r/basketballcoach

Daughter is playing for a basketball team that I thought was a decent program, but I'm considering pulling her off the team.

Reasons why:

1. Not impressed with the coach...he coaches a mid size hs JV program outside of this team.

2. 3 girls from his JV team are on this "elite" aau team, and he has them play the guard positions. He also gives them more playing time (This is one of if not the biggest reasons I'm considering pulling my daughter off the team. I wanted my daughter to be in a program where the coaches were neutral to the players, but it isn't the case). Outside of those 3 players, there are 5 other girls who all go to the same high school. It makes me think the players were selected bc of who they are, not their skill.

3. My daughter is playing a position that she doesn't play in the regular season. She plays pg and is playing a 4. I get it's aau and there's more "talent", but I do not think the guards on the team are better than her, they are just his JV players.

4. Commitment: I paid almost $1,000 for this team, and drive 1 hour 15 min to practices, but multiple other girls miss every practice. We go all this way with 6-7 girls. They treat this team like its a school team spring league, and it's just shocking to me bc its a decent size aau program.

5. The coach routinely gets on my daughter for mistakes and does not get on other players (especially the girls who play for his high school team). For example, some of his players have had over 5 turnovers in multiple games and he doesn't even get on them. My daughter hasn't had more than 1 turnover in any games, but he's took her right out after.

I coach a varsity basketball team myself, and although I don't want to teach my daughter that quitting is ok, I'm really not happy with this team. I feel like she's just not becoming a better player at all. Do you think this is a waste of time?

Genuine question for coaches/trainers:

When parents reach out to you about their kid, what are the most common concerns or goals you hear?

Is it:
more confidence?
more playing time?
skill development?
making school teams?
exposure?
IQ?
discipline?
athleticism?
enjoyment?

I feel like different families are chasing completely different things, and sometimes coaches/trainers assume everybody values the same outcome.

Curious what trends you guys have noticed lately.

A lot of older players talk about how pickup taught them timing, creativity, adaptability, toughness, pacing, and how to solve problems without coaches stopping the game every possession.

Meanwhile a lot of modern players grow up in highly structured environments with set plays, constant instruction, drill-heavy practices, organized spacing, and scripted reads.

So I’m curious:

Do you think pickup basketball develops “feel” better than organized basketball?

Or do you think organized basketball develops higher-level understanding faster when coached correctly?

And if the answer is both, what do you think the ideal balance looks like?

Anyone know how coaches teach their players to shoot 3s iv been practicing yet I can only do midrange whenever I do 3s my form just disappear or if I do it properly It just airball

(Edit: this was a bad question tbh because the obvious answer is immediately.)

The #1 r/basketballcoach yapper is back from being sick as a dog.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot while coaching younger players.

At what age should players actually start learning offensive concepts instead of mostly memorizing plays?

I’m talking about concepts like spacing, creating advantages, reading help defenders, timing cuts, relocating, understanding why actions work, etc.

I feel like a lot of younger teams spend years learning where to stand instead of learning what the defense is actually doing. You’ll see teams that can run set plays perfectly, but the second the defense takes away the first option, everything falls apart because the players never learned how to react.

But at the same time, I understand why structure exists. Younger players probably do need organization before they can truly play freely.

So where do you think the balance is?

Should younger players already be learning simplified versions of these concepts early on? Or should coaches focus mostly on skill development and basic structure first, then introduce the deeper game understanding later?

And for people who have experienced both systems, which one actually translated better long term?

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately as a coach.

A lot of players genuinely spend hours in the gym. But when you actually watch the workout closely, a lot of it becomes random shooting, random dribbling, comfortable moves, unstructured reps, and repetition without much purpose behind it. There’s movement and effort, but not always intentional development.

I think one of the biggest problems in player development is that players often confuse time spent with meaningful improvement.

Two players can both train for two hours and improve at completely different rates depending on the quality of the reps, the level of focus, the game transfer, the feedback, and whether the workout is actually attacking weaknesses instead of reinforcing comfort zones.

A lot of players don’t plateau because they’re lazy. They plateau because they don’t fully know what they need to improve, why they need to improve it, or how to structure reps that actually translate into games.

“Go work on your game” sounds like great advice, but for younger players especially, it’s incredibly vague.

What game situation are they training for?
What read are they practicing?
What problem are they trying to solve?
What skill are they building under pressure?

