I have been a basketball coach for about 20 years. I have watched my
16 year old son’s
team go from being a very good junior high team to being average sophomores.
The
players didn’t seem to be getting better at the same rate as the competition.
Also, with
all the summer leagues and camps available, why isn’t the level of
play higher?
This is the age of parental involvement. Parents are now organizing
and coaching their
kids at the earliest ages possible. When we were young our parents
were not involved.
We needed to organize ourselves and play when we could. Our generation
has continued
to be organizers for our kids. This happened because life has been
good for us. Unlike
our parents generation, we have more money and more free time. We are
going to give
our kids the things we only dreamed about. We have given them real
uniforms, leagues,
tournaments, big crowds and plenty of gym time. What a great time it
is to be a kid.
Our kids have all the "advantages" that we never had. Because we are
starting them so
early and giving them our dream, we hope they will grow to be successful.
This makes
them happy and that makes us happy. That’s what it’s all about isn’t
it? At the youth
level success comes to teams that have coaches that know how to coach.
At the high
school level coaches are much more even and it comes down to ability
of the players.
When I was a kid it was rare that one of my friends would attend a basketball
camp.
Although they were less expensive than they are now, money was the
primary factor.
Now it is rare that serious players don’t attend one or more camps
during a summer. A
summer basketball camp can be a great time for the players. Still,
It is rare that the
player is significantly changed by the experience. High numbers of
players, low numbers
of coaches, and little repetition, make camps hard learning environments.
Another development over the last 15 years is the youth leagues for
kids and summer
leagues for high school players. These are extremely popular for three
reasons:
1. Kids love it.
2. Parents love it.
3. Most coaches feel it is needed to stay even with everyone
else.
Organized youth sports are huge in this country. When the coaches and
parents keep it
in perspective it succeeds on nearly every level. There are drawbacks,
however:
1. Some kids are excluded, leaving them feeling behind.
2. Coaches and parents can make it a negative experience.
3. Kids that do not develop early may give up on a sport
too soon.
Summer leagues for high school athletes are less family involved and
probably are
valued more by the high school coaches. Players in basketball squeeze
one or two 2½
hour blocks each week between jobs, other sports, and vacations, to
travel out of town
for a game. These games can provide some good competition but at a
price. A player
only gets between 30-45 minutes of game time out of the 2½ hours
of traveling, waiting
and watching.
Everyone has their own reason for the value of youth sports and summer
leagues. They
can include:
1. Having fun for the moment
2. Parent/child interaction
3. Social activity for kids and parents
4. Learning skills for lifelong recreational enjoyment
5. Development for high school teams
6. Creating the college athlete
There are others, but the above shows a wide variety of goals for both
the parent and
child. If reasons 1-4 are the goal, then youth basketball and summer
leagues are
succeeding. A lot of kids and parents are having a lot of fun and learning
along the way.
This is great.
Some say the success you enjoy in high school basketball defines your
career. As an
older player you realize that this isn’t true. The community takes
pride in its sports
teams and that is natural. Everyone speculates on which kids and teams
will do well. It is
the one period (unless you go on to college basketball) when complete
strangers will care
about how well you play the game. Being a good high school basketball
team is a great
short-term goal. Most that have succeeded will always remember the
time fondly.
The questions become:
Are our kids better basketball players now with all the youth basketball,
the summer
camps, and leagues compared to those that didn’t have these "advantages"?
How can we help our kids play better and enjoy more success in the future?
By questioning and observing it is clear that success in basketball comes from playing the game for fun on the playground. This sounds simple and it is. Here is why:
1. Successful basketball requires more creativity than most other
sports. Creativity is a hard thing to teach. There is not a coach around
that can teach a player to pass like Larry Bird or Magic Johnson. The unsupervised
playground lets players try and fail over and over until they learn what
works and what doesn’t.
2. The best basketball players at the highest levels, have histories
of huge amounts of time spent on the playground. Their biographies don’t
credit the programs and tournaments they played in. Many, to their "advantage",
never had the opportunity.
3. Our local success stories prove this. The boys classes of
1981-82 (arguably the best ever in Stoughton) spent summers at Mandt Park.
The last conference champions of 1989 could be found there every night.
The Seeger and Strandlie sisters have practically lived on that court for
years. It is no wonder our girls program is in great shape. Kristi Seeger
did not learn to play the way she does at a camp or being part of a summer
team.
4. Playground basketball puts young players up against older,
better players, every night. This isn’t being duplicated in summer leagues.
5. Players learn to think because coaches are not there directing
their every move.
6. An evening of playground basketball may provide 2½
hours of play compared to the 30-45 minutes at a summer league night in
Madison.
7. There is one goal in playground basketball: win. There are
no scorebooks to get in the way of intelligent basketball decisions. A
Todd Kittelson or Duane Ellingson doesn’t play for the scorebook. Neither
does Randy Maerz. They just do what it takes to win. It makes sense to
stop asking your child how many points they scored.
Balance is the key. On the one hand we have youth teams and summer leagues.
On the other is the playground. It is not an either-or question. There
is a place for both. The questions now
become:
1. How do we as coaches change the way we coach?
2. How do we get the playground back into the picture?
If we believe there are advantages to playground, then we need to look
at what we are going to do with our players that will help them get better.
Here are some ideas:
1. Simulate playground in practice. Play with and against your
players. They may learn better watching you than by listening.
2. Practice against better players if possible.
3. Be aware of over coaching.
4. Promote creativity. Encourage players to take risks.
5. Stimulate thinking by having the players make game decisions
such as inbounds plays, defenses, and offensive plays.
6. Teach team defense. Playground basketball does not consider
defense the same as offense.
7. Teach the skills that help players become better. Passing,
catching, shooting, rebounding, pivoting, screening, posting up, etc.
All of us have a role in getting our kids back to the playground. As
parents and coaches, we need to sell them on the benefits and fun of playing
the way that we grew up. We have spent a lot of
time and money creating a system that is both good and limiting. There
will always be youth sports for everyone to enjoy. The real success stories
will come from playgrounds and gyms, when the
parents and the coaches are not there.
Anyone heading a basketball program may want to consider the following:
1. Sell players on the playground as a way of reaching personal and
team goals.
2. Cut back or eliminate summer leagues and tournaments. Create more
constructive ways to spend the time.
3. Open gyms to encourage scheduled playground. Encourage outdoor basketball
to get exposure to many players.
4. Bring in better competition (ex-players, adults).
5. It comes down to trusting that less is more.
