I have found that this works - tell him not to pass it unless he is 100% sure that the pass will be effective. To get the message across - bench him when he makes mistakes that you think are unacceptable.
He will soon get the message - I have found that the threat of sitting out will work it's magic spell. The threat of sitting out IMO is the most powerful tool you have to curb player behaviour - you don't need to be aggresive or yell - just be consistent and quietly explain as to why he has been benched. Put him back in again and explain that this will continue until heis passing is at an expected level.

Hi Anon. Unfortuantely ive tried this all season (12 weeks so far) he spends more time on the bench than any other player. I tell him he needs to think for a second before he passes it instead of panic passing, but even when he thinks about it, he'll pass to a kid with a defender on his back instead of the one that's wide opened (happened last week)

I cant keep benching him, thinking i need to give him some one-on-one training but not sure exactly how to approach it.

I have one on my team and he constantly throws bad passes. Two in a row and he gets benched. Unfortunately mentally he cant make the right decisions so i try to minimise him handling the ball and play to his strengths which is getting to the rack.Some kids pick things up easily some dont....

Just don't play him....should help the cuase!

Hey guys

Tiger Watcher: its a junior competition, im not going to not play him

To everyone else: His hands are lightning quick and he has a great tank, so i use him as kinda of a roving defender, bouncing from player to player depending on who has the ball. He's great with the steal and the intercept, but then loses it again because he can't seem to find a teammate.

Maybe its technique i should work on? Im seriously at a lose. When i do bench him and tell him what he does wrong, he seems eager to fix it, but just always seems to muck it up. Last week we managed to drag the deficit down to 10 points during the game, and then a couple of bad passes from him took the other team up to a 16 point lead. It deflates the rest of his teammates who try really hard to pin the margin back, but again, im not going to bench him for the whole game, that's not the coach i want to be

What position does he play?

One thing you can do is teach him the hand off and make sure the other players are aware, that if he does not have a very good option he is to hand off the ball.

Also what type of bad passes ...missing open targets (eg point to wing) or bad options (eg feeding low post from above the free throw line).

If it is the first - just work and work on basics chest pass and hand position. Your job as a coach is to improve him (ie you may not cure him).

If it is bad application of team rules - sub him each time he screws it up, but don't sit him. I will often sub someone but I don't sit him - I may ask what he did wrong or explain a teaching point but then I send him straight back in on the next sub.

Because I do this, the boys understand that this is only going to cost a minute or two off their playing time, the boy I subbed in knows its a quick hit (in fact I'll say I just want to talk to Fred so work as hard as you can for 2 mins).

Does he miss targets, or just cant find targets. If missing targets ie not hitting players on their chest or hands go the 3 man weave, will help with fitness too. If he cant find targets then its not his basketball skills its his brain that needs working on

So far, I don't think anyone has mentioned eye contact between the passer and receiver...

Video it and review it with him. That way he sees where he is going wrong. Then work on strategies to improve. Sometimes they have to see themselves do it.

Honestly guys, its like a mix of everything. His passes lack direction-its like i know who hes trying to pass it to sometimes but when a simple chest pass will do he does something weird like an over the head lob. He also misses targets a lot and his decision making is poor-he passes to where the player was, not where he's going and either puts too much force on a close pass or not enough for a longer pass. Hence him doing my head in

I like the scrimmage and 2 v 3 idea. Might have to give it a go at training next week

There is nowhere to drop him to. Div 2 is the lowest division in the competition and its just your average local junior competition. I dont have the power to drop him (nor the inclination to do so)

I wanted to try and help him get better, not tell him to stop playing basketball because he cant pass.

He was a chronic stepper when i took over the team and he has erased that completely. He couldnt shoot a bucket to save his life and now he's scoring multiple buckets a game. This is just the next thing i need to try and correct, but its not as easy to do as shooting practice and getting him to be better with his feet

I've never coached, but the mention of simpler drills made me wonder if building up from very simple drills to those with multiple passing options could slowly help the player see the better option at hand a little more instinctively?

I assume it's best to approach a lot of these suggestions and drills as applying to the whole team rather than singling out one person in front of everyone.

Simpler drills help, but I've fund that having someone videotape the game may make it more easier to understand his mistakes and identify easier when to pass it.

Also, when he does attempt to pass it, does he pass it to get out of trouble (eg: a double team) or does he pass it to create a scoring opportunity for your team (eg: assist or "hockey assist")?

hi coach, i have the same problem. 1 player is the worst passer i have ever struck. 8 out of 10 are a turnover.


I am now going to be 100% at training, receiver must have hand target, and passer must pass to hand. No hand , no pass.Hopefully this will transfer to the games.

It's decision making.

It's nothing else and be grateful, you have a player who wants to pass the ball.

