My son is playing middle school basketball (entering 6th grade) and for the most part, has only played zone defense. Although he is doing well, he is struggling a bit with court awareness, agility and adjusting to man to man (he's pretty tall - 5'5" and a bit uncoordinated) I'm looking for video's that teach fundamental defense, footwork and rebounding so that he can work on improving this summer. Do you have any suggestions?

If he has a chance for 2v2 or 3v3 this summer, I'd sign him up for those. Best way to learn and practice defense is in smaller settings like that. Playing 1v1 with friends also.

Couple of videos that might help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNrk4OupEaw
Nails it on the attitude for defense

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1mKlHF6TT0

I like this for defending the post, great tips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JvsNiOGG6I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt3PAdzMdtw

Thanks coach Rob.

The videos were really helpful and a week of playing 2x2 with a bit of contact everyday seems to be helping.

He's getting more aggressive which strangely enough seems to help all aspects of his game (including offense)

It's right around 6th grade that the need for more aggressiveness seems to become more apparent. The more 1v1, 2v2 and 3v3, the better. Harder to "hide" in those settings, more opportunities for the players to get after it.

Honestly, the best thing that helped my son at that age was playing against tougher competition. I was his coach, so I had control over the leagues/tourneys we played in which were usually kicked up a notch. Something starts to click in a kid when they bump up against more physicality on the court.

I just thought I would respond to this again. Took Coach Rob's advice and had my boy play myself 1x1 a couple days a week after some drills as well as scrimmaging with some of the local travel kids in the area once a week. Also, he was playing 1x1 with some neighborhood kids.

All of the sudden things clicked and defense and ball awareness have grown dramatically. Almost overnight. He's becoming aggressive, making steals, blocking shots and is not afraid of contact in the post area. Night and day difference in just a few months. Also, he doesn't appear to be thinking about decisions anymore, he's just doing them.

Thanks again for the help.

smlengeo -

That's great to hear! Appreciate you checking back in to let us know how things were going.