I honestly think one of the hardest parts of coaching is teaching players HOW to practice, not just telling them TO practice.

Curious how other coaches think about this.

What do you think separates productive workouts from players simply staying busy in the gym?

One thing I’ve been thinking about lately is how differently young players develop depending on who is teaching them.

Some kids learn mostly from trainers.
Some learn from parents or older siblings.
Some mostly teach themselves through pickup, YouTube, trial and error, and reps.

And honestly, all 3 paths seem to produce very different types of players.

I’ve noticed self-taught players sometimes develop more creativity and confidence because they spend years solving problems on their own. They experiment more. They fail more publicly. They learn through discovery.

But I’ve also seen a lot of self-taught players develop blind spots that never get corrected because nobody is there to point them out. Footwork issues. Decision-making. Pace. Shot selection. Defensive habits. Understanding role value. Things that don’t always show up in pickup runs.

On the other side, players who work with really good trainers early often develop cleaner habits, structure, and intentionality faster. But sometimes they become too dependent on instruction and struggle when the game becomes messy or unpredictable.

Then there’s learning from a parent or loved one, which is its own dynamic entirely. Sometimes it creates an incredible advantage because of consistency and accountability. Other times emotions get involved and the player stops hearing the message.

I honestly think the best development environments usually have some combination of:
freedom,
guidance,
honest feedback,
live reps,
and space to fail.

Curious what other coaches think.

What development path have you seen produce the most adaptable long-term players?

Edit/Update: we’re going to keep running man and drill offense more. Thanks for the feedback.

9U girls. I carried over a mostly intramural team to county ball and have learned a hard lesson. We’ve taken our lumps to the tune of a 1-8 record. We’ve had some 10-5 and 11-6 games but have also had 10-0, 14-1, 45-7, 31-8.. it’s been a long year but we’ve stuck to a man defense after we got our butts kicked in a 2-3 the first two weeks and I realized how taboo zone defenses are at this age.

We have a bye week before our last game and a buddy who runs the best team in the league has offered to have a blended practice to help us pick up their version of a pressure 3-2. I have a lot of guilt about this as all I see on this and other coaching forums is what a hack coach and “pussy” I’ll be for running a zone at this age. My girls need a win (my ego has recovered but they’re starting to cry in lopsided losses and it’s getting hard to motivate them). This guy is 9-0 running this defense.

Hey everyone, I’m struggling to get my team to consistently play hard, and I honestly need help.

We break down film, I celebrate effort plays, and I constantly talk about energy, defense, rebounding, and competing. But my team has a bad habit of playing to the level of their competition or waiting until they’re down big before they finally start competing with urgency.

It’s frustrating because I know the potential is there, but the consistency isn’t. For those of you who coach, what are some things you’ve done that actually helped get players to consistently play hard and compete from the opening tip?

My son recently started saying he wants to become a professional basketball player.

He just turned 11 and is 5’11”. He’s been playing basketball for the past four years. Started in YMCA, then to a local youth rec league that is somewhat competitive. And just recently joined a club team that focuses on development and plays competitive basketball tournaments on the weekend. Sometimes, even playing against 13u teams.

He’s been getting a lot of attention due to his size and coaches/parents keep telling us we need to do this or that. I’ve taken a hands off approach with my son’s basketball “career” up till now, but it seems like I should start being more active about it.

Am I doing right by him currently? Or is there something more I should do to give him more exposure?

I keep seeing reels saying Club/AAU is ruining basketball. So, that also weighs on my mind.

Would love to get feedback on things I should focus on now and things to take note of for the future.

Hey Coaches, was wondering what everyone’s secondary job is? I’ve been trying to balance sales and coaching the past two years and I think I’m kinda over the stress of balancing both. While sales made me money I just spent every waking moment doing something that provided stress that wasn’t worth the money (for me). What do you guys do that actually helps you attend to your team while not making you lose your mind?

Something I’ve noticed coaching young basketball players: confidence usually disappears before improvement does.

A kid has a few rough games, starts hesitating, looks nervous, stops playing freely… and everybody assumes they’re going backwards.

Sometimes they are. But honestly, a lot of the time they’re still improving underneath it all. The game just still feels too fast emotionally.

I think adults forget how public mistakes feel for kids in sports. Missing shots, turning the ball over, getting pressured… some kids take that stuff home with them way more than people realize.

What’s interesting is that the athletes who improve long-term usually aren’t the kids who never struggle with confidence.

