Mailbag - Questions, Feedback, Reviews, and Comments
In today’s mailbag, we cover...
- Is the Elite Guard Camp too advanced for my child?
- A question on ball sizes and rim heights for youth basketball players.
Is the Elite Guard Camp too advanced for my child?
Joe Haefner’s Response:
If your child has played for a few years, tends to practice & play basketball by choice, and you can tell is serious about getting better, then this is definitely the right camp for you.
We separate players by skill level, so they are challenged appropriately. That way, 16 & 17 year olds can compete against each other and 13 & 14 year olds can compete against each other.
If you are wondering why we call it the “Elite” Guard Camp… it is a little unique as it is for serious athletes. Athletes that want to study film and learn skills and moves that make the pros successful. Athletes that want to apply what they learn at the camp and work on it at home. If you want to just play games, this camp is not for you.
We don’t truly believe that ANY high school player is “elite”.
However, we want to teach you the habits that the elite players possess. And we want to teach you the skills and drills that will help get you to the elite level.
We recently put together a video that explains the camp in more depth. You can view the video and the camp schedule here.
A question on ball sizes and rim heights for youth basketball players.
On this article, we got this question from Cory:
I run our youth development clinics etc in Thunder Bay On. Canada, and I am a PE teacher/ coach at the high school level.
Canada basketball has rules adopted from FIBA that recommend smaller balls (size 5 and 6) for players leading up to grade 9. I strongly believe that it is important to lower the hoops and use a smaller/ lighter ball to teach most skills until grade 9.
We play a lot in Minnesota where they insist on using a size 7 ball in grade 6. I think this is ridiculous and I can't seem to find where USA basketball says to do this.
Thoughts?
Joe Haefner’s Response:
Cory, I’m with you. Basketball is one of the few sports where the game is not modified for youth participants.
We use rules and regulations that were developed for adults.
You don’t see baseball coaches making players use 30 ounce bats because that’s something they might do when they’re older. But we have our young athletes shoot with basketballs that are practically as big as they are.
You don’t see soccer coaches teaching 11 v 11 to eight and nine year olds. Yet we play 5 on 5 full court with college rules with 8 year olds?
In this video, Bob Bigelow does a great job of demonstrating what it would be like for an adult to play this way.
This article has recommended ball sizes for certain age groups. This article has recommendations for rim heights for certain age groups.
Thanks,
Joe Haefner
Jeff Haefner |
