Basketball Fun & Games: 50 Skill-Building Activities for Children
Publisher: Human Kinetics, 2005
Description: Paperback, 139 pages, English
Price: $16.95
Author: Kevin A. Prusak

Reviewer: Geoff Davison, Lyndon State College (geoffrey.davison@lsc.vsc.edu)

How many times have you observed seasoned or newly qualified teachers trotting out the same old closed-skill tasks / drills, which bear little relationship to the dynamic and open-skill nature of the actual game in question? Authenticity is lacking and boredom is high – where is the fun and excitement?

Kevin Prusak (an Assistant Professor at Brigham Young University) has compiled a wonderful collection of learning experiences designed to be flexible, challenging, and constantly engaging for our K-6 basketball classes and teams. As the title suggests, Prusak delivers focused, purposeful, skill-building basketball activities, the majority of which require the briefest of introductions, and allow the teacher freedom to provide feedback, encouragement, and refinement of the students’ performances. I recommend adding this resource to your bookshelf – veterans will be rejuvenated (as will their classes!), and beginning teachers will be thrilled by the positive atmosphere they are creating and the positive feedback from their students.

In the Preface and Introduction, the author clearly and concisely establishes the motivational mantra of “activity, success, and enjoyment” (the underlying principles of all of the activities), and as I was considering each task, I could see the lessons in progress – full of purpose, practice, exercise, challenge, and fun. Consequently, I will use many of them this spring with my PETE skills class.

The six skill chapters each have a brief introduction and between 7-12 exercises related to “Warming Up,” “Ball Handling,” “Passing,” “Shooting,” “Multi-Skill Activities,” and “Tactics and Teamwork.” Each activity is headed by guidelines relating to time, national standards, and grade levels. Additionally, described under sub-headings, are objectives of the task, equipment needed, description (including some suggested dialogue), teaching tips, and variations. Diagrams and photographs serve to illustrate the activities where needed. The “Activity Finder” at the beginning of the book will assist teaching professionals in selecting lesson components according to specific skills or grade levels.

The real beauty of this book is the flexibility and authenticity of each activity, which allows the teacher freedom to focus on the skills and progressions appropriate for each of their classes, and still be able to challenge the full spectrum of abilities in the typical class. I say “Hats off to Professor Prusak!”

(read the product description at Human Kinetics)

Product Description
By using Basketball Fun & Games: 50 Skill-Building Activities for Children, you can • make learning basketball a positive experience for children, • choose from 50 activities and games to build skills and tactical understanding and work toward the national standards, • take the "kill" out of "drill" to put fun into learning what can be a complicated game, • quickly locate developmentally appropriate games for 5- to 12-year-old children.

Teachers, coaches, and recreation leaders who are looking to increase the effectiveness of their teaching while making learning enjoyable need look no further. Basketball Fun & Games: 50 Skill-Building Activities for Children contains age- and developmentally appropriate activities that are the antidote to the "same old, same old" drills that take the fun out of learning basketball and fitness skills. And these activities are more than just appropriate; they’re engaging and creative, and they leave participants eager to come back for more.

Basketball Fun & Games: 50 Skill-Building Activities for Children is a time saver for those looking for fun ways to improve participants’ skills and fitness. It offers clear instruction, equipment lists, and tested tips. Plus, you can quickly locate the games and activities you need by using the game finder.

What does all this mean? It means you can • use games and activities that are geared for specific developmental levels in children ages 5 to 12, • minimize prep time while providing top-notch instruction, • help kids strive to attain the National Standards for Physical Education, and • choose from a variety of activities to maintain interest while building basketball skills and tactical understanding.

Activities and games are presented for warming up, ball handling, passing, shooting, multiple skills, and tactics and teamwork. Each activity and game indicates which national standards it applies to. In addition, the games and activities use modified rules to teach specific tactics. The step-by-step instructions, written by a teacher-coach with more than 18 years of experience in teaching basketball fundamentals at the elementary level, are time tested and time saving.

The result is that you can focus on teaching and participants can focus on having fun—while learning and developing along the way.