Need More Classes in BB

[Magic 10]

Some outstanding points brought up in this discussion in regards to officiating at youth tournaments and the rules of youth tournaments. I fully agree that youth tournament officials as well as officials at all levels impact the game with how they interpret the rules and what they call on the court of play. The bumps, the travels and rules of the game have to be enforced and coaches have a role in reminding officials of what needs to be called and such and such, but my point is that I see too many coaches so wrapped up in the officiating of volunteers at a youth tournament that it to is teaching kids how to handle adversity. Lets face it the games are too quick for some officials, and volunteer officials usually have 1 or 2 key things they are looking for and maybe that is unacceptable, but getting them ticked off never seems to make it better.

My take on the youth tournament rules. I think there is a time and place for everything, I don't mind the pressing because it forces kids to have to react quicker- and work on ball handling- every tournament with rules favors a certain type of style or mind frame. No, I do not think pressing at 5th grade when you are up by 20 pts or more is a good idea, just like not allowing a press and letting a 6 footer walk down the floor to the block to receive 1 pass and to score 30 pts is a good idea either. I think it is about teaching and learning. The man to man rules are laughable, because nobody should be teaching a "stand by your Man" those rules favor teams with one great player. "Lets play 1 on 1 and have everyone else stand at half court by your man" I find that laughable. Rules like that are not made by coaches that really understand man or zone defense. A good man defense looks like a zone and your good zone defense look like a man defense.

Some things that I have been thinking about.

 

[house54hoops]

I reffed a youth tourney where teams were required to play man but not a specific radius. There was one coach who was insisting that the other team was playing zone which I told him they weren't and then changed his argument to his opponent playing a box and one. It was in 5th grade! I was laughing when I explained to him that they were indeed playing a man tok man. He asked how I knew so I had to explain him that the one man he had open was covered by the same player whenever he got the ball but that he was just playing good helpside defense. As far as I'm concerned, if you have to ref those type of games, blow your whistle and be quick and assertive in your call. People seem to argue less if you don't give them a chance to think about a call.

 

[hawkbb101]

Magic, good post. I only disagree in your pressing point. It does force kids to react but the younger the kids the less skills and strength they have. One of the best ways to beat a press is to pass the ball over the top or down the floor and young kids don't have the strength to do that. In my mind middle school is when pressing should be allowed. You can't just throw every aspect of basketball at kids in 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade. It won't look like basketball, it will look like a cluster.

 

[privateer13]

I see a lot of problems on the coaching end of things. Coming from a small school setting where it will take multiple sport athletes to make up a good program. My dealing has been with head varsity coaches and youth coaches. The problem is impatience, most coaches don't want to put the time into developing players. They want to teach them their offense or their defense. They pick kids who they deem to be good ball players in 4th and 5th grade and work with them look for spots on travelling teams to develop them. They then take that marginal kid in the younger grades and use them to fill up a roster with no intention of developing them. I have heard on several occasions from a head varsity coach about a 5th grader that kid will never play varsity. I have seen kids grow up into good athletes who were pushed out of the program because the coach had no use for him/her.

At many schools in order to play varsity ball then you have to have your kid playing on travelling teams that play year round starting in 4th grade. Most parents see this, they want their kids to play so they have no choice but to push them. Which in turn turns them into that "parent" for all the time and money put into their kids.

Is there a solution? I don't know.

 

[DarkThunder#61]

Originally posted by hawkbb101:
Magic, good post. I only disagree in your pressing point. It does force kids to react but the younger the kids the less skills and strength they have. One of the best ways to beat a press is to pass the ball over the top or down the floor and young kids don't have the strength to do that. In my mind middle school is when pressing should be allowed. You can't just throw every aspect of basketball at kids in 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade. It won't look like basketball, it will look like a cluster.

Based on what I see every Saturday at our rec league games.....this^^^.

Although I think 5th-6th is a good time to begin teaching the concept of pressing, I just don't think it's best to use except in tournaments where competition may be more evenly capable of both utilizing and beating it.

Many of your local teams with kids who are just out for basketball to have fun, probably aren't gonna make your full court press look like Dr. Tom's in his hey days at Iowa. And most, like you said, aren't strong enough, or have the awareness, to break it. Nor often is it something they will master, despite your volunteer/parent coach's best efforts, over the course of their 5th-6th grade season.

With that said, I've seen a couple teams who put on a good press at the 5th-6th level, but these kids were more mature and bigger for their age and they were all part of traveling teams. Those are the teams that practice 2-3 times a week (or more.........).

Everyone else usually practices once a week.

So while I think it's okay to begin teaching the press at the 5th-6th level, it would be better served for tournaments.