Hi, thanks for your help. Can you send for me some easy offense to teach young boys?

Coach,

Personally, I recommend and prefer a simple motion offense for numerous reasons. The biggest reason is that kids don't have to waste time memorizing plays and pattens. Instead they learn "how to play" and learn fundamentals at the same time you teach motion offense. Allow kids to learn skills and fundamentals is one of the MOST important things for them.

Check out our youth coaching page and scroll down to "youth basketball offense":
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/c ... tball.html

Here's another good article with a tip that helps you optimize time:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/b ... l-offense/

Let us know what you decide.

Jeff Haefner

Can you clarify whether a motion offense can effectively be taught to 8 year olds (3rd grade)? Sounds like you are depending on them to be able to "read the defense" and know where to move, but they most likely don't have the ability to remember what to do or where to move after the first pass if you ran a set offense with a defined play.

So is it possible to teach a simple motion offense that will work with this age, or is that even too advanced, and it's enough just to get them to learn one or two set plays?

Yes, it can be effectively taught to 8 year olds. With that said, I'll make several points for you to consider...

* No matter what offense you choose, 8 year olds are going to do a crappy job -- and that's ok. There are much more important things to be concerned about.

* If you try to teach young kids set plays or patterns, you will waste countless hours trying to get them to remember -- and when you get in a game they'll still screw it up. That is a waste of precious time that could be used teaching kids things that will make them better players.

* I think motion offense is the best way to go for some of the reasons I listed in a previous post. However, I still run into a few coaches that don't "get it". It's just not for them. I think they are trying to make things too complicated, but I really don't know the real reason.

* With 8 year olds, you will spend zero time try to explain or teach how to read a defense. They will not get it. They don't need to. You teach them spacing, give a couple super simple rules, and let them "play".

* Good youth coaches are not concerned about winning. Their goals are:
- Player development
- Make basketball fun so kids learn to enjoy the game, sports, and physical activity
- Teach players life lessons and set a good example. Give them a positive aspect in their life.

In time, winning will become a byproduct of those things. But if you worry about winning now, you will sacrifice your players development, possibly drive some kids from the game, and severely limit your players growth for the future.

Your time should be spent on having fun and teaching kids fundamental skills, not a fancy offense.

In regards to a motion offense, you want to teach them basic spacing with drills like this:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/d ... drill.html

In practice, you can put tape marks on the floor so they kids get used to the spacing. You could have a couple simple rules like:
- Don't stand in one spot for more than 3 seconds.
- If you pass the ball, cut to the basket
- Take the first good shot

Then as you practice the motion, provide the following instruction when needed:
- Spread out, and try to stay about 10 feet from other players.
- When you cut, go where the defense is not (take the path of least resistance).
(This is so easy and solves the reading the defense issue. just go where there is space. there is no right or wrong cut. if your cut doesn't work, try something else. Even advanced college teams apply this simple concept.)

That's it. Your entire motion offense. It will be a mess at times. But that's ok because the kids are learning and your spending time on fundamentals. And no matter what you run with 8 year olds, it will be a terrible mess at times.

Here's a good resource with more info about motion offense:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/o ... enses.html

In particular, check out these links found there:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/o ... tball.html
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/b ... l-offense/

Hope this helps.

I have a comment and a question -

I'm doing all that Jeff suggest in the first response to encourage spacing and movement. I have been using a 3 out, 2 in set and the 3 guards are making good plays but the low post guys are standing around a lot.

My comment is the 7-year old have picked this up pretty easy with very little time in practice devoted to offense.

My question is what do you suggest for setting up and getting the low post guys active?

First of all, 7 is very young to be doing any of this effectively. I would not be too concerned about them not moving. With that said, here are a few things to get them moving.

- Run some skill drills that involve cross screening and the movements that you want. For example, set up two posts players on each block and wing ready to pass the ball. Have one of the post players screen across. The other post player coming of the screen can catch the ball, pivot, and shoot a lay up. This is a passing, pivoting, and shooting drill that incorporates the movement of screening. It should get players used to the movement you want and will eventually carry over in games.

- Incorporate a really simple rule. Example, don't stand in the same spot for more than 2 seconds. If you do this, you must give your post players ideas on what to do (screen away or simply cut to an open area in the lane).

Hope this helps.

[quote="linkev"]I have a comment and a question -

I'm doing all that Jeff suggest in the first response to encourage spacing and movement. I have been using a 3 out, 2 in set and the 3 guards are making good plays but the low post guys are standing around a lot.

My comment is the 7-year old have picked this up pretty easy with very little time in practice devoted to offense.

My question is what do you suggest for setting up and getting the low post guys active?[/quote]

My opinion is get them out of the low post area. Move them out to the corners. Otherwise things get to compacted. I don't think at 7 yo you can really teach post offense with everything else that you need to teach. Once they are out to the coners, they can cut to the basket or they can fill the open space at the wing or the point. They'll have much more room to move which should help. Good luck.

[quote="golfman25"][quote="linkev"]I have a comment and a question -

THANKS JEFF & GOLFMAN, I'LL MOVE THE BIGS OUT TO CREATE SPACE AND LET YOU KNOW HOW IT WORKS.

I'VE CONCENTRATED ON FUNDAMENTAL AND OTHER THAN TEACHING THEM WHERE TO SET UP ON OFFENSE WE'VE DONE VERY LITTLE COACHING ON THIS END OF THE FLOOR EXCEPT FOR MOVEMENT AND GOOD DRIBBLING AND PASSING.


My opinion is get them out of the low post area. Move them out to the corners. Otherwise things get to compacted. I don't think at 7 yo you can really teach post offense with everything else that you need to teach. Once they are out to the coners, they can cut to the basket or they can fill the open space at the wing or the point. They'll have much more room to move which should help. Good luck.[/quote]

I ran a 3-out 2-in last year with 5th graders and I think it was too confusing. With only 90 minutes/week of practice time teaching two roles was difficult. At one practice we scrimmaged and one of the kids forgot what he was playing and we accidentally played 4-out, 1-in and it was much smoother! A light bulb went off and I decided to go one step further and use the 5-out cutters (http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/offense/cutters.html).

We had our first practice last night and it went very well. I couldn't believe how quickly they were picking up on the motion. Getting the timing right is going to take a little practice, of course. They tend to jump the gun and not wait until the guy with the ball is looking at them before replacing the cutter and the guys in the corners occasionally just watch, but the beauty is that it's so hard to goof up. If you cut and the baseline isn't clear (i.e., the guy on the corner didn't move), just find another spot. No big deal!

After the got the context of the offense, they seemed to be more motivated for the drills -- jump stopping, receiving a pass, pivoting to triple threat, etc. I put a defender on them and taught them when to back cut (some fell in love with it and want to back cut for a layup every time though). By playing against a defender, they even figured some things out for themselves like taking a step towards the basket before cutting from the wing to the point. I'm thinking of incorporating some 2 on 2 in practice.

If you want something really simple.. have the post players do a X action... low post away flashes high.. when the ball is reversed ... ( yea right ) the high post goes low and the low post goes high.

Just a thought.

Ken