Thanks Coach Sar. Some of the links are no longer to active sites however the NAYS site does work completely. Thanks again!

Hi I've been away for a while but would like to update what's been going on and perhaps ask another question.


My first tournament coaching 6th Grade AAU I spoke of previously was a complete disaster. The 7th Grade coach also runs the administration for the 5th and 6th grade so he has his hands in every team per se. Anyway the day before the tourney he tells me that one of his kids has been re-classified and will be playing with my team. Then he informs me that the "old" 6th grade coach would be on the bench with me to "help me out"....you see where this is going right? We won the first game however it took everything for me to maintain being the only coach coaching (he would not remain seated). Before the next game I overheard the 7th grade coach/administrator telling the old 6th grade coach who to start blah blah blah. I had enough of the nonsense as I didn't want to be on the sideline having a power struggle in front of the kids so I left the bench and let him coach the remainder of the tourney, and of course we got smoked. I left the organization with my son as I can't deal with people with little integrity and the now 6th grade team is a complete mess as other players have left. I feel bad about leaving the kids but I'm not the kind of person that can tell players who come to practice and give 100% effort 100% of the time that they can't play because now we have this player or that player ..can't do it.

Now this brings me to my next concern and I could really use some advise. We are on a new team coached by a friend who has been wanting my son on his team (his son and mine are classmates in school). We played our second tournament yesterday and won the title (played our first last week and finished 2nd). My son has increasingly seen less and less playing time and in fact sat the bench the entire championship game. Now my son is a little tepid however I can honestly say he's getting better and playing more aggressively (which makes me proud and i let him know). We have some really good and aggressive players and it's not like my son is better however my son is a pretty good player and can definitely contribute. He was so dejected after not playing and told me in the car on the way home that he didn't really care that they won. I gave him the ole "you have to be a good teammate on the bench as well as in the game, and, you were part of the reason we made it to the championship game, blah blah" speech. My son is a highly intelligent, kind and sensitive kid and he took my words as best he could but the experience really messed with him. I tell him also you have to work harder in practice and show coach you deserve to play more and all that however the mistakes he makes in the game (which is what worries him most when playing) are made by all all the starters and they make many more because they're playing more (I have pointed this out to him to ease his worries about messing up). Its hard to reconcile this with such a smart observant kid and I don't know what else to tell him. I worry about him being able to show more in practice because up until now they mostly drill and work on plays in practice...they don't scrimmage and/or compete in any way for him to show more (what do you as coaches look for in your players to warrant more playing time? It's extremely painful as a parent also to watch your kid just sit the bench especially when all the players are making mistakes. The one thing I know from coaching him myself for years is that he's a "plus" on the floor. Once he is comfortable he makes smart decisions and does the right things 90% of the time. His athleticism isn't as developed as some of the other players as his foot sped is not equal but the effort is there. It almost feels as though it was me sitting on that bench, it was painful and I lost a lot of sleep myself last night.

Thanks to all as always for your time and attention and I look forward to any and all input.

Michael

Michael -

I can feel your pain for yourself and especially your son.



If this were me, I would aks the sdministrator who is the head coach now? Who is supposed to be making the decisions.. ( of course this is past... but I would still run this by him for future references.



If he is truly your friend I would hope that you woud feel comfortable talking to him.... you might ask him what he saw in your son that he wanted him to be on his team?? Is there something that he needs to work on to be a more productive player??

If they are working on fundamentals that is a good thing... if its all about plays... the kids wont learn much, other than how to run a play. This is difficult for you I am sure... but your son needs to understand that he should be working towards getting ready to play at the next level.... 7th grade school team and then 8th grade? Hopefully he will get good enough to be able to play high school ball.

Time to look for an AAU team where all the kids get equal or close to equal playing time. Winning is great but at this age its NOT the END ALL!! Stay in touch with us, hopefully we can help as he gets older. Good luck!

Coach Jim McGannon here with Basketball Basics. What you describe here is all too common. There is a reason why there are a record 92 foreign born players now in the NBA, nearly 25% of the league. Our approach now to youth basketball almost always leads to worse skills, burn out and too many kids quitting the game at too young an age.

Some links to consider:
Time Magazine's "Final Four for the 4-Foot Set" describes how and why these supposed "competitions" actually help destroy kids confidence and often helps ruin family relationships. It's not a pretty picture:

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2147286,00.html

This in turn leads to outcomes like this: a current NBA player (Michael Beasley) speaking out about how he never learned anything in AAU, nor was he asked to ever play D. This is a Wall Street Journal article.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204621904574248282288269744

So now what? I can't speak for the other coaches at Breakthrough, all I know when I read the posts is how RIGHT these guys are with what they say. This is an excellent service. My opinion is basketball is teetering on the edge of extinction in many respects. Basics has had modest but continuous growth now for 6 years basically doing the EXACT OPPOSITE of the way youth BB is currently managed, namely: NO parental involvement permitted, NO travel, NO leagues entered, NO refs, NO uniforms, NO trophies. And at last count, 64 program grads playing college ball.

