Hello Don,
Thanks for bringing your basketball coaching query to 'sportscience'.
I read your email with interest. I hope that the following gives you some
direction and some resources to consider.
My comments based upon 25 years of sports preparation coaching (mainly
run-based sports) including 15 years at the national level in (Australian)
football, basketball and baseball. I've also taught physical education in
the secondary/high school setting.
Firstly, working within (any) sport requires a coach to work within a
culture and various sub-cultures. Dependent upon the coach's personal
sporting background and experiences, values and philosophy they may already
be well immersed with the culture of (American) basketball preparation and
training, the culture of the given organisation or club, and the various
sub-cultures relevant to coaching (basketball) and youth.
I see culture as "a fluid system of values, beliefs and attitudes that both
affect and are effected by behaviour". The fluidity is more to do with
shifts over time, yet the core (deep, and often neglected) values tend not
to change. This is because of the impact of historical precedents upon
current practice and practise.
Recommendation 1: explore the cultural elements - behaviours, assumptions,
sayings, values, habits, routines, exclusions - of basketball (coaching)
within the contexts of American capitalist society; the trickle down effect
of the NBL and it's effect upon university/varsity and highschool
basketball practice (and coaching); the assumptions of the coaches you are
working with; and, the operational and value patterns of the
organisations/clubs they are likely to coach for.
Secondly, explore what your ultimate aims are. Are they to produce quality
basketball players; to produce healthy and active youth; to produce youth
(and coaches and parents) that are more health, activity and basketball
skill and strategy aware? Of course, we aware of the 'production-line' model
as there are many juxtaposed factors that influence the coaching,
participation and effects of participation in sport on kids.
I'm not confident that simply emulating the models or programs of other
countries would be ideal. This is because refer point 1 the cultures and
values in which their sports, practices and youth have developed are
different to yours, and mine.
In light of resources to explore some of these, you may like to read:
Farrow, Baker and McMahon (2008) Developing Sporting Expertise Researchers
and Coaches Put Theory Into Practice
Baker, Cobley and Schorer (eds) (2012) Talent Identification and Development
in Sport International Perspectives
Collins (ed) (2010) Examining Sports Development
Holt (ed) (2008) Positive Youth Development Through Sport
Houlihan & Green (2008) Comparative Elite Sport Development: Systems,
Structures and Public Policy
Recommendation 2: explore the ultimate aims of your coach's basketball
programs. Do this within the rubric of sport, activity and basketball
development in the USA. From these decide upon more specific objectives that
guide the structure, developmental nature and practices of the programs and
values you establish.
Thirdly, 10-18 year-olds will obviously present a broad range of
developmental, experiential and psycho-emotial differences. Similar will
apply to the age and experiential range of your coaches. Developing a
program for a variety of ages like this could best be served by adopting
fundamental Long Term Athletic Development strategies and practices.
Personally, I think Canada could become the ultimate model in this regard.
Although, I am only an external observer, I think the way they have
integrated community sport, national health, school programs (via physical
education curricula), and elite sport development through their Canadian
Sport for Life (www. ) initiatives is great.
Go to their website/s (www.LTAD.ca) and explore a number of theoretical and
practical applications. It is a model in development and evolution. You can
read such things as:
Core Values of Sport For Life
The Principles of Sport for Life
(The Concept of) Developing Physical Literacy
An Outline of LTAD
The 10 Key Factors in Influencing LTAD
How the 'active start', 'fundamentals', 'learning to train', 'training to
train', 'training to compete', 'training to win' and 'active for life'
stages of LTAD relate for early and late specialisation sports.
The various sports (from various provinces) provide examples and resources.
Similarly, chase up a document by the US Youth Soccer (USOC) titled 'Long
term Athlete Development: Trainability in Childhood and Adolescence: Windows
of Opportunity & Optimal Trainability. This documents outlines a model for
junior soccer development using many of the LTAD principles that CSFL is
premised upon.
In addition, Brian McCormick (2008) has produced a book ' Cross-over: The
New Model of Youth Basketball Development'. He has based his basketball
development model on the principles of LTAD as outlines above, and are
relevant to the USA context.
Vern Gambetta has also written some very good books on the notion of
athletic development, particularly 'Athletic Development: The Art & Science
of Functional Sports Conditioning'. Vern's systematic, strategic and
common-sensical approach to sports-preparation will provide another
perspective and context for you.
Fourthly, I recommend strongly that you give consideration to the changing
nature of the environment (ie. contexts) today's youth are brought up and,
in some ways 'bought-up' in.
Although I'm generalising, over 25 years I've found that today's youth:
* have a reduced generic work capacity, and physical fitness level
* have earlier onset health-related problems these are reported for many
(Western) societies
* are generally less active, even from a locomotion/transport ('getting
around') point of view and are more reliant on automotive transport
* sit (poorly) more effecting their posture and sitting, standing and
walking with significant impacts on the development fundamental muscle
groups - parapsinals, gluteals, trunk/core, hamstrings and hip-flexors.
* perform body-weight exercises poorly, and many have impoverished
body-awareness and temporal/timing skills
* generally perform various Fundamental Locomotor Skills, Non-locomotor
Skills, Manipulative Skills (propulsive and receptive) less well, and have
reduced Movement Awareness (see Gabbard et al (1987) Physical Education for
Children: Building the Foundation; and, Drabik (1996) Children & Sports
Training: How your Future Champions should Exercise to Be Healthy, Fit and
Happy). The title of Drabik's text is a little misleading.
