In a prior post Youth Offense - This "Dribble Adjustment" Led To Big Offensive Improvements, I got a comment below.

It touches on a bunch of important youth basketball topics and common issues.

It took me longer than I hoped originally to answer due to the Holidays and the 2024 camp launch!

But here it is...

Comment from Alejandro:

This is great and seems to align with a lot of what Brian McCormick espouses in Blitz Basketball and SABA, but I am still struggling with how you TEACH this to 8-12 year olds?

I've tried using an approach like this, but the offense descends into every kid taking turns playing 1 v 5. It also has limited effectiveness when you start running into zone defenses.

It's extremely difficult in a relatively short rec league season to have the kind of patience you need to use this approach, because the learning curve bends so long that you really need either way more practice or a time frame that extends multiple seasons to see the results of this kind of approach.

Given that there's no guarantee I'll have the exact same group of kids from season to season (probably about 50-60% of them), it starts to feel like I'm just treading water.

I love and believe in the idea of teaching offense and offensive skills this way, but I'm struggling to find an effective way to teach it or to at least assure that the kids are learning something about how to play this way.

Help!

- Alejandro

My (Joe Haefner) Response:

Alejandro, I feel you! There is a lot to unpack here... but I'll do my best to address each thing in a concise manner. I'll organize the response by topic, so you can easily navigate topics as well...

First off and most importantly, I think you just need to accept the situation for what it is. And don't worry about all of the shortcomings. No need to stay frustrated.

Basketball is a late developing sport!

Steve Nash didn't start playing basketball until age 12 or 13 and he did fine. :)

Even if they don't develop at all, it's not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things. There are countless other examples of elite players not being good youth players or starting later even into their teenage years.

Make sure they have fun, teach some life lessons, do some skill development, and teach them basics of offense and defense.

If you do those things which it sounds like you are, you're doing great!

Find Age-Appropriate Leagues

Before I start sharing my thoughts, I'm a huge believer that these age groups should be playing 3v3...on lower hoops... with smaller balls. With that, all of these issues naturally take care of themselves.

And if you can't do that, find local leagues that create age-appropriate rules.

The only nationwide program that I'm aware of is Upward Sports. They don't allow double teaming and they enforce half-court man-to-man defense. While I'm not a huge fan of 5v5 at these ages, this is the next best option for me.

Youth Zone Defense

This is why I put my kids in the Upwards League. Preparing and playing against zone defenses is such a colossal waste of time before the age of 12.

Even if they understand WHAT to do in order to beat a zone defense, they physically can't execute it. They can't throw the ball over long distances and they can't shoot from long distances at a high percentage. The skill sets you need to beat a zone defense.

While not as bad before the age of 12, I still think it's a big waste of time at the middle school ages (12-14) too. I don't believe they should play zone before high school, but that's another discussion.

Personally, I wouldn't even put my kids in a youth league if I had to deal with zone defenses before the age of 11 or 12.

I'd find a local weekly skills training and just send them there for a few months a year.

Most importantly, the coach has to have the right demeanor with the kids!

If they're too serious too early, it can burn them out.

If there aren't any opportunities for this near you, do it yourself.

It's actually really simple. Find a group of 5-10 kids and set up a weekly time and date. Do a lot of skill drills, 1v1, 2v2 and 3v3 stuff.

Then when they're in 6th grade, start playing in leagues. The kids will do better against zone defenses because you spent time developing their ball handling, footwork, shooting, and passing... rather than wasting precious practice time preparing for a zone defense.

And if all else fails, explain your zone defense situation to the parents on the team.

Say this is why zone defense works and here's why we're not spending much time practicing against it. It's not age-appropriate and it hinders long-term development.

Last, I would plead with the youth league directors and use some authority figures to help persuade them.

USA Basketball and Jr. NBA put out guidelines for youth basketball that align with this.

You can reference Don Showalter. He's the USA Basketball youth coach director. He won 11 gold medals for USA Basketball.

Coach Showalter will tell you that young kids shouldn't be playing zone defense. USA Basketball even has recommendations stating that only man-to-man defense should be used prior to age 12.

Here's a more detailed explanation about the issues with zone defense at the youth level. You can use it to send to your parents and youth league administrators.

Also, it wouldn't be a bad idea to convince your parents and parents of other teams to email the youth league coordinators as well.

Why You Should Not Teach Zone Defense At the Youth Level?

I've also used this as a zone offense in the past since it can be adapted for any type of zone defense.

Brian McCormick and Blitz Basketball

It doesn't surprise me that my offensive approach aligns with Brian McCormick's Blitz Basketball. Even though I never read Blitz Basketball, I read his newsletters and some of his other books. He's innovative, thinks outside the box, and questions everything... which I love.

I also believe he's one of the pioneers when it comes to introducing topics like random practice, perception-action coupling, constraints-led approach, differential learning, and other skill acquisition topics to the basketball coaching world.

Almost everybody you see talking about this stuff really branched off of the work that Brian ignited in the basketball space.

Youth Offense - Players Playing 1v5 And How To Handle It

When it comes to 1v5, I experience the same thing. At these ages, players are not skilled ball handlers yet. So when you add a defender, the task becomes very difficult. And the player feels more stress. When the player feels stress, their vision literally narrows... AKA tunnel vision.

So many players can't process players around them.

From my experience, around age 12 is when you can start to do more offensively. So I would just be patient and accept it.

With that being said, developing adequate ball handling skill is the precursor to running an offense. It doesn't matter if they're 10 years old or 15 years old. It's very hard to run an offense if they haven't developed foundational skills that include ball handling, pivoting and footwork, and passing and catching.

To help continue to improve ball handling, I do plenty of 1v1 full court, 1v1 Foster Drill, and 1v1 Fast Break Attack.

Then I progress to 2v1, 2v2, 3v3 variations of each drill.

Patience With Short Rec Season - Lack of Continuity With Players Year to Year

Yeah. It can be difficult, but it really just comes to accepting the realities of the situation.

This year, due to the league protocols, I only had three players from last year's team.

I would advise to just keep plugging away.

Pick a few things and just focus on them each season. I focus on being aggressive and looking to attack off the catch. I could care less if they commit a hundred turnovers.

Then we constantly emphasize spacing, move to open space, pass and move, cut backdoor when your defender is near or at the 3-point line.

Defensively, I just tell them to move their feet and stay between the ball and the basket.

Defensively, off the ball, I tell them to use their pistols and points at both the ball handler and the player they're guarding.

It is U.G.L.Y. But that's the nature of youth basketball before the age of 12.

As said earlier, just make sure they're having fun, teach some life lessons, and develop some skills along the way!

REPLY with your comments below and let me know what you think!

Is this the right approach? Do you have other tips to better the youth basketball experience? Do you have other questions?

Let me know!

What do you think? Let us know by leaving your comments, suggestions, and questions...

Comments Most Likes First   Oldest First   Newest First Nick Heider says: 1/18/2024 at 5:27:02 AM Totally feel you on the zone defense. I coach 4th-6th grade in the Dominican Republic (FIBA Rules) so every single team we face plays a zone, and there is nothing we can do about it. WE see full court presses, 1-3-1 traps against fourth graders, and it makes the whole thing so sloppy. I've spent so much time working on man defense with the hopes of showing other coaches that solid halfcourt defense is a better option, but we still only see zone. For this reason, games are completely supplementary. My most important contact with my players is during pracice, nd that is where we make our improvements! Like     login   register

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