New Season, new coach

The season is about to begin. This will be my second season as a 8-9 year old coach and will be totally different from the last.

I coach in a zone only league. I've read what's been said about zones for this age group, but it is what it is, I'm bound by the rules of the league. Last year I had one practice to broad brush "fundimentals", I have to put that in quotes because of the amount of time spent. From there, we devoted 2 entire practices to the 2-3 zone. The kids learned what I taught very well, and for the season played lock-down defense. Dispite having a team that wasn't as talented as two of the others in our league, we won all but two games, the last game was one of the losses and it was the championship in a close one.

I honestly thought I was a successfull youth coach for what my team accomplished, and I had every intention of going about my teaching the same, exact way. The difference between this year and last is the amount of practice time, rather than having four practices I have four prior to the season, and one practice per week during the season. So I began to search for new drills and ways of teaching these kids, and what do I find but this website telling me that I've unwittingly been putting wins and losses ahead of development!

Now I've always been for the kids, I told them I didn't care win or lose, it was about them enjoying themselves. I was ignorant to the fact that by focusing so much on the 2-3, I was letting the kids down by not using that time to teach them in ways that would benefit them in the long run.

What I want to say is thank you, to everyone who posts here, to the coaches who have contributed, and to the admin who has provided such an amazing resource. I want you all to know that what you've done here will benefit at least 10 kids.

My first practice is tomorrow. My plan calls for opening up with footwork, and because of the reasources here (and a couple other places), I'm confident that I can teach in a way that will be hella fun for the kids.

Wish me luck!

I put this in the wrong forum, sorry people!

Edit: Maybe I didn't.

I wish you luck coach... and I think if you were to ask the same questions here regarding m2m or zone Ds.... and Ws & Ls vs teaching the fundamentals... you would be getting the same advice.

Teach fundamentals... let them have fun... and its too bad they don't let you teach them how to play the game... meaning m2m defense. That league is NOT doing those kids any favors.

Ken

Bummer about the zone only situation, can't understand why a league would create that rule especially at that age. Like you said though, it is what it is. Have you ever asked them why they chose to make it zone only? I'd be curious to know the thinking behind that decision.

I applaud you for taking a new direction this season. It's not an easy task to play in rec leagues that promote fun and player development while feeling the pressure to win and remain competitive. It never ceases to amaze me how coaches use their better players to try and win, even at the lower grade levels. The result is more ball touches/playing time for the better players and lower touches/playing time for the developing players.

Every season I have to remind myself, coaching staff, and parents why we're doing this whole gig (currently 5th grade rec). I have dads who hold me accountable to our philosophy and boards like these with coaches who also hold me accountable.

Good luck coach! Keep us updated.

CRob

Thanks Ken, and CRob.

I did ask why it was a zone only league and the answer I got was because kids running m2m tend to "bunch up", they're afraid of 5 guys swarming the ball at all times.

Regarding the zone situation within your league. I am not going to comment on this as I am sure that many other coaches have submitted their philosophies on zone offenses for youth. However, i must elude to reason someone from your league gave for NOT using man to man. To simplify their reason for NOT using man to man as and i quote "all five players will bunch up and attack the ball" could possibly happen without proper teaching. Fortunately, there are many drills to teach correct man to man positioning. Drills such as Shell, one on one (teaching the ball you man concept).

Several years ago, I did a basketball camp with Roly Massemimo and we worked into the nite on developing a drill that teaches good man to man positioning we called it "search the ball" the coach stands at center court with a ball. Place four offensive players on the court, two in the corners and two at the wings. Also you have four defensive players. The coach yells "search the ball" the four defensive players run to the coach. The coach then passes the ball to any of the four offensive players on the floor who remain stagnate, the player who receives the ball simply holds it. The four defensive players who have been assigned a man go to the position on the floor where their man is located. This is the teaching begins at first they will all go to their men leaving the key wide open. At this point, you begin to teach ball side help side. the drill continues until all teaching points have been covered. Keep it basic.

Coach Mac

Hootch,

Thank you for sharing your experience. It's good to hear stories like yours because that's a big reason we started this website -- to have a positive impact on coaches and young players. We're glad to hear that we might have had a little bit to do with it!

Good luck!!

Thanks coachmac,

I think the issue is that not all coaches are willing to put the time in to learn about these techniques. From limited experience I feel comfortable saying that it's much, much easier coaching kids at this level to win rather than coaching to teach. My "expertise" lies in the fact that I've played under many coaches and I'm an avid fan of the game, given that limited knowledge I was able to coach to win fairly easily with no practice plan. All I needed was to understand weaknesses in the games of 8-9 year olds and teach my kids to exploit them better than other coaches taught their kids to exploit weaknesses. On the other hand, it takes real effort and patience to teach kids how to play the game.

