Hi everyone,

So I'm always attempting to find an easier system to install what I've liked to do. What I need to ask about is how people communicate their offense and defense. I'm going to spell out my dilemma, but it will take a short trip through the meadow in order to get to it. Hang with me.

I started with the Carolina system for numbering defense:

20 = man to man
30 = zone

Then the second digit was the pick-up.

21 = 1/4 court
22 = 1/2 court
23 = 3/4 court
24 = full court.

I then went to a name and number system

Navy = zone
Army = man
100 = Full court
75 = 3/4 court
50 = half court
25 = 1/4 court

I finally tried to go simpler. I ran Don Kelbick's match-up zone. I went simple in terms of terminology.
4 = 1/4 court
3 = 3/4 court
2 = 1/2 court
1 = 1/4 court

I'm uncomfortable not having actually ran man to man with my kids, even though I like that Don's system uses man to man principles. I'd like to get back to having a zone and man call, while still keeping it simple. I plan on getting Coach Huber's man to man defense set and utilizing that in my teaching also (Just saving up for it now).

Now shift to offense. I've been reading up on Bob Huggins motion system, and the one thing I like for simplicity's sake is the numbering of the cuts. He numbers the type of cuts. So in a game or in practice, he can say: We aren't running enough 1 cuts. I want you to run a 2 cut. We need to go with 5 cuts to take advantage of this.

I like that kind of simplicity.

But I believe I can't use the same numbering on both offensive and defensive sides of the ball. It would confuse the hell out of kids. So, what I want to know is: What are some suggestions for streamlining offensive and defensive terminology so that players can make connections from technique to terms, without making it overly elaborate?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Brian Sass

Are you concerned about other teams picking up on your calls?

At my level, more worried that everyone on MY team knows what we are in.

But if you have a good signal system that

1. Makes sense
2. Easy for my team to pick up
3. Difficult for opponents to pick up

Then by all means share.

That's a good question. I personally don't have a good answer. I'm sure high school coaches that run different defenses have run into this same problem.

You could use colors for the cuts. I don't know how memorable that will be tho. Numbers for defense and colors for offense.

Here's an idea. Find more coaches that run that Harry Peretta system because he numbers the cuts. (21, etc). First two reps are the first number and then after that you run the second number the rest of the posessions.

I bet coaches running that offense have come up with a new way to call out their defenses. Maybe you can google and find coaches running that offense in a forum and see what they do.

Here's a link that explains the offense in case you're wondering what I'm talking about. Find some coaches running that offense and I bet they have good solutions.

http://www.swarmenterprises.com/free/PDF13%20%20Harry%20Perretta%20Man%20O%20.pdf

Thanks a lot, Jeff. I really appreciate that. I'll have to hunt and find that. :)