Youth basketball plays is the perfect way to teach children the fundamentals of basketball. A good youth basketball play is simple, easy to run, and incorporates every player in the play.
Good sportsmanship and teamwork are very important to stress in youth sports, so what better way than to run a play?
Generally in youth basketball, all the players want to swarm the ball. This often results in one player dribbling the ball up the court, running around a swarm of defenders, and shooting a poor shot.
Youth basketball plays provide structure and discipline. Youth basketball plays also teach separation which is often accidentally ignored in the youth game.
When teaching a youth basketball play starts out by stressing the importance of separation. Let everyone on the team know that they will get the ball even if they are 30 feet from the ball handler. Kids get confused and think they need to be a few inches away from the ball in order to receive it.
Think about fun ways you can remind your team when they ignore offensive separation.
When you first teach a new play, walk through it with your team. Demonstrate the play with five players on the floor and no defense. Walk through each pass and movement. Do this several times! For the first week of practice just run the offensive plays without a defense. This may confuse the children, but explain why you are doing it.
When the children really start to learn the play and can practically memorize it, move to a defense. Run the play all week. Keep an eye on separation, as a defense often confuses and throws off the offensive player’s mindset.
Youth Basketball Plays
Give and Go: The give and go is a textbook basketball play, used at all levels of competition. It’s amazingly simple to run and almost always produces an easy basket.
Start out by giving each player a position. Place three players around the three point line, well spaced out. Place the last two players on each block.
Have the point guard dribble the ball up the court, when he or she reaches the three point line, have the point guard pass to the other guard standing on the right by the three point line.
Instruct the point guard to immediately run opposite the ball, and set a screen for the third guard standing on the left hand side of the court. They essentially will switch spots on the floor. While this is happening, the two players in the post need to move. The player on the right hand block will run over and set a pick on the defender guarding the other post player.
This should free up the post player who now will run to the high post. Have the ball handler pass the ball to the open player at the high post.
Immediately instruct the ball handler who just passed the ball to the high post to run straight to the hoop with his head up and eyes focused on the high post player. The defender will not have enough time to react, as he or she will most likely turn the head to the high post player.
If the driving player is open, have the high post ball handler immediately pass the ball back to the guard for an easy lay-up. If it’s not open, instruct the high post player to pass the ball back out to the point guard.
Post Action: Post action is a great way to get your post players involved.
Create a similar formation to the one you started out with in the give and go set. The point guard will dribble left and pass the ball to the guard on the left hand side. While this is happening, the two post players on the block should essentially switch positions. Instruct the left hand post player to set a pick on the defender guarding the other post player.
This will free up the post player for an easy lay-up.