Coaching guide
Practices players learn from, and want to come back to
You don't need to have played at a high level to coach well. A few simple principles make most of the difference: keep everyone moving, play lots of games, make practice look like the real thing, and ask more than you tell.
7 practical guides, with something to try at your very next session. Start with constraints-led basketball for six games and a printable coaching pack.
- 1
Constraints-led basketball
A practical guide to the constraints-led approach (CLA): design small-sided games, change one constraint, and help players read, decide and adapt.
Read - 2
Less standing, more playing
How to cut the queues out of practice so every player is moving, touching the ball and learning for most of the session.
Read - 3
Make it a game
Turn drills into games with a score, a target or a race. Players work harder, concentrate longer and want to come back.
Read - 4
Make practice look like the game
Skills learned against cones often vanish in games. Add defenders, decisions and direction so practice carries over.
Read - 5
Ask, don't tell
Good questions help players find their own answers, and what they work out for themselves they remember. Includes questions to use straight away.
Read - 6
Build it up: progressions
How to take one idea from a simple start to a live game in steps, and how to make any drill easier or harder on the spot.
Read - 7
The shape of a good session
A simple structure for any practice: a short intro, a warm-up game, one focus built up in steps, lots of small-sided play and a wrap-up.
Read
Take a free coaching pack to practice
Download age-specific practice plans, illustrated drill cards and a planning sheet you can print and reuse. The general cheat sheets include 45, 60 and 90-minute frameworks.
Browse the free PDFsPut it into a plan
The drill library marks which activities are game-based, and the session builder has intro and wrap-up blocks with questions ready to use.