FUNdamentals!

One of the things I've noticed is that some coaches try really hard to be fancy. Fancy is not a bad thing, but it's not as effective when you haven't covered what's essential.

My first experience with this was a few years ago when my son was playing soccer. He was probably 5... The kids on the other team had the most amazing choreography on kickoff plays - making all kinds of bizarre moves, but not really accomplishing anything. As it turns out, they had plenty of time to do what they did on kickoffs, because they couldn't score or defend at all! Frankly, the kids really seemed to enjoy the little kickoff dance (as I named it in my head) - which is great, but was that really the best thing for the kids?

Since my first experience with coaching 15 years ago, I've seen the value in stressing the basics of the game. If you can't hit the ball, catch the ball, and make accurate throws, you will struggle with baseball - regardless of your knowledge of the infield fly rule. If you can't dribble a basketball, forget about a full court zone-trap press.

Coaching younger kids gives you a tremendous opportunity to make a huge difference. Not only is teaching fundamentals fairly easy, there is huge benefit. The kids will get frustrated running plays if they aren't able to perform the skills that are assumed in creating the strategy. The basics are different per sport, but here's my suggested foci (focuses? focus? ...I mentioned I really wasn't a writer - you were warned).

Basketball: Dribbling (with head up, with one hand, while moving), Passing (bounce, chest pass), "Triple Threat Position" - more on that in another post, Shooting (w/ proper form), Defensive position (man-to-man).

Soccer: Dribbling (both feet), Ball control (stopping, starting, changing speed), Defensive position (including goalie play, if applicable)

Baseball: Contact hitting, ground-ball fielding, basic throwing and catching. For baseball, I'd throw in a quick discussion about baserunning, if applicable.

Football: This one depends a lot on how you're playing the kids - fixed position vs. playing all positions. I focus on throwing with proper form, catching (with hands), and defensive positioning. For flag football - focus on flag pulling, which you'll find to be vitally important. For tackle, obviously tackling technique would be important.

Don't out-fox yourself with the youngsters. Focus on the basic skills first. If they've mastered that, you're ahead of the game and have free reign to do whatever else you'd like.