redheadcoach

Hi, I am a longtime coach of Baseball, Football, and Basketball. My team, 4th Graders, are doing travel basketball this year. This is the actual first year of competitive B-Ball and I picked a group of 9 kids. These are the kids I saw excel at the 2nd-3rd grade level. We won our first game but not convincingly. It was 16-12. I put up 40 a game at the 3rd grade level so I'm guessing that the defense of other teams "best kids" has alot to do with shutting down my offense. I came into this year thinking I could actually install an offense. We tried it in the first half of our game and managed 4 points. In the second half I told the kids to just take it to the hoop and we did better. All we did was turn the ball over time after time when we tried to run an offense. It was frustrating as ######. The problem is at this level the kids defensively will overplay everything. Getting a pass from the point to the wing was a monumental task for us and that was after we used a screen to free the wingman. Still didn't work. The point was either to late[steal] to early[turnover oob] or the guy guarding the point would just block the pass. Even if we got it there than we had the same issue on the 2nd pass. What do I do? Tell the kids to take it to the basket everytime? ######, they don't need me for that. All the other teams are the same I guess, but as a coach who strives to see great teamwork and a good overall product it eats me alive. It is the sloppiest thing ever. I try to teach V-Cuts to free yourself, fake passes, etc but when they get on the floor they just go 100 MPH like the tazmanian devil. They won't wait for screens etc. My thought is I need as many shots as possible. Considering 60% of plays result in turnovers I figure if I can get more shots at the hoop than the other team my chances greatly improve. BUT............HOW DO I DO THIS? I almost want to tell them NOT to pass it. Every pass is 50/50 if it will result in a catch or a turnover. I want to teach basketball but its hard when the defense is made up of unpredictable 4th graders who do stuff that you would never expect. Another problem is I need the kids to learn to abandoned plays at times. If the play calls for a pass to the post they are throwing it no matter what. If they don't they were taught to do something different but then that guys defender or MY GUY is doing something preventing us from doing that. So the point sits there cradling the ball in LA-LA land. I hate the thought of not sharing the ball but every pass we throw is another coinflip as to if we are going to keep possession. I need the simplest offense ever or I am going to be forced to tell them to play "playground ball" Any suggestions? Sorry but I am at the height of frustration

The funny thing is why the ###### would you want to run a cover 2 with 3rd and 4th graders? Tonight at practice we did what you suggested. I told my guards to get there normal splits than take another step over. This ought to be good. I will run it but hopefully since I didn't get out of hand perhaps the coach won't even notice. Whats he going to say? Is it skirting the rules? Perhaps, but so is stacking a team. All leagues are forced to draft, or are supposed to. Most of the smaller schools will have 1-2 teams but the bigger schools like Massillon will have 7-8. This team has 2 teams and I was told by a parent that works with one of my kids mothers that this teams coach hand picked every kid and the other team got the leftovers which would explain thier 6-0 compared to the other teams 1-5. I also have issues with the weight of some of thier kids. They were booted out of thier last league for fudging birth certificates......wtf!!! I am going to fight fire with fire. Will we win? I doubt it, but we aren't going to roll over and die. This is about all I can do to match thier stacked team with the limitations the league gives me.

Thats Great! I could see the uproar that would cause. I should do it. Maybe when I get behind I will do it! Heres the Bylaws.....See for yourself http://www.tricountyyouthfootball.com/file...tballBylaws.pdf

Thats Great! I could see the uproar that would cause. I should do it. Maybe when I get behind I will do it!

Thanks for the advice guys. Jack, I agree the rules are dumb. Offensively you can do whatever you want but defensively you are strapped. The only shifting you can do pre-snap is if they come out with Twins you can roll one of the Safeties up. Thats it. Everyone has to be heads up. The DE's are the only exception. They can align on the outside shoulder. Crack Monkey, I think thats about the best we can go with. The only exception is I'm don't like the DT's over OG's slanting out. I would rather have all 3 of them attack the C and the 2 DT's trying to shoot the A gaps. Perhaps we can force some fumbles or blow up the backfield quickly. When we played them the first time they ran to the A gaps and outside the WHOLE GAME! No in between stuff. They just have the perfect personel to do it effectively.

