Comments on: Could 3 on 3 Basketball Be the Best for Youth Players?

By: Trevor

Trevor — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 02:38:30 +0000

I believe that that 3 on 3 is the way to go for youngsters. They really have to work on man-to-man defense, individual ball handling and passing skills in a tight environment. When your beat you are exposed in a man-to-man. Once you learn the man defense the zone is an easy pickup not so the other way around.

By: carol russell

carol russell — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 19:49:34 +0000

I like the concept and ur thoughts they r great i will start using them but i also fill that students need to b challenged the more they r thought something @ an early age the more it grows on them kids remember things better n their early age an it will stick to them longer than it would n their older age u have to cause the student to learn, a good listener is a good learner

By: Cameron W.

Cameron W. — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 01:52:02 +0000

I’ve been using this technique for the past two seasons and its one of the best ways I’ve come across that helps build players skills with so little time and practices. I try to use it at the end of every practice.

By: bob losser

bob losser — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 23:25:08 +0000

I have been in a few three on three turniments. They are great! there is alot of turniments to go to. For palyers they get alot of playing time and we learn to pass the ball around alot better than in 5-on-5. In 5on5 there are kids who dont know how to play. I think that if you should try it if u havent.

By: Ognacho

Ognacho — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:46:06 +0000

I am coaching 5 and 6 year old kids that have been introduced to B-ball by dad’s brothers, uncle etc. some have pickup up bad habit. They throw not shoot the ball. Frist of all you need the right size ball for younger kids. All player should have a ball. I start with dribbling by having them knee. The ball does have a long way to travel. Once they get the hang of this I have them look at me and call out how many fingers I have up. After this I have them stand and dribble in place and do the finger thing. I do drills, which I name. So if I say Chicago they set up for the drill. This makes things go faster. Before I forget on my frist practice I set down rules and give each a drawing of the court. We walk to the key, side lines etc. Again this makes things easier. In between drills I do fun stuff such as tag while dribblng the ball. You have to have fun stuff because drills can get boring at that age. By the forth week I start them playing one-on-one. I break up the team and use both baskets on each end of the half court. I never run full court at this age. I then do two-on two and finally 3-on-3. DON;T DO 5-ON-5. Be patience kids are going to double dribble, run with the ball etc. make corrections on the run. Forget about soft fouls and do not stop play or keep it to a minimum. Let the kids have fun. Do stress doing drills correctly. Once again patience. patience patience.

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:33:10 +0000

I utilize the 3 on 3 or 4 on 4 concept in the middle of almost everyone of my practices. Instead of the traditional 1/2 court setting, we play 3 on 3 on 3 (or 4 on 4 on 4) continuous full court. It is a great way to teach the kids solid man to man concepts, offensive concepts in the 1/2 court and full court transition situations. If the defense stops the offense they take it and go in transition against the other 3 waiting for them at the other end. If your team advances enough, you can even have them add full court pressure after a steal or a make. It is a great way to condition also while not having anyone standing around.

By: Daniel Freeman

Daniel Freeman — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 19:09:19 +0000

I had been reading about 3 on 3 basketball at the high school level with regard to practicing. i have suggested 3 on 3 side court games with one ref for eac game and maybe different sounding whistles. i had suggested that the players be given a sub no.If you have 10 players number them1-10 and play for a set time. There will be degree of unfairness at time. i am talking about the aage groups under 10 but there needs to be a nother way of getting more and better participation for the players. When I taught basketball in my jr high school classes, we played in one half of the court at three baskets. We used the game clock with running time. You could bounce the ball 3 times when dribbling. After 3 passes youi had to shoot in order to avoid show boating and trying to freeze the ball. When I think back about it, I realize that I should have gooten more imput from the students. Our running time was 3 minutes and the classes were an hour long. I have quite a feww dvd,s on lower level or youth basketball. I found some things that I thought could hvae been presented in a better manner. I did not think that any of them were as good as they could have been. Yours in basketball. I am 80 years of age this coming March but I don’t coach any more even though I would like to.. In my opinion qat the middle school level the teaching is almost non existent. There are girls on the varsity level who cannot even pivot. I could go on and on but this ennnnough.

By: Ronnie

Ronnie — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:36:35 +0000

I agree with the 3 on 3 idea. I grew up on it. I coach 5-6 year olds and I’ve gone away from the 3 on 3 idea. 5 on 5 with kids this age becomes a mess. Thanks for the refresher.

By: Scott C

Scott C — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:11:40 +0000

Im coaching my sons 3rd-4th grade team, this is only my 2nd year coaching and I have limited knowledge of the game so it is a huge learning experience for me as well. After reading every thing I can find on this site (huge help THANK YOU) we started doing the 3 on 3 for about half the practice, my ability to learn set plays and try to teach them has not worked out that well, partly due to my lack of knowledge and partly because we only have 9 players (usually only 7-8 make practice all the time) so it is hard to set up and run with not enough players. Playing 3 on 3 with a time limit of 60 seconds and the stipulation that every player on offense needs to touch the ball be for a shot can be taken, keeps the kids rotating threw at a very fast pace (no time to get bored and goof off) after only 3 practices trying this method it has greatly improved their passing skills as well as defending. IMO it is the best way to simulate real game time with limited space (half court) and limited time. Now that they have the routine down I am going to start adding to it with things like some one has to set at least 1 good screen before you can take a shot. So far I LIKE the idea!

By: Jon B.

Jon B. — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:16:22 +0000

I’ve been coaching my sons team for 7 seasons now. currently 13u.
3 on 3 has been the best way to improve all of my players game. We run 3 on 3 scrimages at the end of each practice. Not only do the kids love it, but I’ve found it to be a great way to help the less experienced players get more touches and become more acustomed to the fast pace of a real game. It can be played to preference defense or offense, depending how we keep score. It’s been a great way to teach my players how to “man up”, the importance of spacing, cutting, fakes, screening, etc.. We switch up from full play and “pass only play”. Great article, totaly agree.