Introduction

The Role of the Domestic Coach

The most important part of being a domestic coach is creating a safe and fun environment for athletes. This attitude will create a failsafe environment and allow athletes to stay in the sport and create a passion that will grow.

For athletes who want to take the next step and play representative basketball, it is integral they are given the opportunity to develop in a failsafe environment.

Domestic coaches should not be expected to run fantastic plays, win games & trophies. The primary job of a domestic coach is to keep kids engaged in the sport. Whilst encouraging a fun environment seems simple, there are a variety of factors that this includes.

Managing playing time so every athlete in involved
Challenging the better athletes and keeping them engaged
Setting mini goals within games to take the focus off the score
Managing the expectations of parents and ‘sideline coaching’

A wide variety of athletes play domestic. They range from the kid playing for the first time, to the semi elite athlete who just wants to play with their school friends.

Goals of Domestic Basketball

We’ve established that fun is integral at this stage in an athlete’s life. Once this has been achieved, there are other goals that a domestic coach can look to achieve.

Basic skill development
Developing multifaceted athletes
Challenging athletes to play out of position/work on other aspects of their game
Spark curiosity about the game for athletes to pursue at a higher level

A happy athlete is one that is willing to develop and grow. When the kids are having fun, we can start to aid in their skill development. If an athlete can use domestic to work on their overall skill development, they will be better for it. When targeting skill development, we will look at the FAB 5 Skills.

The FAB 5

The FAB 5 skills that every athlete needs to excel at are: Footwork, Shooting, Dribbling, Passing and 1 on 1 Defence.

Footwork

At a domestic level footwork combines moving with and without the ball. Every basketball action includes footwork. The most common footwork actions that require attention at the domestic level are our catching/stopping patterns and our stance (this also links in with guarding your man).

Catching/Stopping Patterns

This footwork involved how we want the athletes to stop in a balanced stance. The most common violation at the domestic level is a travel. Sound footwork is the first step in limiting this. The two most common patterns are the jump stop & stride stop.

A jump stop is where an athlete comes to a balanced two-foot stop. Knees are bent, ball is gripped tightly.

A stride stop is where the player stops in a ‘1-2’ pattern with one foot hitting the ground before the other. When this happens the first foot that touches the ground will be the pivot foot.

Our pivot foot is the foot that must stay attached to the ground when we have the basketball. When we lift this foot we are called for a travel. There are two main types of pivots the forward pivot & the reverse pivot.

When executing the forward pivot the athlete leads with the toe/ on a reverse pivot the athlete leads with the heel.

Shooting

At domestic we want to introduce the idea of shooting for to athletes. As athletes grow and mature their shot technique and mechanics will inevitable change.

The way they grow will alter the way they hold and release the ball.

However, we want to instil good habits for athletes when thinking about shot technique. A good way to teach shooting technique is the B.E.E.F method.

Balance

Feet are shoulder width apart with knees bent in a shooting stance

Eyes

Eyes identifying and aiming at the target
Focus on a smaller target like the back of the rim

Elbow

Hand underneath the ball and elbow in an ‘L’ shape
Finish with elbow high

Follow Through

Flick and snap wrist
Hold your hand high

Dribbling

At a domestic level we want kids to play and dribble with both of their hands. Anything a right-hand dominant athlete can do; we want them to practice on their left.

Whenever athletes perform a dribble move, we want them to change their speed and direction. When athletes are dribbling, they should be able to do the following…

Change speed and direction
Dribble whilst looking up
Dribble under control
Perform a crossover move to be able to change hands with the basketball

When dribbling we want to encourage athletes to dribble with their finger tips/pads and get the ball off their palms. This allows for more control and manipulation of the ball. Another common violation in domestic basketball is the ‘carry’. This is where and athlete will have their hand at the bottom of the ball when they are dribbling. Athletes often do this because of their inability to handle the ball under pressure. When an athlete is facing defence and doesn’t have the ball handling skill, they will often ‘carry’ the basketball to avoid conflict.

