For my second teaching experience, I taught 5-7 year old boys basketball skills. Due to their level of motor development, I knew that skills would not be perfect, but they were excited to learn about the sport.

Set Up: I had each stand near a colored cone to help prevent them from moving around to different spots constantly. I had balls for each boy. The smallest boy, Zach, was five years old and the other two boys, Dillon and Peter, were seven. I knew he would not exhibit good dribbling skills yet, but I was curious as to what he would be able to do (and he was the little brother of one of the seven year olds, so he came along). Zach received a smaller sized ball so he could handle it better.

Lesson: First, I explained how the bouncing made a lot of noise, so we would sit on our balls as I explained what we were to do. I asked the boys questions about their current knowledge on dribbling and I showed them how to dribble (spread fingers; push the ball do not slap it; keep ball at waist level- never too high). We then practiced dribbling, trying to switch hands and dribble by alternating between both. Zach, as expected, did not exhibit the skills the other boys did, but he dribbled with two hands and I encouraged him to keep trying.

Next, we practiced passing. The first pass I taught was the bounce pass. Since we were already standing at our cones, it was an easy transition to partner play. I chose Zach as my partner and Dillon and Peter were to pass to each other. I first explained a bounce pass, which I felt was the easiest to control for this age group. I demonstrated how my hands were on the sides of the ball with fingers open. I held the ball at waist level. I then explained how the point of the pass was to get it to our teammate so he could make a basket, so we needed make sure to pass the ball so he could catch it. I then used Zach’s Darth Vader image on his shirt as a target for the ball and made the pass. We practiced with partners a few tines before switching to the chest pass. It was easy to demonstrate this since both were so similar in form. After practice of this pass, we switched to a round robin form and passed to each other in the square.

The next activity was to switch practice to a relay style, around a line of cones. It was a simple transition here, as well, and the boys played a little while I set up the cones. I then instructed that we were going to dribble around the cones and back, taking turns. As each boy returned to the line, I gave teaching tips, such as keeping the ball at waist level for control. Zach, however, refused to dribble. Since he was stronger at this point with passing, I said it was ok to skip the dribbling (why force him to do something he doesn’t want to, and is not ready, to do?), but he could help us with passing later on. I had the other boys perform the relay one more time. The rest of the lesson included dribbling/passing practice with Zach receiving and throwing some of the passes after the boys dribbled down the court and back. Finally, I ended the lesson with the boys trying to shoot baskets for fun, in any style.

While the boys did not exhibit perfect basketball skills (neither did I), I felt, at their level of development, they did very well. Plus, they were very willing to keep trying and I think we all had fun.