Over the weekend, I conducted four clinics with players from 3rd-8th grade. The players ranged from beginners to competitive AAU types. Some players were good; some weren’t. One of the first things that struck me was that most of the players could shoot weak-hand lay-ups.
There has been incredible angst over the last decade about deteriorating fundamentals in the youth basketball player. Players are described as lacking fundamentals. However, when looking at technical skills – those most commonly associated with the term “fundamental” – these players were okay. Considering that the most competitive players were away at big AAU tournaments, the players’ fundamental skills were at least appropriate for their age groups. Several players appeared to be several age groups ahead of their real age in terms of their skills with the ball (lay-ups, dribbling, passing).
The fact that these players were able to use their weak hands shows me that they have had some decent coaching and/or have considerable experience for their age. My dad made me practice left-handed lay-ups as soon as I started practicing in my front yard – 3rd or 4th grade. However, I was advanced in comparison to my peers in this regard until at least high school.
Therefore, in this sample size, I’d argue that the traditional fundamentals are not the issue. Instead, the biggest problem was general movement. In one of the clinics, two players moved well out of a gym full of players. In my first clinic, a shooting clinic, I spent almost 40 minutes practicing how to stop forward momentum. When initially asked to stop and jump/land, their techniques were all over the map. Less than 10% could squat properly at the beginning of the clinic. Everyone knew what a jump stop was, but few could execute one correctly.
My shooting clinics differ because I spend so much time on the lower body and comparatively little time on the upper body. In my experience working with youth shooters for the last 15 years, most problems stem from the lower body. Concentrating on the elbow does little to improve one’s shot because the problem remains. The elbow generally is askew because the lower body is not providing sufficient power for the shot, either due to issues of strength, balance, or coordination. These are not shooting issues, per se, but movement issues, and the problems go far beyond shooting woes.
In our basketball system, movement is the forgotten fundamental, yet it is the most fundamental of basketball fundamentals. Shooting, defense, passing, ball handling, etc. will never be performed optimally when develop atop poor movement habits. Correcting the skills without addressing the movement issues is a quick-fix approach that is sure to fail in the long run. Instead, with younger players, we need a greater emphasis on movement before we attempt to develop sport-specific skills. Our collective angst should be centered on basketball fundamentals, but on the most basic fundamentals of movement.
if you have a link on the shooting fundamentals of the lower body, i’d love to see it. thanks in advance.
Great post Brian. I agree with your message “Shooting, defense, passing, ball handling, etc. will never be performed optimally when develop atop poor movement habits” and see this problem with most of the players I meet at our basketbal camps. This reminds me of physical therapist Gray Cook’s saying “Don’t put fitness on top of dysfunction”.
In my opinion all youth coaches should take advantage of young players’ ability to learn motor patterns by introducing the basic movements (squat, hinge, push, pull) in every training session à la Dan John’s “if it’s important, do it everyday”.
Olivier
Good post Brian.
I relate these weaknesses to the classroom. In my opinion, the thing we lack the most is 1:1 time with students (and players). If a players seeks out individual training, they may get 20-30 minutes of a help a few times a summer or fall (whatever they ask of me). But our training schedule hadn’t been built to allow for much one on one time. I’m changing that this summer. And in the classroom, I’ve moved to do more whole-group activities that allow me to work with students 1:1. Elementary teachers do this with reading and literacy stations, but it gets lost in junior high. It also gets lost in team sports. How many coaches spend hours teaching team offense, or a press break, or a press? Unless a player seeks help from a coach before/after practice, or even goes to a trainer, they don’t get that help.
I make this analogy because I agree with the movement principle. Too many players don’t have proper technique. That’s why I invited you to LV, to begin that process. Combined with other research and professional development, I’ll be working more with players individually to address their movement concerns. I don’t know if you can do that as a group, all the time (such as the ACL risk you pointed out at our clinic).
Our practices are typically 1:45 minutes long. With 10 players on a team, I believe I can spend 20 minutes with 2 different players every day. I’ll be able to weekly assess and address the individual concerns players have. I could do skill work during this time, sure, but I think the bigger problem lies in the footwork and range-of-motion skills/techniques the players last. I think this will address a number of problems, mostly with injury prevention, but also with more fluid and efficient movement on the court.
Jake:
Good points. One potential solution, in the classroom and on the court, is peer interaction. For instance, with the Khan Academy model, students who are far ahead of their peers can be restrained by having them spend time assisting struggling students. The teaching of the other students improves their learning even more. Another example is the flipping the classroom, where the instruction occurs as homework via video or another mode of delivery, and the problem-solving occurs in the classroom period where students can work together and seek help from the teacher as needed. This allows more time for the teacher to help those who really struggle.
On the court, players could watch each other when doing specific drills. In my weightlifting classes, I have as many as 25 students in a 50-minute class. When we do the movement assessment at the beginning of the course, I give the students a five-point checklist and demonstrate the good and the bad to facilitate the understanding of each of the five points. Then I have them observe and rate each other as I monitor and watch to see who has big issues and who appears to move okay. Then, I can work with those who have major issues, while all students are more aware of their own movements and those with only minor issues can self-monitor.
