they were told at the start of the season that they wouldnt win a game but defied that to come 4th and have a hellavalot fun along the way.

We played man to man because they were the rules of the comp but i believe in man2man early on then zone later.. yes it maybe hard to learn - take the time, keep it fun and simple as possible and you will see results

good luck coaches!!

james

With wins and losses, I believe there should be a focus on winning and losing at grade 6. Not a huge emphasis, but at the same time, if these kids don’t start to understand the winning and losing aspects I find it hurts them when they get into playing junior b ball because the first 3/4 of the season they are more worried about their amount of playing time whether the team wins or loses as opposed to getting better or working harder in practise to get more floor time to help the team win.
There is a reason why there is a provincial tournament at the Junior A level and it is because winning matters. You continue to develop in practise so you can ultimately win on the floor and in everyday life.
For the schools such as the Juior High I coach at, for Junior A ball we have kids on the team from grade 8 to grade 10 because we are not a big enough school to only have grade 10s on the team so the lack of understanding at a grade 8 level from both players and parents can cause challenges for the team.

That’s a tough one. You could always teach the man to man defense that you want them to learn in practice. Then, to get them to understand how they would want to play match up zone, run this overload drill: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/drills/basketball-overload-defense-drill.html

1. At the younger ages, man to man defense is very difficult because the athletes are focused on the ball and “spacing (ie-man/ball relationship)” is almost impossible to teach. In fact, most of the kids will simply chase the ball if given the opportunity.
2. At the younger ages (or until the ball moves faster than the players can run), kids readily understand shapes and have difficulty with the “regular” nomenclature (ie- 122, 212, 131, etc).
3. As an alternative, we have found that kids can play a “square” (box and one) and/or a “triangle” (triangle and two) very well.

In the “square”, one player always plays the best player on the other team and the other four players form a square inside the key (as the coach, I have a sign with a square on it to designate).

In the “triangle”, one player always plays the best player on the other team, another player always plays the ball (which leads to fantastic double teams on the ball when received by the best player on the opposing team) and the other three players form a triangle inside the key. You can play the triangle with the base toward the basket with two big people and inverted (base toward the foul line) with one big person (as the coach, I have a sign with a triangle on it to designate).

Generally, we have found that the better players understand the zone and those players new to basketball readily understand the “and one” or the “and two” concept of the box and triangle, respectively.

It has truly allowed all the players to feel like they are participating during the game (ie-what a responsibility to guard the ball and/or best player on the other team).

Meanwhile, the more advanced players in the box or triangle can be taught the nuances of spacing/boxing out/etc. As they get older, we put in a modified “line” where two people (usually the better players) “stack and cheat” in the lane (since they now understand spacing) and the other three players play man2man on the opposing top three players.

Since the better players are playing the zone, we can readily switch “on the fly” to man2man.

Thank you for including this article. Many of things you mentioned, I experienced firsthand. When I arrived in Kuwait, we had young men who couldn’t take three dribbles without kicking the ball off their feet. Fundamentals was a foriegn concept to many them. Yet in still, we faced Embassy schools who that although they weren’t exactly talented, benefitted from everyone elses inexperience. These schools would beat us unmercifully, often pressing us from the opening tip, until the final buzzer. Our staff decided then, that we were going to take our lumps early in hopes that perserverence will lead to later success. That success came nine years later with our first National Kuwait Championship. Two of things we stressed was a system that concentrated on strict man to man principles and a sound offense. From that point on, we have had great success. We also realized that many of the schools we faced, really haven’t progressed past the gimicky offenses and defenses that they were able to employ when our teams were inexperienced. I know I’ve written much, but I wholeheartedly endorse the concept of building a program that is built upon fundamentals and patience.

I subscribe to the site. But I wanted to thank you again for providing such valuable info. I’m new in the coaching ranks, steering my son’s 4th and 5th grade BB and I have many questions like these and a large learning curve of my own and this site gives me great guidance. Thank you!