... just tell them, play bball without dribbling. Encourage teamwork and spirit! It's all in the fun of the game!

Ive been playing zone in my league since like u/8's... Unless theyve changed it im pretty sure its ok

Hopefully I will be able to remember whos been off, and for how long during the games...

you might want to implement consistent substitution patterns so you don't forget....say 5 minutes in you might sub out 2-3 players, a couple of minutes later you sub out another 2-3 players, etc....work it so the best players/players that are playing the best are on if game is close at the end....but it's U12's so you'll be fine

Keep the good ones on and bench the fat slow kids. Soon enough you'll find all the parents coming in and complaining but in the end what would you rather have: the trophy from the Grand final or a lawsuit for discrimination?
Im sure you all know what i would choose.

hell, the kid(s) in question might even work to lose weight

This is a good drill :
FIrst off all you have to tel the chilldren to go in pairs.
You position the pair like this one kid goes to the out line to the left the second kid goes to the out line to the right.you go stand under the basket with the ball(one player is on your right the other is on your left).Then you throw the ball to half court and when you give them the signal,they start runin to the ball.The one who gets the ball has to drive to the basket,the kid without the ball has to play defense.Our coach says this teaches good offense and great defense plus its fun.

Play the black kids.

Play the black kids.

For some reason that made me
Racism was never so funny

Make fun of them on national T.V. and say they lack effort and they suck.

Oh wait, thats been done before....

Play the black kids.

At least you didn't say play the autistic kids..