Backcourt Basketball.com

If you have an aspiring young basketball player, age 6-12, one of the very best opportunities you have to connect with them is through their enthusiasm for play and sports. It's a fleeting moment in their lives but the memories and impact can last a lifetime.

Our goal... is to better equip parents with the Tools and Tudes to make your backyard basketball time fun, encouraging, and skill building for your child. This does not have be dependent on your basketball experience. If fact, sometimes too much experience and expectations can be a hindrance.

Even with the best intentions, it can be difficult to strike a healthy balance between:

1) Under-Involvement
As parents, we're willing to spend countless hours driving and watching practices and games. Yet time in the backyard can be rare or non-existent. What kids need most and will remember the longest is one on one time with their hero... you. The HCA Workshop will give you all the direction you need to start making backyard basketball time with your child a boost to their confidence and their skill development.

2) Over-Involvement
On the other hand, some parents are out there all the time and your enthusiasm can be mismatched with where your child is now and what they really need. The result can be an eventual negative impact on their confidence and motivation. We'll explore questions like: What is developmentally appropriate at different ages and stages? What are key signs of progress and developmental growth? What is role of the fun factor in all this? What are some practicals to make backyard basketball time both fun as well as instructional? How can you tell when a teaching moment has passed?

The Home Court Advantage Workshop
We'll propose, discuss, and provide practical guidance on issues like?

• Under-Involvement can be a missed opportunity to build relationships and confidence
• How and when Over-Involvement can be hurtful
• The value of skill development in building self esteem
• Teachable moments may be few and far between, but they come
• Teachable moments are literally moments
• Activities can be developmental, and at the same time fun and encouraging.
• The impact of your demeanor (They'll eventually forget what you said or did... but they'll never forget how you made them feel.)

Contact us to discuss bringing the Home Court Advantage Workshop to your community.

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Here's how this all got started
In the late 90's, I was coaching a local rec 7 and 8 year old team. In terms of winning games we were not so good.. Actually, we stunk. We were 1-11 that year but don't let our record fool you, we were not as good as our record might indicate.

My coaching strategy evolved from what i thought was going to be a simple motion offense... to attempting to keep 2 players on the floor at all times that could catch. I found that teaching the fundamentals of the game seemed to be too much, so I had to search deeper and find the DNA of those fundamentals. It was soon obvious that my alloted 1 hr a week of practice was barely going to make a dent. These kids needed more time in basic skill development activities.

I began talking to parents about doing more with their kids in the backyard when they got the chance. A couple weeks went by and nothing much happened with that request.

Then, during a practice, I asked my asst coach to demonstrate a cross-over dribble to the kids. Whatever it was he did, I didn't recognize. And it dawned on me, the parents haven't got a clue EITHER. The parents need to be coached!

So, I asked the parents if next week they'd be willing to come an hour early to what I called.. Parent Practice. They all came and there in the lobby of the gym I began going over basics of how to help their child practice. I demonstrated key skills and gave tips on how to make it both challenging and keep it fun. It was really basic, things like: catching the ball, dribble change of direction, doing a correct lay up, etc. The parents had a good time, we laughed a lot. But it was a beginning of something that made a difference.

At that meeting we initiated a shooting challenge that involved both parents and kids. I called it Practice All Stars. Each kid got a score sheet where they could tabulate what they did in the backyard that week. For every 10 shots they took they would draw in a star.

 

Then, after each game on saturday, we'd gather in the corner and every child would have their Practice All Star sheet with them. I'd ask how many stars each had gotten that week (yes, a bit of positive pressure helped) and we'd track our cumulative number of shots on a big thermometer type scorecard (like United Way). Coloring in the thermometer was fun. It was a visible sign of their efforts. They all got involved and it seemed to be motivating to the kids. As the season progressed they got more involved not less.

The next year, the team stayed together and we did the same project. This time our team of 7 and 8 year olds shot over 10,000 extra shots which was amazing and we had told them that we'd have a celebration if we got to a certain goal. Unfortunately, our record was 0-12 again, no just kidding, we were 6-6 and you could see in their eyes that their confidence and motivation was significantly impacted. The following year, (my son started as a 6 yo so had 3 years in this particular league) in a 14 team league we played for the championship and lost in a close game. It was exciting progression. I'm sure that our practice made a difference. Making practice fun and motivating was the key.

The shooting charts got kids and parents outside doing fun things and getting better, but what continued to grow for me was this concept of how to help parents make a difference with their children in their backyard. From that came the Home Court Advantage idea.