How to Develop the Best Youth Basketball Player
What is the best way to develop the youth basketball player? This is no easy question to answer. With so many leagues, coaches, events, and emerging new ideas, one can find himself overwhelmed with choices. Where should I place my player to help him/her reach excellence? Well, wherever you go, you will find someone (a coach) who will be unwavering in his ideals and beliefs involving his/her particular ways of practice and play. I respect each coach’s individuality and ideals. However, as a coach and founder of several successful club organizations, I find that first and foremost, knowledge and education of what is "out there" is a key component to making the next steps in deciding whether my program(s) is the right fit for your special athlete.
Where to Play
Where should the player that is serious about improving his/her game play? As stated before, there are a few major choices. Some of the most common are addressed below.
City Leagues
Many of the local cities run leagues. However, most of these leagues are not very competitive. If the goal is to get a bunch of the neighborhood kids together, with a local parent to coach the team, then this may be a sufficient option. However, these leagues usually require minimum commitment. City leagues can be lots of fun, but they will not truly aid in developing star athletes.
Middle School Teams
These leagues, as most, have both advantages and disadvantages. First off, many 6th grade teams are considered non- competitive with no cuts and equal play time. The 7th and 8th grade leagues can be solid but there is no guarantee of sufficient playtime. Another important factor is that Middle School seasons are very short (ranging around 2 months).
CYO Teams
These teams are a popular choice for many players. There are a great deal of successful CYO teams and coaches all over. However, a major problem with CYO, for the serious player, is that league play only runs from about early October to mid February. If you play for a coach that is very involved and passionate about his/her team, you may luck out and play 4 tournaments, plus league play, plus playoffs and get about 25 to 30 games in the process. However, if you do not play for such an involved coach (as many players do not), a player might take up half the year to play 10 games, which to me, seems not very efficient and worthwhile. In addition, most CYO coaches primarily (if not exclusively) run the 2-3 zone defense because it is easy to run. The problem with this defense is players do not improve with this defense. Lastly, within the CYO organization, there are many CYO coaches who are great volunteers trying their best to give kids healthy activity. Unfortunately though, many of these volunteers really do not know the game well and/or lack qualification.
AAU Teams
Many people seem to believe AAU is some magic acronym that automatically means excellent or elite. The truth is, it means neither. Rather, AAU is just another basketball group that runs tournaments and leagues. Like all basketball organizations, there are both “good” and “bad” AAU teams and coaches. It is interesting-a great deal of high school coaches assume all AAU basketball is bad. Many believe that AAU lacks the teaching of fundamentals and that it lacks foundation. While I respect their opinions, I believe that these assumptions are untrue. I believe there are some great AAU coaches within the organization who are truly teaching the game in the ways it should be taught. However, these coaches are hard to come by. Many, if not most of the coaches in AAU basketball have the goal of finding “speed athletes” to trap and run with, which is an effective way to win games against younger players, but does not work well as they get older. In essence, this is why high school teams do not play that way. This style of play simply does not work against bigger, stronger, older kids.
AMPBasketball: Basketball with Coach Persin
So what makes me different? Well, to start, I run “club teams” meaning we can play anywhere. We play AAU, MVP, Slam n’ Jam, and anywhere else we can get a game. I pride myself on teaching the fundamentals of the game- the most important aspect of the game, and ironically the aspect most overlooked. Many coaches say they teach fundamentals, but when asked what fundamentals means to them and what fundamentals they teach, they have no response. I however, value the teaching of these fundamentals before even considering high level play. They include the foundational skills: dribbling, passing, shooting, rebounding, man to man defense, conditioning, basic offensive movement, and what I refer to as basketball smarts or court sense. When we practice, we devote the first 30 minutes to conditioning, which we view as arguably the most important foundational element in any athlete's mission to become a better threat to his or her opponent. The next 30 minutes is devoted to a fundamentals segment consisting of dribbling, passing, shooting, and rebounding. The last 30 minutes of practice is usually spent on the all important transition game. In addition, live play (whether it be 2on 2, 3 on 3...or 5 on 5) is integrated into this segment.
As Head Coach and Director, I stand by my athletes. I have extensive background in the game, and through much trial and error in personal practice, play, and coaching, I have come around as a successful “educator of the game”. I bring a youthful zest to coaching and I am constantly intertwining educational segments into my practices. Because I teach full time, I integrate scholarly segments, written assignments, and other academic challenges to help build holistic players. I inject cognitive and behavioral sciences and psychological frameworks into my coaching in order to help foster open-mindedness and cultural acceptance. Before creating a successful basketball player, I will create a successful person.
So What is Best for My Player?
Personally, I would say “the best” is a medley, a combination. What a great player needs is a mixture of excellent coaching and challenging competition. The amazing part of this mixture is that is can be experienced locally. The most important part of this medley, however, is getting your player the “correct” coaching. The parent or guardian needs to find great coaching and then simply “get out of the way and let the coach(es) do his/her job”. This is an extremely important factor in improving a serious player’s game. They need to have great instruction. I advise parents and guardians to (again), let the coach do his/her job and, upon leaving games or practices (or simply while sitting at home or playing in the front yard), re-emphasize what the coach(es) is/are saying in an effort to help your child work on key elements of the game that the coach has been stressing. The best case scenario, from personal experience, is to find a great coach in a year round program and stick with him/her. This ensures stability in improving the player’s game, as he/she is getting the same messages and gaining the same positive habits all year. This eliminates the harm caused by conflicting messages from different coaches. This happens when a player has too many coaches…they end up with way too many messages and too many differing expectations. This is one of the major advantages with Ampbasketball. No matter which coach you are working with, for now me (Coach Persin), we will all eventually be teaching and preaching the same messages. The “mixed message scenario" never occurs. Our organization runs like a fine-tuned machine-all messages are the same from founder, to coach, to player.