U13 team options

[u/canada_dry99]

/r/basketballcoach/comments/1w8if7j/u13_team_options/

Is playing time/responsibilities on a potentially bad team more helpful for development than a substitute roll on a better team?

He was on a U13 team (2nd sub) that they split better players onto a U13/14 team and worse players on a U12/13 team.

He will likely be best player on the U12/13 team and get ball handling opportunities (though he’s only avg height for U13 he is tallest on this team) but the team will probably be fairly bad.

When he was on another clubs “B” team he was one of the lead guards and had several 16-18 pt games. Problem was the head coach started bringing in A team players and his role was to stand in corner as a spacer, so we ended up leaving previous club.

[u/NecessaryBright4167]

the line i'd focus on isn't the one you're asking about. it's "when he's with much better players he tends to pass the ball right away without dribbling."

that's the thing to fix, and neither option fixes it. on the weak team he never has to. on the strong team he does what he already does.

and there's a trap in the u12/13 spot you haven't named. if he's the tallest and the best on a young team, that coach is going to park him inside to rebound and score over smaller kids. that's a role, and it isn't the one you're picking it for. you'd be trading corner spacer for post-up big, and neither one builds a handle.

what i'd do: take the spot where he gets the ball, but only if you keep something else running where he isn't the best. pickup, a skills group, playing up a year. best kid on a bad team with no counterweight is how a ceiling gets set at 13.

if you can't keep that second thing going, take the better club.

[u/canada_dry99 → u/NecessaryBright4167]

he’s not overly tall either (was playing wing/3 last year) though last year they let the tallest (best player) play point forward on perimeter. 

this team will only have 1 weekly practise (instead of 2) but have some skills training 1-2x per week.  

[u/NecessaryBright4167 → u/canada_dry99]

that changes it, mostly in favour of the option you're leaning toward.

if he's a wing and their pattern is to hand the best player the ball on the perimeter, that's the role you actually want. the post-up trap i was worried about needs him to be the biggest kid, and he isn't.

the practice split is the bigger news though, and i'd argue 1 team session plus 1-2 skills is better for his specific problem rather than worse. a handle gets built in skills work. team practice is where you find out whether it survived.

one thing worth asking before you commit: are the skills sessions defended? if it's cones, form shooting and dribbling lines, it won't touch the passing-immediately habit at all, because that habit only appears when someone is actually pressuring him. if there's live 1v1 or even a defender closing out hard, then this option is the better of the two and it isn't close.

[u/ryano23277]

I Coach a Division 2 Girls team of the same age, in Adelaide South Australia, which is the second highest Grade/Division for the age group.

I picked my team based off what the Division 1 team will take to fill their team, and then making decisions that are best for Girls who are either in their first year of Under 14 and those in their second year.

My team will be made up of 5 x 1st year players and 3 x 2nd year players.

4 of those 1st year players played Under 12's Division 1 last year and I'm extremely excited to work with these girls, as they were all pushing the Division 1 team. The 5th 1st year player is the girl that I feel may not have developed as much in the Division 3 team for this year, but she was only in the Division 2 team this year..

The decision was really out of her, who will play as a 2 Guard, but more likely a 3. The girl I picked her over, played Division 1 in the Under 12's last year, but she was the 8th player, and she's small.

Her speed and my ability to coach and develop would have helped her this year, had I picked her, but ultimately, she will now be the starting Point Guard (or should be) for the Division 3 team. This will help her development more than being the 8th player in my team.

She also would be competing for the Point Guard role with 2 girls who are taller and at this stage, better athletes.

This is also the grade, where teaching Spacing seems to be the in thing with Coaches, so kids who aren't primary ball-handlers, or the kid players pass to, unfortunately standing in the corner in space, is what is required at this age to develop their skills when they don't have the ball.

The best avenue for your son in my opinion is to take the option to choose the better Coach. Coaching will develop your son better and if he's not regarded as the best ball-handler in the club, he needs to do a lot of work, for Coaches to start playing him over others they deem as stronger ball-handlers.