Here at SOIS, in the Sabers middle school and high school boys basketball programs, our coaches’ strong preference is to play man-to-man defense. Coach Ray, Coach Routh and I all believe that it is vital to teach young players the fundamentals of man defense at a young age so that they can develop into better players as they get older. (Our teams play zone D, too, at times.)
Many youth basketball coaches rely on zone defenses because they think they don’t have enough time to teach man-to-man fundamentals. But to play good zone defense, players – in addition to learning how to play their individual roles in the zone – must also have sound man-to-man defensive skills (lateral movement, close-out technique, passing lane anticipation, etc.). In the end, it takes just as much time if not more to teach players how to play zone defense, if done properly. What happens, though, too often, is that youth coaches skip the man defensive fundamentals. Marginal zone defenses can work at the intermediate youth level, but this is short-sighted thinking. What about our players’ progress for the future?
Many youth basketball coaches rely on zone defenses because they think they don’t have enough time to teach man-to-man fundamentals. But to play good zone defense, players – in addition to learning how to play their individual roles in the zone – must also have sound man-to-man defensive skills (lateral movement, close-out technique, passing lane anticipation, etc.). In the end, it takes just as much time if not more to teach players how to play zone defense, if done properly. What happens, though, too often, is that youth coaches skip the man defensive fundamentals. Marginal zone defenses can work at the intermediate youth level, but this is short-sighted thinking. What about our players’ progress for the future?
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