Development over Winning in Youth Basketball - A definition.

It's common vernacular among coaches to hear, "I don't care if we win a game."  I understand the context which that statement is being spoken, but to be honest, it's coach speak and a lie.  Every coach cares about winning.  Winning is how coaches are judged by most people/parents, by players in outside programs and by coaches themselves.  Winning is a measurement everyone uses as a key performance indicator to some degree.

As I have grown as a coach I've been able to refocus my thinking and state this sentiment as "Development over Winning."  You are asking, what is the difference... you clearly do not put an emphasis on winning?  Let me be clear.  I care about winning... I care a lot about it.  However, what I do is set a clear goal that winning happens when we develop first.  I want parents and players to leave our program saying, "wow.. I saw myself get better."  Even when they decide to play somewhere else the next season.

If you place your time, energy and focus on developing the skills of the total player, winning happens.  You can't put your players in a microwave and have instant success.  As I read in a tweet from Sam Allen with BCB, he says you have to put your players development in a slow-cooker... let those skills develop over time.  In our program, we develop everyone.  All players will spend the majority of their time with a basketball in their hands... not running plays.  Once we develop a base level of skills, we introduce a set that compliments our team to be successful.  Playing games and running plays does not equal development.

Unfortunately, I have the learned ability to spend 30 minutes watching a practice and can tell you what the coach cares about.  I can tell during a tryout actually.  If a youth coach is spending 75% of his/her practice focused on running plays and sets, then they are putting "winning" ahead of development.  They believe positioning players and hiding certain ones will be the key to winning.  My thought is your youth team will look great running those plays missing layups and open jumpers.

If your youth team is winning (but your son is not getting better) you need to question what is going on.  Winning now teaches you absolutely nothing.  Are your wins coming as a team or coming due to 1-2 super athletic players?  Let's be honest... puberty is the great equalizer.  I've seen a 6th grade kid who has hit puberty dominate.  He was bigger, faster and stronger than most kids his age he met on the court.  Fast forward to the 8th grade where that same player is an average player or ultimately has left the game entirely as they peaked in 6th grade!  I place a tiny bit of the blame on the coach of that kid.  Why?  that coach wanted to win so badly, he/she more than likely skipped that player's development process.  A 6 foot 6th grader is playing the post... a 6' 1" 8th grader is playing guard. What usually happens is that a coach will select the most athletic kids he can find during tryouts.  The next step is to coach them (notice I didn't say teach) at their current level... much like an NBA coach, in order to dominate and win.  That's fine for adults, but horrible for youth players.

We as youth coaches have to remember that we are here to DEVELOP talent and skills.  It's our job to teach first and coach second.  Teach those kids with advanced skills at a level above their current skill level.  Push everyone.  Teach to the highest level and beyond, not to the lowest.  Development over Winning.

What happened to having fun?

As you can tell if you follow our Facebook page, I'm very passionate about youth sports.  My interest in the science behind the development process intrigues me greatly.  As a coach and director of a youth basketball program, my goal is simple.  "Help every child that comes through our program improve and fall in love with the game."  It sounds simple, but influences such as the nature of being competitive, wanting to win and parent expectations cloud that process.  I've quoted the ride to the game and the ride home as the worst experience for any youth player.  Parent's break them down before they get to a practice or game and tear down the work we've done as coaches on the way home.  I'm guilty of it, but I've learned and improved.  I recommend to our parents that the car is a safe place.  You can't talk about sports, the game or anything negative in the car.  I practice this with my own kids and our relationships have grown.

The other area is the desire to win and your very young child to play professional sports.  Think about that... who owns the dream?  You or your child?  What ever happened to having fun first?

Here is some science for you:  According to physical, psychological, and cognitive development, a child should be at least 6 years of age before participating in organized team sport, such as soccer and baseball. Further, an accurate assessment of each child’s individual sports readiness should be performed to assist in determining if a child is prepared to enroll and at which level of competition the child can successfully participate. A mismatch in sports readiness and skill development can lead to anxiety, stress, and ultimately attrition for the young athlete. For the very young “athlete”, the goals of participation are to be active, have fun, and to have a positive sport experience through learning and practice of fundamental skills. An introduction to a variety of activities has been shown to be both physically and psychologically beneficial for the youngster. Sports satisfaction surveys reveal that “having fun” is the main reason that most children like to participate in sports; however, the parents perception of why their children like to play sports is to “win”.

The Institution for the Study of Youth Sports looked at the importance of winning from the child’s perspective, and found that it varied with gender and age, but for the majority of younger children, fairness, participation, and development of skills ranked above winning. It appears that this disconnect amongst young athletes and adults may contribute to stress and unhappiness on the part of the child. Perhaps the adult interpretation of “little league” or “pee wee” sports as a mini-version of adult sports competition has led those who are involved in governing these activities down the wrong path, where winning overrides the fundamentals of youth sports.

Implementation of some of the coaching tactics that were designed for college and professional athletes, such as hard physical practices for punishment, only the best get to play, running up the score, and overplaying celebratory wins has contributed to a negative atmosphere in youth sports.

 The North Georgia Irish Basketball program is by no means perfected what the Youth Sports study has verified, but we are aware and working towards an ideal state.  Perfection does not exist but the pursuit of it does.  We are very excited to be certified by USA Basketball and look forward to developing players the right way in our corner of Georgia.