The last few months I had the opportunity to coach a 3rd-5th grade boys basketball team. Although I had played basketball in high school, this was my first shot at coaching. It was really fascinating to see the boys develop their skills over the length of the season and gel as a team. With that said, I wanted to share a few things I learned from coaching this season:
- Don’t try to teach multiple skills at once. Focus on one thing and spend time on that one thing until you see signs of growth.
- Learning can be fun. From my background in high school basketball, it was always serious. I soon learned, young kids learn better when it’s fun.
- Incentives & consequences are good coaching tools. Giving my team the possibility of scrimmaging or running became a great way to motivate focus and hard work.
- Although winning is nice (and kind of the point of sports), I became more proud of perseverance. When they were down or faced an obstacle, I was most pleased that they didn’t give up.
If you have experience in coaching, anything you would add?
Nick Poole 
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