Coaching Youth Basketball (2 Viewers)

[thecatch]

You all have made this thread unreadable, congrats.

 

[Instinctive]

You responded to me talking about developing better humans as if I am not focused on that and then talked about and continue to talk about my bias. Then when I ask about it you throw your hands up in the air and say "AI said... sorry, I can't post it" That does not make for much of a conversation... or at least a good one.

That's not at all what I said, but I can't read for others.

Benefit of the doubt and all, but that's how it came off to me as well. Just FYI.

 

[Chadstroma]

AI is not behaving well this time (10000 character limit ) so I'll just say input 'why is youth sports involvement important.' There's a laundry list of reasons why that translate into developing better humans. I think you should consider opening your mind beyond your biases.

What about what I wrote has you even stating that?

The most important part of sport is how you can teach and instill life lessons. You really think my focus on enjoyment over fun limits that? I don't understand your position here.

I think the fundamental difference is target audience. From my perspective as a dad-coach in a small town rec league (coed 9-10), my target audience is athletically a good bit different than the (amazing sounding) Catholic league you and your boys are active in. I expect that the level of competition even at the 3rd grade level is quite a bit higher. I can also tell you that over 1/2 of my team from this summer will likely not play in the winter league. It's just a different target audience. I think Mac's perspective (and don't let me put words in your mouth, @MAC_32 ) is that a blanket statement of "coaches who teach zones at this level prioritize winning" is somewhat tone deaf to a myriad of leagues and competition levels out there. I'll follow that fairly pointed statement up with Instinctive's disclaimer that my tone was not in any way intended to be harsh or pointed.

No, I would say that the Catholic League we are for elementary ages is very much like a rec league in that you have a mixed team of kids that are more naturally talented athletes and then kids that are lacking athleticism. If you have more than one team, the talent level is supposed to be evenly (as much as you can) disbursed throughout the teams. There are kids that basketball is their primary sport and working hard to be the best they can at it and then kids who are trying it out because it is offered by the school but another sport is more important or they aren't really into sports much at all. In Junior High it changes a bit... some of the kids whose attention is on other sports or aren't really into sports drop out and then tryouts for A and B teams moves talent levels to be more uniform. That I would say is much less like a rec league.

I just don't believe much in zone at any level for youth. I understand what you are saying and I get it- and if it works for you then great. I just don't believe that you have to play zone to keep kids engaged and enjoying the sport. M2M is dramatically better for player development. Even within our school, most of our teams play a lot of zone. I just do not believe in it.

 

[MAC_32]

You responded to me talking about developing better humans as if I am not focused on that and then talked about and continue to talk about my bias. Then when I ask about it you throw your hands up in the air and say "AI said... sorry, I can't post it" That does not make for much of a conversation... or at least a good one.

That's not at all what I said, but I can't read for others.

Benefit of the doubt and all, but that's how it came off to me as well. Just FYI.

Then like I said, ask Joe to remove whatever character limit was preventing me from sharing details that expanded upon the 2 sentences I wrote in my last post, or just read what I suggested / linked. This is a text driven board and ~90% of all communication is expressed through body language and tone. I can't control others trying to read into that with the words I write

 

[Chadstroma]

You responded to me talking about developing better humans as if I am not focused on that and then talked about and continue to talk about my bias. Then when I ask about it you throw your hands up in the air and say "AI said... sorry, I can't post it" That does not make for much of a conversation... or at least a good one.

That's not at all what I said, but I can't read for others.

Youth sports involvement is important to human development because it provides numerous benefits for children's physical, mental, and social development, while also fostering important life skills contributing to a child's overall well-being and future success - and what's the #1 way to ensure sustained involvement? The kids are having 'fun.'

And this is what I believe...

Youth sports involvement is important to human development because it provides numerous benefits for children's physical, mental, and social development, while also fostering important life skills contributing to a child's overall well-being and future success - and what's the #1 way to ensure sustained involvement? The kids are enjoying the sport.

 

[MAC_32]

For reference, this is what I wrote to you @Instinctive in regards to winning / fun vs development

I think this unintentionally gets at the point those staunchly against anything but M2M aren't willing to consider. I don't share this from a basketball coach perspective, but rather a youth coaches one. I'll let AI do its thing downstream, but the most important element for kids in youth sports is 'fun.' How a good coach does both this and help them develop is variable and depends on the kids he has to work with.

This is what Chad responded

I do not mean any of this as a shot at you but rather a conversation. It is a major thing for me and since you brought it up, I would like to discuss further.

I have never liked the focus of fun in competitive youth sports. It makes my skin crawl to be honest.

And this is was my retort

AI is not behaving well this time (10000 character limit ) so I'll just say input 'why is youth sports involvement important.' There's a laundry list of reasons why that translate into developing better humans. I think you should consider opening your mind beyond your biases.

I don't know, maybe the biases comment is what caused you both to make an issue with this, but how that text spun from its intent to me accusing either of you of not prioritizing the development of humans is not a me problem. All I'm doing is sharing a different (and sourced) vision than you and supplementing with real life examples demonstrating its success. It's very clear neither of you are having it...which is why I used that word, 'biases.'

 

[Instinctive]

For reference, this is what I wrote to you @Instinctive in regards to winning / fun vs development

I think this unintentionally gets at the point those staunchly against anything but M2M aren't willing to consider. I don't share this from a basketball coach perspective, but rather a youth coaches one. I'll let AI do its thing downstream, but the most important element for kids in youth sports is 'fun.' How a good coach does both this and help them develop is variable and depends on the kids he has to work with.

This is what Chad responded

I do not mean any of this as a shot at you but rather a conversation. It is a major thing for me and since you brought it up, I would like to discuss further.

I have never liked the focus of fun in competitive youth sports. It makes my skin crawl to be honest.

And this is was my retort

AI is not behaving well this time (10000 character limit ) so I'll just say input 'why is youth sports involvement important.' There's a laundry list of reasons why that translate into developing better humans. I think you should consider opening your mind beyond your biases.

I don't know, maybe the biases comment is what caused you both to make an issue with this, but how that text spun from its intent to me accusing either of you of not prioritizing the development of humans is not a me problem. All I'm doing is sharing a different (and sourced) vision than you and supplementing with real life examples demonstrating its success. It's very clear neither of you are having it...which is why I used that word, 'biases.'

I hope this can be my last response on the matter. We'll see I guess.

1. It's definitely your problem if you don't communicate well and then seem annoyed that people misinterpret you. Communicate better. if you don't care, then don't care. But if you didn't care, then idk why you'd follow up over and over. My only conclusion can be that you do care, so i thought you might be interested to learn that your written "tone" (hard to write tone, especially on the internet, but then again we're using it to communicate so we should be aware of its limits and effects) sounded like you were being a jerk to Chad. I, as someone who the post wasn't directed at, simply chime in to say "yeah, thats how it sounded."

2. I don't have an issue with it. I have the most experience on this topic of the current posters (not, say, Navin, who chimes in sometimes) and am for now just sharing things I know and following along Chad's journey. One day, when its my own kid(s) instead of someone else's, maybe some of what I read sticks and is helpful to me. I like to learn and I like teaching others. I'm perfectly fine to think you're wrong and not ever convince you of it. Life rolls onward. I don't even really care whether youth coaches teach M2M or zone. I have only shared the truth, which is that all else equal, teaching M2M is significantly better for player development.

3. Your "retort" to Chad's post takes it totally out of context. He then went on a long discussion about developing young men and how enjoyment and fun are not the same, etc.

4. This is not the thread - but one of the worst possible ways to use AI is to ask one question and then just copy paste a huge, error-ridden, nuance-less mess of whatever the AI of your choice said to your one mediocre prompt. For example - I just asked it "why is youth sports involvement unimportant" and got what looks like a great answer. See the issue?

Spoiler: Equally poor use of AI

1. Limited Long-Term Impact​

• Most kids do not play competitively past high school, and fewer than 2% play at the college level. The benefits can therefore be short-lived compared to other skills (academic, artistic, social-emotional) that may carry further into adulthood.
• Athletic achievements rarely translate directly into professional or life success outside sports.

2. Overemphasis on Competition​

• Youth sports often prioritize winning and performance over fun, learning, or personal growth.
• This competitive pressure can overshadow other more meaningful activities like exploration, creative play, or academic pursuits.

