ISO advice regarding ball-hog on 7th grade girls rec b-ball team

[Anonymous]

I’ve coached about 12 seasons on rec basketball and come across this several times. I address it. I talking to all the kids about making the smart basketball move, which means taking shots they can make, or passing when they can’t make a shot.

I’d remove this kid from being point guard, and I’d pull her aside and limit her range (tell her that I never want her to take a shot beyond certain points on the court). Perhaps the coach is already having these conversations.

1) your daughter should be talking on the court. When the point guard gets trapped in the corner, that means other players are open. Your daughter can help by calling out “Larla’s open”.
2) your daughter should talk to the coach.

[Anonymous]

There wss a drill my child's team did (good coach) where they would scrimmage/ practice with the rule that you had to make 3 passes before anyone could take a shot. It was intended to get the entire offense involved & moving, to look to pass / get pass for open shots.
Kids loved it (it was fun) and they improved because of this drill.
Your daughter can ask if they can do.

[Anonymous]

Your daughter should focus on getting rebounds and creating her own shot.

If your daughter gets good at crashing the offensive glass and making putbacks, she can probably get 4-8 points a game. If she’s not boxed out, she should make offensive rebounds/putbacks on free throws. From there, she can start bringing the ball down after getting a defensive rebound, then working on getting steals and scoring in transition. On a rec team there should be a lot of opportunity for stealing bad passes.

It’s a really good skill for any player to be able to create for themselves. Basketball is a team sport, but when your kid goes to tryouts or a showcase or all star game, the other kids will all try to play hero ball to show off their skills. However, a player’s effort in rebounding and stealing bad passes is always within their control and doesn’t depend on teammates, and the player can get shots by getting steals and rebounds.

Also, once she becomes a more aggressive rebounder and defender, she’ll get the ball more because other kids will assume she’s a good player.

[Anonymous]

It’s rec and these are volunteers. I’m glad you aren’t saying anything and your daughter asking to play a different position is a good idea. But be prepared that nothing may change. We have been through many many rec seasons and some coaches ignore this, some deal with it. The best you can do is volunteer to coach next year.

[Anonymous]

Or…she and the other players can start aggressively asking for the ball. If, as you say, this girl is jacking up shot after shot, it’s fine for the girls to give her some feedback.

[Anonymous]

My advice is land the helicopter op
Parents interfering in kids sports is way worse than any single kids behavior
The kids are literally there to learn how to interact
They will step up eventually
The whole point is for them to learn how to handle these situations

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:. But I'm not the coach

And there is the rub. If you want to do something about it, you should coach.

[Anonymous]

Nahhh---I've been on teams with players like this and it's beyond infuriating for the team. It's a coach problem and I'd have no problem speaking up. This isn't a one girl show.

[Anonymous]

Also, this is 7th graders not 7 year olds. A group of 11-13 year old girls should be able to organize and tell the coach or push back against the ball hog.

[Anonymous]

Unacceptable and the coach should fix it. Been there and it made the season miserable. That's why we stopped doing rec ball.