Professional basketball is mostly about winning \u2014 and it should be. After all, at that level, while basketball may still look<\/em> like a game, in reality it is a business<\/em>, and people\u2019s livelihoods are affected by the wins and loses. Consequently, pro basketball coaches coach to win, and while it is a shame Adam Morrison<\/strong> barely got off the Lakers<\/strong>\u2018 bench last year en route to a championship, or the Utah Jazz<\/strong> let go of Sundiata Gaines<\/strong>, the hero of their victory over LeBron James<\/strong> last year<\/a>, that\u2019s the business of basketball. It\u2019s about winning, and the players are just a means to an end.<\/p>\n But youth basketball is not about business, it\u2019s about the kids.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Sure, winning is still the object of the game for youth basketball, but it isn\u2019t the REASON for it.<\/p>\n And youth coaches who don\u2019t get that remind me of the coach in the movie, The Karate Kid<\/em>. 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.<\/p>\n 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<\/strong> \u2014 building their skills, knowledge, confidence, and love of the game \u2014 and winning is gravy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t get me wrong, I love gravy, but gravy on its own without meat and potatoes is actually pretty gross<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n And not very filling.<\/em><\/p>\n Yes, it\u2019s all basketball, and winning is always the object of the game<\/em>, but it\u2019s not the object of the sport<\/em> itself.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n And the better a player does in the NBA, the cooler his former d-league team is. Then a fan can say, \u201cI saw Fesenko<\/strong> play when he was with the Utah Flash<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n And even cooler is when d-league teams are generous with player access, then a fan can say, \u201cI visited with Fesenko a few times when he was with the Flash. See? Here\u2019s a photo of the two of us together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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