Comments on: Great Story On What Youth Basketball Is All About

By: Bob Boone

Bob Boone — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 02:04:28 +0000

I know these posts are old, but I’m sorry dad, sometimes kids fail at things. We don’t want to admit that, but its true. Would the seasons spent doing that have been wasted if he didn’t score? No. He would have realized it wouldn’t be his career. Lets face it, the upward leagues are generally very homogeneous with respect to race, and the play is no where near as good as a normal city rec league. If he can’t score at that level in two years–he should quit. I can’t stand parents who try to twist everything around to make everything wonderful for their kids. Life is not like that. Sports imitate the real world. A better growing up experience would have been an un-manipulated failure. Take him jogging, or teach him tennis.

By: BRIAN T.

BRIAN T. — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:33:58 +0000

The story is a good one that I agree with everything that they did and stand for in the league. I have done the samething with other coaches or I can tell from the play on the court who is not the best on the other team and tell my players to adjust. I coach from kindergarten up to 6th grade. One thing that I have learned in over 15 years of coaching various level of kids that Alex has a point a little strong but a point non-the less. As a coach I have been able to see things on the court that the players don’t see and I tell my players about that at halftime or at the end of game. I try to point out other aspects of the game. Stopping an opposing team from scoring or stealing the ball with good defense. I do not glory the kids on scoring. I feel successful as a coach when 8 or 9 out of 10 total on the team scored in a game. This shows two things 1. that the kids are not selfish and 2. that they work the ball around the court to get the best opportunity to score. Which is very hard thing to teach at this age level but can be done over time.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:55:11 +0000

We left Upward at a very early age. First of all I am a Christian and the reason I say this is because Upward is organized through the Southern Baptist Convention as a outreach Ministry to kids. That was my attraction when my son was in kindergarten and first grade. But after that he he started to attend camps and I coach so he became very aggressive in a basketball since and it was causing problems with parents and Upward and rules are rules (no pressing or guarding in the backcourt etc.) It’s a great program for rec purposes but if you have that really aggressive athletic child after 2nd grade Upward would not be for him. But the story is great. Upward has no Championships just Champions and that’s all the kids that participate.

By: Steven W.

Steven W. — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:36:00 +0000

I understand Alex’s point, but his response is inapplicable to the situation. While it is true that coaches, in any type of league, should discourage children from the attitude of “if I can’t score, I can’t play”, I take that to mean “if I can’t score regularly, I can’t play”.
The notion that anyone could expect that any child, in any type of league, but especially a REC type league, would possibly enjoy playing in that league without scoring AT ALL - EVER - is unrealistic. All Mr. Haefner tried to do was to get his child and the other two children to have at least one basket. This could hardly conflict with the concept that teamwork requires different players to have different responsibilities.
The primary purpose of a rec league is for the kids to have fun playing basketball. It is not school. It is play. It is not a developmental league. Through play, children get exercise and learn various social skills, including the value of teamwork. Yes, the value of teamwork means that not everyone get to score regularly, but when the emphasis on teamwork results in a child not scoring AT ALL, that is the tail wagging the dog. No normal kid is going to have fun under those circumstances, and the system will have failed that child.

By: Dale W

Dale W — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:03:38 +0000

Great story! The thing the kids will remember is their 1st basket. All kids want to score, and it’s very important for coaches at this level to help the kids get some confidance. It is a great example for a coach to set a small goal for the team and have it reached. That is a very valuble life lesson. We have to teach way more than basketball.

I had a similar situation a couple of years ago in our final game we got 1 of our kids to score, and worked hard to make sure an opposing player scored. When they did finally score, the cheering was incredible.

By: Peter Voltz

Peter Voltz — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:17:25 +0000

I would have to agree with Alex, it’s a terrible story.
Why do we need to “baby” 11/12 tear olds. I now refuse to tell the children I coach to have fun playing basketball. Instead I tell them need to learn to enjoy the hard work of training that will help them improve so they can enjoy playing basketball. I also try to help them understand that it is better to help their team mates score then thinking they need to score to be important on the team.
As coaches we also need to help young players set goals so they will see the need to put in the necessary training so they can continually improve and become the best they can possibly be.
While coaches and parents keep on bring things down to the lowest possible level and simply focus on the “fun factor” young players will not reach their full potential as players and human beings.

