Fun Equals Learning?

Because I am such a big advocate for kids I commonly search out ways to make their learning experience better. When I am coaching youngsters I do anything I can to make sure they have a positive experience- because I believe that ignites their desire to stay involved.

I am running the 3rd and 4th grade girls intramural basketball program at my daughters school, and in about a month will start the girls 5th and 6th grade intramurals. I have to tell you- it is a ball. I love working with these kids because they are fun to be around.

Let me paint you a picture. I have about 23 girls, many have never played basketball before, I have some wonderful help from parents as well. Know you all know me- so the first thing we do everyday is some fun agility and coordination exercises. Just to give you an idea of how quickly kids learn; I asked them to perform a basic skipping exercise the first day- many could not skip well. I didn't go crazy trying to explain how to perform it- I just gave them some simple cues and told them to practice when they went home. Fast forward to our next practice when I asked them to skip again- 22 out of the 23 were outstanding. the one little girl that didn't skip well was close. This to me is why it is so fun to coach youngsters- they learn quickly and they appreciate it.

OK back to the painting a picture thing... So I have 23 low level beginning basketball players. I have 2 main goals with this level. The first is to keep them moving so they don't get bored and lose focus and the second thing is to have fun activities that excite them to want to keep going.

To accomplish the first goal of keeping them active I do as much as possible with every girl having a ball or at least with one partner so their isn't a lot of standing in line time. Some exercise require a short 3-4 person line but not much. When each girl has a basketball I can work on good fundamental skills yet put a little challenge to it to make it more interesting and FUN. For example; I had them do a seemingly simple exercise where they were asked to spin the ball back toward them with one bounce catch the ball and get into triple threat position. I asked them to do it 5 times without having to chase their ball- it should come back to them. Well I found out quickly that most of them didn't know how to spin the ball backwards. It was a challenging coordination skill they didn't get. So I told them to imagine they were picking up a big pitcher of lemonade with both hands and going to pour it on their face. I told them to look at how their hands and thumbs were moving and facing while doing this. I now asked them to do it with the ball in their hands, then I asked them to quickly move the hands in that same pattern and let the ball go- bingo- they all were able to spin the ball. Of course they thought that was the coolest things since sliced bread. I then started the exercise over again and asked them to do it 5 times without having to step forward to get the ball. It might seem simple but just the fact that I have a number of reps and I challenged them not to move forward became a fun challenge for them.

When we moved on to dribbling I had each girl with their own ball. I gave them one real important rule though- No bouncing the ball while I was talking. Ok. the next thing we did was to have each girl practice various dribbles- I gave them some things to think about like; imagine a opponent was trying to steal the ball. I talked to them about their guard arm and how it helps to protect your ball. I talked to them about moving their feet and turning their body so they can keep the ball away from the opponent. This all seems simple enough but the key I am trying to get across is I always give them something to imagine or think about which keeps them focused, plus it can be fun for them.

Then to make sure they attach lots of fun with dribbling I do a game called "Pacman Tag" while dribbling. I choose 3 girls to be it. Their job is to tag the other girls making the tagged girls go outside the boundaries and do 5 jumping jacks and them get back in the game. The man rule is that all girls must dribble on any line on the basketball court. If they get off the line it is like being tagged. After a couple minutes I choose 3 new pacman. The girls love this game- so to them dribbling is associated with fun.

I try to follow this same concept of teaching a skill, giving some arbitrary number to accomplish, which gives them something to focus on and have a little competition, and I always attach some form of fun activity with it.

I see my role in working with this age group to make the game of basketball fun, give them some basic skills so they can get better, and try to keep them involved so they don't want to quit when they get older.

In a month I will be working with 5th and 6th graders who have had some experience and will need more attention to detail, but still inspired to have fun and love the game. If this approach could be used with all youth sports I think we would see the drop out rate do down and more healthier kids go up.

Yours in Speed,

Lee

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