I've been asked to take about 15 minutes at the beginning of practice to talk to a 7th and 8th grade team. I think it's probably a good idea, but I don't really know what I should say that would be interesting or of use to them. Any suggestions?

Chuck

Just give them some basic fundamentals (ie: what is a double dribble,how we call a travel, hand checking, 10 second violation, 5 second violation, captains meeting.)
Then let them ask you some questions.

fouls
 

Explain to them that fouls aren't a bad thing... that's why they give you five.
Talk about extending the arms to prevent a player from going around them.
...about how it's okay to talk to refs.
...about getting the ball to the ref when the whistle blows
...about matching undershirts
...about logos on wristbands
...about earings and new punctures
...about tying their shoes with square knots
...about Over-and-back and throw-ins.
...about the fouls of hands,holds and blocks
...about how refs see different things
...about stomping feet on free throws and sportsmanship
and
...about how you'll cover more at the next meeting.

oh, yeah.
 

Go in uniform.

Wow, 15 minutes is NOT a long time so you should be prepared
with 2 or 3 points you want to make & leave a few minutes
for questions. My suggeston:

1. Sportsmanship. Behavior expected on the court & on the
bench. Remind them this ain't the NBA, they are there to
learn something (about the game, about life) but more
importantly to have some fun & work up a sweat. I'm not
saying the kids you'll be talking to are a bunch of thugs.
I just think it would be good to hit on this topic in your
limited time.

2. It might be useful to go over the rules concerning the
throw-in and the free throw. This will be especially
useful to the coaches, who are probably even more
confused than the kids are concerning this, if they are
the typical 7/8 grade "dad" coaches. They probably won't retain it all but it should get them thinking.

3. If any time is left go over the travel rule. The idea
here is to get them to stop thinking in terms of the
myths associated with this rule (2 steps, 1 1/2 steps,
going to the basket, etc etc) and get them thinking about
the pivot foot as the basis for the rule. Mention standing
up and sitting/falling down with the ball.

4. You might want to say 1 sentence about the 3 second rule
& how it's enforced. This would be for the coaches
benefit mostly.

Have fun!

I do not want to sound like a spoil sport, but I would recommend to the coach that for you to do a really professional job, you should have at least one hour of the team's time. Explain to him that you are sure that he spends a lot of time studying X's and O's with his team. Since basic knowledge of the rules and what the players should know, then 15 minutes with the team will not allow you to cover everything that he and his team needs to know.

Every year we offer a short clinic to all that will have us, and have found no coach that has not welcomed the chance to have us address his/her team about the rule changes and field questions from the players. I believe this is an excellant way to build that rapport with players, because you never know when that will aid you in a game.

Good Luck

Mark, you do realize these are 12 yr olds we're talking
about, right?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Dan_ref

Quote:

Mark, you do realize these are 12 yr olds we're talking about, right?

And they only get about 2 or 3 hours of gym time per week. So taking a full hour from them is simply out of the question. I'm not sure that I could hold their attention for an hour by talking about rules, anyway.

Chuck

Ask the Coach to invite parents.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mick

Quote:

Ask the Coach to invite parents.

Great idea, mick. I think I'll do that.

Chuck

I do not know about other states but in Ohio and Michigan the 7th and 8th grade teams practice every night afterschool except on days when they have games and those practices usually run from 1-1/2 to 2 hours long. One hour out of their entire season of practice is not too much. If we want to be treated as professional then we have to treat our avocation as a profession. I just officiated a girls' jr. H.S. basketball DH last night and the coaches from both teams had not bothered to teach their teams any of the fundamental rules of the game:

1: One and one free throws.

2: How to line up for free throws.

3: When Team A scores a field goal, Team B inbounds the
ball along the endline under Team A' basket.

4: When an official blows his whistle, all of the players
are to look and listen to that official for information
as to what is going to happen next.

What is even worse is that I have had teams at the varsity level call a timeout and then when the timeout is over come to me and ask which team is going to get the ball for the throw-in.

As Fred Horgan, as Past-President of IAABO and Canada's represetative to FIBA, once said, basketball officials are the keepers of the game. And it is our duty to educate coaches, players, the media, and sometimes parents and fans about the rules of the game. Fifteen minutes cannot begin to do justice to what we can and need to give to the young basketball players that we see every year. If a coach wants to give me only 15 min. then he is telling me that he really does not think what we officials have to say is very important.

Mark, It's just my opinion, but you REALLY need to come down off the "professional" bit. We're not professionals. But even if we are, we can't dictate to a coach how to run his practice. This coach works with 5 different teams for a small Lutheran school. They rent a small gym from a small Catholic church in town. He simply cannot give up an hour of practice time for a rules lecture. I understand that in an ideal world, we'd get all the time we wanted to stress all the new points of emphasis and everyone would be ecstatic to hear them. But that's not where this team is located, so I get 15 or 20 minutes. The fact that he wants me there at all says that he wants his players to get a better perspective on the game.

Chuck

One important aspect of being a professional is to not put ourselves above the game...take the 15 or 20 minutes and be as enthusiastic with it as you can...go in with this other guy's attitude of "How dare you only give me 15 minutes", and you will be wasting everybody's time...keep it simple and fun...cover the really important things like sportsmanship, lining up for free throws, etc...turn it in to your rules clinic and you lose them all...good luck, and let us know how it goes...

Most coaches don't even do this! We
have ONE that wants us to come out
and give a short talk. If I were
you Chuck, I would feel honored that
they respect your prospective of the
game and I would talk just as long as
they would allow.

The points to make, I feel, are very
level specific. Like at the 7th and
8th grade level, for one, I would
discuss the "backcourt" violation.
It is often misunderstood. I
would explain about the three points
being in the frontcourt, etc. Another
misconception, in my area at this age,
is that if a player obtains a rebound
while standing behind another player
that should automatically be, and
I quote, "over the back", thus a foul.
Without beind too technical, I would
talk about verticality in that situation.

Little stuff that they have probably
heard their parents yell out would hit home.
At this age and attention span, hit the
high spots that you think would stick
with them.

Just my two cents,
Lori