By: Joe Haefner

Joe Haefner — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:36:45 +0000

Great thoughts, guys! Thank you.

By: Dave Gillem

Dave Gillem — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:08:01 +0000

I think this is an awesome story!! And while I agree with Alex that the focus shouldn’t be on points, thats the coaches perspective. I don’t care how many times you tell a kid the score doesn’t matter, don’t worry about who scores, at the end of the day every kid can tell you what the score was and how many points they scored, regardless of what the coach said. What I like so much about this story is what the coach did was take the monkey off the back of the kid who had that self-imposed pressure clearly affecting his enjoyment of the game. All to often I think coaches loose sight or forget what it was like to be 11/12 years old, trying to fit in and find your place, and that can have such a huge impact on what I feel is the single most important thing we can give kids as a youth coach… confidence. Confidence in themselves, confidence in their team, and confidence in their coach that they have their best interest in mind. Soon enough they will be trying out for their school teams, playing for a coach who is paid to win, but at 11/12 it should still be about having fun and enjoying the game first and foremost.

@Alex, the other piece I think in your comment that I think coaches should do different is many times coaches design offenses and plays and schemes to get the ball in the hands of one or two players who “can score” and the other 3 players are there to “play their role”. While its important for every kid/player to know their role on the team I dont think who can/should score is a role. In effect what you get in that scenario is a couple kids who get really good at scoring and a bigger lot who are apprehensive to take an open shot because it’s “not their role”. Thats one of the reason I like the Read and React offense and similar offenses so much. They aren’t centered around one or two kids doing the scoring, everyone is live, everyone is taught to develop that instinct, everyone has the RIGHT to score.. it’s everyones role.

Anyway sorry to get off topic so much, but I just see so many coaches doing things that dont serve the good of these kids in the long run for the sake of winning. This is such a gift we have been given to be able to have an impact on these kids lives as coaches, we really should make sure we have each and every one of their long term best interest at heart, not just the final score.

Just my $0.02,
-Dave

By: dipsyjean

dipsyjean — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:02:15 +0000

Alex, Apparently you’re not familiar with Upward Bound - it’s all about having fun, giving all the kid’s fair play - being competitive is not taught. My child didn’t participate in this program but neighbor kids have.

I don’t think the story is a bad one - I think it has to do with having a heart and I think the coaches did the right thing. On the other hand, I do believe you’re right about actual competitive play in high school. There are the great scorer’s who are usually poor on defensive/offensive skills - they are there to score only - then you have the great players who’s whole purpose is to get the scorer the ball. Can’t do one without the other and in my eyes they are all important. Just because you put up a lot of points doesn’t make you the best player because the player always making the good plays and passing you the ball is usually just as good if not better than you.

Bottom line - basketball is a team sport and you can’t play with just one person - all skills are necessary.

By: Joe Haefner

Joe Haefner — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 13:17:49 +0000

I had a feeling somebody would look at it that way. I agree that coaches should emphasize and focus on other areas. Who says the coach didn’t?

But this is 5th/6th grade REC basketball! This isn’t mini-progressional basketball. You can focus on everything but scoring for 10 straight years and the kid is still going to want to score. It’s hard enough to get high school players to buy in, yet alone an 11 year old.

If you can find me one 6th grade rec player that played bball for 2 years and isn’t a little down that they never got a chance to score a point no matter what you emphasized, I’ll be amazed.

In life, the decision isn’t as always as simple as right or wrong. There is a little gray area and sometimes, rules need to be broken. I would back any coach that made this decision.

Also, that’s why so many experienced coaches have very few rules, because they don’t want to be backed into a corner.

I like what you’re saying. I just disagree in this situation.