The Elite Hoops Blog

Basketball isn’t just a game; it’s a source of inspiration, life lessons, and motivation. Whether you’re a player, coach, or fan, these powerful quotes from some of the greatest names in basketball history will ignite your passion and drive you to excel both on and off the court.

If you need help getting locked in, learning from the best is a great place to start. As always, you can view these quotes anytime on your iOS device using our app:

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NBA Legends

Michael Jordan

1. “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
2. “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”
3. “You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.”
4. “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.”
5. “Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, and others make it happen.”
6. “The game has its ups and downs, but you can never lose focus of your individual goals, and you can’t let yourself be beaten because of lack of effort.”

Kobe Bryant

1. “The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.”
2. “I’ve always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come.”
3. “If you see me in a fight with a bear, pray for the bear.”
4. “I have self-doubt. I have insecurity. I have fear of failure. I have nights when I show up at the arena and I’m like, ‘My back hurts, my feet hurt, my knees hurt. I don’t have it. I just want to chill.’ We all have self-doubt. You don’t deny it, but you also don’t capitulate to it. You embrace it.”
5. “I have nothing in common with lazy people who blame others for their lack of success. Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.”
6. “I don’t want to be the next Michael Jordan, I want to be the only Kobe Bryant.”
7. “The beauty of coaching is growing the players from the ground up. That journey continues.”
8. “I’ve shot too much from the time I was eight years old. But ‘too much’ is a matter of perspective. Some people thought Mozart had too many notes in his compositions. Let me put it this way: I entertain people who say I shoot too much. I find it very interesting. Going back to Mozart, he responded to critics by saying there were neither too many notes or too few. There were as many as necessary.”
9. “If you do not believe in yourself, no one will do it for you.”
10. “Friends can come and go, but banners hang forever.”
11. “The important thing is that your teammates have to know you’re pulling for them, and you really want them to be successful.”

LeBron James

1. “The only way to succeed is to work hard, stay focused, and never give up.”
2. “To be the best, you have to work the hardest. You have to chase what seems impossible over and over and over again, because giving up is not an option, and when you feel like you’ve reached your limit, it’s only the beginning, that’s when it’s time to dig deep, to find the courage to push some more.”

Kevin Durant

1. “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.”

Kawhi Leonard

1. “Don’t let small details distract you from your big picture goals.”

Stephen Curry

1. “If you don’t fall, how are you going to know what getting up is like?”
2. “I want to practice to the point where it’s almost uncomfortable how fast you shoot, so that in the game things kind of slow down.”
3. “Be the best version of yourself in anything that you do. You don’t have to live anybody else’s story.”
4. “Play like you’re in first. Train like you’re in second.”

Other NBA Stars

1. “Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.” - Tim Duncan
2. “Excellence is not a singular act but a habit. You are what you do repeatedly.” - Shaquille O’Neal
3. “Sometimes a player’s greatest challenge is coming to grips with his role on the team.” - Scottie Pippen
4. “If you’re afraid of failure, you don’t deserve to be successful!” - Charles Barkley
5. “When you’re not practicing, someone else is getting better.” - Allen Iverson
6. “My whole life, people have doubted me. My mom did. People told me in high school I was too short and not fast enough to play basketball. They didn’t know my story. Because if they did, they’d know that anything is possible.” - Jimmy Butler
7. “A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.” - Larry Bird
8. “Your greatest asset should be your work ethic.” - Kevin Garnett

Legendary Coaches

John Wooden

1. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”
2. “If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.”
3. “Poise and confidence are not possible unless you have prepared correctly. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. Poise and confidence are a natural result of proper preparation.”
4. “If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?”

Phil Jackson

1. “The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.”
2. “The most we can hope for is to create the best possible conditions for success, then let go of the outcome. The ride is a lot more fun that way.”
3. “No one plays this or any game perfectly. It’s the guy who recovers from his mistakes who wins.”

Pat Summit

1. “Confidence is what happens when you’ve done the hard work that entitles you to succeed.”
2. “Winning is fun…sure. But winning is not the point. Wanting to win is the point. Not giving up is the point. Never letting up is the point. Never being satisfied with what you’ve done is the point.”
3. “Quit? Quit? We keep score in life because it matters. It counts. Too many people opt out and never discover their own abilities, because they fear failure. They don’t understand commitment. When you learn to keep fighting in the face of potential failure, it gives you a larger skill set to do what you want to do.”
4. “There is always someone better than you. Whatever it is that you do for a living, chances are, you will run into a situation in which you are not as talented as the person next to you. That’s when being a competitor can make a difference in your fortunes.”
5. “When you learn to keep fighting in the face of potential failure, it gives you a larger skill set to do what you want to do in life. It gives you vision. But you can’t acquire it if you’re afraid of keeping score.”

