I have a question regarding 7th grade boys basketball that I wanted to pose to you. Our school has an A team and a B team. There is a significant skill difference between the two teams. Our season ended through the school and we are going to continue on with league play. The question is do we 'inter-mingle' the boys or do we keep an A team and a B team? There seems to be two schools for thought. One...All the boys need to learn to play with each other as a team. Two....Does it help the better ball players to play with such a difference in skill level? I have twins that play. One at the very top skill level and the other somewhere in the middle. Do you have any experience with this? I know that my son who is one of the better players on the team is very frustrated with the idea of playing down. It is all about improving his game and he does not think that this will. Can you give us any suggestions? Thanks for a great web site. Your resources have been invaluable for me.

It must be tough for a kid to get segregated because of his talent.

I can see at the high school level and above that you start your best players....then sub in the lesser players. At this competitive level, your starters (A team) will get the most playing time. During these practices there may be a starting 5 that may get more focus and attention while practicing drills and plays.

Now at the 7th grade level this can affect players negatively.
What bothers me is that coaches that do this, they make the mistake of actually calling them A team and B team. Which makes the B team kids feel inferior. These coaches focus more on the A team players, at times ignoring the lesser players. The A team players get preferential treatment which is very apparent to the rest of the team. This can really diminish morale and self-worth of other players. They want the same opportunities, same acknowledgment and to be treated equally and fair.


At the 7th grade level, I would mix them up. Give them opportunities to improve and play with/against better competition.
Coaches must make it a point to treat them equally during practices. He must make effort to eliminate the stigma of "A team players" and "B team players". This does not mean equal playing time during games though. Playing time must be earned...regardless of talent.

Good Luck,

Coach A

GREAT Advice Coach A!

There isn't much else to say here.... remember, this is a game and they are supposed to have fun. That goes for everyone and NOT just a select few. IF any of the better players want something more... maybe they can find another league where they play better talent... go play AAU ball etc.

Good luck