This is an article that we’re reposting that was written by Tom Pittman in the year 2010. We think the message is great!
Sometimes we youth coaches watch professional basketball so much that we confuse that with what we do.
Professional basketball is mostly about winning — and it should be. After all, at that level, while basketball may still look like a game, in reality it is a business, and people’s livelihoods are affected by the wins and loses. Consequently, pro basketball coaches coach to win, and while it is a shame Adam Morrison barely got off the Lakers‘ bench last year en route to a championship, or the Utah Jazz let go of Sundiata Gaines, the hero of their victory over LeBron James last year, that’s the business of basketball. It’s about winning, and the players are just a means to an end.
But youth basketball is not about business, it’s about the kids.
Let me say that again because that is a huge difference between the basketball we watch on TV, and the basketball we coaches coach: youth basketball is not about the wins, it is about the kids.
Sure, winning is still the object of the game for youth basketball, but it isn’t the REASON for it.
And youth coaches who don’t get that remind me of the coach in the movie, The Karate Kid. And like the movie, these coaches tend to produce kids with warped values when it comes to sports. And unfortunately, there are enough people with warped values involved with sports that it confuses young athletes.
When coaching youth, it is important for youth coaches (and parents too for that matter) to remember that the meat and potatoes of youth basketball are the kids — building their skills, knowledge, confidence, and love of the game — and winning is gravy.
Don’t get me wrong, I love gravy, but gravy on its own without meat and potatoes is actually pretty gross.
And not very filling.
Yes, it’s all basketball, and winning is always the object of the game, but it’s not the object of the sport itself.
The different levels of basketball have different reasons to exist, reasons coaches need to accept that while it is all basketball, the different levels it is played at have different purposes.
- Youth basketball is about building skills, knowledge, confidence, and a love of the game in kids.
- High school basketball is about player development, including character development, team loyalty, representing your school, etc.
- College basketball is about the big dance. Just getting to the NCAA championship tournament is a legitimate accomplishment in college basketball, especially since there are great deal more college teams than the 30 teams the NBA has. And reaching the “Sweet 16,” “Elite Eight,” or “Final Four” is so legit, it actually goes on coaches’ and players’ resumes.
- NBA basketball, as we’ve already discussed is about winning, and people’s livelihoods depend on it.
- D-League basketball, however, is a different animal. Like the NBA, fans love the high level of play in the NBADL, and the passion players play with for meager paychecks, but what fans really love is when players get called up to the NBA.
And the better a player does in the NBA, the cooler his former d-league team is. Then a fan can say, “I saw Fesenko play when he was with the Utah Flash.”
And even cooler is when d-league teams are generous with player access, then a fan can say, “I visited with Fesenko a few times when he was with the Flash. See? Here’s a photo of the two of us together.”
But the point is, just because it’s all basketball, that doesn’t mean it all serves the same purpose. Just as the difference between self-defense and murder comes down to the reason, so too do reasons make basketball different at its different levels.
So youth coaches, remember to serve the meat and potatoes before the gravy, and make Mr. Miyagi (and Mr. Han) proud. 
You can read more of Tom’s stuff at http://basketballogy.com/
This article is so on point. I coach a 5th and 6th grade team and assist with grades 1 through 8 with players of all skill levels Glad to see other addressing this topic, also glad he addressed the parents as well. Good stuff.
This article speaks directly to a major problem in youth sports… Early on in my coaching career I mistakenly characterized as this being AAU’s fault but it reall isn’t, they create an environment for youth sports to happen… It’s the coaches or dare I say “managers” of these youth teams that want their clubs like a business and take the development of the kids out of the equation… It really disgusts me when I run into those types and I feel sorry for the parents who really don’t know any better and get so caught up in little Johnny playing on a winning team but never gets off the bench… Great article and keep it coming!!!
If any league is not being run the way Bob Bigelow preaches then they should change ASAP. The game has to be simplified to the age level, lower baskets , smaller balls, man to man defense no double teaming exept by the basket. The old CYO system is not being an “embassador” for the sport for 4th , 5th and 6th graders. Mark Danowski, Director of Basketball for Eastport-South Manor Sports Association.
I started coaching a 5th grade girls team this year because a friend and I wanted to give our daughters, who LOVE basketball, the chance to experience more and BETTER than the school team offered them. Although my friend and I never played beyond high school, we’ve used this website, and basic knowledge about the fundamentals of basketball to help our daughters and 6 other girls, some who they played with on their school team and some who they played against, become a team that any coach would love to have under their wings.
