1. Not enough agility training. While working with the youth full time for the past 8 years I've noticed a complete lack of agility in a big chunk of the kids. As agility I refer to the ability to rapidly change body direction, accelerate, or decelerate as well as change levels, which is influenced by balance, strength, coordination, and skill level. Based on my experience, you can't become a successful basketball player unless you're an athlete first, and to be one you need to develop agility. 2. Not enough fundamentals. Fundamentals is something I rumble about all the time, and I'm very passionate about. The fact is that all the greatest basketball players in the history, the ones that have or will have left a legacy spend majority of their time working on the very basics of the game - basic shots, basic cuts, playing of a screen (on ball, and off ball). A few years ago I spent a month as an intern at Impact Basketball in Las Vegas where I got to work with players like DeMarcus Cousins, Kyle Lowery or Tyron Lue (before he retired). Not one minute of their time on the court was wasted on circus drills. 3. Offensive systems that are too complex. Implementing any offensive set in 10u basketball is pointless. All we're teaching a kid is how to run a set and not play basketball. 10u even 12u basketball should focus on basic spacing and timing which if developed properly will create a fantastic foundation for the future. 4. Lack of work ethic. Youth sports isn't just about shooting hoops for fun and trying to get to the goal of 10k steps a day. Youth sports should teach the kids a proper work ethic and accountability for the adult life. As educators and coaches we should be doing our best to try to instill the passion for hard work in the youth. As they say "iron sharpens iron", so if you're trying to teach somebody to work hard, while your actions speak otherwise, it just makes you look like a clown - this one is also on the parent. You can't force your kid to do something while sitting on the couch scrolling through Facebook! My intention here isn't to bring anybody down, or to call out coaches, trainers or parents. My intention is to improve youth basketball, something I've been passionate about for years and I think I'm pretty good at.
My intention is to help young players get higher education for free with a sports scholarship. My intention is to develop through sports yet another generation of highly successful and happy adults. If you have any questions you can leave a comment or shoot me an email. Be safe, Patryk J.
1 Comment
Leave a Reply. |
|