Playing Against Zone Defnese & Full Court Pressure

Need advice. I coach inexperienced 6-8 grade girls. small team - 7 players. we have played 7 games. Every team has full court pressed us as a \"game strategy\" (the entire game) and plays zone defense. It\'s very frustrating....hard to get any real basketball going. We play man to man defense as suggested. It is our offense that is hurting and the full court press causing turnovers...and wearing us out. Any suggestions on a simple offense we use against zone? We teach them to move, and spacing....but they still \"hang\" too much. They want to be told what to do and where to go at all times. I am lost at where to go from here. Also, we have tried the press breaker (4 across, middle 2 setting screens)...just struggling getting it down the court. Suggestions appreciated. Thanks

It amazes me how many youth coaches are doing this to kids of that age... it really ticks me off. 8th graders go ahead and press, anything below that... time to teach them how to play the game.

Press and then play zone... :-( Sad

Stress the spacing to your kids vs the full court press.... be in a passing lane and make yourself available. Saw the Duke game the other night and they didn't dribble to break the press, they passed thru it.

IS this a zone full court press? IF its m2m get it inbounds and clear everyone out .... bring your center back and let her set a screen for the person with the ball.

What type of zones are you facing.... show the kids where the weaknesses are... and then tell them to be in a passing lane... THAT is where you can see the ball WITHOUT defender being between you and the ball..... one college coach told us to "put em where they aint!"

Then move the ball, be patient and get a good look to score... get it inside IF you can, it weakens any zone. Then you can shoot it or kick it back out for an open look. Hope this helps.

I hear you on the "hard to get any real basketball going", ain't gunna happen if teams are using a full court press the entire game. I'm with CSar, shouldn't be allowed in developing leagues or younger age groups. Easy answer is make them pay for pressing; however, I suspect that's easier said than done.

I'd set aside 10-15 min of "beat the press" by having 3 vs. 4 mini games with no dribbling allowed. Have 3 bring it in with 4 pressing. The 3 bringing it in will need to pass and cut, help out and communicate to get the ball across half court.

Not sure what kind of offense you're playing now, but I'd go with a 4 out 1 in or even 5 out. I'd spread your players out away from 3 pt line and try to bring the zone D out. Ball movement is the key, lots of quick passes with cuts to the basket. If you have no shot clock, tell your girls to be patient.

Unfortunately, I think the big reason for allowing presses and zones might be financial at the youth level.

I talked to a youth coach who is involved with youth leagues that contain almost 600 teams in the Kansas City area. Apparently, the league only allowed zone & pressing in the top division for 7th & 8th grade teams, but they started to lose teams to other leagues that allowed presses & zones. So they opened up pressing & zones to all age levels to bring the teams back.

So, I think the root of the problem lies within the parents and coaches.

Pretty sad state of affairs Joe! None of this is going to change UNTIL the PARENTS and COACHES start thinking about the kids instead of themselves... pretty selfish!

Joe: Finances, I was always under the impression that these leagues were for the kids and certainly not for profit. I was 45 before i made my first dime out of coaching and that was only a stipend. If teams want aspire to leagues that offer the zone and pressing concepts, let them go. Once your league stipulates the rules, then the rules must be followed. If there is no pressing allowed and m2m is the only defense to be played then so be it.

I am in total agreement with Coach Sar, and other coaches on this forum, I am simply tired of administrators and coaches offering silly reasons as to why they allow this or why they allow that. Since ive been contributing to this site, I have read many stupid reasons why they do the things they do. In my opinion, many administrators just don't have the strength of their own convictions to back up the rules they are trying to implement. They tend to yield to either coaches or parents pressure. For the umpteenth time, this game is for the kids, its not for the coaches,parents administrators and its certainly NOT FOR PROFIT.
coach mac

Coach Mac,

I think I got your heart started tonight! I agree with you, I am sick of the Bull they throw out... this game is for the KIDS and the sooner they understand it the better the kids will get and the more FUN they will have.

I realize that a lot of the people who coach are volunteers and parents... and they might be doing the best they can do... but we have to find a way to help them do the right thing.. and YOU are right Mac, we have to get the administrators on board here too!!

To the parents of the kids, this is not the NBA, its about teaching your kids how to play the game and to play it correctly... and have fun.

Yeah. I agree, Coach Mac. All of the leagues I was involved in were certainly NOT for profit. If anything, they might have been losing money.

To play the devil's advocate a little bit, let's say you are an administrator for a 600 league team and you have full-time employees. Let's say teams are starting to leave because of the no pressing and zones rule. Because finances are down, you have to fire somebody. What do you do? Allow pressing and zones or possibly put a family through some rough times because you never what to expect with this economy.

Not saying that is the scenario, but it's just a thought.

None of what we are suggesting will work until you get EVERYBODY on board and it starts with the parents. IF ALL the parents insist, then the coaches and administrators will have to fall in line.

Every parent thinks that their little Johnny is a D1 player right? Well, they will never make it to the next level IF all they do is sit around and air out arm pits and press the entire game. So they go 150 - 0 thru the youth league programs and when they get to the high school level they are so far behind that IF they are lucky to make the team they end up sitting or getting minimal time - then how happy are the parents - obviously some coaches and administrators don't care.

Think of how my of those young players quit playing because it isn't any fun... and they aren't learning anything. Would a parent go along with that program IF it was an academic class? The kid ends the year and learns nothing? You better believe they would be all over that and rightfully so - Basketball or any other sport for that matter is, or should be the same.