Other Coaches

1. “It’s not the will to win that matters—everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.” - Paul “Bear” Bryant
2. “Offense sells tickets. Defense wins championships.” - Paul “Bear” Bryant
3. “I don’t look at myself as a basketball coach. I look at myself as a leader who happens to coach basketball.” - Mike Krzyzewski
4. “Basketball is a game that gives you every chance to be great, and puts every pressure on you to prove that you haven’t got what it takes. It never takes away the chance, and it never eases up on the pressure.” - Mike Krzyzewski
5. “Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win.” - Bobby Knight
6. “What do you do with a mistake: recognize it, admit it, learn from it, forget it.” - Dean Smith
7. “It’s what you get from games you lose that is extremely important.” - Pat Riley
8. “There are only two options regarding commitment. You’re either in, or you’re out. There’s no such thing as ‘life in-between’.” - Pat Riley
9. “Your best player has to set a tone of intolerance for anything that gets in the way of winning.” - Jeff Van Gundy
10. “It takes three things to be a ‘special’ player: talent, character, and competitive fire.” - Kevin Eastman
11. “Coaches shouldn’t have to push you to work hard. You should push yourself because you want to be a great player.” - Bob Knight
12. “No one is bigger than the team. If you can’t do things our way, you’re not getting time here, and we don’t care who you are.” - Gregg Popovich
13. “Some say you have to use your five best players, but I found out you win with the five that fit together best as a team.” - Red Auerbach
14. “We wait for life to get easier. But life never gets easier. What happens is you handle hard better.” - Kara Lawson
15. “A lot of people notice when you succeed, but they don’t see what it takes to get there.” - Dawn Staley
16. “I like the challenge of getting players to rise to certain levels, but that’s the easy part. The biggest challenge is to get them to believe in what we’re doing. They have to understand that it’s O.K. to have good days and bad days.” - Dawn Staley
17. “I tell our guys everyday, every person on the roster can help us win a game by making just one play.” - Steve Kerr
18. “Your mark is what you do on a day when you don’t want to do it. How good are you on a day when you just don’t have it? Can you push yourself that day? That’s a mark of your character.” - Bob Hurley, Sr.
19. “Systems win! Believe in your system, and then sell it to your players.” - Billy Donovan
20. “Don’t ever have a rule that you won’t enforce with your best player.” - Doug Collins
21. “Practice shared suffering. If one guy messes up, everyone runs. If one guy does well, everyone benefits.” - Don Meyer
22. “The more your players have to think on the basketball court, the slower their feet get.” - Jerry Tarkanian
23. “Average players want to be left alone. Good players want to be coached. Great players want to be told the truth.” - Doc Rivers
24. “Defense tells you if you won or not, offense tells you by how much.” - Danny Hurley

Other Sports Figures and Inspirational Quotes

1. “I can’t believe that God put us on this earth to be ordinary.” - Lou Holtz
2. “I don’t have to be what you want me to be.” - Muhammad Ali
3. “Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence, seeing how you react. If you’re in control, they’re in control.” - Tom Landry
4. “The man who has no imagination has no wings.” - Muhammad Ali
5. “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” - Gary Player
6. “You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.” - Jerry West
7. “Pressure is something you feel when you don’t know what the hell you’re doing.” - Peyton Manning
8. “There’s only one way to become a hitter. Go up to the plate and get mad. Get mad at yourself and mad at the pitcher.” - Ted Williams
9. “It’s not about how hard you can hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” - Rocky Balboa
10. “A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.” - Jack Dempsey
11. “Concentration and mental toughness are the margins of victory.” - Bill Russell
12. “You always have to give 100%, because if you don’t, someone, somewhere will give 100% and they will beat you when you meet.” - Ed Macauley
13. “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting it is.” - Arnold Palmer
14. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” - Wayne Gretzky
15. “The idea is not to block every shot. The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot.” - Bill Walton
16. “Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement.” - Marv Levy
17. “If you can believe it, the mind can achieve it.” - Ronnie Lott
18. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” - Steve Jobs
19. “I was taught to play the game from a total team concept. To be able to do everything reasonably well and some things extraordinarily well. If I’m not shooting well, I’ll try to be an asset in other ways – like defense, passing, rebounding, and hustle.” - Rick Barry
20. “If you only ever give 90% in training then you will only ever give 90% when it matters.” - Michael Owen
21. “One score makes happy ONE player, one assist makes happy TWO.” - Toni Kukoc
22. “I don’t complain about playing time. My job is to play so well the coach can’t sit me.” - Shane Battier