3. Time and Resource Drain​

• Practices, games, and travel consume enormous amounts of family time and energy.
• Parents may spend disproportionate money on gear, fees, and travel for little return. That investment might be more impactful in education, hobbies, or family time.

4. Risk of Physical and Mental Strain​

• Overuse injuries and burnout are increasingly common in children who specialize early.
• Mental health can suffer due to pressure from coaches, parents, or peers, making sports a source of stress rather than joy.

5. Alternatives Provide Similar Benefits​

• The supposed benefits of sports (teamwork, discipline, resilience, fitness) can be gained in other activities—music, theater, debate, outdoor adventures, or simply unstructured play.
• Exercise and health can be developed through casual recreation, not organized leagues.

6. Social Inclusion Concerns​

• Youth sports can create hierarchies of “athletic kids” vs. “non-athletic kids.”
• Children who are less skilled may feel excluded, which can hurt confidence and belonging rather than build it.

5. I have worked extensively with PCA - I don't need to be convinced of the value of youth sports, and neither does anyone here - that's why it seems like you aren't listening when you want to post an ill-formed textwall, garbage level litany of reasons why youth sports matter - everyone here thinks they matter. You're talking past people. I'm now guessing, with some confidence, that's why it would annoy someone like Chad - you're not listening to him. You're talking at him and coming off like you think you're superior. You probably don't (benefit of the doubt), which is why I flagged to you that you absolutely are coming off that way. That's the kind of thing i like to know, when I'm being heard in a manner other than intended.

 

[MAC_32]

You're talking at him and coming off like you think you're superior. You probably don't (benefit of the doubt), which is why I flagged to you that you absolutely are coming off that way. That's the kind of thing i like to know, when I'm being heard in a manner other than intended.

Like I said, ~90% of communication is body language and tone. I've had multiple...'tense' emails about different projects emerge the last couple weeks. In each instance, any more text would only dump fuel onto the fire, so instead of continuing the thread, I asked for time to schedule 1 : 1's and / or group meetings. The 'tension' from those threads subsided in that setting and we developed solutions to those problems amidst healthy debate because in that setting body language and tone messages were also received, instead of however the reader interpreted the text. Talk it out, face-to-face preferred, then follow up with text.

Obviously, that approach is not feasible on a message board. I'm sharing the above to reaffirm what you're speculating - that none of what I shared was intended to be delivered from a sense of superiority. Writing that out I'm unsuccessfully trying to stop myself from snickering at it because if you knew me you'd know that ain't the case. If you, or anyone else, thinks otherwise in the future, all I ask is please let me know rather than derailing a thread. Unless you're being a real dummy anyway. But that's usually reserved for the Shark Pool and I think I've dialed back the snark (some?) as I've aged.

Btw, noted re your AI feedback - reader perspective anyway. It's a subject I've spent extensive time vetting, so our new world offers an opportunity to share those highlights in the matter of seconds vs devoting minutes to writing out a well thought out response with just whatever information is in my head at that moment. When it comes to someone with an opposed perspective, especially when it's text only, that won't be effectively received though.

 

[Chadstroma]

If you, or anyone else, thinks otherwise in the future, all I ask is please let me know rather than derailing a thread.

I stated that I didn't understand your reaction. Hoping your would clarify or further explain. Your response didn't exactly do either.

I get it, writing can not always convey want you want. My sense of humor and playfulness often does not translate well here. Heck, you don't have to go back too far in this thread to find several posters being somewhat aggressive with me with what I think largely is viewing me differently that what is reality. I think it largely has to do with taking my passion and translating that into the trope of a Dad living through their kids sports types.

I started my discussion on fun vs enjoyment with 'this isn't a shot at you' because I meant it. It wasn't. I find it very interesting topic and I have spent a lot of time and effort into my position which I believe strongly in. I find this stuff so interesting that I feel drawn towards working in youth sports as I recently applied for an Assistant Athletic Director position at a HS. I realize I spent way more time on this stuff than most. And I also realize that that passion can be translated into being perceived in different ways.

 

[MAC_32]

I stated that I didn't understand your reaction. Hoping your would clarify or further explain. Your response didn't exactly do either.

I suspect it's 2 reasons, please bear with me as I'm about to get long-winded. I'm doing so in hopes it's for the betterment of the thread and hopefully kerfluffles like these that seem to pop up with some frequency can be a thing of the past.

Reason #1 is because when I write the word 'fun' there is way more behind it than the blanket definition. That's why I've expanded on it with outcomes of cases in which this approach has been applied, whether by me / us or observing others. If kids are having 'fun' in sports then they're more likely to maintain involvement. Studies have tied a correlation between youth sports involvement and...

*improved physical health
*development of motor skills
*reduce risk of future illness
*stress management strategies
*emotional regulation
*reduced risk of depression and anxiety
*enhanced cognitive function
*teamwork and collaboration
*leadership skills
*social skills
*discipline and time management
*resilience & perseverance

...the list goes on. Now what is 'fun?' That is variable, which is why I use '' and can't effectively expand beyond it, just writing 'fun.' We've got dozens of kids on our track team - how I (we) coach each grade varies, how I (we) coach individuals within those grades do too, and it even goes down to the individual sport. Separately, there is a lot of overlap between the rosters of our Basketball and Baseball teams. I also coached a bunch of them in football before. While my (our) 'how' with each of them is variable my (our) objective is the same with all ~100 plus of them - cultivate an environment for them to have a good experience, perform to the best of their ability / willingness, return next year, and develop as young humans. I bolded that because from what I've observed in this thread that seems to be where there's a divide. I've been doing this for a long time - not every young person has 'it' click at a certain time, and 'it' cannot be forced either. It happens when it happens or it doesn't at all, just keep a positive environment (especially because many of them don't get one at home) and keep giving them opportunities for 'it' to click. I appreciate other coaches with different perspectives / objectives and their 'why' peaks my curiosity, it's how one learns and develops. Within this thread that is not what I've observed from the staunchly M2M crowd, which brings me to reason #2.

Reason #2 - you have a different primary objective and means to achieve it...and that's okay. The data is indisputable - young people playing M2M leads to better basketball outcomes. If your primary objective is player development then why would you do anything else. And the lack of question mark is intentional. A youth coach having a different primary objective isn't necessarily wrong though. If anyone reading this has the sudden urge to counter, please first revisit reason #1 then keep reading. If you get to the end and still feel the same, by all means, hold my feet to the fire...

But anyway, there is a time and a place for the 'fun' to transition to 'competition,' and I think trying to apply uniformly is a mistake. I think the case I described on the last page of the recently graduated 8th grade class is a great example of it. I haven't thought about how we'll manage our 8th graders next year, I've been doing it in track for a decade so I'll have something to draw back to, but as experience has shown me each class is unique and proper navigation is different with each one. Next year's 8th graders is a next year problem, but I'm sure we won't be doing anything like what was done with the class that just graduated...and what those coaches did with them was still the right thing, as I described previously - their primary objective was not related to basketball outcomes. That said I KNOW with our group coming up we will be shifting more towards competition, we'll be starting that process this year, as I hope happens with football but that's a separate story. Anyway, I tee that up by pulling back to what we did with some of our guys last year. I recall getting a lot of heat for installing a junk defense late last season, but instead of others trying to understand why we were doing it the feedback was (paraphrasing) you are doing those kids a disservice for your own objectives of winning. I mean if we're talking about talking past each other that's it right there, but I'm writing all this in hopes nonsense like that gets left in the past.

