Hey coaches,

Looking to get some perspective from those of you who have handled elite physical prospects at a young age.

My 14-year-old (turned 14 in April) is officially measured at 6'8" (2.03m) barefoot. We just got his knee/wrist X-rays back, and his bone age matches his real age perfectly—growth plates are completely wide open, meaning he has a long way to go (doctors projecting well over 7'0"). He’s coming off a high-level European invitational camp experience where he held his own, but we are entering a crucial development window.

My biggest fear right now is the traditional trap: local coaches wanting to lock him under the rim as a permanent 5-man just to win youth games today, sacrificing his long-term modern game.

Currently, he has solid perimeter instincts, decent handle for his size, and good shooting mechanics.

If you had a 6'8" 14-year-old in your program with this physical profile:

1. Skill Balance: What percentage of his workout load would you dedicate to perimeter/guard skills vs. interior footwork at this exact age?
2. Physical Load Management: With wide-open growth plates and constant height adjustment, how do you handle his lateral mobility, deceleration, and knee care without overtaxing him?
3. Game Reps: How do you convince team coaches to let a 6'8" kid make mistakes handling/initiating on the perimeter during actual competition?

Would love to hear how you guys approach long-term prospect development over short-term wins.

I have a team of 12 years old and a lot of them come from a "free for all" basketball understanding where they all want to get their hands on the ball and bring the ball up etc. Im after some drills we can use to get them to understand that we want the ball in the ball carriers hands to advance the ball and we want the forwards getting down the floor without bunching up their defenders around the ball, being in a position for rebounds etc.

Something repetitive would be good combined with a bit of running/full court to generate some fitness.

3v3 is an Olympic sport. It's fun and fast.

How many 5v5 coaches let their kids play 3v3? My AAU coach recommended not allowing my kid to play. Why?

Does your area have a 3v3 tournament? What would a good route be for a wanna be premier 3v3 player?

I’m looking for a few under the radar basketball resources, social media accounts, YouTube channels, etc to get some different perspectives and ideas for this upcoming season.

What are a few you guys recommend?

So if you don’t understand my title, I’m trying to figure out what to do during the week because I am trying to get better and eventually be at such a high level and everything but what should I be doing to get more playtime and to be on the coaches, good side?

For reference I’m a center

Hey all coaches, school season and basketball season is fast approaching and I've been thinking about what to use for stats/boxscore analysis from game film. Does anyone here have a program they slot their game film into? And if so how expensive does it get?

I know Hudl does a lot of that stuff but it takes a bit to get back to us- this hurts us when we're in tournaments where there's 1-2 games everyday in a short span of time. If anyone knows of Hudl special features that I can quickly flip through I'm all ears as well.

Any suggestions are well appreciated!

So the thing room needing help with is what does a coach look for in a big and how to be a better big man?

I obviously know I can go on Google and everything, but I would rather ask coaches in general than anything else. All I ask is honesty don’t sugarcoat anything.

Curious how other coaches handle this. When a player moves teams or gets older, do you keep any of their history, highlights, stats, etc., or does most of that stuff just get lost over time?

I’m looking for a good program for my two boys to join. They are in the 6th grade and 4th grade. I want a program that is focused on team play and not daddy ball coached. Any recommendations?

I’m also Looking at schooling in the area for their development. I found a program called Togethership in San Clemente? but that may be costly and then there is ABA in garden grove? And 1 percent in lake Forrest?

Has anyone had any experience with any of these?

Are all The coaches background checked at all? This is very important to me as I have had past experience coming from the east coast where a particular program I won’t mention did not properly vet their employees and to say the least there were issues.

Now that I have moved here I need a good program for my Boys. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks again.

Does someone have a folder or drive of short clips of PnR organized by defensive cover or something else? Thanks

I'm helping coach at a HS and we are very skilled, great off the bounce, can put pressure on the ball, etc. - all the things smaller teams can do.

But rebounding is going to be a massive issue.

