Hey Coaches
Here is a tricky one I need some advice on. I have two yrs of man to man defense ,solid fundamentals and Motion offense invested in 4th grade cyo team. They are doing great. One of my players parents just informed me his rec coach is running a box & 1 with my prodigy point guard/leading rebounder being the one. This kid is the perfect student. He listens, plays hard, loves basketball. This is not really my business, but I have this group really doing some great things with the defense. Should I try to talk to this guy. His father is not very happy either. I would hate to see this kid start to get those awful habits that the zones produce . He is just 10 years old and will probably do what the coach tells him. FYI the rec program in our town is a disaster 3rd - 4th grade any defense and most of them use zone.

Nope, nadda, no way, and no sir. The dad made the decision to play in that league, that's the coach they ended up with and you have to let it be. If you think through it, this will make sense. Imagine a coach you don't know showing up to your practice and offering advice. On a side note, I doubt highly this will wreck his game.

Thanks,I will have to have a sense of humor about it. His father just texted me and said when the coach told him to look at the ball and not at the player he looked at the guy like he had two heads. This age group is nothing but fun to coach !

I agree with Rob, you would probably get NO WHERE if you were to confront him. He might be doing the best he can do, not knowing how to teach m2m so he goes with a junk D so he can win.

I know that I wouldn't like it but I was comfortable with what I did.... and when Doug Collins suggested playing an easier team right after the Christmas break, it made a lot of sense. Play a team that you should beat and start off the year the right way / also get some of the rust out of your system,

Will he pick up some bad habits? Maybe, but if he is as coachable as you say he is, he will get over it quickly... the other kids too. Be careful where you sign your kids up from now on.

Thanks again,It really is our rec department that needs to give the new coaches some direction on what to teach the kids. I forwarded this web site to them and asked them to tell the coaches to check it out. Most guys are just fathers that volunteer, and they have teams full of kids that never played.Its not easy and as you guys know everyone wants the big W on game day.

It may not happen but AVOID THE LEAGUE ENTIRELY!! Just work on the skills. Great comment from UCLA, coach who knew Wooden well. It's pretty counter culture but this is the direction we are headed in. Good luck.

http://www.mybasketballbasics.com/bb/newsletter/leaguefatigue

You might try this.... ask the high school coaches to hold a coaching clinic for the youth coaches. I realize that most of them are volunteers, but they should try to learn a little more about the game. We all started that way.... ask other coaches, go to clinics etc.

I also realize that they are doing the best they can, but they will never get better if they don't get some help from the people who know a little more about the game.

Great idea to tell the coaches about this site... have them come in and ask all the questions they want. When I started coaching these sites weren't out there.... and NO, we weren't using peach baskets. :-)

Good luck