"Ball-Hogging" in Basketball - where do you side on this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 5yr old daughter just played in a game yesterday where the final score was 28 to 2 and ONE girl scored 26 points. The ref was telling the girl to pass the ball when she came up and every time she went up, never looked at another kid and there the ball up there. The 2 type-A parents that are "coaches" kept her in and cheered her on.

It was pathetic. So I am completely against ball hogging on a TEAM sport, especially for YOUTH TEAM sports.

It's always the Type-A parents who volunteer to coach, isn't it? The ones who really, really want their kid's team to win, and they're sure they have the coaching skills (they don't) to make this happen. The worst is when the Type-A parent has kid with average abilities -- favoring his own kid even as he yells at his poor child to step it up. We've been there.

People, age 11 is waaaay too young to know who will be a standout at the end of high school. No coach should be singling out just one kid at this age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 10 year old plays AAU and we still have point guards that keep the ball too often but it's clearly a coaching issue at this level. As others have said, your son would benefit from a more competitive league. On thing that hasn't been touched on is how challenging it is for a competitive kid like son 1 to make the pass when he knows there is an 80% chance that the kid passes to will turn the ball over. It's a lot to ask for your son to do that regularly. Great if he can, but difficult to get there if he's really that much better than teammates. Move to AAU and he'll have teammates at his level. If he doesn't, keep looking for the right team until he does.

This. This is why it is so much better for everyone for kids to be on a team with other kids of the same level. DS is no superstar, but he plays travel and rec, and sometimes he get so frustrated in rec games that he risks getting a T. I think what many parents who did not play bball don't realize is how much you need to know to play well --- it's not just physical. DS gets more frustrated about kids not knowing the plays, not knowing how to move on defense, not knowing what is and is not a foul, stuff like that. Not to justify ball hogging, but sometimes it's just not wanting a turnover.

So, you acknowledge that it's bad for the other kids that your child is there, and you use that as an excuse to allow your kid to act like a brat, as opposed to either teaching him manners or pulling him out of a team you know isn't right for him?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 5yr old daughter just played in a game yesterday where the final score was 28 to 2 and ONE girl scored 26 points. The ref was telling the girl to pass the ball when she came up and every time she went up, never looked at another kid and there the bll up there. The 2 type-A parents that are "coaches" kept her in and cheered her on.

It was pathetic. So I am completely against ball hogging on a TEAM sport, especially for YOUTH TEAM sports.

5 yos shouldnt even be playing games, let along keeping scores. This is not a league you want to be in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 5yr old daughter just played in a game yesterday where the final score was 28 to 2 and ONE girl scored 26 points. The ref was telling the girl to pass the ball when she came up and every time she went up, never looked at another kid and there the bll up there. The 2 type-A parents that are "coaches" kept her in and cheered her on.

It was pathetic. So I am completely against ball hogging on a TEAM sport, especially for YOUTH TEAM sports.

5 yos shouldnt even be playing games, let along keeping scores. This is not a league you want to be in.

agreed. which league is this?

[Anonymous]

I have never heard of 5 year olds playing basketball on teams!?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 5yr old daughter just played in a game yesterday where the final score was 28 to 2 and ONE girl scored 26 points. The ref was telling the girl to pass the ball when she came up and every time she went up, never looked at another kid and there the bll up there. The 2 type-A parents that are "coaches" kept her in and cheered her on.

It was pathetic. So I am completely against ball hogging on a TEAM sport, especially for YOUTH TEAM sports.

5 yos shouldnt even be playing games, let along keeping scores. This is not a league you want to be in.

agreed. which league is this?

It is county league for K and 1st grade. They play half court with 8ft rims. The refs are awesome and let them do anything (travel, double dribble etc..) The concept is just learning to dribble, play defense, go back and forth and try to shoot. They don't keep score but our coaches sure do

My 13yr old started in K too. 5yrs old. It was a great fun team experience. It is just the coaches we got stuck with and their competitive nature.

[Anonymous]

Which county?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which county?

MC. The county has it as well as the city of Gaithersburg and Rockville. The games are "scrimmages."

[Anonymous]

I read this NYT piece this weekend:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/17/your-money/rising-costs-of-youth-sports.html?_r=0

Unfortunately, the Type-A parents you describe, who encourage their kids to dominate the field or the court at young ages, probably don't recognize themselves in stories like this.