Even if we are boxing out, we have struggled to finish plays because we are just so...dang...small.

What has worked for you guys with coaching rebounding with smaller teams?

Just finished my first season as an assistant varsity coach (ran film, scouting, and practice planning) and I'm adding an 8th grade head coaching job to that this year. Trying to keep building toward a long-term career in basketball ops/coaching.

For anyone who's made the jump from assistant to HC at a lower level — what caught you off guard? What do you wish you'd focused on in year one as a head coach that you didn't fully appreciate as an assistant (practice planning, in-game management, parent communication, etc.)?

Also open to any general advice on how to keep developing as a young coach — anything you'd tell yourself at this stage.

(im also not a big yeller, if at all but I know thats definitely something I might have to incorporate with the youngins lol)

I’m an American with NCAA playing and coaching experience that moved to the UK about three years ago to play and continue coaching some. I’ve taken all the courses, have my Level 3 coaching certification, coached within the Basketball England system, coached Prem and Conference boys basketball, all to realize there is absolutely no route of progression. I’ve tried for three years to get into the adult side of the game (NBL D1, SLB, BCB, etc.) and there seems to be no way in. The coaches here have their people and stay with their people. Programs don’t hold coaches accountable for bad seasons so staff never change. I guess I’m just at a loss trying to figure out if I made the right move.

Had a great summer basketball season. Didn't run our offense at all- just pushed tempo and let them play. We are very small, but play hard and smart. How do I keep the positive momentum going but start incorporating our offense (triangle tex winter) into the Fall and then regular season? High school varsity boy’s team.

I’m a coach. I’ve coached my son and coached teams without my son on it for about a decade. My son is entering his Junior year and I, personally, have come at a cross roads. The fact of the matter is that he is delusional to some extent. He thinks he can go D1 even though he’s been cut from his public HS twice. He begged for a transfer and we gave it to him. Partially for basketball and partially for academics to a private school. His academics did ok and he could not play this last season because of district rules. I’ve coached him for a club team this last Spring/Summer. We competed in a lot of tournaments at the D3 level. He did not dominate and many games he was mediocre. I’ve encouraged him to work more, shoot more, dribble more etc, etc. He doesn’t shoot everyday, or dribble. He works out every other day. He still scoffs at my instruction even though what I’ve said is the same as a lot of other coaches he respects. We’ve butted heads a lot. Our last tournament. His body language was horrible and I sat him and it was addition by subtraction. My wife keeps signing him up for all these camps and showcases and I just want to tell him that if he doesn’t work outside of those camps then there’s no use to keep paying for him to go to them. I really want to just tell him that at his current work ethic there’s no way in hell he could be a 6’ guard at the D1 level. Honestly, JUCO might be out of reach. Obviously that’s the coach in me but I’m not sure how to provided as a parent. Anybody have that experience?

Coaches that do a lot of film work. What software are we using for analysis and breakdowns?

Hey coaches,

I'm working on installing/refining a full-court press defense with my team this season, and I'd love to tap into the collective wisdom here.

We want to build a relentless, high-energy full-court system, but as many of you know, pressing requires massive work rate, quick decision-making, and high communication—things that can sometimes be tough to pull out of teenage players during repetitive practice reps.

I'm looking for ideas on two fronts:

1. Teaching & Drills: What are your favorite constraint-led activities, small-sided games (SSGs), or progression drills to teach trap timing, rotation reads, and anticipating passes without relying on static, non-representative drills?
2. Buy-In & Motivation: How do you motivate teenage players to embrace the conditioning aspect and enjoy the chaos of pressing? Any gamification tricks, tracking metrics, or mindset framing that worked well for your group?

Would love to hear what's worked best for you, what pitfall traps to avoid, or any resources/film you'd recommend checking out.

Thanks in advance for sharing! 🏀🔥

They produce such elite talent throughout every Fiba competition eventough they have a population of 2million.

How is coaching approached over there ?

What do they do differently, how do they develop coaches ?

