Developing Game Awareness in Youth Basketball

Daniel Coyle's The Talent Code argues that skills develop; they are not innate. However, some of his arguments are explained poorly and people will justify certain approaches because of his research which is a review of the real research.

For instance, since a New York Times article last year detailed the Russian tennis academy that he visited, many have used the article and the book as evidence that basketball players need more static practice to develop the myelin involved with skill development. However, he has equally compelling arguments in favor of game play to develop skills:

From Pele onward virtually every great Brazilian player played futsal as a kid, first in the neighborhood and later at Brazil's soccer academies, where from age seven to 12 they typically devoted three days a week to futsal. A top Brazilian player spends thousands of hours at a game.

He argues that the Brazilian Way - or the advantage Brazilian soccer players have over their peers - is the game of futsal. As he writes:

Futsal players touch the ball far more often than soccer players - six times more often per minute, according to a Liverpool University study. The smaller, heavier ball demands and rewards more precise handling...Sharp passing is paramount...Ball control and vision are crucial...

I wrote Developing Basketball Intelligence and developed the Playmakers Basketball Development League for the same reasons. While constant 5v5 competitive games are not the best way to develop basketball players, neither are 1v0 drills. I watched an academy that preached its fundamental skill development do straight-line ball handling drills to develop guard skills. Doing a controlled straight-line drill has nothing to do with developing guard skills.

These fundamentally-sound players moved from ball handling drills straight to a 5v5 scrimmage and none went anywhere with the dribble. They did not know how or why to use the dribble, and they could not take anyone off the dribble. They spend 25 minutes a day, three days per week, 52 weeks per year, and not one player was a good game ball handler despite all the fundamental practice.

The academy director disagreed with my assessment. He saw them do the drills and believed they were expert ball handlers. I asked if I could do an experiment. He agreed. I told him to play tag with the players. He scoffed at the idea - why play tag with 13-year-olds? Finally, he relented.

When players were asked to change directions, chase and evade while dribbling the ball, the balls went flying all over the gym. The players were exceptional at doing drills, but they could not transfer the skill developed in the drills to real movement because they never trained this skill. They never trained evading a defender with the ball or quickly changing directions and controlling the dribble.

When I was a young soccer player, we dribbled through cones and shot on goal for a large percentage of practice and moved to 7v7 or 11v11 scrimmages using the whole field. Is it any wonder that we lacked the first touch and ball handling skills of the Brazilian players who simply played futsal all practice rather than dribbling in a straight line in and around cones?

Similarly, I would argue that players who play 25 minutes of tag at practice rather than doing 25 minutes of straight-line ball handling drills will be better ball handlers in games and have more control when evading defenders. Why? Because playing tag - and the movements and control required in a game of tag - more closely approximates the movements and control required by a game.

To develop game awareness and decision-making skills requires the same type of change to our thinking. Small-sided games provide more touches on the ball - like futsal for soccer players. Also, players have more space to make moves and decisions. The space gives the novice players more confidence to try new moves and make decisions.

When players play 2v2 or 3v3, they get more touches and have more opportunities to read the game and make decisions as opposed to a 5v5 game where one player usually plays point guard and makes a majority of the decisions and handles the ball a majority of the time. In 2v2 or 3v3, the decision-making is easier, as there are fewer variables. Therefore, players attack aggressively - in 5v5, where there is less space and more variables, unconfident players rarely attack the basket and instead catch, hold and pass.

The 2v2 or 3v3 games are learning games. They give players enough space to practice moves and skills and develop confidence using these skills and making decisions with the ball. When players rush to 5v5 games with trapping presses that reduce space and hurry the decision-making, many players quickly lose confidence. The traps are designed to force turnovers by overwhelming the ball handler and taking advantage of the lack of experience and lack of physical strength.

In 2v2 or 3v3 games, the offense has the space advantage and players build their confidence. Once players develop confidence with the ball and develop into advanced players, they need to face more pressure and reduced space. For these players, I like to use games with more defenders than offensive players or a narrow court.

To develop these skills, it is not one thing throughout the player's development. Baseball starts with T-ball so players have a chance to develop confidence swinging the bat before they have to make decisions on whether or not to swing and what pitch they are seeing. Soccer starts with small-sided games so players get more touches. Golf has par 3 courses so young players do not have to worry about distance. In basketball, though, we generally play 5v5 full court games at every level, whether U8s or NBA - there is no gradual development aimed at developing skills in a logical progression.

Players need something like futsal which they can play (fun) without too much coach interference, but also get sufficient repetitions. The needs for such environments are even greater because few players play on their own in pick-up games at the park, and instead engage in structured activities for the majority of their recreation.

While Coyle's book focuses on myelin, and coaches justify more block practice because of the research, we need to evaluate the skills that we want to develop. To develop shooting technique, block practice with lots of repetitions is the best way to develop the requisite myelin. However, to develop game awareness and decision-making with the ball, players need a game environment, much like the futsal players. Basketball is not just one thing, and when planning practices or choosing programs, we need to account for all the skills, not just the ones that are easiest to teach because of the block practice format.