EVOLUTION BASKETBALL - INFORMATION FOR PARENTS
Information in this section: 

∙ The problem with "half speed"
∙ When to begin training
∙ Types of training
∙ Adding training to your in season team practices
∙ Team practices vs. individual skills training
∙ Play, play, play
∙ How to handle your player
∙ Guard or Post?  Which one should my child be?
∙ Cheer positive
∙ Favorites... Does your child's coach have them?		 About this section:
The purpose of this section is to HELP parents.  Most parents are not experts on basketball development, nor do they claim to be.  This section will give parents some insight and a different perspective on the best ways for your child to progress and develop in the game of basketball.  Over the years many of our best clients have been kids who's parents are former college players or coaches because they understand the development process.  


AN EDUCATED PARENT IS OUR BEST CUSTOMER.

The problems with working out half speed:
Often times we have young players that don't understand the importance of working out full speed (or game speed).  In our Merrifield facility we have a banner hanging up that reads:

Game Speed = Court Time
Half Speed = Bench Time

It's as simple as that.  If kids don't learn how to push themselves in training they are setting themselves up to spend a lot of time on the bench.
When to begin training:
As trainers we hear on a regular basis from parents who have begun training with us that they wish they had of started training several years earlier.  Its very true from our standpoint as well.  We often begin training kids who are a bit older (8th grade and up).  Once the kids get to that age it becomes much more difficult to teach the fundamentals and make changes.  Though its better late than never, but when we can begin training a player several years before high school we can really set strong fundamentals before the bad habits begin.  We suggest beginning training as early as 5th grade, and in certain cases of more advanced kids 4th grade. 
Types of training:
There are different types of training within the private and group training sessions.  We conduct the training sessions with three separate aspects in mind. 
1.  "General Skills".  We look at the general skills training as something that all players need.  For example, ball handling, passing, layups, footwork, and pivoting.  These are skills that are needed before moving on to more advanced skill sets. 
2.  "Position Specific".  These are going to be the skills that are needed to play a certain position.  For example, the post players will be working on their back to the basket moves, finishing shots around the basket, and boxing out/rebounding.  While the guards will be doing more advanced ball handling and passing skills, understanding attacking angles from the perimeter, and shooting off of the catch and dribble.
3.  "Shooting Mechanics".  Teaching shooting is extremely important in the game of basketball.  The mechanics of shooting are very specific skills that take time to develop.  Teaching shooting form is something that we suggest doing in private workouts.  Because of the specific nature of shooting mechanics it becomes more difficult to teach the more players that are involved.  Also, each kid has different problems with their shot and getting to focus just on that players mechanics can speed up the learning curve. 
Add training to your Winter or AAU season:
Youth League players generally practice once or twice a week.  At this frequency, there is only so much that the players will be able to improve.  Adding in a workout or two during the winter season can greatly improve the players progress over the winter season.  Like anything else in life the more time you put into it, the quicker you will improve.
Team practice vs. individual skills training:
No matter how good a coach is at any level they cannot focus on each specific players needs in a team practice.  That's where we can help develop each players individual skills.  During those team practices coaches are forced to focus on running plays, team defense, etc.  They don't have time to focus on the kids individual skills like their ball handling, passing, footwork, and especially shooting mechanics. 

Play, play, play: 
There is never an alternative to time on the court.  Kids who don't get enough court time don't develop a great "feel" for the game.  This is a problem because learning from game experience is something that NO coach can ever teach.  If you find that your child isn't getting enough playing time, don't complain about it, do something about at it.  There are always options to finding more playing time.  My first and best suggestion, play pickup ball.  Go find a court somewhere where kids are playing and just play pick up ball.  Its how we all learned to play the game and not enough kids do it today.  Second, find a lower level team for them to play on.  It could be a house team, a CYO team... anything, but find a place for them to play.  It may not be exciting for your child to play at a "lower level" but they will never develop just sitting on the bench. 