RECOMMENDATION: Find a local coach(es) you know and trust, eliminate the parents from the equation, enter no or very few leagues, practice roughly 10 X as much as you play (you should compete EVERYDAY internally however), scrimmage anybody and everybody locally when you can and provide GPS directions to the park! I realize how opposite this all is to the way of the world now. But just because "everybody is doing it" doesn't make it right. In fact in my opinion, it is SO WRONG that parents and coaches who see and understand this will potentially ACCELERATE the rate of growth of their players by focusing on the skills. Why? Because the other 99% of the kids playing in leagues, travelling ad nauseum will not have these skills.

Don't be afraid to say NO, or that's enough. Find that local coach described above (they are out there, many have turned away because of the political hassles) and HOLD ON TIGHT.

Thanks so much coaches I really appreciate you taking the time out, it really helped me to clear my head and think of what I can do to help my kid. What I decided to do was use this occasion to reinforce one a life lessons I try to continually convey to kids and that is to never be a victim. I try to teach them take personal responsibility for everything in their lives that is working and especially what is not working. For me, by taking on that I am never a victim it will always leave me in charge of my life and choices and removes it from the hands of outside sources. Now, I know that in reality this certainly is not always the case however it is an empowering way of being and I strive to convey this concept to my 12 and 7 year old in manners that they can understand as circumstances arise.

Anyway what I said to him is that we are going to take this as a reason to work harder, get tougher, really live our 100/100 mantra (100% effort, 100% of the time) and not worry about others' playing time, that others may be making the same mistakes and get to stay on the court, and to strive to make it impossible for the coach to want to take him out. I also told him that this would be no guarantee that anything would change however by doing so "we" (I include myself so he doesn't feel alone in this) will be doing all that we can and that's all we can do...we will not be a victim of someones else's choices rather we will turn this into an opportunity for ourselves.

I will also take your advice coaches and 1) ask the coach what my son can do to improve, 2) continue looking at other potential AAU programs should this not work out, 3) look for programs as described by Coach McGannon, 4) consider starting a program myself (last resort, I really don;t have the time for that commitment)

My son is a skilled player and easiest the best shooter on a the team. He is above average in height for his age but not as tall as 3 other players on the team (the tallest player is actually the best player and truly the only reason we win like we win), he is a little slow of foot but I'm hoping that improves with his impending growth spurt (he's built proportionality like my father who was 6'5" ..but who knows). He's solid fundamentally; he blocks out, plays proper angles, sees open players,strives to keep his man in front of him. The only weaknesses IMO are his present level of athleticism and his timidness....one he can't control right no the other he's steadily improving and could see a sharper gradient in improvement if he were playing more in the games IMO.

Again, thanks so much for your time and attention and I would love it if you could tell me what you think of my solutions to this issue...thanks.

Michael

I don't think there is no right or wrong answer here..... it seems like you have given this a lot of thought. Keep working with your kids and try to do the best you can for them.

Help him wth the fundamentals and quickness. I had several kids dome into our program at the high school level that didn't play or even make their jr. high team... they ended up as Vasrity players and some were All Conference. Everyone grows at a different rate and develops at a differnt rate.

Keep a good attitude (both of you) and things should work out. IF you think that this program is not the right one for your son... find one that is.

Thank you Coach Sar, you hit the nail on the head by encouraging us to keep a positive attitude that can make all the difference in the
world.

I was wondering if you know of any drills, aids, ect to help increase my son's quickness...it is an issue, I see it myself. I do believe he's a little behind in adolescent growth however additional training couldn't hurt either.

Check some of the things this boy is doing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxqUNKBJIzY

Your son can jump rope... some plyometric work outs.... sprint from line to line... doesn't have to be full or even half court... can be free throw line to end line... slides from the free throw lane line to the other etc.

I think that basketball is more about quickness that just all out speed. ( wouldn't hurt either but )

Thank you.

I completely agree. I was never a "fast" player myself but I was quick and determined. I also believe half of the battle IS determination. Determination to keep the person one is defending in front of them and the determination to recover when they're beat...it really is a 2 to 3 step effort but it must be vigorous effort.

Remind your son that we all grow at a different rate... I was 4'11" as a 13 year old freshman... that sure didn't do anything for my game. It didn't stop me from learning the game and becoming a coach though.

Here are a few links to develop quickness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy7h7AWDO7U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46Ge8D3oz-g

http://ballersinstitute.com/basketball-agility-drills-0825/

I hope they help.