Train your coaches
The single most important action a youth sports organization can take to enhance its program is to train its volunteer coaches. Encourage your organization to train their coaches. A Parent Orientation Program and Criminal Background Checks are also available.

NCAA Kids Club
www.ncaa.org/bbp/basketball_marketing/kids_club
Rating (10/10 )
Every youth coach should explore this site! You will need Flash and QuickTime media players on your computer and lots of time. It has games for kids to play and games for coaches to run at practice. There are printouts and video clips of the basic basketball skills, even skills like setting a screen and switching. Assign some of these pages as homework for your very young players and then quiz them on the basics of the game and the referee’s hand signals. Posted 12/7/05

Animated Plays
http://members.tripod.com/~coacheshome/play.html
Rating (10/10 )
Beware of pop-ups on this free site but definitely still worth the visit. If you have heard of a play or seen it in a game and now want to see an animated breakdown of the the play, this site does just that. You can see plays like the Double Pick or the Zone Press Break.

Degerstrom Basketball
www.degerstrom.com/basketball
Rating (9/10 )
There are sites with drills and then there is this site, with 833 basketball drills separated into 14 categories. There is not a lot of graphics or ads just a easy to use black and white list breaking them down into categories like youth drills, offensive drills or even wheelchair drills.

Hayden's Basketball Drills on video
www.basketballdrills.homestead.com
Rating (9/10)
Are you tired of reading and just want to see the drill? Here is a great site created by a high school junior when she was in the 8th grade. Almost all drills have an attached video (without sound) that is pretty easy to load like dribbling drills.

Coaches Clipboard
www.coachesclipboard.net
Rating (9/10)
This web page has an introduction to the basic basketball drills but focuses on a variety of higher level drills like ball handling. If you have a hard time envisioning the drill, there are small clips of the drill in action. It even covers more complex issues such as, the right attitude, and the role of the basketball player. Great page for coaches wanting to move on from fundamentals.

AVCSS Website
www.avcss.com
Rating (9/10)
Scroll down to see the video of the week which shows a basketball drill or skill.  You can also get several handout examples like, a stats form for youth teams, a summer workout plan, a guard or post player shooting routine, a full court blank diagrams, and much more. It has great basketball drills demonstrations that you can see on video.
Posted 12/12/07

Breakthrough Basketball
www.breakthroughbasketball.com
Rating (8/10)
Great website to help you understand your role as a youth basketball coach and has several articles to help you with your coaching like communicating with your players, 8 ways to earn your player’s trust and more.  Find a few simple tricks to optimize practice time and get more done without sacrificing your tight schedule.  Every coach needs to know the fundamentals and be able to teach several plays to their players.  Posted 11/29/07

Ultimate Youth Basketball Guide
www.ultimate-youth-basketball-guide.com
Rating (8/10)
If you’re a parent just recruited to coach a team and you don't know a Cross Screen from a Crossover dribble check out the descriptions of terms for basketball actions, positions, rules and the court. Lots of reading but Information is presented in an easy-to-understand format. You'll find drills and tips for players and parents. Be sure to scroll down the screen to see all the information. Posted 5/24/06

Tommy’s Basketball Playbook
www.angelfire.com
Rating (8/10)
This is a must see website for any basketball coach. It is a free site and unfortunately unavailable for periods of time. Check back later, it's worth it. Whatever topic you are researching, it is most likely covered at this one-stop site. You will find useful coaching tools such as court diagrams, tournament planning, statistic and shot charts, and even a referee signal chart. Need some fresh new drills for practice? This site lists a great selection of ball handling, dribbling, passing, lay-up and shooting, and defensive drills. Improve those handles with Rick Pitinos Comprehensive Ball Handling Workout. Also find tips and drills for developing your post players. Read informative articles on topics such as coaching your own children. Find detailed instructions on implementing and running Pressbreakers, inbounds plays, man and zone offenses and a variety of defenses. And much more!

Jamie Angeli’s Basketball Camp of Champs
www.campofchamps.com/basketball_tip.htm
Rating (8/10)
This is a good site but it will take a little work to get to the “good stuff.” There are several underlined items that look like links, skip past these and go about half-way down the page to a three column table where you can find items like a simple offense. A little further down the page you can find ball handling and center jump circle drills.

Hoop Tactics
www.cybersportsusa.com/hooptactics/hooptactics.asp
Rating (8/10)
Good reading and illustrations on plays. Bob Kloppenburg and Ernie Woods team up to look at game strategies like the Most commonly used offense or the Pressure Defense.

