Parent Politics

[Oggiedoggie]

Can a high school coach become involved in a youth program without violating the state's governing athletic board's rules?

 

[Smallpotatoes]

Can a high school coach become involved in a youth program without violating the state's governing athletic board's rules?

It depends on the level of involvement.
Running clinics for the players and coaches is probably OK. Coaching their son or daughter's third-grade team is probably all right, too. Beyond that, I'm not sure.

 

[zagoshe]

Usually, when the high school coach gets involved at the youth levels, it's not about trying to make kids learn a flex or motion offense. It's about trying to prevent the youth coaches from teaching kids gimmick systems that pay short-term dividends, but cause long-term problems (like relying on a 1-3-1 zone, which works great against 10-year-olds but not so much against varsity players).

I've coached youth basketball, and there are two types of coaches -- those that teach fundamentals, and those that are hung up on their own coaching ability. The ones who teach fundamentals often are part of high school programs that are among the tops in the area. They might have 1-2 set plays or a simple flex offense, but it's mostly learning how to play man-to-man defense, dribble, pass, shoot and play basketball. Then, you'll run into a couple of dads who deploy every exotic press and zone defense known to man. I don't know if they have a half-court offense -- they never put one in. They assume they'll get enough steals and layups to win the game -- and they usually do against sixth-grade girls. Then, four years later, those kids get to high school and the coach gets fired because "they won in middle school" (running and pressing), but they are fundamentally deficient and the gimmicks and tricks they have always relied upon don't work against varsity players.

Our travel league actually had to ban zone defenses at the third and fourth-grade levels because of too many coaches putting in exotic defenses to win now and not teaching their kids how to play basketball.

There is no need for a half-court offense in youth basketball. None at all.

You teach the kids how to set picks, you teach them to pick and roll or pick and pop and you teach the kids how to swing the ball and move when they don't have the ball.

You then have a couple of quick hitters ready for some situational stuff but if you've taught them the proper fundamentals, there is no need to call plays for them as they will generally figure it out and frankly by the time they get to high school they are much better players because they understand how to play the game.

The biggest problem with youth coaches is they don't let their kids play the forking game because they are too busy trying to win tournaments.

The 1-3-1 can be a very effective defense at higher levels (see WVU under John Beilein) as can the 2-3 (Syracuse) so I have no problem with 7th and 8th graders learning how to play those defensive systems because they are good to know and most varsity teams around here use them at least in certain situations.

But you are right, there is no reason teams younger than 7th grade need to play in a system that heavily employs zone defenses

 

[lone star scribe]

Our youth basketball league did not allow zone defenses, for just that reason. We wanted the kids to learn how to defend, not stand like a statue. I had two post players who scored a ton of points all because they knew enough to set screens for each other. And guess what? It even worked against a zone, when the other team would "forget" to play man-to-man for a play or two.

 

[Irishcheesehead]

The zone would work in the first half but then the other team would figure it out and start throwing passes to the opposite block and it was an easy layup because our guys "forgot" to drop down to cover it.

My biggest issue is Parent A didn't like someone questioning what he was doing.

If your objective is anything other than teaching the fundamentals through sixth grade, you should not be a youth coach.

 

[SixToe]

Our son's baseball team started the year 5-1 in non-league play.

They finished 1-10 and were just terrible. Coach's son played first and was a whiner. Other coaches disliked the coach after, in previous seasons, saying he was a "good guy."

The coach checked out about midway through that stretch of losses. He would just sit at the dugout watching, then between innings tell the kids what they did wrong. Told our son to stick it out but it sucked.

No post-season pizza party, no present for the coach. Not even a cheesy gift card or anything.

"Why should we do that for him?" one mother asked.

Sometimes I think the kids should be turned loose on the field and parents must be locked in their vehicles in the parking lot. Anyone who tries to stand at the fence or go to the bleachers to yell will be beaten.

 

[Alma]

Really not a good idea for high school coaches to tell youth league coaches a thing, unless the school and the league is somehow connected. And even then, it's not a good idea. It's not a farm system, it's youth hoops.