Isolating just our team of 7, four of them were already on a track towards advanced competition, the other three weren't there yet. Two of them (call them big irish and little irish) had been playing basketball (and other sports) for years, but still hadn't found their niche. That's not a bad thing, these kids are just 6th graders. The other one (call him big guy) was playing for the first time, had natural talent, but was in terrible condition, and had a propensity to sulking when things went poorly. All 7 of them, as well most of the other team, are also friends off the court. Sure, the four of them already on a track towards advanced competition want to continue to develop their skills (we have a practice per week that's just skills), but it's not their primary objective, and they shared as much. They want to play with their friends, be the best team they can be, and compete against the best. We adapted our approach to them as the season progressed. The most impactful situation was a 20+ pt blowout loss to a team they beat previously, but this post is already thousands of characters too much so save that for another day. We saw some light bulbs turning on for little irish in practice and weekly skills, but they weren't translating to the game. We saw more outta big irish year-over-year, but in games he seemed to only have two modes - passive and hyper aggressive. We worked through big guy's sulking problems in-season, but his conditioning was gonna be a summer thing. We took these data points and pivoted to something that would put them in position to do those things better than they were while also offering coaching opportunities. The irishes played with increasing confidence that hadn't been unlocked yet. We also talked to them (both as a group and individually) after we got knocked out of the bracket about what they need to work on so they return next year better than they are now. Big irish, you're difficult to score on when you don't let your guy to their spot, this is what happens when you're aggressive on D rather than letting your opponent dictate action. Little irish, you're a great defender, look at both how many steals you accumulated and how much you routinely disrupted some of their better players once you stopped worrying about getting beat. Big guy, you saw in that championship why you have to improve conditioning - we installed a defense that didn't force you to close on shooters in part because you weren't in shape to do things like that and play for ~4 mins at a time.

This pivot wasn't about winning games nor was it done for player development purposes, our primary objective is human development. Please don't confuse that sentence with me saying this is the right way or yours is wrong, it seems that's how prior comments were interpreted and it couldn't be further from the truth. This is just what we thought was best for our guys at that moment in time and we think (hope?) lessons were learned from last year's experiences and based on what I've seen since then, I'm cautiously optimistic. Big irish has always had skills as a pitcher, but his passive-hyper aggressive tendencies got to him, especially when he didn't get a few calls. I was very impressed with his emotional maturity demonstrated in-season, you could tell when he was upset, but how he reacted was night-and-day - controlled aggression, good luck connecting on his next pitch when that happened. I can't wait to see how that translates on the court too. Little irish has always been a good defender on the soccer field, and after translating his new found aggression coach started putting him in goal...until he eventually earned the full time gig. The kid that used to play on his heels, played on his heels no more. He's gonna be more than just a pest when we get indoors again. And Big Guy, well, those lazy habits that seemed to follow him around our son have disappeared this summer. He was the one always pulling him towards video games but now when I don't hear anything about bike rides, wiffle ball games, the pool, etc it's because I also see him at the park playing ball with those 8th graders I mentioned before. We'll probably need to continue to monitor his minutes, but hopefully we no longer need to worry about him with his hands on his knees on the opposite end of the court while we're trying to set up offense. We're never going to get everything right as coaches, but I think we did with these kids. 'It' finally click. Those bullet points from further up this post? They seem littered in what we hoped to accomplish with these kids, and I hope as a result we can navigate basketball season a little less creatively than we have in the past.

If you're still reading, thank you, and I hope this was received as intended - an olive branch to be open-minded to approaches that may not align with your own. I realize this is the internet, but let's try to have healthier dialogue in here.

 

[Instinctive]

I stated that I didn't understand your reaction. Hoping your would clarify or further explain. Your response didn't exactly do either.

I suspect it's 2 reasons, please bear with me as I'm about to get long-winded. I'm doing so in hopes it's for the betterment of the thread and hopefully kerfluffles like these that seem to pop up with some frequency can be a thing of the past.

Reason #1 is because when I write the word 'fun' there is way more behind it than the blanket definition. That's why I've expanded on it with outcomes of cases in which this approach has been applied, whether by me / us or observing others. If kids are having 'fun' in sports then they're more likely to maintain involvement. Studies have tied a correlation between youth sports involvement and...

*improved physical health
*development of motor skills
*reduce risk of future illness
*stress management strategies
*emotional regulation
*reduced risk of depression and anxiety
*enhanced cognitive function
*teamwork and collaboration
*leadership skills
*social skills
*discipline and time management
*resilience & perseverance

...the list goes on. Now what is 'fun?' That is variable, which is why I use '' and can't effectively expand beyond it, just writing 'fun.' We've got dozens of kids on our track team - how I (we) coach each grade varies, how I (we) coach individuals within those grades do too, and it even goes down to the individual sport. Separately, there is a lot of overlap between the rosters of our Basketball and Baseball teams. I also coached a bunch of them in football before. While my (our) 'how' with each of them is variable my (our) objective is the same with all ~100 plus of them - cultivate an environment for them to have a good experience, perform to the best of their ability / willingness, return next year, and develop as young humans. I bolded that because from what I've observed in this thread that seems to be where there's a divide. I've been doing this for a long time - not every young person has 'it' click at a certain time, and 'it' cannot be forced either. It happens when it happens or it doesn't at all, just keep a positive environment (especially because many of them don't get one at home) and keep giving them opportunities for 'it' to click. I appreciate other coaches with different perspectives / objectives and their 'why' peaks my curiosity, it's how one learns and develops. Within this thread that is not what I've observed from the staunchly M2M crowd, which brings me to reason #2.

Reason #2 - you have a different primary objective and means to achieve it...and that's okay. The data is indisputable - young people playing M2M leads to better basketball outcomes. If your primary objective is player development then why would you do anything else. And the lack of question mark is intentional. A youth coach having a different primary objective isn't necessarily wrong though. If anyone reading this has the sudden urge to counter, please first revisit reason #1 then keep reading. If you get to the end and still feel the same, by all means, hold my feet to the fire...

But anyway, there is a time and a place for the 'fun' to transition to 'competition,' and I think trying to apply uniformly is a mistake. I think the case I described on the last page of the recently graduated 8th grade class is a great example of it. I haven't thought about how we'll manage our 8th graders next year, I've been doing it in track for a decade so I'll have something to draw back to, but as experience has shown me each class is unique and proper navigation is different with each one. Next year's 8th graders is a next year problem, but I'm sure we won't be doing anything like what was done with the class that just graduated...and what those coaches did with them was still the right thing, as I described previously - their primary objective was not related to basketball outcomes. That said I KNOW with our group coming up we will be shifting more towards competition, we'll be starting that process this year, as I hope happens with football but that's a separate story. Anyway, I tee that up by pulling back to what we did with some of our guys last year. I recall getting a lot of heat for installing a junk defense late last season, but instead of others trying to understand why we were doing it the feedback was (paraphrasing) you are doing those kids a disservice for your own objectives of winning. I mean if we're talking about talking past each other that's it right there, but I'm writing all this in hopes nonsense like that gets left in the past.

Isolating just our team of 7, four of them were already on a track towards advanced competition, the other three weren't there yet. Two of them (call them big irish and little irish) had been playing basketball (and other sports) for years, but still hadn't found their niche. That's not a bad thing, these kids are just 6th graders. The other one (call him big guy) was playing for the first time, had natural talent, but was in terrible condition, and had a propensity to sulking when things went poorly. All 7 of them, as well most of the other team, are also friends off the court. Sure, the four of them already on a track towards advanced competition want to continue to develop their skills (we have a practice per week that's just skills), but it's not their primary objective, and they shared as much. They want to play with their friends, be the best team they can be, and compete against the best. We adapted our approach to them as the season progressed. The most impactful situation was a 20+ pt blowout loss to a team they beat previously, but this post is already thousands of characters too much so save that for another day. We saw some light bulbs turning on for little irish in practice and weekly skills, but they weren't translating to the game. We saw more outta big irish year-over-year, but in games he seemed to only have two modes - passive and hyper aggressive. We worked through big guy's sulking problems in-season, but his conditioning was gonna be a summer thing. We took these data points and pivoted to something that would put them in position to do those things better than they were while also offering coaching opportunities. The irishes played with increasing confidence that hadn't been unlocked yet. We also talked to them (both as a group and individually) after we got knocked out of the bracket about what they need to work on so they return next year better than they are now. Big irish, you're difficult to score on when you don't let your guy to their spot, this is what happens when you're aggressive on D rather than letting your opponent dictate action. Little irish, you're a great defender, look at both how many steals you accumulated and how much you routinely disrupted some of their better players once you stopped worrying about getting beat. Big guy, you saw in that championship why you have to improve conditioning - we installed a defense that didn't force you to close on shooters in part because you weren't in shape to do things like that and play for ~4 mins at a time.

