Coach---I coach 4th grade boys we play a man-to-man and I will continue to--we are paying teams that are paying a 2-1-2 zone --we are playing great when we play man-man teams and get smoked playing zone teams-I get it but don't like it and want to teach my kids a way to play their best against a zone---do you have any recommendations ---

Thanks Joe

Kudos to you for teaching m2m ...... those other coaches are NOT doing their kids any favors.... but they might now know how to teach it themselves.

I had a college coach tell me this one time.... " Coach, this aint rocket science, put em where they aint. "

Tell your kids to find the gaps in the zone... you can draw up the zone for them and the gaps will be on the wings and at the top.

We ran a 1-3-1 offense vs this D..... high post player and a low post player that would go from short corner to short corner BEHIND the defense..... hard to cover you if they cant see you. The wing can pass to the player in the short corner and the hi post player can come down the lane for a lay up or short jumper. If it goes to the hi post, the low post player can duck in and look for his shot... or he can seal a defender and ask for the ball IF you have a center type of player.

Low post can screen a low defender and you can skip or point to wing sliding down a little bit You can have the post players do a X type movement.

Make sure your players understand about being in a passing lane... meaning, I can see the ball without a defender between me and the ball.

Now I know that this is a lot of stuff for 10 year olds... but you can find something here that they do understand and try that out.

Here is a page that might help you also....

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/offense/zone-offense.html

Here are a few others -

http://avcssbasketball.com/zone-offense-youth-basketball/

http://www.coachesclipboard.net/Simple23ZoneBuster.html
This is what I was trying to describe ^^^^


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgWXBCJ7JNM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rR2mFqf7z8
This video gives you some ideas as to how to attack a zone using the GAPS

One last thing on playing against zones. Ball movement and patience. If you can teach your kids to move the ball A LOT with good passes along with being patient, that will help. Move the zone with passing.

I agree with Ken on the 1-3-1 alignment against a 2-3 zone. We had the 1 down low running short corner to short corner, sometimes following the ball, other times staying put.

I have been having the same problem, same age group. (I feel your pain) vs the 2-1-2. At our last practice I put down markers on the floor to represent the configuration of the zone. Then Iet them go through the offense. It seemed like they better understood what the defense actually looks like. I also tried showing them how we want the defenders to move when we pass the ball in to the mid post. I found when they saw the markers on the floor they were like" ok I get it". We are also running a drift with 3 guards up top reversing the ball, and two players rotating around the lane looking for the ball. This has been the most effective vs 2-1-2. We also give our wings the option to dribble at the low defender. The defender always comes out to the ball and we tell one of our lane guys to go to the short corner, its a lay-up most of the time. Our kids like this one,its simple and reinforces to them the importance of ball reversal. BTW the coaches on this site are awesome.

One other thing I forgot to mention. The 2-1-2 is the worst one we see. They usually just pack it in and for this age group its trouble. I am with you on the man to man, as I have learned from these coaches, our kids will be much better players as they get older. I am already seeing great things with my fourth graders because of the man to man. We are in the middle of year two , I plan on keeping this group until 8th grade. If you haven't already i would highly recommend the new dvd with Jim Huber.

No zones before 6th Grade. We get more kids and teams playing, not less if it's explained to the parents and youth coaches. A kid who can actually GUARD another kid has an advantage. It may seem simplistic and it is but many coaches are blinded by trying to win the U-10 Winter League Classic Invitational bonanza.

Zones are fine 7th, 8th grade and UP. If kids can't shoot reasonably well by that age (good shooting destroys zones because nobody guards anybody), then maybe they need to practice more.

Stan Van Gundy NAILS IT in this 2:45 video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ9jTOAMTtk

Coach Joe: I knew as soon as I viewed this topic that Coach Sar would be in the mix and some of the other coaches. They have given great advice, and I am going to give a little more.....Lobby, lobby to get rid of the zones in your league, get them outlawed and give coaches such as yourself a level playing field. Those of you that understand the game and understand the psychie of kids need to band together in an efort to have zones outlawed for kids this age. I have been on this soapbox with Coach Sar and Joe and Jeff for years, I had hoped it would get better, but I guess "winning isnt everything, its the only thing" Take care, Good luck and be true to your philosophy of teaching Man. Coach Mac

Mac -

Part of the problem is that most of the youth coaches are volunteers, and they don't know how to teach m2m D.

The other part is the almighty W!! They press, trap, run zones and junk defenses just to get the win. And they wonder why kids get screwed up and want to quit playing.... OK, now you got me going again LOL ...

EVERY YOUTH COACH should have to come on this site and read what we are telling them.... and we can teach them the basics of m2m.