For this age group, how do you counter a coach that makes a number of substitutions at the beginning of the quarter to confuse the defenders as to who they should be covering?

We play in a league of 3rd graders that allows any kind of defense to be played (man or zone). Apparently a number of coaches figured out last season they could just make substitutions to dictate mismatches and/or confusion. Being new to the league, we came in with solid man to man fundamentals and by the end of the first half, my kids had no idea who to cover and we routinely found their biggest kids up against my smallest.

Is it just the age group and a poorly constructed league or is there a coaching deficiency here?

GS, sounds like a b.s. league to me. If coaches make substitutions at that age group you should be able to stop and pair everyone up. Plus, Zone at that age is b.s.

Now with that said, I think it is an important part of "basketball intellegence" to focus less on who you are "assigned" to guard and pickup the defense as needed. I've had kids arguing about who they are supposed to guard in the middle of a game letting players zoom by them for easy scores. At some point they just need to step up and play D and switch to the proper man as soon as practiable. Easier said than done at this age level.

One thought, you might want to play some type of "zone" to match your players up instead of assigning players to defend. For example, have your best defender take the point guard (usually the best player at this level) brining up the ball. Have your "big guys" down low and take the kids who set up down there. Have a couple responsible for the wings. Just have them make sure everyone is covered.

Good luck.

Thats a good idea... zone until you can match up..... OR... get into the paint until you can match up... tough deal with kids this age. Those types of coaches SHOULDN'T - thats the bottom line. They are not helping those kids, the only thing they are thinking of is the W. We could nominate those coaches for the 3/4th grade hall of fame.

Talk to the people in charge and ask them if they will put in a rule to stop the game for a few seconds to match up the players like Golfman said.

Agreed. I am talking with the people in charge in the offseason to get the rules changed. At that age, kids do not need breaks every two minutes and, unless there is an injury, substitutions should be only made at quarter ends. However, it is a Park District league so I am not holding my breath (after all, they do allow zone).


Good point.


Very good idea. They should be doing this on transition anyway. Being used to man, this should be an easy development for them. Thanks for the great idea!