Basketball Speed Training

On Saturday I had the awesome experience of co-coaching my twin 3rd grade girl's to a basketball game victory. What a tremendous joy to not only see them play, but enjoy the game of basketball!

As many of you know, I took the roll as co-coach of a 2nd and 3rd grade girls basketball team this season! Our high school head girls varsity basketball coach, jumped into the mix and decided to co-coach the team with me. His daughter is the same age as my twin daughters - so it was a win/win for all involved, not to mention that his daughter and my daughters were extremely excited that their Dads were coaching them.

From day one we decided to focus only on fundamentals. I would focus on proper footwork and how to move (skip, run, shuffle, bend, squat, jump, land...) and he would focus on the fundamentals like catching, passing, dribbling and moving with and without the ball! We decided to focus very little attention on shooting, because most 2nd and 3rd grade girls do not yet have the strength to shoot with proper form. I started by teaching the girls a proper athletic stance and how to shuffle, skip, run, shuffle and move backwards as well as laterally. I also teach the girls how to jump and land properly. And my co-coach teaches the girls how to dribble and pass properly. Many of the girls have never played basketball before, and yet the improvement over the last 4 weeks has been huge!

Each practice we would make it a point to make the girls better athletes, improve their dribbling and passing skill levels, and improve their speed as we put them in positions to learn and like the game.

Often I would notice that some of the other teams were putting a great deal of emphasis on shooting skills during their practices and I would sometimes ponder whether or not we were doing our girls a disservice in not focusing on shooting. But after thinking it through - I realized that we were doing the right thing and had made a wise decision not to focus on such skills.

You see... In basketball, being able to shoot accurately is only a small part of the game. Nearly anyone can shoot a basket on an empty court with no distraction - and once the chaos of a game happens – the mark of a good player is being able to sink the shots when the heat is on! This requires the ability to get open - it requires footwork and speed. The shooting accurately will come, especially as the girls mature and gain the strength to shoot properly, but learning proper movements and footwork gives every basketball player a tremendous advantage and leg up on any opponent who can only shoot well.

You need to be able to work quickly and efficiently across the court to beat your opponent. Learning at an early age how to be quick on your feet, and how to set up in a manner that allows one to be biomechanically cocked as to react with quickness gives the young girl an advantage on her opponents as she matures. The shots will come with maturity, but the movements if not learned correctly will only act as a deterent as the athlete matures. Usually they will have to re-learn the correct way to move. Which is often more difficult.

When it comes to sports - Speed is everything - it does more than just power up an offense, it also prevents the opponents from making easy lay ups and scoring. As these young girls increase in speed, coordination and proper foot work, - they will become sharper and that much more effective in all areas of basketball.

I petition all youth basketball coaches and parents to do as we are doing with our young girls basketball team. Spend less time focusing on shooting and more time focusing on speed training and footwork. Teach them how to move quickly, and how to put on bursts of speed without getting clumbsy with their feet. This will translate to more baskets–because they will get down the court and sink an easy basket before their opponents can stop them.

Do as we do -- turn your 2nd and 3rd grade girls into a pack of speed machines. Swarming their opponents, creating huge amounts of turnovers, steals and fast breaks - and laughing and smiling with fun while doing it!

I have a lot of different drills I can give you, such as chase and catch drills, etc., etc., etc. Or you can
always visit www.omegafitnessquest.com for more information on how to teach Speed and Quickness to your young basketball players.

Either way! Have fun with it and remember the most important thing is that the young ones learn to love the sport...

A big smile to you.

Coach Pete