Reply to Managing playing time rules in first-year rec-league basketball

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[quote=Anonymous]Did I read that double-teams are prohibited? If so, then that's your answer.

When you only have one good player on the floor in the first quarter, on defense you play your good player against their tallest player to start. At age 8, let the other kids shoot and be sure you have your good player in position to get rebounds. It's a make-miss league; if they sink their shots then tip your cap to the opposing coach.

But generally they'll miss, and at some point you'll rebound or the ball will fly out off them. So then you have your good player take the ball up the court. So long as he makes forward progress he can take the ten seconds to cross midcourt, and there should be no backcourt defense at this age level. Then he can cross midcourt against one defender with a head of steam, so have him continue all the way to the hole for layup after layup as one-on-one will be cake for him.

What about the other kids, you say? If it's a rebound you tell them to stay in the defensive half of midcourt. No double-teams, remember? Then as I note above, bet on your son to beat his opponent down the court to the hoop. Even if he misses he can follow his own miss with abandon, as his teammates are all back the other way and can get in the way until he catches up.

If you have to in-bound from midcourt so your players are supposed to all be in the offensive end, then just line them up along the left sideline bunched against the baseline. That will leave 8 kids effectively out of the way in the corner, while your son can go one-on-one with the sole defender. What's more, you probably won't have the absolute best defender on your kid in the first quarter since scouting isn't really done very much at the 8-year-old rec league level.

Look, it's not like your son and the other good kid are missing out on team play. The other poster mentioned clustering your good players in the fourth (all) and third (the two good ones) quarters. That's where they learn about using their teammates, passing, and whatnot. Plus the other team will come out of halftime thinking you're a one-on-one team, and all of a sudden they'll get rotated and pick-and-rolled to death.

I've coached all my boys to championships in rec league for ages 8 through 12; after that they were just too busy with travel basketball and travel lacrosse. Yes, I've had lawyer, doctor, lobbyist parents complain to me about how I run my program. I tell them look, I run a landscaping business so that I can be with my kids. You can't run away from your kids all day to work in your high-powered job, and then expect me to fix your relationship with your kid. If you're gonna impose a kid who can't play or just isn't getting better onto my team, and then push through fair time rules and stuff, then I'm gonna do what I need to do to build a program of success.
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