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Message: [QUOTE="HastingsCuse, post: 4945913, member: 301"] The above comments/suggestions are great. Make it fun. Keep it simple. I also followed the =/- 30 minuntes of drills focused on the basics (dribbling, passing - including bounce passses - and shooting) and 30 minutes of scrimmage (preferably full court) followed by a game of knockout at the end and then sprints (but make it fun and run with them.) You will be surprised how out of shape many of them will be. Practice a couple under the basket out-of-bounds plays. It is much easier to make a good pass when you are standing still and can't be touched. (and give the plays fun names, I used candy names "Twizzlers" "Twix" "Mike & Ikes") Keep any other plays simple - Give and go, etc Anything else will rarely work - if you get even 1 or 2 players to actually set or use a pick you're lucky. You should also practice "high fives" at at least 1 practice. With 10 year old girls most will be afraid of committing a foul or even touching the girl she is guarding (I had 1 girl that was athletic but was terrifed of committing a foul. I told her that after every game that I didn't care about points but she had to report to me at the end of each game as to how many fouls she had committed. She would very prouldly report "I had 3 fouls!!" She ended up being my best rebounder. I also coached her in soccer as a 2nd grader. She was too afaid to be on the field at the start of the game so I had to quietly put her after the game started. FYI She is now an attorney at Sidley Austin doing SEC litigation.) At the end of every game when you're leaving the Court try to give every girl a positive comment about their play, preferrably when their parents are in ear shot. If you have an assistant coach have them deal with substitutes but have a plan. Anything more that 2-3 subs is a headache. Have them focus on who they will be guarding as soon as they go in, otherwise at the first change-of possession someone will not be guarded. I always tried to make sure my 2 best players were in the game for the 4th quarter. I tried to make sure every girl was a starter at least once or twice and would reward the players who were at practice. You also may want to make sure your best player is in the game at the same time as the other team's best player. After 25 years of coaching soccer, basketball, baseball and softball (a total of almost 60 teams) I miss it. Great memories!! [/QUOTE]

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