This pivot wasn't about winning games nor was it done for player development purposes, our primary objective is human development. Please don't confuse that sentence with me saying this is the right way or yours is wrong, it seems that's how prior comments were interpreted and it couldn't be further from the truth. This is just what we thought was best for our guys at that moment in time and we think (hope?) lessons were learned from last year's experiences and based on what I've seen since then, I'm cautiously optimistic. Big irish has always had skills as a pitcher, but his passive-hyper aggressive tendencies got to him, especially when he didn't get a few calls. I was very impressed with his emotional maturity demonstrated in-season, you could tell when he was upset, but how he reacted was night-and-day - controlled aggression, good luck connecting on his next pitch when that happened. I can't wait to see how that translates on the court too. Little irish has always been a good defender on the soccer field, and after translating his new found aggression coach started putting him in goal...until he eventually earned the full time gig. The kid that used to play on his heels, played on his heels no more. He's gonna be more than just a pest when we get indoors again. And Big Guy, well, those lazy habits that seemed to follow him around our son have disappeared this summer. He was the one always pulling him towards video games but now when I don't hear anything about bike rides, wiffle ball games, the pool, etc it's because I also see him at the park playing ball with those 8th graders I mentioned before. We'll probably need to continue to monitor his minutes, but hopefully we no longer need to worry about him with his hands on his knees on the opposite end of the court while we're trying to set up offense. We're never going to get everything right as coaches, but I think we did with these kids. 'It' finally click. Those bullet points from further up this post? They seem littered in what we hoped to accomplish with these kids, and I hope as a result we can navigate basketball season a little less creatively than we have in the past.

If you're still reading, thank you, and I hope this was received as intended - an olive branch to be open-minded to approaches that may not align with your own. I realize this is the internet, but let's try to have healthier dialogue in here.

I think your approach aligns closer with mine than people might think.

 

[Chadstroma]

I think your approach aligns closer with mine than people might think.

Same.

@MAC_32 you might wanna go back and re-read the junk discussion. I was the one defending it and saying how I believe if you have established M2M- the team knows how to play it, introducing junk can be a good thing even as much in terms of development but also not a bad thing to win games.

Also, in the past discussions in this thread I got blasted for being the 'win at all costs' coach.

For me the M2M and the 'enjoyment vs fun' discussion are two separate discussions although they have been brought up often together in the course of discussion.

 

[Gally]

As someone without a dog in the discussion I think all sides are wanting the same 95% of stuff. That 5% of misaligned stuff isn't really that far off the center from each approach. I can agree with the intent of all of this and I think some of the misalignment is kind of a semantics issue. i think that is where the "fun" vs "enjoy" part is missing each other.

Level and intent of the kids is also a huge factor in how you approach teaching as a coach. There is no 100% single way to do this and much of the approach should be based on the individual kids you are coaching. That isn't to mean that you have 500 different ways to coach based on 500 different kids but that you can get the same information across to 500 different kids with minor tweaks in the presentation and one on one discussions with the kid.

Kudo to everyone here for trying to learn and get better at coaching. I have coached for over half my life (jeesh I am old) and stopped a few years ago for a few different reasons. Most of which was parent attitude/kid attitude reasons. They are just different animals these days and this old dog didn't want to learn new tricks or get bashed for just trying to help kids get better at a sport through working hard and being disciplined. i really applaud those of you that can do it in this day and age. It's really hard.

 

[Chadstroma]

As someone without a dog in the left think all sides are wanting the same 95% of stuff. That 5% of misaligned stuff isn't really that far off the center from each approach. I can agree with the intent of all of this and I think some of the misalignment is kind of a semantics issue. i think that is where the "fun" vs "enjoy" part is missing each other.

Level and intent of the kids is also a huge factor in how you approach teaching as a coach. There is no 100% single way to do this and much of the approach should be based on the individual kids you are coaching. That isn't to mean that you have 500 different ways to coach based on 500 different kids but that you can get the same information across to 500 different kids with minor tweaks in the presentation and one on one discussions with the kid.

Kudo to everyone here for trying to learn and get better at coaching. I have coached for over half my life (jeesh I am old) and stopped a few years ago for a few different reasons. Most of which was parent attitude/kid attitude reasons. They are just different animals these days and this old dog didn't want to learn new tricks or get bashed for just trying to help kids get better at a sport through working hard and being disciplined. i really applaud those of you that can do it in this day and age. It's really hard.

I mentioned in the football thread that a player that is one of, if not the best, quit football for our team. The reason boiled down to the coaches being to hard on him and not praising him left and right. The kid is use to coaches slobbering over him because he has so much natural talent and works hard. I think most of it was miscommunication but also there is a track record of this family always blaming coaches. She yelled and cussed me out (and we are supposed to be friends) because I was trying to give outside perspective that maybe they should reconsider.

After practice today taking to one of the Moms of a boy that will be playing offense and defense and she was basically begging me to be harder on him.

It is funny how parents will have different expectations and wants. And too many people out there are not well adjusted adults and they can have children just like well adjusted people too.

I have had generally very good relationships with parents. I think it is very different though in that I coach all in the same small school with largely the same group of kids that largely play the same sports. Many are part of the church community. So there is a lot of familiarity that you don't get in club or rec sports. Then I over communicate to try to avoid issues coming up. I haven't had any issues with any parents and I generally have very good relationships with the refs. My kids seem to always really like being on the team- engaged and working to get better. I think I have a good balance of being positive and appropriately praising them but also being hard and driving them. Every kid that has been on the team has returned the next year and I have heard from other parents, from the kids and from things my son has said other kids have said that they want to be on my teams. I think mostly because of the situation I coach in but also my approach has helped me not deal with drama.

Our experience for our kids on teams outside of the school have been club volleyball and swim- and now the start of HS volleyball. There has been some drama observed in volleyball but I keep out of it. There has been some drama in swim (which boiled over today being informed the coaches are leaving the club and I expect at this point the club will fold) but what has happened was largely people just leaving swim- swim has to be one of if not the least toxic sports but there are parents who get upset that their kids didn't make cuts for regionals or state or whatever.

I have thought about reffing basketball after my kids move on out of school or maybe continue to coach at the school. I wouldn't say I wouldn't but I have no plans on coaching outside of the school at this point. I can 100% understand giving it up.

 

[Gally]

I have had generally very good relationships with parents

Me too for youth sports. It's coaching High School that can get out of hand fast

 

[Chadstroma]

I have had generally very good relationships with parents

Me too for youth sports. It's coaching High School that can get out of hand fast

I have seen out of hand things before HS for sure. Just glad to not be involved.

My daughter had her fall sports parent meeting last night. One of the biggest points they drove in was to not talk to the coaches during or immediately after games and if it is done it sounds like they will kick the kid off the team with zero tolerance policy. Any issues they will discuss after 24 hours and to start at level coaches and work up not skipping. It is the first time being at a large public school for our kids so it will be an experience to watch.

 

[Gally]

One of the biggest points they drove in was to not talk to the coaches during or immediately after games and if it is done it sounds like they will kick the kid off the team with zero tolerance policy.

At the high school level a parent shouldn't go to the coach except for a very rare instance. If the kid has issues they should talk to the coach. It shouldn't be the parents ever unless there is extenuating circumstances.

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

I have had generally very good relationships with parents

Me too for youth sports. It's coaching High School that can get out of hand fast

I've seen some crazy stuff in rec ball for the 7-8 and 9-10 YO leagues. For the most part, the parents are awesome, but there's always a few who think that their kids is the next Kobe Bryant and can't be bothered to be coached. From what I've seen, 99% of those kids are pretty much horrified that their parents are being jerks.

 

[Gally]

I have had generally very good relationships with parents

Me too for youth sports. It's coaching High School that can get out of hand fast

I've seen some crazy stuff in rec ball for the 7-8 and 9-10 YO leagues. For the most part, the parents are awesome, but there's always a few who think that their kids is the next Kobe Bryant and can't be bothered to be coached. From what I've seen, 99% of those kids are pretty much horrified that their parents are being jerks.

Generally when you are coaching youth sports you have some say as to who is on your team. Either through a draft or for invitations to be on your travel team. Because of that I was able to steer away from the known troubled parents even if their kids were good for the age group. I have seen ridiculous youth parents for sure but since I had some control over who my players were I was able to avoid it in those situations.