Basketball Forms and Information
Rating (7/10)
Check out forms for tracking scrimmage or game statistics; keeping track of box scores or shots even a pre-game card for basketball.
 Added 12/21/05

Coaches Notebook
www.akcoach.com
Rating (7/10)
This is a good resource with lots of reading and some good tools like the EZ score sheet. The real key to this site is the “Drop down” box on the top right. One click takes you to drills, offense/defense strategy and much more.

Coaching Youth Sports
www.coachingyouthbasketball.net
Rating (7/10)
Every coach should read the Kid's Credo and the Who's On First is good reading for a coach dealing with parents complaining about playing time for their kids and Dear Coach if you have players who want to play in the game but can never quite seem to make it to practice. Don't miss the free book on Coaching Youth Basketball. Posted 12/7/05

Y-coach. Basketball
www.y-coach.com/Basketball.html
Rating (7/10)
A basketball page from the y-coach.com site. Learn the three things needed to be a good basketball player. Learn how to teach dribbling, passing or receiving the ball. Check out the extensive database of drills and plays.

Mr. Basketball
www.mrbasketball.net
Rating (7/10)
Sidney Goldstein is the author of the Basketball Bible, an excellent book for youth coaches. This site has many of his ideas and tips including what to do if you have little practice time . Added 12/21/05

Eteamz Basketball
eteamz.active.com/basketball/instruction/tips
Rating (7/10)
Eteamz’s collection of instruction and advice from Coach Vic Pruden. Many are animated like the zone press break or the match up zone.

TeamArete
www.teamarete.com
Rating (7/10)
Read the pointers on developing a team attitude. Lots of good reading on the site including practice planning and ways to improve your drills. Updated 2/26/07

Coaching Well Basketball Journal
www.havenport.com
Rating (6/10)
This site has offense, defense, drills, practice planning ideas and some interesting reading. Added 12/29/05

NCAA Rules and Other Resources
www2.ncaa.org/playing_rules
Rating (6/10)
If you need to know the rules of basketball you have two choices you can order a copy or if you don’t mind printing you can download a pdf version and print your own. Along with the rules there are some good resources like the shot chart and Quickie Stats. The NCAA site also has a box score form and a Basketball Statistician's Manual.

Basketball Sizes and Information
Rating (5/10)
Basketball come in various sizes. It’s interesting to know the physics involved when you shoot a basketball. Added 12/21/05

Basketball Rules and History
Rating (5/10)
Make sure your players understand the rules and even the history of the game including the referee hand signals. Added 12/21/05

Basketball Court Dimensions
Rating (5/10)
If you need information on the dimensions of a basketball court check out any of the following sites: Added 12/21/05
www.basketball-goal.com
www.sportsknowhow.com

Coach Bill’s Web Page
ca.geocities.com/coachbill_trioletbasketball/welcome.html
Rating (5/10)
This page is low tech but effective. It has a simple welcome page with 35 different plays like the Carolina Offense or the Indiana Offense. Most of the these are tailored to college ball, but may be helpful with a youth team.

Coach like a pro
www.coachlikeapro.com
Rating (5/10)
Coach Brad Winters shares his multiple offensive and defensive systems; drill and practice plan. You will find quotes from various coaches, sports personalities. There are some good diagrams and passages to explain plays. Check the site map to find some of the other good resources of this site. Updated 6/16/08

Basketball drills and plays
http://basketball-drills-and-plays.com/offense-zone.html
Rating (5/10)
This is a quick loading site selling a coaching system but they also have some free resources and information on the site. The side navigation bar has links to plays and drills, be sure to scroll down on each page for the links and information that is free.

Bella Online
www.bellaonline.com/site/basketball
Rating (4/10)
An excellent site for the basketball enthusiast. Find a great list of links for coaching basketball as well as a variety of other basketball related links, trivia, and miscellaneous information. You will also find some good drills for the young kids. These drills are simple and teach dribbling, shooting and boxing out.

Basketballs Best
www.basketballsbest.com
Rating (4/10)
Provides basketball enthusiast coaching information. The fundamentals section is included primarily for the player and covers defensive and offensive rebounding, passing techniques, the jump shot and the crossover dribble.

Fundamentals and Basketball Drills
www.powerbasketball.com/drills.html
Rating (4/10)
This site contains individual and team drills for young players. There is a variety of creative individual and team drills that can make practice more fun. Learn fundamental aspects of the game such as getting a feel for the ball and position on the court during different situations.

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