The Role of Aggression in Youth Basketball

Hi everyone, I'd like to start this post by thanking all of you for your great advice. I got through my first season last year coaching a 3rd grade team thanks to all of you. I am happy to report that I will be getting my whole team back next year and I look forward to their continued development.

The reason for my post is more of a curiosity. What I have seen amongst many 3rd and 4th grade teams is that aggression seems to be a dominant factor in the success of teams. This seems to override any level of skill development at this age group. While playing hard always is a benefit, I'm curious at what age the dominance of aggression starts to fade.

Thanks again for all your advice. Three months until the first practice, and I can't wait!

3rd/4th grade is right about that time you begin to see more aggressive play from certain kids and teams, no doubt. I've found that continues all the way through 8th/9th grade depending upon the choices in leagues along the way. Some kids end up in more competitive leagues at a younger age, others continue with more rec oriented leagues.

As to your question, I don't think the aggression necessarily fades as much as the skill levels improve. The aggressiveness is still there, it just looks more refined because the skill levels are much higher at the competitive levels. The reason the dominance is there at the lower levels is usually only a few kids are being aggressive. Competitive leagues with tryouts filter out players who might not be as aggressive on the court. In my experience, most of the players are required to have an aggressiveness on the court in order to get play-time at the more competitive levels.

I think I know what you mean... an un-skilled aggressive kid is sometimes more effective than a skilled un-agressive kid.

Obviously, it's best to have both traits. And I really think both are important because either way... you can get left behind and become a liability on the court if you don't develop both skill and work hard on the court.

I know my 3rd grade boys can handle aggressive teams and often it's to our benefit because they end up out of position and we get lay ups. But our boys are skilled and athletic. Other kids might not be until middle school. Every situation is different.

Keep working with them on both skill and effort. Good luck!

Thank you both, sounds like I need to continue to work on the skill development. I'm guessing this will help with both confidence and execution.

Thanks again.

Sheesh, my bad. I see what you were getting at now. That used to be one of my biggest frustrations at the younger levels. Leagues would "let them play" in order to not have whistle games, so things could turn into a free-for-all very quickly. It seemed that any chance an aggressive player had to get the ball (by any means) it was kind of rewarded.

It's a tough balancing act at the 3rd-5th grade levels. When the play gets more aggressive and the refs don't seem to be calling things as tight, do you let your kids match the aggressiveness of the other team? Even if you know it's a blatant foul? On the flipside, you also don't want to be that coach who is complaining about every call.

One key factor that comes into play down the road (6th grade - hs) are fouls and foul trouble. Players at the younger levels that are allowed to "foul" in order to be aggressive pay for it later. Like Jeff said, they often times get out of position against more skilled players that have solid fundamentals.

Thanks Rob. I appreciate your reply.

As I think about my team, both my best ball handler and my best shooter are both slight and easygoing kids. The point guard plays soccer also, and the shooter plays baseball. They are both more skilled than their teammates by a wide margin but not brutes by any stretch. I'm trying to figure out if this ever changes, do I have to wait for puberty, or is there no hope?

I have some unskilled kids who will take the ball from their baby sister and laugh, but these two never seem to get aggressive.

I have no interest in creating serial killers, I just dislike seeing these two get bowled over by more aggressive players. I'm guessing some slightly more aggressive practice time may better prepare the boys. Not out of control, but perhaps while scrimmaging I encourage them to use more physicality on both ends.

Any additional guidance would be appreciated.

Totally get where you're coming from on this deal. The aggressive factor seems to happen at different times for kids. I could always tell the kids who'd played tackle football.

I wouldn't sweat this too much at the 3rd/4th grade level. There are a few things you can do, but I always urge caution when allowing kids to play aggressively at the younger levels during a scrimmage. Their coordination isn't quite there yet and "play more aggressively" can be interpreted a lot of ways unless you provide clear guidance.

If you have access to a football blocking pad use that when doing a layup drill. Explain to the kids to expect contact during a game and the refs won't always call it. Let them do layups and use the pad to bump them. Tell them you expect them to still make the shot. Obviously, you start off with minimal contact and increase as they can handle more bumps.

Another easy one is having them line up across the baseline, each with a ball. They dribble while having their non ball hand out protecting. The coaches come along the line and push them a bit, trying to make sure they're balanced. You want them getting used to contact.

Hustle drill. Line up 9 balls at half court spaced apart. 10 kids on the baseline. On whistle, the players run to half court and grab a ball. Player without a ball is out. Keep reducing the # of balls as the players are knocked out.


Block 'em out. Simple drill. If you have an assistant coach, break this into two ends of the court so kids aren't waiting in lines. You have a line of kids, one is defending, the kids in line are the shooters. Front of the line takes a shot, defender must block out and get rebound. Shooter tries to get around block out and get the ball. If the shooter gets the rebound, the defender has to do X amount of push-ups. Shooter becomes next defender.

You want to make sure this one doesn't get out of control, but we call it blood and guts. 3 kids of similar height and ability face the basket about midway in the paint. Coach shoots a shot and it's basically cutthroat from there. The object is to score and you want the kids putting the ball right back up. Two on defense and one trying to score. It keeps going until someone scores. I only allow 2 dribbles as I want them trying to score quickly and keep the game moving along.

Hope this helps.

I really appreciate it Coach Rob. I have already added the drills to my worksheet. Hopefully the drills will foster the growth of that competitive fire, add in another year of experience, maybe I'll have some real ballplayers on my hands. More than anything, I just hate to see skilled kids, who have put in time to get that way, bowled over by less skilled players. Either way, I can't wait for the season to start.

I guess its not a coincidence that my two aggressive kids play Lacrosse and Football!

Thanks again Coach, I'll be sure to keep you updated.

Good luck, I'm sure you'll start to see more aggressive play. On the football pad, you can actually slap wrists or arms as they go up for the lay-up too. Nothing super hard, just some contact when they're doing lay-ups.

Make drills competitive when you can and add consequences for the losers (e.g. push-ups, a few sprints).

Making it tougher in practice than it will be in a game is another great way to increase competitiveness. That could be as simple as 3 vs 4 in a scrimmage or no dribbles allowed. It doesn't mean the entire practice has to be hardcore, just throw in some situations to challenge them.

One last drill I forgot to mention that really worked well for us. 5 good passes (10 at the higher levels). playing half court only. You have 3 teams of 3. Start with one on defense, one on offense, one on the sidelines ready to come in. Offense has to make 5 good catchable passes to stay on the court. The first team to stay on the court for two rounds wins. Losers have consequences. Defense is allowed to get right up there and play hard, no fouls, but aggressive. You can give the offense 2 dribbles, but we usually went with no dribbles allowed for the offense. This means the defense can really be aggressive and the offensive has to move to get open. If the defense taps the ball away or steals it, they are immediately on offense, the losing team goes to the sideline, sideline team hustles in on defense. We didn't wait either for the teams to get on/off court. The new offensive team could start making passes ASAP. Sideline team has to be paying attention.