I also had parent meetings at the beginning of every season outlining what I expected out of them. I always invited them to help at practices and get them involved. That usually went a long way in keeping them in check even if they very rarely helped at practice. I also outlined my goals as a coach and what I expected from the kids. Setting clear expectations goes a long way to keeping parents in check. It doesn't always work with the worst parents but it helps because other parents can help keep in check knowing what my expectations were.

HS, on the other hand, you have no say in what parents are going to be pestering you as you cannot prevent kids from trying out. You kind of can prevent them from making the team but at that level it's pretty hard to keep kids off the team strictly due to their parents. Plus you should have an AD that is there to protect you. Although there are plenty of terrible AD's that worry more about parents than their coaches.

 

[Navin Johnson]

One of the biggest points they drove in was to not talk to the coaches during or immediately after games and if it is done it sounds like they will kick the kid off the team with zero tolerance policy.

At the high school level a parent shouldn't go to the coach except for a very rare instance. If the kid has issues they should talk to the coach. It shouldn't be the parents ever unless there is extenuating circumstances.

I don't agree with this. I use the 24 hour rule and it has worked well for me

 

[Gally]

One of the biggest points they drove in was to not talk to the coaches during or immediately after games and if it is done it sounds like they will kick the kid off the team with zero tolerance policy.

At the high school level a parent shouldn't go to the coach except for a very rare instance. If the kid has issues they should talk to the coach. It shouldn't be the parents ever unless there is extenuating circumstances.

I don't agree with this. I use the 24 hour rule and it has worked well for me

Part of growing up is advocating for yourself. In high school kids need to start growing up and advocating for themselves. That is the first step in talking to a coach themselves. If after doing that they don't understand what the coach is saying or there is some barrier of some sort then the parent can come in and get clarity. But any play time issues or other issues should be between the player and coach at the high school (and above) level.

Timing of talking to a coach is for sure not directly after a game. A 24 hr rule is a great rule for sure. But that isn't specific to parents. It should be for a player as well when wanting to talk about play time or something game related. My point was the player should do the approaching first and most of the time unless there is just something that isn't getting across where a parent needs to support their kid for clarification.

 

[Chadstroma]

One of the biggest points they drove in was to not talk to the coaches during or immediately after games and if it is done it sounds like they will kick the kid off the team with zero tolerance policy.

At the high school level a parent shouldn't go to the coach except for a very rare instance. If the kid has issues they should talk to the coach. It shouldn't be the parents ever unless there is extenuating circumstances.

I don't agree with this. I use the 24 hour rule and it has worked well for me

I agree. I encourage the kids to come to me and as a parent I make my kids go to their kids 99% of the time. But I do communicate the parents to come to me with concerns or issues with the 24 hour rule. From what I have seen out of all the instances of issues coming up almost all when dealing with well adjusted adults are things that are miscommunication, misunderstanding, lack of information, etc that a simple conversation can address and take care of. For the non well adjusted adults it doesn't matter if you have a rule to not talk to you- they are going to do it and cause a big blow up anyway. Better to try to control it, avoid big issues and the 24 hours to cool everyone off helps a ton.

I also do the parent meeting where I give a ton of information and outline my expectations to the parents and then continue to over communicate throughout the season (I prepare them that I will over communicate as well at that meeting). I include my philosophy in coaching, my focus and goals for the kids and more. First practice, I spend a lot of time talking to the kids doing a kid version of that.

I don't control rosters but as I said, I think the small Catholic school setting helps a lot in many ways that coaching club or rec would not but there certainly is a ton of drama that goes around. My team, other than my son and the other player not making A team last basketball season, doesn't have the drama but once I voiced my opinion of the error made, I got everyone on board to move forward for the best of the kids as well as the school and had a successful season with no drama (well, unless you count the apparent complaints from other schools and refs to our AD that our two kids were on a B team- lol)

 

[SWC]

chad can i ask a serious question do you type at like 250 words a minute or use voice to text i am amazed at how much stuff you have in here take that to the bank speedtypermigo

 

[Chadstroma]

chad can i ask a serious question do you type at like 250 words a minute or use voice to text i am amazed at how much stuff you have in here take that to the bank speedtypermigo

Yes, Fast typer.

 

[SWC]

i thought maybe you were a super ai machine lol hope all is well with your wife brohan have a great season and take that to the bank

 

[Navin Johnson]

One of the biggest points they drove in was to not talk to the coaches during or immediately after games and if it is done it sounds like they will kick the kid off the team with zero tolerance policy.

At the high school level a parent shouldn't go to the coach except for a very rare instance. If the kid has issues they should talk to the coach. It shouldn't be the parents ever unless there is extenuating circumstances.

I don't agree with this. I use the 24 hour rule and it has worked well for me

Part of growing up is advocating for yourself. In high school kids need to start growing up and advocating for themselves. That is the first step in talking to a coach themselves. If after doing that they don't understand what the coach is saying or there is some barrier of some sort then the parent can come in and get clarity. But any play time issues or other issues should be between the player and coach at the high school (and above) level.

Timing of talking to a coach is for sure not directly after a game. A 24 hr rule is a great rule for sure. But that isn't specific to parents. It should be for a player as well when wanting to talk about play time or something game related. My point was the player should do the approaching first and most of the time unless there is just something that isn't getting across where a parent needs to support their kid for clarification.

Some kids just aren’t up to ot at that age. It is what it is.

I'll discuss things with players after games when I can, but if it's something I need to let simmer for a while, I'll ask them to talk to me before the next practice.

I'm all for kids advocating for themselves but it's such a limited window once games start in HS and I don't want to hold back the team's, or any player's development just because a player isn't comfortable speaking with me one and one about it.

 

[Gally]

Some kids just aren’t up to ot at that age. It is what it is.

I get that for sure. Each kid is at their own level of development for that kind of stuff but HS is where it should start and part of sports is helping nudge them to that. As a coach at the beginning of the season I want to be approachable and meet with each kid to let them know not to be afraid to come to me about anything. I want to break down that barrier and by telling them that I want them to come to me first instead of the parent for any questions or concerns has done well to nudge shy kids in that direction.

Obviously there are exceptions for "reasons" and you have to adjust. But as a coach I am trying to mentor and help these kids grow. Pushing them to advocate for themselves is part of that.

 

[Chadstroma]

Some kids just aren’t up to ot at that age. It is what it is.

I'll discuss things with players after games when I can, but if it's something I need to let simmer for a while, I'll ask them to talk to me before the next practice.

I'm all for kids advocating for themselves but it's such a limited window once games start in HS and I don't want to hold back the team's, or any player's development just because a player isn't comfortable speaking with me one and one about it.

I have noticed kids seem to be even less comfortable with talking to people in general and even more so for things that are daunting... I think it is that they do so much of their communication with their friends through social media, phones and games where they are not face to face talking. It is a point I push with my kids... making them do their own orders when we go out to eat (as little as that sounds it use to be a thing where I was like... well, if you don't order then you don't eat) to asking for help at retail stores etc. My youngest one is fine but he makes best friends with everyone within 5 minutes after walking into a crowded room for my two oldest it has been a chore. It is something that can be a great learning point for them to grow in but at the same time you have to meet the kids where they are at.

 

[Chadstroma]

Kendrick Perkins Argues Public School Is Not for Prospective NBA Players, Brings Up Luka Doncic and Victor Wembanyama Examples

Kendrick Perkins goes on a passionate rant about how public schools are no longer the answer for kids who want to pursue basketball.

thesportsrush.com

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

Kendrick Perkins Argues Public School Is Not for Prospective NBA Players, Brings Up Luka Doncic and Victor Wembanyama Examples

Kendrick Perkins goes on a passionate rant about how public schools are no longer the answer for kids who want to pursue basketball.

thesportsrush.com

He's not wrong in regards to player development. It's been happening in hockey for decades. Is it the best thing for the kid? Doubtful.

 

[Chadstroma]

Kendrick Perkins Argues Public School Is Not for Prospective NBA Players, Brings Up Luka Doncic and Victor Wembanyama Examples

Kendrick Perkins goes on a passionate rant about how public schools are no longer the answer for kids who want to pursue basketball.

thesportsrush.com

He's not wrong in regards to player development. It's been happening in hockey for decades. Is it the best thing for the kid? Doubtful.