As an example, let’s say you do an extended dynamic warm-up that also serves as a mini-ACL prevention program. Rather than all players doing each exercise at the same time, maybe half could go first and the second group could evaluate them. Players could be given specific things to look for (valgus knees, toes pointing out, etc). Not only will the peer interaction potentially facilitate better overall instruction, but the process of observing another may make one more aware of her own movement.
For some areas of basketball, 1v1 is certainly the best approach. This is one reason why I suggest individual training rather than a basketball camp: Parents want instruction and improvement beyond what they get from a normal practice situation, but rather than go from a 12:1 or 6:1 player:coach ratio with their team to a 1:1 ratio with a trainer, they go to a camp where the ratio is almost never better than 10:1 and often worse. But, there may be other strategies. I am working on a study proposal to examine the effects of peer observation on learning outcomes. Not sure when I will do the study, as I need to figure out a way to measure the learning, but I think it is a potentially interesting approach to overcome the big numbers.
Another suggestion, and one which I would do if I had greater flexibility within my coaching situation, is to divide practice. If you have 12 players for 1:45, why not run two practices with 6 players each for 50 minutes? Not every day, of course, but if games are on Saturday, why not devote Mondays to individual practice and practice technique and basic skills with a smaller group and then monitor the same skills with the bigger group in team practices for the rest of the week?
Just some ideas. Thanks for the input and making me think some more about this.
Great ideas. We do a great deal of observation, peer evaluation, and modeling in the classroom. Great idea to take it to the gym.
We’ve previously had problems with too big of a team – 15 girls, 4 or 5 of which have very little skill, and 2 or 3 with great skill. The most important lesson I took away from this season was that it’s impossible to give both groups the attention the need. Again going to the classroom – I wouldn’t have a beginning reader in the same class as an advanced student. Or if I did, my class would differentiated to prevent the boredom or frustration of either student. I didn’t do that in basketball this year, when the talent level was more pronounced than ever. Your idea is a great way to model and peer evaluate the “rookies” as we called them, and even have our higher-level girls engage in some evaluative and creative high level thinking.
I really like the 50 minute practice idea. I’m lucky enough to have another coach help, so we split practice for 30 minutes or so at a time, but this is an interesting idea. Whole bands don’t practice with all members at the same time. Percussion has their time to practice, etc. That’s an interesting approach I’ll consider trying.
If you need any data on the 1:1 vs. 10:1 ratio study you’re doing, I’m happy to help. Not sure what the parameters are for your study, but since I’m doing the individual work this year, I’m happy to help.
Yes, one of the great problems in coaching, and often in school, is that we coach (teach) to the middle (mean) and the outliers (really good and really bad/new) struggle either from the complexity or the boredom. Engaging every player at one time in some manner is one of the great challenges of coaching.
As for my study, I did not explain clearly. I want to look at the benefits of focused peer observation on learning outcomes. I just can’t figure out how to measure the learning outcomes (improved performance, improved decision-making, etc) with much reliability and/or validity.
What about setting up a control group of kids that don’t have the peer observation experience? Ten kids in a group with 5 of them having the peer experience. Have multiple groups. Play 5v5 within each group before the study and after with each team containing some peer observation kids and some who received conventional instruction. Keep the teams the same, tape it, run deep stats for each kid, and see who improved more– peer obs. or control group.
Yes, that would be the goal. However, how do you measure improvement? What constitutes improvement? That’s the question; how do you measure improved decision-making?
Improved decision-making is reflected in the score and the stats, particularly the stats that directly reflect the skill-set addressed in the peer observation groups. You select a cluster of these stats and see how the groups compare. If you’re working on passing and a great majority of players in the Peer Obs Groups improved their assists and reduced their turnovers, compared with those in the control groups (and by the way, some of the control groups can receive direct instruction from a coach, some no instruction at all, etc), then you know you’re on to something. Measuring performance increase, or “learning” in sports, where so much is already broken into numbers, is much easier than measuring learning in other areas of the curriculum, such as social studies or language arts. I know the Shane Battiers of the world can stump statisticians (or force them to be more innovative with their stats) but mostly basketball is pretty measurable, no?
Does an increase in assists really demonstrate learning? Especially at the youth level, I could make the perfect pass to a player and he could miss a lay-up. Also, how do you differentiate between an assist on a 2v0 fast break and one while running a pick-and-roll and finding the open guy in the opposite corner? What about a hockey assist – if I create the play and pass to a player who makes the extra pass, that doesn’t show any improvement on my behalf?
Some statisticians believe an entire NBA season is too small of a sample size to make conclusions. If so, how can 1-2 games of statistics with youth players offer any real insight?
I’m fascinated by the idea of starting with movement to teach shooting. I’d love to see a link to some of the movement stuff you do with them in this regard, particularly with the lower body.
Talking to a producer about making a shooting DVD to cover these things. Should know more soon.
cool– can’t wait. please email me if it comes together.
Piggy backing on a comment by Brian. Are there any good ways to measure fundamental skills in the game of basketball out there? I know there are many movement competency assessment batteries http://movementdynamics.com/products/view/physical-competence-assessment-manual%202011
but wanted to know if anyone had any assessment approaches that you can track kids by to help their development so they know what they can improve upon?
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