YBCA

I am new to coaching.

In my league, the rule is defense has to wait at mid-court so the kids can bring the ball up.

What happens is that there is a wall of defenders at mid-court and only the strong kids get to keep the ball.

A co-worker said his league mandates that the defenders have to keep one foot in the paint at all times.

The offense can pass around the perimeter.

If there is a mis-handled pass the defense can attack.

What are your thoughts to this type of defense?

Right now, it seems like it is just like the kids are playing “Kill the Guy with the Ball”  All out attack.

When a smaller kid gets the ball, he has no chance to do anything.  I don't see any opportunity to learn
with this ATTACK defense.

Also, Defense is a lot easier because the kids aren't skilled enough to keep the ball. Even the strongest kids.

Stealing the ball is so much easier than maintaining it.

Thanks for the comments.

Yes, 1st & 2nd is too young

5 v 5 is too chaotic and crowded

I will talk with the “veteran” coaches and see what changes we can implement

I will check out “Cross Over: …”

In our 1st / 2nd grade leagues, we have dads/coaches stand on the court and direct everything, and the kids have to stand on an “x”. It drives me nuts. I always think I'm not going to sign up my kids for it – but they like being with their friends and I have to remember that for that one hour, once/week, it's just like a big playdate. I then play ball with my kids and work on skills then…although in 1st/2nd, I've learned (at the expense of my oldest son) to relax and keep it mellow. The skills will develop, but basketball is such a game of habit that I still find ways to work in key reminders even when we're shooting around at the school.

But do away with that “one foot in the paint” rule. Parents always find a way to manufacture complexity in places where it doesn't need to be.

–Pat

Amen to that, Brian, but the level of parent involvement has become (as I know you know) astonishingly high. I'm as guilty as anyone else, but my second-grader son likes this league specifically because it's not very competitive and he can hang out with his buddies. That's a tough pill to swallow for me, but he's getting exercise, he gets to wear a jersey, the other parents on the team aren't overbearing, so I let it be. You're right – it's not really basketball. But I'd argue that perhaps it's a gateway to something better.

–Pat

I think drafting the parents who get it is the best approach. 

In leagues like this, for change to happen, the structure or philosophy of the league has to change. At this age, there is no way for the top 2 players not to dominate because of the physical and skill differences. The only way is to create more and more artificial rules which move the game further and further from a real game.

One approach, at this age group, would be to create narrower age ranges. For instance, rather than 1st and 2nd graders together, separate into a 1st grade league and a 2nd grade league. If there are enough kids, separate even further into 1st graders born Jan-Jun and 1st graders born Jul-Dec so there is a little more physical maturity balance. Or, make the 1st grade league for March-Sept birthdays and evaluate players born Jan-March and Oct-Dec to stay in the 1st grade league or move up or down based on physical maturity. 

At the end of the day, the league needs a strong voice and needs to write a philosophy that everyone stands behind. If a parent does not like that philosophy, they can go to another league or AAU or whatever. However, if you say up front that we're playing 4v4 to get more touches or more space or we're structuring the league so the team's best five play against each other in the 1st and 3rd quarters and the team's lower five play against each other in the 2nd and 4th quarters to create more competitive equality or you change the age groups or you re-shuffle the teams at mid-season to make the teams fair, etc. 

Why not? In an 8-team league, why not choose teams, play 4 weeks and then re-draft the teams? Play another 4 weeks and re-draft. Then, play the final 4 weeks and have a mini-tournament play-offs with the final teams. 14 or 15-game league. Players exposed to three different coaches. Coaches forced to work on general skills because their daunting press or amazing set plays will only work for four weeks and then they'll have to re-teach everything to a new group. 

The key with leagues is that the coaches within a league need to look at each other as partners, not adversaries. Your goal should not be to outwit your fellow coach, but to ensure all the players in your league stay engaged, improve, etc., as eventually they'll filter into the same high school. The league in that sense is a farm team for the high school and the opposition is other leagues in the city, not the teams within the league. 

In Little League, we'd compete within our F.O. Little League and try to win the league, but we were all friends. The real competition was our representative in the district tournament and out All-Star team playing other AS teams from other leagues/communities. Almost everyone from FOLL filtered into 1 of 3 high schools and primarily into one high school. So, the FOLL was a feeder program for BVHS. Sure, we had rivalries, and we played too win, and we didn't always get along (especially at older ages, I don't remember any issues from T-ball) but not with the obsessive peak by friday mentality that i see in basketball.