newbie for basketball at 3rd grader

[Anonymous]

3rd grader boy is a soccer kid. Out of curiosity, he wants to give basketball a try. He barely has touched basketball, except a few times playing with DH. He probably does not know much about basketball rules, dribbles etc. During school playground time, some boys play basketball and he is too shy to join because he lack skills. I am pushing him to join a rec 3rd grader boy basketball for the winter, please share what we could prepare him before the season starts in January which is almost 3 months away. I don't want him to be embarrassed when the season starts. My brother plays basketball for 10 plus years, and I could have asked him for help. I have talked to him already, and he tells me to let him know what he could do. He has never taught kids to play basketball.

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

I coached rec for years and the kids coming from soccer often dud quite well. The ball movement skills and court spacing translate well.

Their weakness would always be dribbling. Forgetting to dribble when driving to the basket. Picking up the dribble and then dribbling again and getting called for the double dribble.

My advice is to have your brother shoot around and just play with him, but don’t ignore travels and double dribbles.

[Anonymous]

At the 3rd grader level, practice dribbling and layups.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for advices above. Is basketball more difficult to learn & play well than playing soccer? He has low energy level, and I sometimes see him looking tired while running around on the soccer field during the game. I wonder if it would be more tiring or better on basketball court?

[Anonymous]

Basketball is heavily skilled-based on offense. For defense, if you have a good motor, you can be impactful.

[Anonymous]

Different poster but it might depend on the coach and league.

When I coached my kid's team, the teams that did well in the league were good at fast breaks and that's what I emphasized on my teams, which I had some parents take issues with. But sometimes the game does need to be slowed down too, with players setting up on half court and then making short bursts/cuts.

Then when the other team gets the ball, players need to run back to their side of the court to set up on defense. This is especially for the younger age groups where they don't allow full court presses for the majority of the game, so the team needs to run back and set up their half court defense.

It's kind of surprising that your kid is low energy because I tend to think of soccer players as being really athletic with good conditioning and is why I like my kids playing soccer.

I've also had a really athletic soccer player trying basketball for the first time. It was kind of funny how ugly/funny their shooting form was when they started off the season and there were a lot of rules that had to be explained to them. But there was no doubt to their athletic ability and they didn't look too bad towards the end of the season, where I think it was obvious that they worked on things at home.

So to answer your question, I'm not exactly sure how to compare the intensity to soccer. It might be shorter distances with faster spurts if you compare the two. I know for our family soccer is great conditioning in the fall for my kids to transition to basketball in the winter.

Then I think your kid can learn the skills needed, especially if they work on it at home.

[Anonymous]

My soccer player also does basketball. As a PP noted the ball movement, spacing, and defense do carry over. Ball handling and shooting do not and that is where I see my child needs work. The hand/eye coordination is just not as developed in a kid who spends most of their time playing soccer compared to a kid who spends that same amount of time on basketball.

Third grade is young, so a lot of kids are still very much developing their skills. I recommend looking up dribbling and ball handling drills online, and having your son practice them for a few minutes most days. They can practice layups and jump shots too, but they should spend more time on ball handling. If they sign up for rec they will learn the rules of the game and get plenty of practice shooting. But developing good ball control will really help him more than anything right now.

As for your question about getting tired, my younger child also plays soccer and tends to get tired running around a lot. In basketball that doesn't happen. They seem to be able to "stay in the game" the whole time probably because they aren't covering nearly the same distance as soccer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
As for your question about getting tired, my younger child also plays soccer and tends to get tired running around a lot. In basketball that doesn't happen. They seem to be able to "stay in the game" the whole time probably because they aren't covering nearly the same distance as soccer.

We were doing travel soccer before we did basketball for my daughter. Travel basketball doesn't start until later. My daughter got in good shape playing soccer, but I was somewhat disappointed in that it didn't seem to condition players nearly as much as I expected. Basketball she gets much more running and higher intensity cardio jumping. In organized travel soccer there was a bunch of standing theory, learning to cover the field. OK now the ball is coming to now run! kick now rest...

