After the game I sat there and thought, “There is a massive problem with the skills these players have--especially the ones who are heading into high school next year!”While the more athletic players will be successful because of their athletic abilities, one of the biggest problems in grassroots basketball is the lack of skill development.
One cause of that problem is the number of club coaches trying to see how many games they can win in a summer. Some club teams play over 100 games between March and August, which should be illegal. In July, some clubs are in one state one day for two games then drive or fly to another state to play multiple games the same evening. How can a teenager expect to get any better when they are tired and continue to repeat the same bad habits over and over with no correction?
The Complete Player
If your car is broken, you take it to the shop. You do not continue to drive it and just hope it gets better. While this approach of intentional repair is the basis for most improvements in civilized society, it is not the norm in the world of prep basketball. When your jump shot is off, or you’re having problems with your ball handling the answer in grassroots basketball all too often seems to be to play more games!
Some club coaches teach kids offenses and defenses and that helps them win a ton of games in the summer and look high and mighty, but when the kids leave that program they are just a piece of that system rather than having become a complete player. While a particular player may have excellent physical attributes or athletic ability, honing them into a certain system just to win without improving their fundamental skills hurts their development in the long run. This obsessive concern with playing 100 games and getting the best record and accumulating trophies is the core of the problem with club basketball.
How many times have you noticed the tallest kid on a certain team just hovering around the basket? Well, that is great if you are already 6’5’’ and a great athlete, but if you are anywhere south of 6’2’’ you may not be able to play post at the next level. Instead of developing some of these players who are sub-next level-post height many coaches just leave them in the post because it is their best option to win that day. They fail to understand that developing the player’s overall skill set is in the best interest of that player, and may be in the long-term best interest of the team and coach as well. A scout who has been following players for over 20 years once told me that the best kids do not get better, because they do not focus on the things that they are not as strong at; rather, they just continue what they do well and never become a complete player.
Too Many Games!
This issue continues to arise at every level. Just as many of these teams fail to attend to the development of skills over a long term to create a complete player, the number of games some of these teams play is completely out of control. If you say you’re playing four or five tournaments in July, it is somewhat understandable because that is the college exposure period. But why are club teams playing 80 games before July? These teams are burning out their players for glory for the individual club coach and in July those players do not get seen at 100%.
Some coaches may contend that they are catering to the wishes of their players. Kids want to play or at least to scrimmage. “No one wants to stand around the gym practicing her dribble or jump shot for hours on end,” the coach will argue. But that excuse reflects a coach who has not learned how to keep a practice moving or to motivate players to grow. Perhaps the club coach is a good strategist, but is not the best teacher of the game. Well, then it is their job to find someone who will do a good job with their players to help develop them into complete players.
Another issue with this excessive game playing is the scrum that usually occurs between the high school and AAU coaches. In Florida, June generally is a time that players play with their high school teams in leagues and at team camps. While this is typical, you see club teams infringing on the high school coaches’ programs during this month, a month that is the most important because players need to be well rested for July if they are going to travel.
The Answer?
Though I have pointed out a few issues here, the problem is much bigger than the people I see every day. This is an institutional problem in grassroots basketball. It is a problem that mainly occurs because people are not dedicated enough or do not know the grand scheme of things well enough to develop their players into complete players and manage them in a way to avoid getting them burnt out.
Dee Brown, who is a former NBA player, created a training facility in Florida three years ago to help develop complete players. Dee did individual training and group training and this fall I brought several of my players over there to train. One player had played with me since eighth grade (she is now a high school junior) and it was unbelievable how much of an improvement in her game there was because of the training. While you do not necessarily need an NBA player to train you, working on your game and having the confidence that you know you put the time in to get better may be something that creates the biggest dividend in your game. At the beginning of the high school season it was pretty easy to see which players had been trying to add to their games and which players had been content with their abilities.
I always asked Brandon Clay of Peach State Basketball how his team was successful if they did not practice much. Brandon explained to me it was his goal to help develop complete players and work with them one-on-one or in small groups to increase their skill sets rather than do team practices, because his concern was not necessarily the winning but getting that player better. Just like anything, knowing you put the time and effort into getting better is something mentally that you cannot imitate.
Finally
There are many institutional problems in the world of grassroots basketball, but the one thing you can do is make sure you and your team are not part of the problem. So what if you do not win AAU Nationals or have a 93-7 record this summer? Neither of those things promises you any type of college scholarship or success. Find a coach who wants to make you a complete player, ready to perform to your max at the next level. If you are a coach, push your players to become better and identify those things they need to make it to the next level. If you do not know the answers to these questions, ask for help. We are all in this together.
Above all, make sure that if you have a hole in your game, you fix. If you keep playing with that broken game, eventually it will not work at all.