For 9 year olds, forget help defense. Your time will be better spent on other stuff such as athletic development, skills, and VERY basic offensive concepts. I replied with answers more in-depth at this forum post: viewtopic.php?f=48&t=115

You may want to spend more time playing 1 on 1 games. This will help players develop offensive and defensive skills. I don't know how it works with 9 year olds, but when I coached 11 & 12 year olds, I taught help defense too early and they started to rely on help defense rather than stopping the ball. It was my fault, because I focused on help defense too much. I bet that is why the ref said that.

Remember to focus on the critical few versus the trivial many.

It sounds like you're off to a great start and looking for answers. Thank you for sharing!

No, the ref said it because otherwise you end up with a "rugby" game -- 5 defenders on the ball. Again, I think you need to give some structure and teach them the concepts of "on the ball" and "help." I'm not talking full-fledged defensive theory, but at least if the guy beats your teamate, it is ok to leave your man and defend the ball.

Definitely keep all of the technical advise that is being given. But I believe there is a x factor you must teach as well. Defense is 90% determination. You have to want to stop the offense not hope. Many players spend all thier energy on trying to score. If they spent that same amount on defense they would be great defenders.

Look at Bruce Bowen. Not the most athletic but guarded guys like Kobe eveynight. That was partially IQ and a whole lot of heart.

Coach,
Regarding these points-
- our defense playing too close to their man allowing an easy drive to the basket
**(our players were doing this also so we gave them a frame of referance as to where to steer the ball... the free throw line extended.. this helped us a lot.
- not steering the O player out away from the basket, rather letting them drive towards the lane area.
**From the wing we steered to the baseline short corner, that helped us from getting beat there.
- no help from other d players if someone got beat on baseline.
**We had an automatic call IF they got beat... our post player was to come and double team the ball if he saw that.. we rotated over and we also dropped the (in this case the point guard) down in front of the post.. many times they threw the ball right into his hands.
You need to drill these things until your players understand their roles... it looks like you need to run a shell drill so they understand ballside helpside defense.
Then you need to explain m2m defense to the officials and that when you are two passes away you do NOT stay with your man.

When are youth coaches going to realize that a win is that player who goes on to contribute or standout for his high school varsity and even college team. The only way to get there is to know m2m principles which are the basis for a real zone played by real players anyway. I have a nine year old who plays an a 4th grade team that wastes a significant amount of time trying to teach kids a zone defense that they can't remember. If they spend that time on M2m the kid will become a much better player even if he does not get it right away. Again good zones are suped up man to man defenses but can only be played by kids that understand the concept of good footwork, desire to compete, the ability to communicate with your teammates and the realization that you must help your teammate. I want my child to know m2m because he needs every opportunity to compete at the highest level his talent will take him.

ernio06 - I agree, but it's tough as a youth coach sometimes to stick with doing the fundamentally "right thing" even in a rec league. On the one hand they promote equal play time, learning, and fun, however, on the other hand they keep score, standings and have tournaments with seeds. Rec league or not, no one likes to lose or be at the bottom of the standings.

My team is the only one playing M2M in our rec 5th/6th grade league. No joke. Fortunately, most of my kids have been playing together since kindergarten/1st grade and the parents (very cool parents) all buy into the mindset you mentioned. Even then, it's tempting to zone it when you're getting beat in a game playing M2M.

Coach Rob I applaud you. I guarantee your kids will make you proud one day. Don't compromise their basketball futures for short lived wins that they won't remember much of anyway.

Our rec league has "outlawed" the zone defense. Sounds like more should do the same.

I too coach in a league that is plagued with zone defence and in particular 2-3 zone. My grade 9-10 team is 13-14 yr olds and very athletic. We have good inside strength and size along with very good outside shooters. For the past 2 yrs I have been pushing the M2M defence and worked hard to get it going. Much to the complaint of some parents.

Although most think M2M is a harder defence to teach the payoffs are hugh when done properly and supported by your teammates through help and communication. The few times this year when they have executed the defence properly it has been a wonder to watch the other teams scramble trying to run their "zone offence" against a tough M2M.

The key is to get these kids who are so well equipped to talk or text on cell phones to actually talk and
We then throw in a half court M2M press, cause all kinds of turn overs. NOW, If I can get my guys to start offence with one of two set plays then if it doesn't work free flow... we may be good for the year end championship run.

Golfman,

At least someone has a clue! Kudo's to them.. they should spread the truth to every league around!

Idpaul,

Congratulations to you for sticking to your guns and not succuming to the parents..... You are the COACH... and you are doing those kids a great service by teaching them how to play the game CORRECTLY. It takes a lot of work to teach m2m and a lot of coaches either don't know how to teach it or are just to lazy.... taking the easy way out.

As a Varsity coach I can tell you that I loved the kids that came to me knowing how to play m2m. We played m2m (on the line / up the line) and a match up zone..... but we taught m2m principles every day - funny how you talk about communicating.... our kids did a great job of communicating in our match up... but m2m...
you would have thought that they had all just come from a root canal.:-)

Keep up the good work.