Basketball (and ALL sports) are an extension of the classroom! Why don't they ask the local high school coaches in their areas what they would like to see from a player coming out of their program? I guarantee you that one of the things they wont say is
" I really want them to be able to play a zone defense! "

OK. I did my venting for the day!

I'm with you. It's going to be a constant battle.

Joe: in the words of the great Mr. Spock of Vulcan, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Coach Mac

"Beam me up Scotty"

Thanks for the advice coaches. It is encouraging and helps to understand why I should stick with our m2m d strategy! The positive about playing these teams/coaches who take on a totally different view, is that it is making our team better players on and off the court! Thankfully my parents are on board with this too! I am one of those inexperienced volunteer coaches for a very small Christian school trying to get a sports program started. This is our second basketball season. I am so very proud of the attitudes of my players....they get how blessed we are to even have a team....and this attitude carries on the floor. We had a great victory last night! We beat the press and found the holes in the zone. It wasn't easy, but my girls "got it" last night. As all of you advised, we just kept on stressing "passing" to beat the press, and being patient " on offense. We even put on the full court press in the last 2 mintues to try to keep our three point lead. The girls liked giving their opponents a taste of their own....but fully understood why and when we put the full press on. To see the smiles on my girls' faces after winning against a team, that beat us 3 weeks ago by 20+ points, was heartwarming, not to metnion just flat out exciting! Thanks for the 3 on 4 drill, we will do that in practice tonight. To answer a couple of your questions, most presses have been zone presses (lots of trapping), opponent's zone D has been 2 -1 2 or 2-3 zone. Our offense has mostly been a 1-3-1. Maybe, I should try 1-4???
Thanks again!!!

Congratulations.... great job!!! Everyone must have been very excitied..... makes everything you do and believe in worth while. THIS will only help the kids to believe in your philosophy more now.

Funny you pressed them... someone once said " a team that presses doesn't like to be pressed. "

Run your press offense every day for at least 10-15 minutes and your kids will smile the next time they see someone pressing you. I found that out the hard way early in my varsity coaching career.

I like the 1-3-1 vs those zones... and just tell your girls.. go where they aint! Be in a passing lane... be able to see the ball without a defender being between you and the ball...

Good luck and keep up the good work.

Thank you....I will implement your advice and we will keep working hard!

Coach P: don't you just love it when everything comes together, I have seen those smiles on the faces of kids all over the world. Its that "Oh I get it now smile". One last thing, teams that love to press, hate to be pressed. Congrats Coach well done Coach Mac

JoeHaefner wrote:
So, I think the root of the problem lies within the parents and coaches.

Well it certainly aint the kids. :) It is always the "adults" that mess things up.

coachmac wrote:Joe: Finances, I was always under the impression that these leagues were for the kids and certainly not for profit. I was 45 before i made my first dime out of coaching and that was only a stipend. If teams want aspire to leagues that offer the zone and pressing concepts, let them go. Once your league stipulates the rules, then the rules must be followed. If there is no pressing allowed and m2m is the only defense to be played then so be it.

I am in total agreement with Coach Sar, and other coaches on this forum, I am simply tired of administrators and coaches offering silly reasons as to why they allow this or why they allow that. Since ive been contributing to this site, I have read many stupid reasons why they do the things they do. In my opinion, many administrators just don't have the strength of their own convictions to back up the rules they are trying to implement. They tend to yield to either coaches or parents pressure. For the umpteenth time, this game is for the kids, its not for the coaches,parents administrators and its certainly NOT FOR PROFIT.
coach mac

Unfortunately, these days "youth sports" is all about profit. Just look at the proliferation of "training centers" and "travel" or "elite" teams. To tryout for a team may cost $25. 100 kids show up, that's a quick $2500. Parents spending thousands of dollars for "little Johnny" the psudo professional on lessons, camps, equipment, uniforms, etc. Can't have parents coach -- no way -- my boy gets "professional" coaching. Start them at 5 and keep them until they are 18 -- that's 13 years to pick their pockets for "the dream." Heck, Little Leauge televises not only their "world series" but the "regionals." As a parent, it is easy to get caught up in it. We are off our rockers. Sorry about the rant. Good luck.

Ahhh... another ranter :-)

I'm always going off on a tangent... here we are venting about all of this junk and were really supposed to be helping the other coaches and the kids that are on this forum.

Jeff - Joe,

Maybe you should open another subject so the kids don't have to see us ragging about this... although, at least they will see that we are fighting for them!

Maybe for the elite players that works golfman - but for the average kid that is just trying to have some fun, learn the game and get better- THEY ARE ALL WET! That's who we are fighting for, the kids that are trying to work at their game, get better and make it to the next level, and maybe play in college some day.

Hi guys
I am a new comer to the sport of basketball. I am currently teaching in the middle east, where volleyball and basketball as well as soccer are played. As a South African rugby ,soccer and cricket are sports I am familiar with.
Why are you so hell bent on kids not playing/ using the pressing game? I have started playing m2m in our middle school section as thr kids enjoy it, they feel envolved. We press from grade 9 upwards, and the kids enjoy this.....especially when it resulys in a turn over. As for development, our kids are having to improve their ball handling in order to beat our own press in practise sessions.....so what am I doing wrong that is not good for our kids development as basketball players????

Seriously, as I have only been coaching the game for 3 full years.....and learning rapidly...as most of the coaches out here are American with basketball backgrounds.

Look forward to your input.