Soccer has a reputation for conditioning, which is why I was surprised...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
As for your question about getting tired, my younger child also plays soccer and tends to get tired running around a lot. In basketball that doesn't happen. They seem to be able to "stay in the game" the whole time probably because they aren't covering nearly the same distance as soccer.

We were doing travel soccer before we did basketball for my daughter. Travel basketball doesn't start until later. My daughter got in good shape playing soccer, but I was somewhat disappointed in that it didn't seem to condition players nearly as much as I expected. Basketball she gets much more running and higher intensity cardio jumping. In organized travel soccer there was a bunch of standing theory, learning to cover the field. OK now the ball is coming to now run! kick now rest...

Soccer has a reputation for conditioning, which is why I was surprised...

I’m sure it depends on the age, team, playing time, and position. My oldest is playing 9v9 soccer in the midfield and basically never subbed out. Tons of running around. The coach is also big on conditioning so they do some running at each practice. It’s a lot of start and stop, but it adds up over a whole game.

To be clear, I don’t think my youngest isn’t capable of all the running in soccer. I think they just tend to give up more because it feels like it’s more work. Whereas in basketball they are “distracted” by the more constant action.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
As for your question about getting tired, my younger child also plays soccer and tends to get tired running around a lot. In basketball that doesn't happen. They seem to be able to "stay in the game" the whole time probably because they aren't covering nearly the same distance as soccer.

We were doing travel soccer before we did basketball for my daughter. Travel basketball doesn't start until later. My daughter got in good shape playing soccer, but I was somewhat disappointed in that it didn't seem to condition players nearly as much as I expected. Basketball she gets much more running and higher intensity cardio jumping. In organized travel soccer there was a bunch of standing theory, learning to cover the field. OK now the ball is coming to now run! kick now rest...

Soccer has a reputation for conditioning, which is why I was surprised...

I’m sure it depends on the age, team, playing time, and position. My oldest is playing 9v9 soccer in the midfield and basically never subbed out. Tons of running around. The coach is also big on conditioning so they do some running at each practice. It’s a lot of start and stop, but it adds up over a whole game.

To be clear, I don’t think my youngest isn’t capable of all the running in soccer. I think they just tend to give up more because it feels like it’s more work. Whereas in basketball they are “distracted” by the more constant action.

+1 the best soccer coaches my kids had emphasized running and a lot of the drills involved entire team full field ball movement and player running drills, this is in addition to timed laps around the field.

But this is also maybe at a higher age level where hopefully most players already understand the concept of ball movement and positioning on the field.

[Anonymous]

My youngest is in third grade and I can’t even imagine him being embarrassed about not being good at a sport he hasn’t played before. I think you are WAY overthinking this…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
As for your question about getting tired, my younger child also plays soccer and tends to get tired running around a lot. In basketball that doesn't happen. They seem to be able to "stay in the game" the whole time probably because they aren't covering nearly the same distance as soccer.

We were doing travel soccer before we did basketball for my daughter. Travel basketball doesn't start until later. My daughter got in good shape playing soccer, but I was somewhat disappointed in that it didn't seem to condition players nearly as much as I expected. Basketball she gets much more running and higher intensity cardio jumping. In organized travel soccer there was a bunch of standing theory, learning to cover the field. OK now the ball is coming to now run! kick now rest...

Soccer has a reputation for conditioning, which is why I was surprised...

I’m sure it depends on the age, team, playing time, and position. My oldest is playing 9v9 soccer in the midfield and basically never subbed out. Tons of running around. The coach is also big on conditioning so they do some running at each practice. It’s a lot of start and stop, but it adds up over a whole game.

To be clear, I don’t think my youngest isn’t capable of all the running in soccer. I think they just tend to give up more because it feels like it’s more work. Whereas in basketball they are “distracted” by the more constant action.

It is constant running but it's more at pace the plays develop slower, but that is just in the game. In the practices there were lots of standing. I think that was the coaches' style though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My youngest is in third grade and I can’t even imagine him being embarrassed about not being good at a sport he hasn’t played before. I think you are WAY overthinking this…

I’m 57, and I still clearly remember being mortified as a second grader when my parents signed me up for rec basketball despite me knowing nothing about the game. I got called for traveling every time I touched the ball and had no idea how to dribble.