Many kids just want to shoot and never buy into the pass first concept.

At practice, create as many game like simulation drills as you can and every time he makes a bad pass. Stop the practice and identify where the pass should have gone. You should do this for every player. You can do it for missed boxing out assignments, wrong movements in the motion offence or wrong placement in the transition.

He will never learn by getting benched, if anything you will just drive him away from the game as he would be getting frustrated at those mistakes. In fact, you should reward him every time he makes a good pass and get him looking forward to that praise.

Improving the decision making and you will improve his passing.

if you make a big deal of it at junior level, the player will be stuffed. Too much thought will go into every possession. The fix has to be discrete and based on team rules.

One thing I always got taught was that in many instances, it is the player receiving the pass or attempting to receive the pass who is also at fault.

I think its important to reiterate the idea of teamwork and put the idea into the players heads that you have to help the passer making the pass.

Making a "V" cut, "swinging the wings", teaching your players to seal their defender off and teaching players to call for the pass with their outside hand. Those methods will help players get more open, which should reduce the risk of the pass.

Does he dribble with his head up? Or does he still watch his dribble?

Most of the worst passers I've played with/seen are players who make snap passes on less than half a second of actually looking around. Or to put it even more simply, you never develop court vision if you don't look at the court.

That's an easy fix if he's dedicated to improving like you say he is.

If that's not the problem, you probably need some more rigid rules (that the rest of the team is aware of) when he has the ball. He will still miss some opportunities, but until he can regularly hit a known/expected target, don't give him free reign to "create".

Hey guys

Naph: He still dribbles eyes down, but i think that is out of necessity, he's not the most "fluid" of players, he's what i would probably refer to as clumsy.

The problem is i only took over the team last year (final year of U14) by that stage, he'd had three years of a less-than-quality coach who didnt bother to correct his bad habits, something that now ive been forced to do to try and get him to improve his game/get into the levels of his teammates.

He would have to be my second best, if not best defender, so he easily makes the team on that mark, he just needs to improve this aspect of his game to bring his offensive game up to par.

Thanks so much guys for your input, i never envisioned i would get this much feedback.

Most of it was really helpful, and ill be putting in place a couple of suggestions when i take the team for training on Monday

1) get a 1 or 2kg medicine ball and have the kid pass it to an adult at home at varying distances and varying styles ( one handed - two hand chest , two handed overhead etc) this will sharpen and strengthen his physical ability for the mechanics of the pass.

2) run a competitive passing drill at training. say 2 teams of 5 in the half court . Player with the ball can only bounce the ball twice before passing, each completed pass is one point, you cannot pass back to the player who passed to you. the team must make 8 points/passes in a row to win. If you fail to make 3 passes in a row you immediately lose and the entire losing team must do 8 pushups. Only use the half or quarter court.

you can vary this drill by changing the numbers on each team. Less on the defence makes it a defensive drill of anticipation and defensive faking. Less on the offensive team makes it a read and react offensive drill with pass faking highly important.

cheers

PS

you referee with a whistle and call travels, fouls etc , a defensive foul is an additional point to the team in possession , an offensive travel is a loss of a point etc. If when playing even numbers a defensive player "looses" their player , call a halt ask them who they have , if they cannot take only one step and physically touch them , then their team has an immediate loss and gets pushups - this teaches the offence to also try to lose their player BEFORE looking for the ball. - also the players CANNOT call out for the ball , it is all done by visual decisions - forcing the passing player to have vision.

this is designed for u10 and u12 mostly , but should do OK for you u14s.

You can't expect good decisions from someone who has to watch their dribble.

If he's been playing for three years and he's a guard that has had to dribble the ball, he can probably already dribble without looking at the ball, he just doesn't think he can. (Like most kids can touch type these days, but a lot of them still look at the keyboard out of habit)

Concentrate on getting him to keep the ball in his hand longer. Not batting at the ball but not palming/carrying it either. This is easier to demonstrate than write about, I hope you know what I'm getting at.

Its something he can readily fix on his own time, and any dead time at practice he should be dribbling a ball without looking at it (Waiting in a lay-up line, when you're knocked out in bump, whatever). Tell him to do it for just 5 minutes a day. On the way to school, whilst watching TV, whatever. If he does it, he'll be dribbling without watching the ball inside a month and will be a far, far better decision-maker in general. Heck 1 minute a day for each hand will make a difference.

Check their eyes. They might actually have a vision issue.

This might come across as stating the obvious, but are they of below average intelligence? Sometimes kids just need one or two things to think about, any more and their brain get fried. If they are really smart, then sometimes they go the other way and over think a situation. KISS.

Perhaps, start of with a simple rule of only pass if you have a clear path and you have eye contact. Maybe a second rule that he has to call the receiver's name before he passes.