We want to introduce the idea of a speed dribble. A speed dribble is an action performed in the open court where the athlete dribbles the ball out in front of them to run onto it

Passing

Much like dribbling we want athletes to be able to pass with both hands. We want domestic athletes to be able to pass to running targets and be able to make passes whilst running.

Common passes we see at the domestic level include

Chest Pass
Bounce Pass
Over Head Pass
Pivot Pass

When throwing most passes, we want to ensure the athlete is stepping through the pass.

This ensures they have enough power to throw the ball. We also encourage athletes to flick their wrists with their thumbs pointing down. Whilst this seems like a strange command, it ensures the ball is thrown in a straight line.

The chest pass is executed by throwing the ball on the full to a target aiming at their chest or target hands. When coaching young athletes we want them to get into the habit of putting their hands up where they want to catch the ball, this is called the target hand. This gives the passer a visual que where to throw the ball.

The bounce pass is a pass where the ball is bounced once before it hits its target. Bounce passes require more power to execute. They are often used to get the ball passed a taller defender or when the athlete can’t accurately throw a chest pass at distance.

The over head pass is often used to throw the ball over long distances or directly off of a rebound. On this pass the athletes hold the ball above their head with two hands before executing the pass.

Another important part of passing is catching. We want the receivers of a pass to be as proactive as possible. Encourage your athletes to move towards the pass whilst the ball is in flight, this shortens the length of the pass. This gives the defence less time to intercept the ball and it places the receiver on the move in a much more difficult position to guard.

1 on 1 Defence

1 on 1 defense or guarding your man is a wildly under taught skill at a domestic level. The ability to contain your player 1v1 is as valuable as an offensive skill. At a domestic level most offense is created from a Fastbreak or from a player dribbling by their defender on the wing. We want athletes to be able to contain their player off the dribble. Defending your man incorporates a lot of small defensive skills including:

Defensive stance
Defensive slides

An on ball Defensive stance refers to the stance an athlete is when guarding the basketball.

We want our athletes to have their knees bent ready to react to what the ball handler does.

After the closeout we want the athlete to stay down low in this defensive stance.

When teaching defensive slides, a great technique to encourage is the push slide. This technique ensures that athletes are taking a wide stance with their feet and not crossing them over. When our feet are crossed over, we are not balanced, and we are very easy to beat.

Playing Time & Rotations

As a coach you need to come up with your own philosophy around playing time. Every coach has uttered the saying “You need to earn your playing time”. Whilst this sentiment is often true, what does that mean for each individual athlete? If we’ve established that the primary goal of domestic is for athletes to have fun, earning your playing time can mean a verity of different things.

Regardless of your stance, playing time in domestic basketball should be fairly even across all of your athletes. Remember the primary goal is NOT to win at the domestic level. Each athlete needs to have a significant opportunity to affect the game in each quarter/half (however your domestic competition works). Throwing an athlete on for the last 20 seconds of a half is not a significant impact. That athlete might be the least developed, but as discussed, they deserve every opportunity to fall in love with the game as everyone else.

An often-underused tactic at the domestic level is ‘Platoon subbing’, this entails subbing a large amount of your bench into the game at once. Usually 3, 4 or even 5 players sub onto the floor. This is an easy way to get everyone into the game evenly. Try to rotate the large groups that you sub into the game, so your athletes play with different combination of kids on the floor, not just the same 4 team mates every time.

Almost every domestic team has the standout athlete. This might be the kid that plays VJBL or the kid that has natural athletic ability. Often in domestic games they can become bored or complacent when playing with lower skilled players. This is where you can set mini goals for that athlete when they are subbed into the game.

Example: There’s 4 minutes left in the quarter; Little Timmy must attempt 3 left hand layups in that time.