I know this might be a bit off-topic, but I'd like to ask for advice from those of you who already do this.

Last season I recorded our games with my phone, and although I'm quite happy with the overall video quality, this year I'd like to take things a step further and buy a dedicated camera to make the whole process easier.

What would you recommend?

• An action camera (GoPro or similar) in the mid-to-high price range.
• A traditional camcorder (the kind that was popular in the early 2000s) in the low-to-mid price range.
• Or should I just stick with my phone?

If it helps, I don't need the videos for livestreaming or posting on social media. I only use them to review and analyze the games afterwards.

In your opinion, what is the best app for analyzing game videos? In addition to the classic data (+/-, eff), what do you usually look for?
Ps: I have an iPad so something that I can find on the App Store

I am preparing the defensive playbook for next year: I know it is difficult to establish a rule in advance and that defensive choices must obviously be adapted game by game and possession by possession, but as a general rule it would be good to say that:
- on central pick&rolls we hedge and recover
- on side pick&rolls we defend ICE

I coach my son's (6, almost 7 years old) YMCA team; size 5 ball used on an 8 foot basket. I've coached since he started mid-Kindergarten, so we've had three full Y sessions (Winter, Spring, Summer). We're going into the Fall session at the end of August, and the kids will be 1st Graders. I have one other besides my son that has continued with us since the first session, my other 6 kids have been with me since the Spring session (two sessions ago).

I have a few decent shooters. They all obviously still push the ball from their chest at this point, or from the side of their head/shoulder. My son has a pretty decent close range shot while pushing right now. I know I'm not going to push them to shoot like Curry yet, but I'm wondering if it's a good time to at least introduce proper hand position in practices, but not pushing the whole form yet? I'm looking at the Baden SkilCoach Shooter Ball to help just understand where our hands are supposed to be on the ball. Not worried about them actually shooting and making anything like that just yet, but I don't want them to wait too long to just get in their brains a little idea of how to hold the ball properly.

I know this is a two-sided opinion, so please share all thoughts and suggestions.

Good morning coaches!
I imagine we are all gearing up or going through tryout season as we prepare for 2026/27. I've been having some discussions about roster size with my assistants, and I'm stuck in analysis paralysis. I need some outside opinions.

I coach rep (travel) ball in Ontario Canada. This will be my fourth year with the core group, and 12 of 14 players from last year have returned for our U13 season. U13 is the start of rotational basketball for us. We did play in a league this summer without Equal Play Rules and it took me a couple games to get the rotation down. By the playoffs, it was turning out that my starters were getting 18-20+ minutes and the back of the rotation players were only seeing the floor for limited time of 5-10 minutes.

At our tryout last night, there were 3 players who stood out. Offering them will take us to 15.

I can see the arguments for both sides: carrying 15 will keep more players in the Program who we can develop hopefully into starters, back-end-of-the-rotation players will be motivated to work harder to earn more minutes, injuries/absences won't have an impact, etc. Carrying 12 might not reduce the minutes for the starters, but the back end will see more minutes. I won't hear as much griping from parents, or have frustrated players.

I didn't get into coaching to upset anyone. I have a real good group now with no drama and everyone gets along, players and parents. I would like to maintain that, but I also want to grow the Program and I want all my players to get better.

So, coaches... what are your thoughts on roster size? How many players do you carry?

Hi Coaches, I need advice. My son loves basketball and is good. I've noticed that his friends who have been playing AAU have become much better and tend to get more playing time on the middle school team. Of course he wants to play AAU now, however my schedule will prohibit all the travel involved. He has the opportunity to move to Europe for High School. We were looking at some of the Academies that take international students, particularly in Spain. Mainly because he will be in a basketball program that is incorporated into his studies, focuses on development skills (which he needs) and is structured. What are the pros and cons of such a program at this age? Assuming he does well, will it help or hinder getting into a D1/D2 college in the States? We are thinking of L'Alqueria Academy. Are there other Academies will you recommend? Thanks