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PostPosted: 31 Oct 2016, 14:10 

Posts: 16
I would like to know if anyone has any suggestions on what age you should worry about placing players on spots on the floor to start an offense? Or should I just worry about spacing and ball and player movement. Thanks for any responses.


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PostPosted: 01 Nov 2016, 06:57 
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I think you start teaching spacing as early as possible and then continue throughout their basketball careers. I taught spacing to our 2nd graders but within reason of course. I did not dwell on it... but when the time was right we talked about and emphasizing spacing in our small sided games.

Sometimes I use spots for young kids just to initially get them started. I also use spots for a lot of drills just to save time and get them where I want (many times we are using side courts with no 3 point lines so just popping down spots on the wings helps with drills running more efficiently).

Beyond that I didn't use spots for our 3rd graders last year and won't this year with our 4th and 6th graders. I just teach spacing. I don't really want my players "running to spots"... I want them to "play" and learn the game. With that said I know plenty of coaches that use spots and it does save time... especially with certain offenses.

Reading your question again... I could see where you might want to use spots for transition offense. I have done that before. But the last couple years, I just tell players where to go...
- right wing
- right corner
- strong side block
- etc

So I teach them terminology and they pick it up real quick. So for example, last night I taught an advanced group of 4th grade boys (first official practice of the year) our transition offense...
- sprint wide to wings (right and left)
- rim runner sprints ball side of rim or block
- PG brings up and passes ahead
- trailer just finds open space

They picked it up very quickly. I did not use spots but we used a full court that had 3pt arc... which helps a lot. If we were using side courts I might have used spots/training markers. But in this case I just said I want player sprinting to "right wing". Whoever is closest when we gain possession is the player that fills the right wing.

We used the "2 trips drill" to teach the transition. The thing we emphasized and taught the most during the drill was spacing. There were several occasions wings didn't get wide and we had 4 players running down the middle of the court. Great teaching opportunities for universal offensive concepts.

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PostPosted: 01 Nov 2016, 09:58 

Posts: 900
I'm not a big "spot" guy either. Younger kids tend to focus on the spot if you go that route vs. what Jeff said about learning to play and flow with the game. Not much to add other than I would stop the practice from time to time with a whistle and make them freeze. Both when they are bunched up and spread out. Catch them doing it right, freeze the practice and tell everyone to look around.

With 3rd graders, sometimes you have to overemphasize things in order to get what you want. Spacing to them was a few feet from their buddies. I remember telling my 3rd graders to stick to their man like peanut butter on bread. If their man went to get a drink, you stick with them. Well, you guessed it, one of my kids took it literally. We had a good defense though.

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PostPosted: 06 Nov 2016, 07:54 

Posts: 16
Thanks for the responses. I always get great info here that makes sense to me. We might play a little 5on5 this year but I think we might try more 3on3. I have had a little more success at this age with that. But in the future that is how we run our transition offense also. Thanks again for the info. Also I love your 30 competitive skill development drills. Will you be making any more?


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PostPosted: 07 Nov 2016, 15:23 

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Maybe a youth version of the drills. I would be interested.


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PostPosted: 07 Nov 2016, 20:39 

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3 v 3! Excellent introduction to basketball. More ball touches for everyone, plus each player is exposed to many different facets of the game.

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