Wrapping Up

These quotes from basketball’s greatest minds offer more than just motivation for the court. They provide valuable life lessons about perseverance, teamwork, and the pursuit of excellence. Whether you’re facing challenges in sports, work, or personal life, let these words of wisdom guide you and your team towards success.

We’ll be sure to keep this post updated, so be sure to check back often!

Looking for more basketball inspiration? Check out our free practice planner to elevate your game!

We know how challenging it can be to plan effective and engaging practices for youth basketball teams. It takes time, trial and error, experience and research. Today, Elite Hoops is introducing our latest free tool to help make it all easier:

The Youth Basketball Practice Creator

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Create basketball practices based on areas of need, and share them with your team. All for free. Here’s a quick video walkthrough:

Customize Your Practice Plans

With our new tool, you can create age-appropriate drills and practice plans tailored to your team’s needs. Whether you’re coaching kindergartners or 8th graders, our practice plan creator allows you to select:

• Age Group: From Kindergarten to 8th Grade
• Skill Level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, or Wide Range
• Focus Areas: Choose from a variety of skills like Dribbling, Shooting, Defense, and more
• Practice Length: 30, 45, 60, 90, or 120 minutes
• Explanation Detail: Short, Basic, Detailed, or Full Explanations

Just choose what your team needs to work on, and our tool will generate a comprehensive practice plan that includes warm-ups, main drills, and cool-downs — complete with drill instructions.

Share Your Practice Plans

Once you’ve created your practice plan, sharing it with your team is a breeze. Each plan comes with a unique link that you can easily share with players, parents, and fellow coaches. No more printing out practice plans or sending lengthy emails (but you can still do that, too!) — just share the link and everyone will have access to the plan instantly:

Try It for Free

The best part? It’s completely free to use. We believe in empowering coaches with the tools they need to succeed, and this is one way we can give back to the basketball community.

Like It? Then You’ll Love Elite Hoops

If you enjoy using our practice plan creator, you’ll absolutely love Elite Hoops. We offer even more features to help you coach better and teach easier with our recordable whiteboard. Download it today from the App Store and take your coaching to the next level.

Ready to get started? Try the Youth Basketball Practice Plan Creator now and see how easy it is to create and share customized practice plans. Happy coaching!

The latest Elite Hoops update is coming this fall with iOS 18, and it’s a game-changer for basketball coaches using an iPad and Apple Pencil Pro. We’ve been working hard to make drawing up plays and planning strategies feel as natural as sketching on a whiteboard. With our new Apple Pencil Pro integrations, you’ll be able to diagram plays faster and more intuitively than ever before.

Here’s what you can expect from Elite Hoops on iOS 18:

Play Diagramming with Apple Pencil Pro

Recently, we launched our industry-standard diagramming tools to help coaches draw up plays. Now, you can access our full suite of diagramming tools right within Apple Pencil. There’s no need to open another panel — our diagramming tools are now directly accessible in Apple Pencil’s tool picker:

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As you start to draw, coaches can see a preview of where the pencil is at to aid in precise placement:

Drawing up a horns set? Quickly switch from a dribble over to a screen by quickly bringing up the tool picker by double tapping Apple Pencil Pro:

We’ve gone further and streamlined the tool picker, removing excess items to keep things focused on providing the best play drawing experience. Now there’s just a marker, diagramming tools and an eraser. Even better, now you can quickly toggle opponents right inside the tool picker with a tap:

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The Apple Pencil Pro is a perfect fit for Elite Hoops. There is no complicated software, simply draw on your whiteboard with your Apple Pencil Pro and we’ll handle the rest:

Control Center Widgets

Now, you can add widgets for Elite Hoops to your Control Center or your Lock Screen to quickly open a team or create a motivational basketball quote:

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Dark Mode and Tinted Icons

We also have updated every icon in Elite Hoops to be fully compatible with Dark Mode and tint colors. Make your Home Screen go as hard your game does:

Completely Redesigned Toolbar on iPad

Elite Hoops has a lot of power and features. Admittedly, all of the buttons and toggles were a bit intimidating. So, we’ve completely redesigned the experience on iPad. Now, just tap on the “i” button on the top bar to open a panel offering quick access to all of the features you need:

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iOS 18 Centric Designs

Finally, we’ve polished up the app with a ton of iOS 18 niceties. Opening courts has a free-flowing “zoom” transition, you’ll find that icons animate as you toggle options, and more. We hope you enjoy all of these small touches - we believe they all add up to deliver a better experience.