To be honest, hearing him talk on tv shows (usually waiting for Pat McAfee and have ESPN on because nothing else is worth it) I am not surprised at all. He doesn't seem the sharpest tool in the shed to me. He point probably has strength to it but when he basically says the kids just need the bare minimum of reading and math, he instantly loses. There is a reason why so many professional athletes go broke and the bare minimum of reading and math to scrape by may be one of those major factors that leads to that happening.

 

[Navin Johnson]

Clenched NBBL with a win in our first game. Our u16 team had a heartbreaker in Crailsheim, only needed to avoid losing by more than 20, best player turned an ankle and they lost by 25.

Five weeks until the NBBL season starts. We open at home against the team that beat us twice in qualis (and poached one of our guards in the meantime.) We are getting 3 kids who were exchange students in the US last year back who weren't available for qualis plus a (theoretically) 16 year old from Ghana who didn't get his paperwork completed in time. The Ghana kidis 6'6 and and has serious bounce. The exchange students are all highly intelligent players. Then last week a kid shows up who played for the Ukrainian u18 national team. Someone at the club has arranged for a player from the Danish national team to come for a couple practices this week as well. We have ditched everything we did tactically in qualis. 40 minutes Run and Jump now on defense and implemented DDM as a base offense. Will be adding some sets and zone offense inthe coming weeks. The big weakness is height right now. We have a 6'8 and a couple of 6'7s with a VERY green 6'10.

Height Humbles
Speed Kills

 

[Navin Johnson]

Clenched NBBL with a win in our first game. Our u16 team had a heartbreaker in Crailsheim, only needed to avoid losing by more than 20, best player turned an ankle and they lost by 25.

Five weeks until the NBBL season starts. We open at home against the team that beat us twice in qualis (and poached one of our guards in the meantime.) We are getting 3 kids who were exchange students in the US last year back who weren't available for qualis plus a (theoretically) 16 year old from Ghana who didn't get his paperwork completed in time. The Ghana kidis 6'6 and and has serious bounce. The exchange students are all highly intelligent players. Then last week a kid shows up who played for the Ukrainian u18 national team. Someone at the club has arranged for a player from the Danish national team to come for a couple practices this week as well. We have ditched everything we did tactically in qualis. 40 minutes Run and Jump now on defense and implemented DDM as a base offense. Will be adding some sets and zone offense inthe coming weeks. The big weakness is height right now. We have a 6'8 and a couple of 6'7s with a VERY green 6'10.

Height Humbles
Speed Kills

Got our revenge in the first round with a buzzer three to make it a ten point win. Watched video from the two other games and it appears we two of the top three teams in the league with the top two advancing to the playoffs. Game was much closer than it should have been as our ball screen defense was horrible. Out assisted them 22-14, forced 26 turnovers to our 9, had 20 steals to their 4, and took 25 more shots than they did (29/57 vs 30/82)

 

[Chadstroma]

A little back and forth with the AD today about basketball. 7th graders have 24 signed up, my unofficial count was 22 so I guess I was told two boys were not playing that are. It is a rough number to have... 12 and 12 is not exactly ideal (though I would love to have 12 if I was coaching A). I asked what he was planning on doing as I really didn't think he would do 12 and 12 but the options of 10 and two 7's or 8's across the board are probably more less ideal even though you the B teams can share players and A can call them up. You are disjointed and playing with kids that haven't practiced together or know the offense etc. I layed out that the A team should be high tempo focused on fast breaks and full press M2M all game long then rotate fresh legs in.

Tryouts at next Monday.

I confirmed with him that I would HC both of my boys teams again like last year.

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

My youngest, the 9YO who's pushing 5'3" now decided not to try out for the travel team this year. Last year was brutally long and it burned him out completely. He will play rec again this year (with me as coach), and hopefully he can regain some of his love for the game before he transitions into middle school athletics. The middle school coach has already asked about him several times, so I suspect he'll be a shoe in as a 6th grader on the MS team if he chooses to play. It is INCREDIBLY hard to be hands off right now given his talent level and size, but I know if I push him at all, he'll shut down completely. Time will tell, I suppose.

 

[Chadstroma]

My youngest, the 9YO who's pushing 5'3" now decided not to try out for the travel team this year. Last year was brutally long and it burned him out completely. He will play rec again this year (with me as coach), and hopefully he can regain some of his love for the game before he transitions into middle school athletics. The middle school coach has already asked about him several times, so I suspect he'll be a shoe in as a 6th grader on the MS team if he chooses to play. It is INCREDIBLY hard to be hands off right now given his talent level and size, but I know if I push him at all, he'll shut down completely. Time will tell, I suppose.

Yea, that was a lot of one sport for so long at that age. Even with him not deciding this route it might have been the better route to take to give him a break without having him just take a season off. It is so hard for kids that young to learn to enjoy the process of a sport. It is one of the reasons I am such a huge advocate for multi-sport at these ages. It keeps them active, developing as athletes but also fresh to the sport where they are excited that the season is starting and just a tad bummed that the season is ending. I think you are going the right way right now in backing off and giving him space to enjoy the sport this season. As coach, I would make sure to do something every practice that was a 'fun' drill like knockout, dribble knockout, etc and really take off any pressure off of him. The great thing about him with his size is also a potentially bad thing because there is going to be a lot of expectation and a lot of interest and a lot of just a lot on him with basketball. That pressure can sour kids on a sport and having height is something that people automatically (not intentionally) turn into pressure even on a 9 year old in a way that kids don't get for playing soccer or baseball etc. I mean, no one looks at some random kid and says "wow, you play soccer?" but it will happen a ton for your son at that age and that height. I think I remember you saying you were similar in height, as I was. For me, it never bothered me as I loved basketball and just not my make up to have things like that bother me but it is something that can turn other people off and even more so if they aren't totally in love with the sport. I think you are doing the right thing now Dad. Keep it up.

 

[Navin Johnson]

Two of our kids just signed with a talent agency to place them in the US next year. Ukrainian kid to a D1/D2 and one of our Bosnian kids to a prep school.

Stipendien Weltweit on Instagram: "📢 SIGNED! We’re thrilled to welcome Dzenis Hodovic 🇧🇦 to the EDU Sports family! The 2008-born standout joins us after time with Bayern Munich and is now playing for München Ost🏀🇩🇪🔥 Dzenis opened the season in styl

Discover the story of Dzenis Hodovic, a rising star in the basketball world, as he joins EDU Sports. With a strong background in the sport and a bright future ahead, Dzenis is an exciting addition to the EDU Sports family. From the NBBL to the national team, follow Dzenis' journey and stay...

www.instagram.com

 

[Chadstroma]

Two of our kids just signed with a talent agency to place them in the US next year. Ukrainian kid to a D1/D2 and one of our Bosnian kids to a prep school.

How does that work with a talent agency?

 

[Navin Johnson]

Two of our kids just signed with a talent agency to place them in the US next year. Ukrainian kid to a D1/D2 and one of our Bosnian kids to a prep school.

How does that work with a talent agency?

Honestly I am pretty new to this stuff. The HC is pretty well connected with these agencies. Apparently they are guaranteeing them NIL money ($120k and $50k respectively.) The agency is supposedly hooking us up with more young kids as sort of a payoff for turning them on to these two. I'm not sure how that will work out. We are supposed to get a kid from Denmark (2m07) this season but he can only get 1 month visa so we are hoping to bring him in December/January when we have our toughest stretch of the schedule. It gets kind of dicey because you can't have more than two foreign kids on the court at the same time.

eta --- a few coaches I spoke to feel the NIL money is ruining the euro league as the kids can make more money developing in the US than at home

 

[Chadstroma]

Two of our kids just signed with a talent agency to place them in the US next year. Ukrainian kid to a D1/D2 and one of our Bosnian kids to a prep school.

How does that work with a talent agency?

Honestly I am pretty new to this stuff. The HC is pretty well connected with these agencies. Apparently they are guaranteeing them NIL money ($120k and $50k respectively.) The agency is supposedly hooking us up with more young kids as sort of a payoff for turning them on to these two. I'm not sure how that will work out. We are supposed to get a kid from Denmark (2m07) this season but he can only get 1 month visa so we are hoping to bring him in December/January when we have our toughest stretch of the schedule. It gets kind of dicey because you can't have more than two foreign kids on the court at the same time.

eta --- a few coaches I spoke to feel the NIL money is ruining the euro league as the kids can make more money developing in the US than at home

Fascinating.

