Sports
Coach Keith Pits 3 on 3
50 young basketball players work on their skills, meet new friends and play pick-up basketball.
More kids are sweating out on the blacktop thanks to a free basketball program offered by youth basketball coach Keith Smith.
Saturday morning at the Green Acres Elementary School outdoor courts, Keith and other local coaches held a free three-on-three basketball play day for youth in the community. 50 kids between the ages of 7 and 14 showed up to meet other aspiring ball players, learn new skills, and most importantly, work on their game.
Karen Bixler and the Fairfax City Parks and Recreation Department helped Keith spread the word about the event to get more kids and parents involved.
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Fairfax High School Girls Head Varsity Basketball coach Marcus Konde came out to the event and spoke with the kids about basketball, giving them a high school coaches’ view of what it takes to make it to the varsity level.
“Last year Barry Thompson, who is also the FPYC football commissioner, asked me to come help him coach his summer basketball team,” said Keith. “I already had a website promoting coaching ideas for other coaches, and he said well why don’t we create a camp. So we created an eight week course, helping kids work on foot work and agility and other aspects of youth basketball."
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Keith created BestYouthHoops.com several years ago after first becoming a youth basketball coach for FPYC.
“When I started youth coaching I didn’t know where to go to look for coaching tips, I did it because I was a parent and someone asked me to,” he said. “I had to go online and search all over the place and put stuff together. So I said if I’m doing this and I watch basketball all the time, I wonder how many other people are wondering the same thing.”
The site offers tips on how to build skills for young ball players. It has videos, blog posts and audio from youth and high school basketball coaches like Konde.
Keith plans to hold another similar three-on-three day event later in the summer.
For more information on how to get your kid’s dribbling, passing and shooting skills better, log on to Keith’s website and check out the Best Youth Hoops Facebook page.