Available with iOS 18

With these exciting new features, Elite Hoops for iOS 18 is set to revolutionize how you coach basketball. From lightning-fast play diagramming with Apple Pencil Pro to quick-access widgets and a sleek new design, we’ve optimized every aspect of the app to help you focus on what matters most - coaching your team to victory.

This update will be available for download on the App Store when iOS 18 launches this fall. Make sure your device is compatible with the new iOS version to enjoy these advanced features.

Stay tuned for more updates and get ready to elevate your game with Elite Hoops and iOS 18!

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Diagramming is here

“Can you add shapes and icons for cuts, dribbles, screens, cones — that kind of thing?”

This is the number one email I get from coaches. Now, I’m happy to announce play diagram icons are ready to go - Elite Hoops version 1.1.3 is available on the App Store now. Update right now, and you can make drills, plays or anything else with clear iconography so players can quickly pick up whatever concept you’re trying to teach.

Support for all actions

Each basketball move is represented using industry standard icons. That means you get the wavy line for dribbles, the line with a dash for screens and more. If you’re new to play diagramming, each icon is labeled for you too — so you can pick it up in no time:

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Jersey Power Ups

What’s important to show during a play? Is it the jersey number, the last name, the positional number of 1-5? The answer is that it’s different for each of you. Some coaches don’t need player names at all, they just want five players on the board. Others show situational plays for situational players, and then jersey numbers and names are paramount.

Now, you can tweak jerseys to only show what’s important to you:

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Stay Locked In

Want to quickly open a team? Need a motivational quote from some of the game’s greats on your Home Screen to keep you locked in? Just add our new widgets, and you can keep your team and players at the top of your mind, all the time.

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This is just the start, keep it locked here or download Elite Hoops from the App Store to start coaching easier today. We’ve got a lot more coming.

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Version 1.1.0 of Elite Hoops is available now, and it takes advantage of your iOS device like never before. Along with features such as widgets, shortcuts and more — now you can also add your team’s logo to share your team pride everywhere. Here’s a brief look at what’s new.

Widgets

There are several widgets in this version to help you get things done faster and keep your team mentally locked in:

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Basketball Quotes
We all know it’s a mental game, so the quote widget will cycle through motivational quotes from the game’s greats to help keep you and your team hungry. You can even tap on the arrow to cycle through different quotes:

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The best part? Tap on the widget to spruce up the quote, and share it as an image to your team, or on social media:

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Team Widget
As a coach, your team is never far from your thoughts. Now, you can get started on your next play design for them with the team widgets. Tapping on it will quickly open them up in Elite Hoops, ready to go.

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All widgets are available in the following places:

• Lock Screen
• Standby Mode
• Home Screen
• On iPad
• On Mac

Shortcuts

You can use Siri to open a team in Elite Hoops, get a basketball quote or add a player to a team. Either open up the Shortcuts app to get started, or in Elite Hoops go to Settings -> Widgets, Shortcuts & More to see how it (and several other features) work.

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Spotlight Search, Home Screen Quick Actions & More

In addition to all of that, we’ve packed this update with several quality of life fixes and additions. Tap and hold on the Elite Hoops icon from the Home Screen to open up teams quickly, or get a basketball quote. Search for your roster or team using Spotlight. There’s even more, but know that Elite Hoops is committed to not only being a great way to share plays, but also provide you with a sturdy, reliable and expertly-crafted iOS app.

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Team Logo

Finally, you can now add in your team’s logo. It’ll show up all over the place, too. On widgets, plays you share, images you make and more. Plus, if your logo doesn’t look quite right, maybe the background is a little off, you can use our in-app tools to remove the background and edit the logo.

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All of this is available now, go check it out and remember — you can reach out to Elite Hoops anytime with feedback.

Elite Hoops is the quickest way to record and share plays, defensive concepts, BLOB or SLOB sets or anything else basketball related. Coaches can make scouting reports, draw up drills for practice and more. Want to know how to get going quickly? You’re in the right place.