They’re usually the kids who stay around the game long enough for pressure to stop feeling unfamiliar.

After enough repetitions: the game slows down mentally, mistakes feel less dramatic, reactions become calmer, and confidence stabilizes

Not because they suddenly became mentally tough overnight. Just because situations stopped feeling so emotionally overwhelming.

Feels like youth sports culture pushes confidence first, when honestly confidence usually comes after enough exposure.

Curious if other coaches or parents notice this too.

My 2nd grade son is really into basketball, and he's actually pretty good compared to his teammates. However, his biggest flaw is in games, and in games only, he can't catch passes. This has been happening all year

• When I say he can't catch it, there is some distance. For example, he can obviously catch it if it's just a couple feet or a yard away.
• Specifically, distance wise, he always misses when it's thrown from top of the key > wing/baseline
• During practices, they practice passes, all types, all distances, he does fine on
• When I practice with him 1on1, I pass with force. As an adult, there is some force behind it. He does fine
• The only other variable I can think of is the ball. During games, they use the Wilson Evolution (microfiber composite). Could this really make a big difference? I am going to buy one

Any advice would be appreciated

I think we throw around “low IQ” way too loosely.

A lot of players aren’t making bad decisions because they don’t understand the game. They’re making bad decisions because their tools don’t give them enough time or options.

If your handle isn’t tight, everything feels rushed. You pick up your dribble early and you don’t have the space to actually see what’s happening. If you’re not in shape, your brain slows down late in possessions and you fall back on habits instead of making reads. If you’re not explosive, you might recognize the gap, but you can’t actually take advantage of it.

From the outside, it looks like bad IQ. But a lot of the time it’s just a limited ability to execute what you’re seeing.

I’ve seen players who clearly understand the game but can’t execute it, and I’ve also seen players with a ton of skill who don’t see anything at all. Both struggle, just in different ways.

The way I’ve started to think about it is that skill builds what you can do, and game reps build what you can see. The two have to grow together.

As your tools improve, the game starts to slow down. You recognize patterns earlier, you feel more in control, and you actually have real options instead of forcing things.

That’s why some players seem like they suddenly gained IQ. They didn’t. Their tools just got good enough for their reads to actually show up.

Curious what others think…have you seen players labeled “low IQ” who just needed better tools?

(Edit: I’m not trying to argue that tools determine IQ. I’m just saying that tools determine how IQ shows up in games.)

I’ve been thinking about how we talk about man-to-man vs zone defense, and I’m starting to feel like the gap between them is smaller than we usually make it.

Zone is obviously a system-based defense. It’s like a connected structure — almost like a net — where the whole unit shifts together with the ball. As the ball moves, the entire defense rotates, adjusting strong side / weak side positioning. The advantage is that it naturally layers protection — even if the first line gets broken, there’s help behind it.

But I don’t think good man-to-man defense is really “1-on-1” in the way people often describe it.

At higher levels, it feels much closer to a coordinated system:

• You still have a primary defender on the ball
• Weak-side defenders are sitting in gaps / help positions
• You have rotations like help, help-the-helper, tagging, etc.
• The whole defense still shifts with the ball and strong/weak side changes

In that sense, both systems rely on collective movement and shared responsibility.

The main difference, to me, is more about the starting point:

• Zone starts with space, then assigns responsibility
• Man starts with matchups, then builds structure on top of that

But once the ball starts moving, both defenses begin to look more similar — they’re both about positioning, timing, and communication.

I think where this becomes important is how players understand defense.

I’ve seen a lot of situations where players treat man defense as:

“If I stay in front of my guy, I did my job.”

But in reality, if there’s no gap help, no rotation, no weak-side awareness — the defense as a whole is still broken.

So to me, even man-to-man is ultimately a team defensive system, not a collection of 1-on-1 matchups.

Curious how others see this — especially at different levels (youth vs high school vs college).

So what are you guys paying for AAU basketball? And what are you getting for the money? And if you are on the coaching side what are you charging and what are you offering?

And if you are a part of an AAU program coaching, are you paid? What ballpark are you paid? Hundreds of dollars a season? Thousands?

Congratulations you've been hired as Head Coach of your local small Bible College's basketball team. Your job is to bring them to a winning season within 2 years or you die. What do you do

Edit: Just to clarify, this hypothetical school is smaller than a D3. Legitimately a Bible College not just a D3 school.