How to handle your player:
This is a tough one.  We as trainers don't want to lecture you about how to parent, but at the same time we see a lot of parents and a lot of kids.  We see mistakes made often but we see other parents do nothing but support their child properly.  Seeing the good and the bad we want to help to show you what works and what doesn't.
1.  Don't push too hard.  Over the years we've seen too many kids get pushed too hard and then quit playing several years later.  Or if they don't quit, they keep playing but are miserable and stop enjoying the game.  REMEMBER, its a game, its supposed to be fun.  Too often parents want their kid to be a good player more than the kid themselves.  A great quote by Michael Jordan, "You have to learn to love the game before you can learn the game."  If your child isn't practicing enough then maybe they don't like basketball that much (interesting thought, huh).  Last thought on this... LET your child learn and love the game, don't MAKE them.  Nudge them, don't push them.
2.  Be Patient... Too often parents want their kids to be able to do certain skills on the court at too young of an age, or they want them to learn everything about the game in an instant.  Think about learning math in school.  First you have to learn to count, then add and subtract, then multiplication, algebra, geometry, statistics, etc.  The same goes with basketball, its a process the kids have to go through over the course of years.  What would happen if you put a (normal) 6th grader in an advanced Algebra class.  They would simply fail. 
3.  Don't coach your child while they are playing or training.  The worst thing you can do as a parent is coach from the sidelines.  During the games your child should not be listening to you, they should be playing a game.  If you take the focus away from the game by trying to telling them to do something you will only be causing more problems and mistakes.  Also, if you are telling them one thing and the coach is telling them another that is only going to confuse your child, that's not what you want to do.  If your child is making mistakes on the court, THAT'S FINE.  Mistakes should be corrected after the game or in practice not by parents yelling from the stands.  If a player is paying attention in practice and still is making dumb mistakes in games then the hard truth is that they are not that good.
Guard or Post?
So often kids get caught up and stuck in the wrong position.  Mostly you hear about this as "taller" or "stronger" players getting stuck as the 5 or 4 position.  The problem this brings is that when they go to the next level (youth league to HS) they are too short to play post, but they don't have the skills to play guard.  Each and every year we see kids get cut from their high school teams because they were forced to play post in middle school and didn't have the time to develop their guard skills before high school.  This is a several year process to make the transition, sometimes as much as two years to completely make the switch from post to guard.  If your child is a taller player but not a true post, make sure you find a team for them to play and develop their guard skills.  A TALL GUARD IS ALWAYS MORE VALUABLE THAN A SHORT POST.
Cheer positive:
All too often we as trainers sit in the stands and hear parents yelling nothing but negative comments towards the refs, coaches, and players.  This is one of the worst things you can do for your child.  Remember, misery loves company, you don't want negative thoughts to breed.  A positive attitude on a team is essential for success, but one of the quickest ways for negative thoughts to ruin a team is when parents are yelling them from the stands. 
Its very easy for kids to get caught up in blaming the refs for everything.  This does nothing but take their focus off the game and on to the calls, which is out of their control.  You as parents need to set a good example for your child and by yelling at the ref you are doing exactly the opposite.  One more point about yelling at refs... Most of the time, you're wrong!
On occasion you will hear people yelling negatively at either the coaches decisions or players (other than their child).  Please, please, please don't do this.  First off, you don't want the coach to hold anything against your child.  If you are yelling negative comments about the coach it will get back to him/her.  If they don't hear you themselves, then there's a good chance someone in the stands will hear you and report back to them.  I've seen it happen more than once.  And concerning yelling negative comments about other players... they are kids, their going to make mistakes.  Let the coach yell at the players for mistakes. 
Does your child's coach play favorites?
Of course they do... Every coach plays favorites. 

But the question is, what is a favorite, or why do coaches have favorites?  Its simple... Coaches have favorites because they want kids who listen, follow directions, play hard, execute the offense, play defense, and simply can score.

So lets look at reasons for both what coaches like and dislike and what could cause your child to be a "favorite" or not one:
 
Favorites Do These Things:
- Attention to details
- Pays attention when the coach speaks
- Always hustles and plays hard
- Shows up to all practices and games
- Can score, rebound, play defense
- Takes care of the ball, limited turnovers
- Tallest, Fastest, Best Shooter, Most Aggressive, etc.
 		 Non-Favorites Do These Things:
- Poor Attitude
- Lack of hustle
- Lack of focus (doesn't follow directions)
- Missed Practices
- Missed layups
- Turns the ball over
- Can't Score / Can't Dribble / Can't Rebound
 

I'll freely and proudly admit that I have favorites.  My favorites are not necessarily my best players either.  It turns out that most of my favorites are also my best, but that's only because what they do to make them my favorites, also are that same things that make them good. 
So if you want to become a "favorite" of your coach.  First do the details (show up to practice, work hard, focus on the coaches words) and then you will get an opportunity to get playing time and prove if you deserve more.