In fact, using Elite Hoops is so easy — we can explain it in three steps:

1. Create a team: Everything in Elite Hoops works around the teams you add. Each one can have its own roster, complete with your players, or coaches can simply use our quick add feature to add one player for each position. Or, you can use our demo team too — get started by using the dream team roster from 92’:

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1. Just hit record: Now, simply draw up whichever concept you need to explain. We’ll record the whiteboard and your audio. It’s just like being in the huddle with your players, anytime, anywhere:

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1. Share anywhere: Finally, share the recording as a video to any of the apps your organization uses. As long as video is accepted, it’ll work with Elite Hoops:

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This post is short and sweet because using Elite Hoops is that easy. If you know how to write on a whiteboard, then you already know how to use it. Of course, this is just scratching the surface. We’ve got a lot of tools to help coaches explain anything in the basketball world, from our zone overlays, inbounding mode and more.

Apple Vision Pro is a new device from Apple that will usher in a new era of how we interact with technology. It’s called spatial computing, and among its advantages are that you can use software that goes beyond the limitations of a physical screen. Today, Elite Hoops is amazing at creating plays on your iPad, mac or iPhone:

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Now, imagine being able to make the court the size of your living room. Or, creating plays on a canvas several times larger than the whiteboard hanging on your wall at your facility. What if you could zoom into details more precisely than you ever could before?

All of that and more is what Elite Hoops on Vision Pro will do:

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We’re proud to be the first basketball play making software available for Apple Vision Pro. Every single feature that coaches from all levels have come to rely on us for will be available on visionOS. Draw up your plays on a half or full court, use any court dimensions, use a full array of different markers and more:

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Managing your rosters will be easier than ever thanks to all of the screen real estate spatial computing gives us:

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And, of course, recording plays is a dream in Apple Vision Pro. It’s like you’re standing in front of the big whiteboard in front of your team, but so much better. As always, you can easily send plays to your players and coaching staff:

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We’re just getting started, too. Today, in a few short months since lauch, we’ve helped coaches share over 3,000 plays with their teams and coaching staff. We can’t wait to add to that number when coaches get their hands on Apple Vision Pro. Make no mistake, we will continue to innovate and invest in the spatial computing space - and as cliché as it sounds, this is just the beginning.

As a parent of three children in sports, I’ve had several of the “talks” after a game. Sometimes they’ve went well, and other times, not so much. But from those moments, I’ve also learned. Most of us just want the absolute best for our kids when it comes to sports. The reasons vary (scholarship opportunities, personal growth, etc), but to hit that mark - we’ve got to take how we communicate seriously.

Though it may not feel like it in the moment (especially after a “bad” game), how we communicate with our kids after the final whistle blows has far-reaching consequences.

Here are three things you can always say after the game to build your young athlete up.

1. “I Love Watching You Play”

This is a phrase I took directly from Greg Berge on X (you can read all of his tips on this same subject here). No matter how your young athlete plays, this is an ideal way to start any conversation. It’s something we should always tell our kids (especially at younger, developmental ages) - that we simply loved watching them compete. When we do, it instills in them everything that we’re wanting sports to give them in the first place:

• Confidence
• Gratification
• Motivation

For many kids, their love of the game came directly from you, the parent. You taught it to them, exposed them to it and they’ve likely taken to it much the same way you did. Because of that, they really care what you think about how they did. There are no critiques in this statement, only the backing of the person whose opinion they care about most – you.

2. Acknowledge Their Performance (Good or Bad!)

After the game, your kid probably is already aware of they performed. If they had good game, they’ll know it. They come off the court racing up to you with a big smile on their face. These moments are great, celebrate them!

However, every single athlete on earth has a bad game. Or hey, even bad stretches of games! Nobody is immune to that, and it’s one thing that, oddly enough, makes sports so wonderful. So, walk through these lessons with your athlete.

If they played great - let them know! Reinforce the things that went well. I try to call out a particular play that I know they were proud of:

• “I saw that pass you made when your teammate cut, great court vision!”
• “We’ve been working so hard on finishing with your left, way to hit it in game.”

This lets them see the value of the work they put it, which is a wonderful lesson to learn early. As parents, we want to encourage our kids no matter the outcome of their games, but we also want to show them that things don’t come free - the more work you put in, the better you get. There is a balance here that’s often difficult to find, but after a particularly good game? That’s an ideal time to show them the value of their hard work and practice.

