Girls 3rd -5th grade 7 of the 10 never played. Right now we have been playing zone and I have been thinking about it. I just think I'm cheating the girls by not teaching them man to man. Zone is what the rest of the league plays and what the other coaches at my school suggested i play. Not any more so please help me with some good drills. we have done the zig zag drill, and some one on one type drills. defensive slides. Looking for some good tips any thing that might help these young inexperinced girl play D. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks in advance Dennis

When I coached girls in 3rd and 4th grade park and rec one of the league rules was to play only zone. I didn't agree at first but understood it as I started coaching the girls.

As this age, with 7 of your 10 girls with no hoop experience, I would concentrate soley on fundamentals of passing, shooting and dribbling. Let them stay in a simple 2-1-2 zone and learn the slides as ball is moved........simple.

But focus on the basics, rules of the game, and fundamentals. Coaches forget to spend practice time going over the rules of the game. Rules that are so common to us as coaches but are foreign to a 3rd grader, 3 sec, 5 sec, 10 sec,both types of double-dribble, travel, backcourt, fouls vs. violations...etc.
Also educate them on the areas of the court. What is the sideline, baseline, elbow, paint, hash marks, center court...etc

I have actually handed "fun" quizzes to my girls at that age
asking questions about basketball rules, areas on court. They think it's pretty cool, they fill it out and return next practice. I actually grade it and return it. Parents thought it was a fun way of learning hoop rules and jargon.

M2M defense is very important to teach but I feel it can wait until 5th grade and above.

Have Fun!!

Coach A

True. The problem is that with the majority of youth coaches (not all, but most) once they start with zone defense, they can't make the switch to M2M. So they end up sticking with zone all through their kids youth bball experience. That is why we preach M2M from day one. For most youth coaches, we think that's the best advice to give. Thoughts?

BTW, for the original question, here are lots of good M2M drills and tips:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/defense/man.html

I just like basic slide drills, one of one defense, and shell drills. It's hard at that age to do much. I think doing combo drills that teach both offense and defense is the best use of time. Have one coach watch defense and the other watch offense.

If young players can just understand positioning of keeping the ball out of the paint, that is a big accomplishment that will go a long ways. See "danger zone" in this article:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/articles/2defensetips.html

Be patient. It takes time to get good at this stuff. Also don't neglect the fundamentals like passing, catching, etc.

Good luck!

One more thing. When teaching M2M defense to young kids like that, I would teach a simple sagging defense. You can use 3 super simple defensive rules and that's it.

1 - If you're guarding the player with the ball, get up close to them and keep them from getting to the basket. (Move your feet so you stay between them and the basket -- this is easier said than done.)

2 - If you're not guarding the player with the ball, sag into the lane. (This applies to all 4 players.)

3 - Always stop the ball and keep it as far from the basket as possible. (This applies to all 5 players.)

Just a really simple sagging defense where most of the players sag into the lane will probably be most effective at this level. That will make it easier for them to help and stop the ball from getting close to the basket. I would not complicate it any more than this. Too many other things to work on. :)

Hope this helps.

First of all, since these are 3rd & 4th graders, I would spend relatively little time on defense; probably five to ten minutes at practice. You’re going to get the biggest bang for your buck LONG-TERM by working on skills (dribbling, passing, shooting, lay ups) and athletic development (running, sliding, crossover steps, backpedaling, skipping, etc). You may not see the results this year or next year, but it will be very gratifying when you see kids that you coached playing high school basketball.

I think these two articles would help you with what you need to focus on:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/blog/index.php/should-we-teach-basketball-skills-to-kids-under-the-age-of-10/

http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/teach-youth.html

When you teach defense, keep it REAL simple. I think some of this was already said, but here is what I would teach:

1. Guarding ball – stay between man and hoop

2. Guarding player away from ball – have the players point to the player they’re guarding with one hand and the player with the ball with the other. They should be in a position that is between their man and the hoop. This helps them track their player and the ball.

3. After a bit, tell them to be in a position where they can stop the ball handler if they dribbled to the hoop.

However, I do have mixed emotions about even teaching “help” defense at this age. My feeling is that we should want the offensive players to have success, so they become better players. The more success they have, the more confidence they have, and the more they become better players and enjoy basketball which is the most important thing at this age.

That’s why I’m against zones. Zones force outside shots and that is NOT developmental basketball. In essence, a sagging man defense with all the players in the lane can be the same thing. I think both can inhibit player development.

The issue of league mandated zone defense is an interesting one. I agree in some ways that we are cheating our younger players by forcing zone defenses on them. At the same time, I realize that man to man creates some athletic disadvantages that make fundamental play more difficult. Zones allow time for passing and in some ways help foster offensive spacing. Yet, there is so much to be learned on the defensive side of the ball that gets lost by just playing a 2-3 zone.

Might I recommend that those who have some sway with their leagues look into some kind of hybrid of these thoughts. Perhaps we could start a movement where youth leagues spilt the game into two halves. One half you play zone, the next you play man to man. We could even alternate by quarters.

I agree with you, mzvada. Dominant athletes can cause fits in man to man defense. When I coached in a 3rd/4th grade youth league, we had a man to man defense rule that the defense could not go past the 3-point line. This gives the offense a chance to handle the ball without the dominant athletes stealing the ball every time.

We recommened that and other things in this article about youth developmental leagues: http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/coaching/developmental-league.html

Gentlemen:
All great words of advice and you will get no argument from me on the zone vs. Man 2 man defense. I coach professional women, but even at that level, only go to a zone when im playing a team that is much quicker then mine. Here is a hint to help your kids sag in the key when playing help side defense. If one of my players is not helping out all I have to say is "get in the box" and they fully understand what i mean. Remember K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid. good luck Coach Mac

This is something that always bothers me... playing zones at that age.... the goal should be to teach them HOW to play the game and don't worry about the Ws.

Fundamentals are so important, without them players will never be successful... Youth Coaches.. please re-think what you are teaching... get them ready to play at the next level IF you can. Your thanks will come when you see them play at the high school level (or college) and you can say that you had something to do with their progress...... and another big thanks... is when you get a phone call out of the blue from an X player who wants to go out for lunch or dinner, go to a high school game or just thank you for everything that you did for them.

Some great thoughts out there guys. Mike, this is a good alternative:
"Might I recommend that those who have some sway with their leagues look into some kind of hybrid of these thoughts. Perhaps we could start a movement where youth leagues spilt the game into two halves. One half you play zone, the next you play man to man. We could even alternate by quarters."




I only wish that all the administrators of the youth leagues would get together and dictate some common sense rules.... NO pressing at a young age and I love the idea about picking up m2m under the arc... giving teams a chance to run their offense without to much pressure while still teaching sound fundamentals of m2m D.

I wish they could set up a natural progression of teaching the game from the 1st grade till they get to the middle school level where their coaches take over.

Ken