Expert: Sanket - 12/29/2004

Question
I have two questions:
1. How do you get the girls to be more aggressive in terms of rebounding?

2. What is a good offensive setup and play for 5th grade girls with decent ability (school A team)?

Thanks,

Answer
My girls weren't too agressive with rebounding either. Here's what you could do.

1.You have to be tough on them, don't just say, "You gotta be more agressive on rebounds," nicley, yell it out, get it throught there heads, instead of practicing the teamwork (girls are better with that then boys) practice rebounding. Practice a lot with rebounding, remember, practice makes perfect. Tell them not to hesitate at all, one who hesitates is lost (got that from a book). Tell them not to worry if they are shorter, just go get it, and please don't tell them that trying your best is all that matters, it is, but if you tell them that and they fail they'll use, "I tried my best," as an excuse as why they failed. Tell themt they have to want it more than the other girl. What I tried once was I brought in some boys to the practice (boys arr always more agressive than girls) then I showed them how they played and made them play rebounding against them. That's all I got, if none of this works, well, I'm sorry then, I tried a lot of this, it worked for me, but just don't give up on youe girls, practice with 'em.

2.I'm really sorry, but I don't work with offense, I can't help you there. And I hope you were talking about defensive rebounds, I no nothing about offense, but you might want to try the give and go or pick and roll. I can help you out on defense though. Decide what to play by determining opponent speed. If they are faster than your girls play 3-2 zone, this way if they get by the two upfront girls, you still have three girls in the back. I haven't coached in a long time so I apologize if my information for the type of zone (3-2, 2-3) is wrong. If your girls are faster play man to man, if it's aloud in your league, it wasn't aloud when I played, I did it any way. I'm so sorry about not being able to help you on offense but I'm just not an offensive coach, that's why I'm an assistant.