I am hearing more and more about 'agents' in HS sports. It seems a lot of them are just signing up as many good kids as they can with the business model of 'if one hits, then you win the lottery' type of thing. That might be a little cynical as there may be some good ones that bring some value but it just seems like the wild wild west where a lot of kids are going to get screwed just because someone gets to them when they were younger and they get clung on to as they have success moving up into college and maybe even pros.

It seems to me that the foreign aspect of this is something where there is actually some value being brought by the talent agency assuming they have the connections both in the states and in Europe. Obviously, they get a % of whatever but my guess is the opportunities that these kids are getting are significant to them and harder to get on their own than if they were in the states. I could be off on that as I am making mostly blind guesses here. I also have to guess that this is just an amazing opportunity for the Ukrainian kid.

 

[Chadstroma]

My daughter told me that she is thinking she will not play basketball. She said she wants to but thinks that it is going to be a lot for her to play. The reason is that once HS volleyball ends (basically this week) she will start club volleyball (next week). She is worried that it will be too much which I get. But also, it bums me out to think that I have seen her last play in basketball this summer.

She is slated to try out for JV. I do not know if she would make the team. She missed her 8th grade year due to injury so the summer she started very timid and out of sorts. As the season went on she knocked off the rust and got some more confidence. I am pretty sure she hit the most 3's on the team during the season so maybe she could make it as a sharpshooter. However, it all may not matter if she decides not to play.

 

[Navin Johnson]

Game 2 of our NBBL season yesterday. We played Heidelerg at home in the first game of a back to back. We were supposed to play at their place last week, but they asked to reschedule it to next week (Holiday weekend in Bavaria.) Little did we know at the time, they got a transfer who plays on their Bundesliga team that would not have been available last week. I had my doubts when I got to the gym, they were huge, but they didn't have enough guards to stay in front of us and handle FC pressure. We doubled their star before the inbound with the inbounder's defender and denied him for 92 feet. Started down 7-3 but then started turning them over and converting. Out shot them 84-69 (2's 33/57, 3's 11/27), forced 19 TO's to our 12 and outscored them inn the paint 62-42. Our center, who got shut down last game and was giving up 4 inches had a monster game with 27 points on 12/17, 9 rebounds, 5 blocks and 4 monster dunks. They slowed us down in the second half with a 1-3-1 that we weren't well prepared for. We'll have something for it next week. Final score was 107-84

 

[Chadstroma]

A little back and forth with the AD today about basketball. 7th graders have 24 signed up, my unofficial count was 22 so I guess I was told two boys were not playing that are. It is a rough number to have... 12 and 12 is not exactly ideal (though I would love to have 12 if I was coaching A). I asked what he was planning on doing as I really didn't think he would do 12 and 12 but the options of 10 and two 7's or 8's across the board are probably more less ideal even though you the B teams can share players and A can call them up. You are disjointed and playing with kids that haven't practiced together or know the offense etc. I layed out that the A team should be high tempo focused on fast breaks and full press M2M all game long then rotate fresh legs in.

Tryouts at next Monday.

I confirmed with him that I would HC both of my boys teams again like last year.

He did 12. It went the way I thought it would for the most part... I listed out 11 that would definitely make it and the 12th would be most likely one of two boys with an outside chance of a third kid. The 12th was the smaller of the two kids that I thought were most likely going to make it. If I was selecting, I would have favored the bigger kid as having a third kid with size would be more useful than another smaller kid when you have a log jam among the guards and small forwards even if the bigger kid may not be as skilled (though I don't think it is really that big of a difference.)

He did confirm with the boys that he would be HC and would reach out to the AC's soon. Unsure if I will be asked to assist or not. Two of the fathers (who coached the A team last season) are on the athletic board.... so maybe that will push me out. I don't know. We shall see.

Waiting on the roster for my younger son as well.

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

My daughter told me that she is thinking she will not play basketball. She said she wants to but thinks that it is going to be a lot for her to play. The reason is that once HS volleyball ends (basically this week) she will start club volleyball (next week). She is worried that it will be too much which I get. But also, it bums me out to think that I have seen her last play in basketball this summer.

She is slated to try out for JV. I do not know if she would make the team. She missed her 8th grade year due to injury so the summer she started very timid and out of sorts. As the season went on she knocked off the rust and got some more confidence. I am pretty sure she hit the most 3's on the team during the season so maybe she could make it as a sharpshooter. However, it all may not matter if she decides not to play.

She must be a pretty strong volleyball player. I know around here the season (between school and club) rolls on seemingly forever. Nothing wrong with her being all-in on volleyball, especially if she loves it.

My oldest has gone all-in on Hockey. He dabbled in cross country during the early fall, but mainly to keep cardio up for hockey. He probably doesn't make it past recreation hockey, but he does love it and has improved a ton since last season and is actively doing things on his own to get better.

 

[Chadstroma]

My daughter told me that she is thinking she will not play basketball. She said she wants to but thinks that it is going to be a lot for her to play. The reason is that once HS volleyball ends (basically this week) she will start club volleyball (next week). She is worried that it will be too much which I get. But also, it bums me out to think that I have seen her last play in basketball this summer.

She is slated to try out for JV. I do not know if she would make the team. She missed her 8th grade year due to injury so the summer she started very timid and out of sorts. As the season went on she knocked off the rust and got some more confidence. I am pretty sure she hit the most 3's on the team during the season so maybe she could make it as a sharpshooter. However, it all may not matter if she decides not to play.

She must be a pretty strong volleyball player. I know around here the season (between school and club) rolls on seemingly forever. Nothing wrong with her being all-in on volleyball, especially if she loves it.

My oldest has gone all-in on Hockey. He dabbled in cross country during the early fall, but mainly to keep cardio up for hockey. He probably doesn't make it past recreation hockey, but he does love it and has improved a ton since last season and is actively doing things on his own to get better.

Nothing wrong with it at all to focus on one sport. HS is the time that I think it is appropriate for kids to go from multi-sports to focus on a single sport if they choose. The one thing I want to make sure is that her decision isn't based on being lazy. The only thing for me is that I wasn't prepared for her to end her basketball here but I can get over it if she is making the decisions based on good reasons and not bad ones.

I was off on the starting... they both, the tryouts for basketball at HS and the club evaluations start next week. I talked to her a couple of days ago and asked what she was going to do. She is a bit torn as she still wants to play basketball. I told her that she needed to communicate with the basketball coach and lay out that she wants to play basketball but volleyball is her priority. She is going to play club volleyball and that practices look like twice a week 5:30-8 where as basketball would be weekly from after school to 6. Most games for HS would during the week and club games are always on weekends. Find out if that is a deal breaker to begin with- if it is, then she has her decision for her. If not, then she needs to see what the reply is and figure out things from there.

I did tell her that if she doesn't play basketball then she needs to come up with a plan to train/work out on volleyball as she will be practicing only two days a week so she can improve. I also told her that she needed to talk to her volleyball coaches and get an idea of things like: What does she need to do to improve? What kind of training should she do in the off season? What position do they foresee for her in JV? And so forth. On the lazy part, she tends to just not do anything when she doesn't have to- heading to her bedroom and then stick her nose in her phone or sleep. So that is the one thing I don't want her to do. I have been trying to get her to understand that she has to put in the time/effort where she is now of that which is where she wants to be. Two days a week practices is not going to cut it for girls volleyball to make JV and works towards playing in college.

And yes, the school season is over and seems to blow by. Her club season will go through winter and into spring. She also is now doing beach volleyball starting this last summer (though technically she 'started' beach volleyball the previous summer before but her teammate and her only did one tournament at the end of the year that summer). So... she is pretty close to year 'round volleyball now.

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

My daughter told me that she is thinking she will not play basketball. She said she wants to but thinks that it is going to be a lot for her to play. The reason is that once HS volleyball ends (basically this week) she will start club volleyball (next week). She is worried that it will be too much which I get. But also, it bums me out to think that I have seen her last play in basketball this summer.