Thanks for helping. They run out of different formations. The most common one however is an Offset I or the I with a Flanker and Double TE's. They do usually run to the wide side of the field. They will at times line the kid up at QB and just sweep him outside with both the FB and HB lead blocking. The FB will usually take out my end and the HB will either seal the inside with a block on the LB or kick out my CB. We have to run a 5-2 and thats what makes it difficult. By using the QB as a runner they are maximizing the number of guys on one side of the field whereas I can't really counter it because of our guidelines. That's why my thought was to blitz the corner and have the end box. That is about the only way I can push him back up the middle effectively. He may cut it back up and beat us but at least I can push him closer to the pursuit. The kid is lightening and if he gets that corner goodnight. Any help would be appreciated

Thats pretty much our basic Defense that we run. The Problem is they usually run to the SE side and my CB has trouble shedding the guy plus he is getting hammered by the HB coming out of the backfield. My question is if I blitz both corners and let them release the SE/Flankers to the Safeties, what should I do with the ends. If I have the ends box and the CB coming from the outside along with the DT's over the OG's it's going to open up quite a gap for each LB to fill. Should I have the ends possibly Crash after going outside the end? With both the CB blitzing and DE boxing it puts them both right beside each other. Perhaps I should have the CB undercut the boxing ends? Any thoughts?

Hi, I'm new here and am looking for some help. I coach 3rd and 4th graders and we have made the playoffs and are going against the best team in the league in round 1. They have blown everyone out this year. We played them earlier in the season and got beat 36-14. Here is what they do. First off it seems this team is loaded. The Ball advancing weight is 100Lbs and they have a kid who is strong as in ox that weighs exactly that. The first thing they do is hand it to him right in the 1-2 hole and let him drag my kids for 7-8 yards. My team is way undersized. My biggest kid is 102. The league dictates that we have to run a 5-2. The LB's can be over either the Guards or the Tackles and in turn the DT's have to line up on whoever the LB doesn't and vice Versa. Basically everyone has to be heads up. I have 3 bigger kids who are semi athletic that I can line up over the C and both Guards. I also have a tough undersized MLB who can pop him if he comes up the middle. The problem is they also have a very quick and elusive speed back that they sweep with. I teach my DE's to contain outside and we did a fairly decent job against other teams in doing so. They don't crack back but rather line the kid up at QB and send both backs out to help him get the corner. The FB will help the TE by just thumping my end who is already dealing with the TE and trying to contain. The WR will block my CB and the HB will then thump him as well. The LB's have a hard time getting out there and not getting caught up in the wash. My safety doesn't provide much support either. At times they will line him up as the HB and fake to the FB which will freeze my backers who are eagerly trying to get a jump to hit the big FB. Then they will give to the HB and if my end bit at all inside he is done. When we played them we used a 5-2 with the Safety coming up at the snap and played basically a 5-3. In this set the CB's covered the WR's and the Safety gave help over the top. We also had the DT's over thier Tackles and had them crashing in with the Ends crashing out and the LB filling the gap between the 2. This didn't work as we had no one to help the NT and MLB to stuff the A-Gaps and they just couldn't bring him down by thierselves. Also, the CB's were not able to provide help on contain because they were looking pass first and once they realized it was a sweep run they were getting blocked by the WR and thumped by the RB. This is my thought on defending this Move the DT's over the Guards and try to plug up the middle with the 3 bigger kids who could probably take down the big FB. Put my 2 most athletic kids at each CB spot and blitz the corners relentlessy. The 2 safeties can pick up the WR/TE on thier side. When we played them they didn't throw it ONCE! Have the Ends continue to try to contain and at least absorb the blocks so my CB can make the play. Have each LB, who will now be lined up over the OT's try to clean up the big FB up the middle and make the play on the HB if we can get him to cut it back up. Thats the tough job because the gap is so big. Of course I am vulnerable in between the 2 and to TE,etc if they try to pass but my thinking is at least make them do something they have not had to do all year. I am basically selling out to contain the A Gaps and the outsides. Here is my breakdown of my kids that I could possibly move 2 very athletic and very good tacklers 1 Athletic and Tough but undisciplined 3 Quick kids but terrible tacklers 3 big kids my DT's and NT 1 Semi athletic kid, medium talent, solid but not real fast. All the Rest.....Not real good. Slower/non aggressive/distracted/etc. What would you do? Please help, I would love to knock these guys off!