* value physical activity, sport, and training differently
* young athletes often specialise sooner
* the workload of young athletes is often 'intensified' (ie. doing a greater
volume of intense work)
* more young athletes are suffering from overload and overuse injuries (as a
result of many of the the above points) - such as osteitis pubis, various
tendonopathies
* have reduced attention spans - some evidence suggests their brains are
actually 'wired differently' (see below*)
* are more reliant on visual stimulation, and auditory (music) motivation*
* have different communication modes available, and are challenged to
appreciate the different contexts in which different communication modes can
be used (appropriately)*
*For perspectives on these, and how you may consider historically and
culturally-relevant programs for youth (sports development in basketball),
have a look at:
Gee (2003) What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Learning and Literacy
[and coaching]
Restak (2004) The New Brain: How The Modern Age is Rewiring Your Mind:
Research From the Frontiers of Brain Science
Bauerlein (2009) The Dumbest Generation: How The Digital Age Stupefies Young
Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future
Lopiamo-Misdom & DeLuca (1996) Street Trends: How Today's Alternative Youth
Cultures are Creating Tomorrow's Mainstream Markets
Healy (1990) Endangered Minds: Why Children Don't Think- and What We Can Do
About It
Barham (2004) DisConnected: Why Our Kids are Turning their Backs on
Everything We Thought We Knew
Healy (1998) Failure To Connect: How Computers Affect Our Children's Minds-
and What We Can Do About It
and, of course,
Gardner (1993) Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice
Of course, there isn't much sense in comparing today's youth with 'the good
ol' days' or 'back in the day'. It is more the point that today's youth are
brought up in a world different to ours, and in different ways. The
physical, mental, social and emotional skills and the contexts in which
they use, abuse and require them are different.
As diligent coaches and role models I believe it is part of our duty-of-care
to not only be sensitive to this, but to be pro-active in supporting and
developing the potential positive elements and encouraging them to develop
critical thinking in relation to less positive elements. Sport, physical
activity and (fitness) training whether basketball related or not simply
become vehicles in which we can develop these in a broader context of youth
development.
Finally, like many other team-sports whether field, court or water-based
basketball is simply an extension of a basic game - "keepings off". You may
consult various books and journals and adopt various approaches
Fundamental Motor Skills, Game Sense, Thematic Approach, to mention a few.
Yet, remember, basics are best and dependent upon age and level of
competition, don't get too far away from building a positive
coach-youth/athlete relationship, building individual and collective
confidence and self-esteem, critical-thinking skills, fair-play values, core
values to practice and practise/train by, physical skill literacy, a generic
work capacity, some specific basketball-fitness level and the differences
between "offensive and defensiveagility skills". I believe these to be the
cornerstones of all good programs conducted by effective coaches and
teachers.
In one sense, an "effective" program is one that meets is aim/s and
objectives. The aims and objectives of your program, and the contexts in
which it is conceived, planned, constructed, implemented and evaluated
(objectively and subjectively; externally and internally) will go quite a
long way in determining its details. Will you have a sport- or
performance-related focus, a participatory- and inclusiveness-focus, a
health-and-wellbeing focus, a skills-and-drills focus, a 'FUNdamentals', or
other focus?
Establishing a pro-active and 'effective' basketball coaching program is a
great opportunity for you and your coaching crew, Don. In short, I recommend
you use some of the resources highlighted above and, of course, others that
other subscribers will recommend to :
1. establish the place of your basketball (coaching) program within a wider
cultural perspective, and be sensitive to the evolution and development of
programs in other cultures these will provide the foundation for your
values, I was going to outline the 'programs' as I'm aware of them here in
Australia, yet it would highlight my recommendations
2. establish the aims, goals and focus of your programs the will provide
direction, and the bases for a systematic development
3. apply the principles of Long term Athletic Development
4. consider the impact of emerging technologies, wider social and cultural
changes, and (youth-related) sub-cultures on the perceptions of, structure
and content of your programs and the behaviours of your youth and,
importantly, coaches. No program is void of context (and the politics that
often go with them)
> * working well with children and youth today is more about rapport, and
> building a relationship first and foremost. We are the adults and should focus
> on this. This will require an individual focus juxtaposed with a
> club/team/squad perspective
5. stay close to 'the basics are best' principle regardless of the
approach/es you adopt.
Let me know what you come up with, Don.
Regards,
Paul Ford
Paul Ford: Athletic Development
Coach, in2running
Melbourne, Australia
W: www.pfad.com.au
B: www.RUNdamentals.blogspot.com
M: +61 (0)419 311 764
T: @in2run_paul
From: dhoov23 <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, 02 Jun 2012 00:38:38 -0000
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Developmental basketball
Hi all,
I'm working with a small group of basketball coaches in the US, critically
examining the way we're teaching fundamental movement skills (e.g. running,
jumping, sliding, hopping, landing, etc) within the context of developing
basketball-specific skills (e.g. shooting, passing, dribbling, defense,
etc)among youth basketball players (e.g. 10-18 years of age).
Our sense is that there are groups/areas/countries in the international
basketball community who may be doing a better job of teaching such
fundamental movement skills in an integrated fashion to youth participating
in basketball programs (for example, the Lithuanians seem to be doing some
things in player development that we'd like to emulate).
First, do any members of this group have insights on groups/areas/countries
that have anything that might be considered current "best practices" for
developing these types of skills in youth basketball players? In short, we
want to do a better job of teaching coaches to integrate these types of
things into their practices, pregame warmups, and the like, but we'd prefer
avoid re-inventing the wheel and would love to build on the success that
others have found.
Second, do members recommend any written resources (e.g. books,
peer-reviewed articles, etc) that they believe would be particularly
valuable in helping us to improve our efforts in this area.
Any insights, suggestions, comments are much appreciated.
Thanks,
Don Hoover, PT, PhD, CSCS