She is slated to try out for JV. I do not know if she would make the team. She missed her 8th grade year due to injury so the summer she started very timid and out of sorts. As the season went on she knocked off the rust and got some more confidence. I am pretty sure she hit the most 3's on the team during the season so maybe she could make it as a sharpshooter. However, it all may not matter if she decides not to play.

She must be a pretty strong volleyball player. I know around here the season (between school and club) rolls on seemingly forever. Nothing wrong with her being all-in on volleyball, especially if she loves it.

My oldest has gone all-in on Hockey. He dabbled in cross country during the early fall, but mainly to keep cardio up for hockey. He probably doesn't make it past recreation hockey, but he does love it and has improved a ton since last season and is actively doing things on his own to get better.

Nothing wrong with it at all to focus on one sport. HS is the time that I think it is appropriate for kids to go from multi-sports to focus on a single sport if they choose. The one thing I want to make sure is that her decision isn't based on being lazy. The only thing for me is that I wasn't prepared for her to end her basketball here but I can get over it if she is making the decisions based on good reasons and not bad ones.

I was off on the starting... they both, the tryouts for basketball at HS and the club evaluations start next week. I talked to her a couple of days ago and asked what she was going to do. She is a bit torn as she still wants to play basketball. I told her that she needed to communicate with the basketball coach and lay out that she wants to play basketball but volleyball is her priority. She is going to play club volleyball and that practices look like twice a week 5:30-8 where as basketball would be weekly from after school to 6. Most games for HS would during the week and club games are always on weekends. Find out if that is a deal breaker to begin with- if it is, then she has her decision for her. If not, then she needs to see what the reply is and figure out things from there.

I did tell her that if she doesn't play basketball then she needs to come up with a plan to train/work out on volleyball as she will be practicing only two days a week so she can improve. I also told her that she needed to talk to her volleyball coaches and get an idea of things like: What does she need to do to improve? What kind of training should she do in the off season? What position do they foresee for her in JV? And so forth. On the lazy part, she tends to just not do anything when she doesn't have to- heading to her bedroom and then stick her nose in her phone or sleep. So that is the one thing I don't want her to do. I have been trying to get her to understand that she has to put in the time/effort where she is now of that which is where she wants to be. Two days a week practices is not going to cut it for girls volleyball to make JV and works towards playing in college.

And yes, the school season is over and seems to blow by. Her club season will go through winter and into spring. She also is now doing beach volleyball starting this last summer (though technically she 'started' beach volleyball the previous summer before but her teammate and her only did one tournament at the end of the year that summer). So... she is pretty close to year 'round volleyball now.

Lol. Sounds like a typical teenager. Good on you for spelling it out for her. We do the same for our boys. If they don't want to play club (or travel BB in the case of my youngest), he'll have to do something active at least a few times a week. I need to get some kettle bells and a few other odds and ends to put together a weight lifting program for the kids. For now, though, I think we're going to introduce my youngest to taekwondo. I think it'll help him with body control and introduce him to some good discipline.

 

[Chadstroma]

My daughter told me that she is thinking she will not play basketball. She said she wants to but thinks that it is going to be a lot for her to play. The reason is that once HS volleyball ends (basically this week) she will start club volleyball (next week). She is worried that it will be too much which I get. But also, it bums me out to think that I have seen her last play in basketball this summer.

She is slated to try out for JV. I do not know if she would make the team. She missed her 8th grade year due to injury so the summer she started very timid and out of sorts. As the season went on she knocked off the rust and got some more confidence. I am pretty sure she hit the most 3's on the team during the season so maybe she could make it as a sharpshooter. However, it all may not matter if she decides not to play.

She must be a pretty strong volleyball player. I know around here the season (between school and club) rolls on seemingly forever. Nothing wrong with her being all-in on volleyball, especially if she loves it.

My oldest has gone all-in on Hockey. He dabbled in cross country during the early fall, but mainly to keep cardio up for hockey. He probably doesn't make it past recreation hockey, but he does love it and has improved a ton since last season and is actively doing things on his own to get better.

Nothing wrong with it at all to focus on one sport. HS is the time that I think it is appropriate for kids to go from multi-sports to focus on a single sport if they choose. The one thing I want to make sure is that her decision isn't based on being lazy. The only thing for me is that I wasn't prepared for her to end her basketball here but I can get over it if she is making the decisions based on good reasons and not bad ones.

I was off on the starting... they both, the tryouts for basketball at HS and the club evaluations start next week. I talked to her a couple of days ago and asked what she was going to do. She is a bit torn as she still wants to play basketball. I told her that she needed to communicate with the basketball coach and lay out that she wants to play basketball but volleyball is her priority. She is going to play club volleyball and that practices look like twice a week 5:30-8 where as basketball would be weekly from after school to 6. Most games for HS would during the week and club games are always on weekends. Find out if that is a deal breaker to begin with- if it is, then she has her decision for her. If not, then she needs to see what the reply is and figure out things from there.

I did tell her that if she doesn't play basketball then she needs to come up with a plan to train/work out on volleyball as she will be practicing only two days a week so she can improve. I also told her that she needed to talk to her volleyball coaches and get an idea of things like: What does she need to do to improve? What kind of training should she do in the off season? What position do they foresee for her in JV? And so forth. On the lazy part, she tends to just not do anything when she doesn't have to- heading to her bedroom and then stick her nose in her phone or sleep. So that is the one thing I don't want her to do. I have been trying to get her to understand that she has to put in the time/effort where she is now of that which is where she wants to be. Two days a week practices is not going to cut it for girls volleyball to make JV and works towards playing in college.

And yes, the school season is over and seems to blow by. Her club season will go through winter and into spring. She also is now doing beach volleyball starting this last summer (though technically she 'started' beach volleyball the previous summer before but her teammate and her only did one tournament at the end of the year that summer). So... she is pretty close to year 'round volleyball now.

Lol. Sounds like a typical teenager. Good on you for spelling it out for her. We do the same for our boys. If they don't want to play club (or travel BB in the case of my youngest), he'll have to do something active at least a few times a week. I need to get some kettle bells and a few other odds and ends to put together a weight lifting program for the kids. For now, though, I think we're going to introduce my youngest to taekwondo. I think it'll help him with body control and introduce him to some good discipline.

Yea, I mean, it isn't anything unusual at all for teenager but trying to instill that understanding of "you want to play in college means you have to work like a college athlete" and then also try to get her to translate to life. She doesn't have the natural athleticism that her brother has and women's volleyball is such a highly competitive sport that she has some ways to go to be college ready.

My youngest has been doing BJJ for the last couple of years though it is low man in totem pole for sports. With swim as well as school football (fall), basketball (winter), soccer (spring) and volleyball starting this year for him (spring) BJJ gets pushed to the side a lot so he hasn't progressed as much as he could have but when he does train it is a great workout. There are some good cross training aspects to it as well and plus the self defense lessons about it.

My daughter and older son are able to go to the gym with me now. We have some equipment at home and even started with my daughter up early for workouts but it became a fight with her every morning so that ended after a few weeks. I took her to the gym a few times before volleyball season started on her request and she got some good workouts in so maybe that will work.

For my boys, with the multiple sports that they are in plus swim which is basically two 4 month seasons a year- they are pretty active as is so I am not worried about them doing as much on their own though I do encourage skill development stuff which they don't do much but at their ages and as active as they are... it is not that big of a deal.

 

[Chadstroma]

I got my 4th grade roster today. It is pretty much rosters switching from last year except my boy and one other kid. Plus, I believe the new kid... who apparently is pretty good at basketball and definitely is tall for his age. Roster of 10 where I know 7 of the boys pretty well. If I was forced to choose rosters as the teams are set up- I would pick this one easily though there are a bunch of boys on the other team that I am going to miss coaching this year. Looking forward to the season.

 

[Chadstroma]

My daughter is officially not playing basketball as the conflict between club volleyball and the school basketball would be too great. This bums me out. I was not prepared that the last game I saw of hers this summer league would be the last I would ever see her play.

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

My daughter is officially not playing basketball as the conflict between club volleyball and the school basketball would be too great. This bums me out. I was not prepared that the last game I saw of hers this summer league would be the last I would ever see her play.

You're always welcome to come down to NC and coach my son's rec team! I am not looking forward to coaching this season after 4 years of rec seasons and AAU last year.