Top Basketball Coaching

Basketball Defense:

Ways To Defend Someone Who Is Much Quicker Than Yourself

By Jeff Haefner, owner of BreakthroughBasketball.com

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Teaching one-on-one skills to young basketball players requires time and patience. If the ball is introduced too soon, too much focus will be on the ball. If defense is introduced to play on the dribbler too early, the dribbler will probably not be able to control the ball. The child must master balance and body control and be able to move well without the ball. When the ball is introduced, a lot of time must be spent on learning how to dribble and particularly, how to dribble under control. Defense, without even understanding the rudiments of stance, sliding, position on the ball, etc., will almost always prevail.

My article in February, 2008, Teaching Progression Skills For 1-on-1, Part 1 (http://www.top-basketball-coaching.com/1-on-1-part1), spoke to the teaching of offensive basics for balance, control, ball handling and dribbling. If the youngsters are ready, now the defensive side of the 1-on-1 equation can be introduced.

A couple of months ago, I asked coaches from around the world what they’d most like to know in teaching the individual youth basketball game. The last couple of articles have been answers to some of those questions. This month’s article continues, as part of a 2-part series, about teaching 1-on-1 progression.

Wim C., from Belgium asked about how to teach youngsters progression in 1-on-1 skills.

When people think of 1-on-1 they usually think of an offensive player with the ball vs. a defender. Really, there are two situations to teach-- on the ball and off the ball. This article will only deal with on the ball progression.

Since there are more components in teaching offensive skills than in teaching defensive skills, I will begin with the offensive side of the 1-on-1 equation and cover the defensive part next month.

Coaches write to me with questions relevant to the age groups they work with and to their youth coaching experience. It doesn’t seem to matter where in the world these coaches write from, their questions are echoed by dozens, if not hundreds of other youth coaches around the globe.

In order to adequately answer the questions I received from Wim C., a coach in Belgium, working with 6-10 year olds, I am going to need more than one article. Coach C. asks: “How do you teach the progression in one-on-one play, (in both) offense and defense?” He also asks, “At what age do you start using screens?”

In this article, I'll answer the easier question about when to start teaching screens.

Probably, age 10 is too early for most players. First, they have to be made to understand the purpose of the screen and how it works for that purpose. They will need to be shown how to correctly set a screen and told what the rules regarding screens are--close screening, moving, etc.

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I recently sent out a survey to my global newsletter list asking for coaches to tell me what their most pressing basketball related question is.

Coach Anindya, from India, asked how to train his players to get back quickly on defense. I thought this was a question I should deal with as an article, because I have had this question asked before.

Teaching man-to-man principles and techniques, starting with a basic stance, then movement, then playing on-the-ball and off-the-ball, before even considering teaching zone defense just makes sense. You have to start with the basics. Man defense is the basic.

There is a wealth of information available for the beginning basketball coach, however a lot of it is too advanced for someone who may be just getting started. Those men, women, or teenagers who will be coaching youth teams need to be fed information relative to their own knowledge and level of experience, and to that of the youth they will be coaching.