This method of subbing provides games within the game for your talented athletes. This is also an exercise you can challenge your entire team with. Often domestic games have very lopsided results. You might be one of the teams that wins every game by 40 or loses every game by 40. In both of these scenarios, athletes need to be distracted from the scoreboard or be given another challenge. No kid wants to walk away from a game thinking that they’ve achieved nothing.

If you’re a team that is really struggling, removing the emphasis on scoring points. Change the goals to things like completing 3 successful passes in a row, successfully getting the ball over halfway, or executing a good closeout every quarter.

Coaching Points of Emphasis

Compliment Sandwich

When coaching domestic athletes, we still want to be giving constructive feedback in game. We want to use the ‘Praise, Prompt, Leave’ or Compliment Sandwich method. We want to hide the constructive criticism between two positive elements of feedback.

Example: Great job passing the ball Stacey, remember to stay in a stance on defence, keep staying aggressive.

We want to keep athletes accountable but encourage them to stay positive. The most important part of this feedback loop is leaving the athlete afterwards. If we continually keep talking to the same athlete and providing sentences on sentences of feedback, we will discourage them or they will feel like they are being picked on.

This system of feedback allows the athlete to reflect on what they’ve done well and want they need to keep working on. Leaving them gives them time and space to process and follow through with that feedback.

Skill v Structure

At domestic basketball there should be very little structure or set plays. We want our feedback and emphasis as coaches to be largely focused on skill development. We will make a much bigger difference in an athlete’s development by making them a more skilled player.

We need to be comfortable with the ‘mess’ of basketball. Teaching set plays shows athletes patterns. We don’t want athletes to memorise patterns and play as robots. We want the athletes to be able to make decisions instinctively based on what happens in the game. If the perfect pattern is disrupted or one player isn’t in the right spot, a whole set play is ruined. We want players to be able to play when structure is broken down and when basketball is ‘messy’.

Positionless Basketball

The modern athlete needs to be multiskilled. Gone are the days where athletes can excel from just doing one thing. Avoid ‘pigeon holing’ your athletes as traditional basketball positions. The lines between the ‘1’ or the ‘Power Forward’ are very blurred in today’s basketball landscape.

One of the most common mistakes that stunts athlete’s development potential is assigning them a position based on their height. Your tallest player doesn’t need to be labelled as a ‘Post Player’. Your tall athletes need to learn to handle the ball and play on the perimeter.

Your shorter players need to be able to play around the basket. Both aspects of the game provide unique skillsets with multiple Fab 5 skills.

Game Scenarios

Spacing

At times youth basketball can be very frustrating when it comes to spacing. When athletes are first introduced to the game, the ball is the most important thing. Players are often caught in clumps all around the ball calling for them to pass. This crowds the ball handler, putting them under pressure and making it much easier for the defence to force a turnover.

Encourage athletes to “get to their spots” on offence by getting into Five Out Spacing (Corners/Wings/Point)

‘Clump Spacing’

This diagram shows how all the athletes are gathered around the ball. There is no room to drive, pass or shoot. This can happen anywhere on the court in domestic. Most commonly it happens when a pass is made or when inbounding the ball.

‘Five Out Spacing’

In this example all 5 athletes are outside the 3-point line (Player 1 has the ball). There is plenty of room for player 1 to pass or dribble if they choose.

Coaches that have training sessions can place chairs or dots around the 3-point line in these spots. Getting athletes used to running to space is invaluable at domestic. Sometimes the most important player on the court can be the one who doesn’t touch the ball.

In this example players 2 and 3 have run to the corner. If their players run with them, they have created more space for their teammates to make a move. If their players stay with the ball, they are wide open to receive a pass.

For coaches that only coach games, try to use visual aids on the court. Most recreational facilities are multi-purpose and often have intersecting lines on the court. Use these lines as visual cues for athletes, “Get to the red line”.

Avoid designating players to certain spots. We want to be as inclusive as possible. Sometimes at younger levels players in the corners tend to be underutilised. Younger athletes might not have the strength to throw these longer passes or even be able to see their teammates over the defenders. Encourage the spots to be filled by the closest player to them.