We decided at the very beginning that while we hoped to win some games along the way, that would not be our primary focus. Most of the girls, after 2 years of playing on school based teams, had never been shown basic fundamental skills like proper the form for shooting, boxing out, ball handling, etc. We practice about 6 hours a week and we’ve travelled to two tourneys over the last 2 months and we’ve won about half of our games which we couldn’t be happier about. We see improvement in each girl, in each game, we’ve watched these 8 young girls put the skills we’re teaching them to use in games and they have grown individually and as a team. I love that there are other like-minded youth coaches out there who care less about winning and more about helping the kids learn and love the game. I’ve enjoyed the experience of coaching these girls more than I ever thought I could, because I see the happiness on their faces each time their hard work pays off and they master a new skill.
I have coached youth basketball for over 5 years and its sad to say, but you don’t see this type of mentality out there among most coaches. Its a win-at-all-cost mindset. I took over a new team this year and recruited boys from my kids 5th grade class. We have 8 kids with only 4 of them being really that interested in basketball. Each week we focus on development of the team and the player. I have seen tremendous growth in several of the players – they have come a long way when it comes to fundamentals. Unfortunately, we haven’t won a game. Wins does translate into a more love of the game…but with a small number of players, everyone has gotten a lot of playing time; the parents are happy that little Johnny is developing and I keep telling them that the wins will come….even if its next year!
I’ve run into this a number of times. Its like the timeline is pushed so far forward by coaches and parents that (especially at the youth level) the big picture is not seen. I would encourage people to not only share this with their basketball people, but baseballers, footballers, soccer teams, gymnastics, etc…
While I agree, our league subscribes to PCA’s double goal coaching, with the first goal being winning. There is also no mandatory playing time rule. I always try to balance competing interests of winning and playing time. I have to tell you that some of the biggest challenges in youth sports are the parents: either they are hyper competitive or not at all, believing that all should play an equal time mentality. Another problem is telling everyone that wins aren’t the main goal when the leagues, the standings, the playoffs, etc., are ALL focused on that very objective.
I agree that too many of the coaches in youth basketball are mainly concerned with winning and are too busy teaching plays and not the needed fundamentals. Too many of them are playing zones because they don’t know how to teach man2 man. They don’t know how to taech the fundamentals. They are shooting at baskets which are too high for them to reach and with balls that are too big. And they never reach for the available information such as books in the library.And in the gamew that I watch only one person on each team does most of the ball handling. The rest are just people who are going to pass the star the ball
Thanks for that…a timely kick up the back-side for myself after last weeks game. The kids pick up on everything (duh?) I thought I was being discreet in my displeasure with the refs. Next thing, the subs (11-12 year olds) are shouting ‘advice’ to the refs. I was oblivious to this until the comp administrator had a quiet word with me 🙁 We lost and I did a poor job in hiding my disappointment.
Focus for next practice – tolerance & humility, starting with my apology.
So happy to see this article and only wish every youth coach, regardless of sport, would grasp this concept. This is the perfect analogy! I have coached a group of middle school girls, including my daughter, for a couple of years and the hardest thing for them to get used to was my lack of negativity and focus on the wins. At first they actually thought I needed to yell at them more, when really all they needed was to focus on their fundamentals and less on what would happen to them if they made a mistake. Sports have natural consequences for players…if you make a mistake, the other team gets the advantage. I feel the job of the coach at these younger ages is to help the kids learn from the error and how to avoid it in the future, not scream at them about it. They already know they screwed up and witnessed the results, so what’s the point of humiliating them? Pretty sure, that’s where insecure coaches fall by the wayside, worrying too much about what others think about their team and coaching abilities…parents, fans, other teams & coaches, etc…instead of focusing on the kids. It’s as if they need to announce to the world, “That’s not what I taught them!” It’s not about who boiled the potatoes, but how they were prepared & seasoned. Then if they turn out a little bit lumpy, they can still be enjoyed, even without the gravy, if necessary.
I had a “coach” of 12 yr olds, who is also a Pastor of a church tell me “the name on the front of the jersey is more important than the name on the back(kid’s name)” and if I didn’t like it, I could find another coach/team, which I did. This guy and his asst. coach didn’t care if they humiliated a player. I named this guy coach Quaker because he loved to put a kid in at say 1:51 left in a quarter or game and yank the kid with 48 seconds left if he felt like the kid made a mistake.
I am in total agreement with this artical, I coach Under 10s and fins that all they want to do is play and play well, but the parents mentality is to win, I am suprised that this is the parental mentality of late. My mantra no matter what age group I coach is”I don’t care if we win or loose so long as WE play as a TEAM” and my littlies have not dissappointed me, they are the most well balanced and thoughtful team, not just to their teamates but also to the other teams they play against, I’m looking forward to watching this group of great kids grow and develop.