So we are wrapping up our rec league season this Saturday. We play in a 3rd/4th grade boys division and our team has all 3rd graders on it. We are NOT an all-star team but we're taking the roughly same team to post-season tournaments and we've been placed in the 4th grade division (since they don't have a 3rd grae division). YIKES!!!!!

My team only knows the rules of the rec league and this will be their 1st tournament.
Our rec league allows:
1 - M2M defense only - No Zone allowed
2 - No double teams/trapping allowed
3 - Each defender picking their man up after at half-court (so if we get a rebound the "D" immediately gets back (no pressure)

The Tournament allows:
1 - M2M or Zone
2 - Full court press in the last 3 minutes of game/OT.
3 - Half Court trapping/double teams allowed

Since we are going against all 4th graders, I feel that we should go to a zone defense because we faced 4th graders in the rec league and it was mismatch galore!!!! Is this the right move? We have 5 practices until our 1st tournament and I'm not sure which zone to implement. I like the idea of going M2M but I think the teams we'll be facing will have more overall talent and our team will not be able to defend effectively.

If we go to zone defense, which zone would work the best? We not big at all but we do have some quickness and speed.

Thanks for your feedback!

Brent -

IF this was me, I would stick to my m2m and work a lot on getting to the HELP LINE which makes your man just like a zone defense.... You have played man all year long, why change now? Your kids might not get what you try to teach them in a few practices... fine tune what you have.

I would be more concerned about the trapping and playing vs zones.... thats where I would spend the majority of my time.... Good luck.

They've actually played M2M for the last 3 years so i was hoping we could continue but my team has changed each year so I haven't been able to develop the help defense for ALL my players yet as about half of them can do it effectively.

We also have a problem with spacing out. Meaning the boys guard their man great and then a few times down the court, they'd just space out and not remember - which this year has resulted in alot of points scored.

I am concerned about our offense vs zone or worse yet, the box and 1 type defenses.

There's alot to prioritize in such few practices.

Thanks Coach!

Just read your question. Interested in seeing how you did. I've been there and at this age the 2-3 zone is the best way to compete wih older or bigger players. You can also use a 3-2 or 1-2-2 zone to cover good shooters from the perimeter. These defenses are easy to teach in the basic form and kids catch on really fast. The 1-3-1 cuts down on perimeter shooting, but can be vulnerable in the post. You don't have to teach the complicated rotations at this age. Just make sure they move with the pass and cover their area. There are simple press breaks and set plays you can run aginst your opponents zone defenses and traps. There is a new website basketballcoachingbooklets.com that was started to help new and experienced coaches with specific topics. These booklets cover many problem areas that you will encounter. They are very easy to use and have had good feedback. The website is new and you can make suggestions about topics that you would like to see in the future.

If you really want your players to develop, put them in a situation where they have to learn how to play M2M and guard faster players. I have seen a lot of players play beyond their abilities simply because they played against the best and were forced to adapt. There is nothing wrong with playing a little zone here and there, as long as your primary defense is man with your players.
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/defense/age.html

Now I don't suggest getting blown out in every game for the entire year, but if you want to develop some serious athletes, have a kids guard a bigger and faster player full court one on one for a couple years. Just another viewpoint to consider.

Jeff & Joe also have a great site where you can bring up any question you want.... like the one Jeff posted here -
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/defense/age.html

If you look on the left side of THIS PAGE you will find a lot of information also.

Good luck.

Most really good teams will play man to man because they are better, faster, quicker, and bigger than their opponents. Most average teams will play some man to man and some zone defense. Most inexperienced teams will play mostly zone, if they want to compete. I went through the same thing about twenty years ago in Minnesota. We played in a league that allowed only man to man, no double team, no press, and drop back after the defensive rebound and pick up at half court. We were really good with our man to man in this league, because everyone else had to play it. Everyone scored because there was no help defense. The league pretty much outlawed help defense. We were not competitive when the same team played against older competition with different rules. Two problems: they played zone and man to man with help side defense, they were bigger and better than we were.

My college professor, now Sports Psychologist at Duke University, gave me some very good advice for coaching young players. He told me that the coach had to decide whether he wants to win or make all of his players better fundamentally sound basketball players. Develop your own philosophy. If you want to compete and you have inexperienced players, you will probably not play much man to man. This doesn't mean that you don't spend the majority of your practice on man to man offense and defense. Your players should learn to play proper man to man defense. They must practice it so that your team can run a man to man offense and set plays against better players. Something to remember is that a player that does not play man to man well, will probably not be able to play zone defense well either. Most coaches use the zone to hide their weak players or put them in less critical positions. Some teams you face may have good outside shooters. You may have to change it up and play man to man. Another good thing to remember is that someone in your same situation may meet you in a tournament. Don't play any defense just for the sake of playing a certain defense. Play what your players do the best. Experiment in practice and see what works best.
Hope you do well.

In short, we got smoked ... the first 2 games we lost by a combined 98-19. The last game we lost 18-16 (we were up by 2 in the last 3 minutes until my C and PG fouled out & they pressed - which my team had never seen before). The boys improved throughout the tourney which was nice to see them respond. Playing with 1st/2nd/3rd graders vs all 4th graders (who play year round) was eye opening to my boys.

After the 1st game of using 2-3 zone, we switched to M2M defense the last 2 games. Even though the other teams were more talented than us, I've always stressed help defense in prior seasons, so they responded and played better than in the zone. If I were to do it over, I would've spent more time on M2M defense in practice and not worried about zone. Our offense improved each game with us getting more comfortable passing into the high/low post (since our rec league demands M2M we relied on dribble penetration mostly).

The biggest take away I found was they started working together without me shouting out instructions all game. They tried something and if didn't work, they would try something else. By the 3rd game, they were more efficient on both ends of the court.

Thanks for everyone's help. I try to be prepared as best I can but sometimes you have to do it before you truly know what it's like.

Brent -

Congratulations on a great season. Your kids leaned something as you did.... do what you do best, especially at this age. Playing m2m was what you worked on all year long.... thats what got you there. Next time you are in that situation..... and are contemplating zones.... just work a little harder on your help side defense... that almost looks like a zone on the back side, which is what its supposed to do. Do that along with helping and recovering on penetration.

You played very young kids vs older ones.... and in the last game you were right there..... you taught them a lot about how to play the game and by the end - they had figured it out. Isn't that what its all about in that age group?

ALONG WITH HAVING A LOT OF FUN.

If you keep that group together, you will have invaluable experience to build upon. The one thing that can't be taken away from those kids is the experience of playing in a tough tournament and learning. They basically played up a division and that's usually what happens, teams get smoked, especially coming from a rec league environment.

The problem now becomes what direction to head? I've found that once you go over to the "dark-side", it's tough to go back and play rec ball.

I have to throw in my two pennies about keeping it FUN. Pretty easy to get wrapped up in formations, presses, zones, and standings.