If they had a rough game, be a parent - not a coach. Kids are all different, and some respond to a poor outing with anger, others may be embarrassed, while others are simply discouraged. In many cases, their core fear is that they let you down.

In these moments, hear them out first before you start talking. Try to correlate their experience with one you’ve had, or maybe a similar situation their favorite athlete has experienced:

• “I know what you mean, I had a game once where I had so many turnovers - it was a tough night!”
• “You know, Steph Curry has games where his shot is off too. Everybody has a night like that.”

By letting your athlete know that it’s normal to have off nights, you’re instilling in them a “next play” mentality without even knowing it! Miss a play, make a play - right? There will be another game, which is another chance to improve. Hang their hat on that.

Remember, one good game doesn’t mean they are the best baller in town. By the same token, one bad game doesn’t mean they are awful at the sport. It’s a body of work that shows where they are really at, developmentally, so remind them of it.

When they’re young, you want them to love the game more than anything. The rough nights and games will happen, no doubt. So guide them through it, and let them know you are in it with them. Let the love of the game grow, don’t stunt it by being overly critical when they are already down.

3. Switch Your “Buts” with “Ands”

In the end, maybe they are in the mood to chat about the game. If they are, be sure to switch your “but” with “and”. This helps you boost what went right while helping them correct what went wrong. Check out the difference in these two statements:

• “I thought you played great defense, but we need to do better switching off of screens.”
• “I thought you played great defense, and if you switch off of screens - you’ll get even more stops.”

The first statement dampens what they did well by immediately pointing out what they did poorly. The last statement lets them know what they did well, while also showing them how they can improve their skills even more - without taking away from what went right.

But notice that this is the first time I’ve mentioned talking about the game. Try not to start here, instead - lead with the first two tips above. Then, once they are in a good head space to hear your feedback - simply use the word “and” when pointing things instead of “but”. This helps them be cognizant about their wins while also facing up what they should improve.

Wrapping Up

Every parent wants their kids to excel. While there are outliers out there, who simply disparage and criticize their kids no matter the outcome, most of us just want to do right by them. Sometimes, we get it wrong. The competitive juices start flowing, you only notice the mistakes they’ve made - whatever the case may be.

In those times, remember to play the long game! You may think you’ve always got to “push” them to raise a great athlete, but we forget about the stages of development. You can teach them that hard work and practice are essential to succeed in sports while also building them up no matter how they perform. A good mental game will carry them far.

After all, the time will come when they are older - where it gets real. It’ll get hard. But, if we’ve raised them to love the game, have taught them how to navigate the highs and lows - we are setting them up the best we can to have an impactful athletic career.

It’s easy to forget that youth basketball players are learning so much about the game all the time. Things that are obvious to us may be new to them.

Same goes for out of bounds plays.

Today, we’ll show you a super simple one that you can use to set up your bigs for an easy bucket. We call it the “center stack”, but it follows the classic stack setup. Check out the video above for an in-depth look.

The goal of this BLOB set is to get your center a layup. We do this by clearing out the middle, and letting your big roll in.

Here’s a step-by-step overview:

Setup

1. Have your team line up in the stack set (i.e. all in a straight line).
2. Put your two quicker guards in the first and second spot.
3. Have your big be in the third spot.
4. Have the remaining player take the last spot.
5. Be sure to choose your best passer to inbound the ball.

Execution

1. The first guard goes out left to the three point line.
2. At the same time, the second guard goes right to the other side of lane.
3. Once the guards clear out, your big goes down to the block for their look.
4. The last player is your emergency outlet. We usually send them out to the three point line above them.

A lot of times, youth basketball players may not be ready to tee up from the three point line. Their bodies aren’t quite strong enough to use the correct shooting form to get it there without chucking it.

However, there are exceptions.

If you’ve got a player that can properly pull up from three point range, and is also skilled at driving in, here’s a baseline out of bounds play you can use to get them either one of those looks.

Here’s a step-by-step overview:

Setup

1. Your shooter lines up on the bottom of the lane, opposite of where the inbound player is.
2. Have a big line up across from them on the bottom of the lane, right in front of the inbound player.
3. Have your two remaining players line up at the top of the lane on the left and right side.
4. Be sure to choose your best passer to inbound the ball.

Execution

1. The two players on the same side of the inbound player set screens for the players next to them.
2. Your shooter will wait for the screen, and go out to the three point line. This is the main look.
3. If it’s not there, look for the player above him or her, who will do the same thing.