The beginning of the basketball season is an exciting time for a coach. You have a fresh record, some new players and high hopes for the upcoming season. As a basketball coach, it's your responsibility to prepare your team by making sure your players have the fundamental skills such as passing, shooting, dribbling and rebounding that they'll need to have a successful season.
Evaluate Your Roster
Some recreation basketball leagues start out with tryouts and some carry over their rosters from the previous season. Whatever the case, you'll have a chance to evaluate your roster before the season begins and figure out what your team's strengths and weaknesses are. Based on the heights and abilities of your players, you can assign one or more positions -- point guard, shooting guard, forward and center -- to each player. Knowing what positions you plan on using each player for will help you as you run practices.
Develop a Practice Plan
Once you know the abilities of your players, it's time to develop an overall practice plan. For most youth recreation teams, it's helpful to spend most of your time focusing on the fundamentals of the game. Most youth players aren't advanced enough to understand complex offensive and defensive schemes. Based on your team evaluation, come up with a list of drills that will help your players develop the skills they may struggle at. For example, if your team struggles at passing the ball, come up with a list of passing drills to run during practice. Make sure to stay within the allotted time you have for practice.
Develop a Practice Schedule
Once you know what you're going to do for practice, you can then grab a calendar and plan out when and where you'll hold your practices. Talk to the head of the basketball league you're coaching for and ask what basketball gyms are available for you to hold practices at and when they are available. A reasonable number of practices for a youth recreational league is about once per week. Hold practices at a time that's most convenient for your age group. Younger players probably shouldn't practice too late into the evening, for example.
Learn New Skills and Techniques
As a basketball coach, you should always be learning. That applies to whatever level of basketball you're coaching. Look for opportunities to expand your basketball knowledge, including watching instructional DVDs, talking to experienced coaches around you or even attending a coaching camp. You can glean new ideas for how to run practices, motivate players and execute better during game play. Take notes as you learn so you can draw upon the things you learn all throughout the season.
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