I don't think my rec league is run by guys who don't know anything, actually it's quite the opposite, I just think they've decided to cash their chips and control the game as much as possible while knowing full well that they won't find 10 coaches who are willing to put the effort in.

Why don't you suggest to the higher ups to have a coaching clinic held by the high school coaches? Thats a win win for them... the coaches get the knowledge they need, the kids get better which will help the high school program.

Maybe you can get a liason (coach) from the high school to be an advisor to your league. Those little rec league players of today are the high school stars of tomorrow.

Ken

Now that's solid advice. I think I will contact the HS coach. Come to think of it, I'm a bit surprised the HS coach has never contacted the league on his own...wouldn't you think that'd be automatic?

Well, that was easy for me to say... but I can tell you that a head coach is pretty busy during the season... its like another full time job. I know a rec league came to me once and we held a clinic for them... not alot of their coaches came. I told the guy in charge that we would be more than willing to do this any time they would like us to.

IF there is only one league it would be easier, we had several because of our area... so that makes it a little tougher time wise. It takes some planning but I still think its a good idea.

Funny how some of the coaches took offense to the things we were trying to show them... and we were nothing but positive believe me. I went to a few rec league games and regardless of the ages of the coaches... they all wanted the W.... not as interested in teaching the fundamentals. Its a tough sell.... so do your best to try and get it done.

Do you think the other coaches would be interested in a clinic?

Ken

Honestly ken the only other coach I know at this point is one of my assistants, and I'd say he wouldn't be interested because he already knows everything there is to know about basketball (yeah, sarcasm).

I can tell you that we've all got kids on the teams, so I think anyone who'd turn down a clinic designed at making us better coaches would have to be nuts.

We've got one really big HS that covers one rec league. So I guess it's about as easy as it could be for the HS coach. It really couldn't hurt to drop the guy a dime and have a conversation about the state of youth basketball in our area. I know our rec guy really does care about the kids and would like to see them all succeed, I don't foresee any road blocks on that end.

Then by all means... give this guy a call and make an appointment... don't try to solve this or make plans over the phone.. too easy to say no.... get a face to face.

Go in with a plan, make it as easy as you can for the guy and it will be hard for him to turn you down... heck, its in his best interest to do this. Maybe have the rec league guy with you when you go to meet with him... and as for your asst. -- make him take notes for you and him LOL Heck, tell him that you are going to publish them to all the coaches that attend.

Good luck, I hope it works out for you.

Ken

UPDATE:

So, I took your advice and contacted the local HS coach, and he was interested in what I had to say. The problem arose when he contacted the Dean, as it turns out (and I already knew this) the local HS is a private, free academey. So while it's got open and free enrollment, it is technically a private school and insurance along with other funding concerns put them in a position where they don't want to touch the public sector (rec league) with a ten foot pole.

As to my assistant coach, this guy was having kids do push-ups for missed lay-ups. Now in his defense he had a perfectly reasonable, if misguided, rational for doing this. He said by having the kids do push-ups it would serve to stregthen them so they'll be able to make the ten foot rim. I told him I appreceiated what he was trying to do but I did not want to spend practice time doing push-ups. So he says OK and I never heard from him again, he took his kid off my team and that was that.

I'm really happy for all the advice I got here, I did return the focus to fundimentals and fun. Last year when the focus was on winning, the team lost a barn burner in the championship game. This year while the focus was on fun and fundimentals we lost all but 3 games. But, the 3 wins were the last 3 games and they actually looked like a basketball team. It was great to watch, it felt good to sit on the bench and just cheer the team on, and I have to say, we all had a real good time.

I'm really sorry that they can't see the forest for the trees. There is always a way to work things out IF they really want to take the time and effort. I cant imagine that they wont reach out to help their own program.

Your assistant coach needs to go to a few clinics himself... and search sites on the net... there are a multitude of sites that show young coaches how things should be done... a ton of drills, explanations, diagrams etc.

Some of my best ideas came from other coaches, I just tweaked them to fit my team. I'm glad you had a good year along with the kids. Keep up the good work and keep posting. YOU are the kind of coach that SHOULD be working with young kids... you have their best interests at heart.

Hootch: Great advice from Ken, and im sorry about the clinic, however you are dealing with an administrator and most administrators are afraid to step into the water. We, unfortunately, have become a suit society thus the worry about insurance, kids getting hurt, dealing with the parents as a result, sometimes that's just too much for any admin guy to handle. As for your assistant Coach, well, he was there for all the WRONG reasons and you are better off without him. Good luck with the rest of your season Coach Mac