| Those of you who aren't familiar with my previous | | | | 1) Man to Man teams are more aggressive. |
| articles, must understand I am a youth basketball | | | | They tend to steal the ball more, rebound better, |
| coach and gear my writings to teaching principles for | | | | and score shooting layups rather than jump shots. |
| ages 8-13. With this in mind, we have to appreciate | | | | What if you didn't have to spend so much time |
| the level of play and grasping of ideas from these | | | | teaching offensive plays because your great defense |
| kids. My theory is very basic. The old KISS method. | | | | led to easy scores? When you have beginning |
| Keep It Simple Stupid. As you gain more coaching | | | | players and limited court time, is it better teach a |
| knowledge and experience, your ego tends to | | | | layup than a jump shot? |
| experiment you to experiment outside this principle. | | | | 2) Better team communication. |
| You may ask what does this have to do with playing | | | | There is more chatter amongst the players as to |
| defense? Everything!!! | | | | who you are suppose to guard. I even have players |
| To me, teaching man-to-man defensive principles are | | | | yell for help or even switch. |
| easier to teach than zone or various gimmicky | | | | 3) They become better defenders at other types of |
| defenses you see youth teams trying to implement. I | | | | defenses. |
| recently read an article where the coach claims | | | | If your players understand m2m principles regarding |
| teaching man-to-man is difficult which may be true | | | | footwork, spacing, vision, etc.,. they become more |
| based upon his experience and methods. My | | | | adept at playing other types of defenses. To me, |
| experience has been it's difficult if you are impatient, | | | | teaching m2m is the basic fundamental way of |
| but if you are patient, it's very easy to teach. | | | | defending. |
| Younger kids tend to want to chase ball, and this is | | | | 4) Higher level coaches prefer players who can play |
| their naturally tendency. Watch any beginning youth | | | | m2m defense. |
| team (not just in basketball), and you will see all the | | | | A couple of weeks ago, I was chatting with coach |
| defenders chasing the ball. Good luck playing zone! | | | | from another league and he mentioned the high |
| With m2m, you want the player to defend their man | | | | school coaches are questioning why very few kids |
| and have sight of the ball at all times. This does take | | | | are taught to play man to man. When you have |
| patience, but not as long as you may think. There | | | | players who have learned to play m2m, they are |
| are various drills to keep players focused on this | | | | ahead of the game when it comes to playing |
| aspect of playing defense. First, I would teach them | | | | defense. It may give the edge when competing |
| to play just their man and then teach them drills of | | | | against players for select or travel teams. |
| playing man and ball. This a step by step process. | | | | I hope this gives you some general idea of why m2m |
| With this out the way, here are the reasons why I | | | | is necessary. |
| continue to harp on playing man-to-man defense: | | | | |