Improving Development through the Schools

The Youth Basketball Schools Initiative and the German model show the way.

German basketball has progressed as much as any country in the last 10-20 years. I asked a German coach for the reasons, and he pointed to steps the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) took to improve the skill levels of young German players entering higher competitions. Among these changes, each BBL team had to have first division U19 and U16 teams or they would be fined. The Pro A (2nd highest level) adopted the same rules. These changes increased the funding for youth basketball. (Note: Small chance I misunderstood or misremembered exact details, but the overarching concepts are factual, I believe).

Another change was more club-led, and involved partnering with schools to start or improve programming. Clubs worked with physical educators to improve the basketball-portion of physical education courses and worked with the schools to provide after-school sessions for enrolled students. Programs within the schools made participation more accessible for parents and children, and overall youth basketball participation increased, especially at the younger ages. As these programs developed, the schools formed club teams, which competed in the local competitions. These are affiliated or partnered with the professional club, and the best players eventually are recruited to or signed by the professional club.

Rather than view schools as a limiting factor for basketball development, they embraced schools because schools are central locations, often with the required facilities, and all the potential basketball players. To be fair, it is not a novel idea — my club in Ireland operated similarly, and my clubs in Sweden and Denmark sent me to schools to run clinics during P.E. classes in an attempt to attract more players to the club — but the BBL efforts sounded more organized and evolved, as they sent youth coaches from the clubs into the schools, whereas my club in Ireland sent our professional players who had no coaching background and were not from the city or country. In Ireland, these efforts seemed more like a way for the club/professional players to make more money; in Germany, it sounds more focused on developing basketball and attracting more children to basketball. Same concept, different goals, which likely causes different outcomes (to be fair, again, Ireland has improved its basketball greatly since I coached there, and Germany is a far bigger country, so a 1:1 comparison is unfair).

In a sense, the idea is not dissimilar to the Catholic schools league in which I played as a child. The league was run by the admissions director at one of the city’s Catholic high schools. Each elementary school had its own teams, and we competed against each other in the local league, often playing games at the high school. Eventually, we matriculated to the two Catholic high schools, and the high school coaches selected the players they wanted for the high school teams. The high-school coaches recruited against each other to attract the better eighth graders to their schools. The high schools essentially oversaw 20-25 elementary feeder schools, each with teams from 1st to 8th grade (by the time I graduated; it was 5th to 8th grade until I was in 6th grade). Not every player moved from the Catholic elementary schools to the Catholic high schools, and some public school middle school students enrolled in the Catholic high school, but the majority of the students and basketball teams participated in the PAL (Parochial Athletic League). We had well over 100 boys try out for the freshmen team.

In the States, many see the school system as an impediment to elite sports success, but other countries often envy the school sports system, or at least parts of it. Few public school districts  now sponsor elementary and middle school sports, as sports tend to be one of the first cuts from the school districts, especially as there are accessible private alternatives. Sports within the schools, whether publicly or privately-funded, generally reduce costs for parents, as the facilities often are less expensive, decreasing signup fees, and after-school sports replace babysitters or reduced hours at work.

My high school was a perennial section and state championship contender then, and many attributed its success to the PAL, especially as the public school district for my neighborhood cut middle school sports around when I was in 4th grade. The league director, employed by the high school, set the rules, among which was a no zone defense rule: I did not play against a zone until my first high-school game. Many attributed our advantages and success as a freshmen team to this rule. Of course, having a feeder program of 150-200 boys leading to more than 100 trying out for the two freshmen teams (30 players) likely had a big effect too, regardless of the rules. The alternative, once the local middle schools cut sports, was a recreation league with a roughly 8-10 game season; we played 20-25 games with high-school rules. Tournaments were held at the high schools, and with only one court, a 16-team tournament required two weekends, one game each day.

Our league was directed by the admissions director, who some back then thought of as a basketball expert as he was a varsity assistant coach, but in reality he was just an administrator. He had no special expertise for basketball or coaching. There was very little direction beyond the competition rules, to my knowledge, from the high school coaches to the elementary school coaches who were mostly parents and occasionally physical education teachers. I do not believe the high-school coaches even held a coaching clinic for the coaches.

The German example uses experts in youth basketball to train new coaches to send out to the schools to teach the sessions and eventually coach those teams. The club also prefers to promote from within, so starting with the schools can be the first step toward coaching more competitive youth teams (U16 and U19 academy teams) and eventually semiprofessional and professional teams.

An after-school sports program supported by experts, such as a professional club known for developing young players, who find and train the coaches create better, more convenient programs, which may increase youth participation, further improving other outcome measures, such as health, physical activity, academic performance, and more. These efforts are a long-term approach to creating sustainable basketball success locally, nationally, and eventually internationally.

Despite the current opinions about school sports and the need for prep schools, AAU, academies, and more, school sports were the initial competitive advantage for the United States. The problem is many school districts cut these sports and allowed private enterprises to take over. As I spoke to him, and thought about writing this, I realized the German club’s efforts sounded similar to the Youth Basketball Schools Initiative I proposed in the original version of Cross Over: The New Model of Youth Basketball (2005). Here is an abbreviated excerpt:

How do we improve the system for recreational, developmental, and competitive players who have yet to transition to “elite” or perhaps never will?

The public school system offers the best and most economical way to reach the most players, but change is required to maximize their experiences. Each school district approaches sports differently, often due to finances. Some districts offer elementary school teams, whereas other districts no longer offer even physical education classes. We must standardize school sports to ensure adequate opportunities are available in every district in order for the development system to work.

The Youth Basketball Schools Initiative starts with the varsity high school coach. Most districts are set up with elementary school(s) feeding into a middle school(s), which feeds a high school. Most high schools offer two or three teams, usually junior varsity and varsity or freshmen, junior varsity and varsity. Varsity is the top of a pyramid with 10 or more teams feeding into the developmental pathway. Unfortunately, few districts approach sports in this manner with the varsity coach as the top of the pyramid overseeing all the other teams. That is a full-time job (as it is in many European clubs), and one best served possibly by a Director of Basketball position overseeing the entire program, including the varsity team, allowing the varsity coach to concentrate on coaching the varsity team. Naturally, of course, few districts have money for a full-time basketball position; this is where we need to think differently and creatively rather than standing by and complaining about the status quo without any real efforts to change anything.

Recently, a friend and high school coach questioned his priorities and expectations: How can a coach be expected to win (because league standings are in the newspaper every day), while developing players’ basic movement skills and fundamentals? The answer, I suppose, is he cannot, in one season with limited practice time, do everything. The pre-varsity levels must prepare players for varsity so the varsity does not have players with remedial movement skills and fundamentals.

In the current system, with the Peak by Friday mentality and no continuity of programs, this may or may not happen. Through the YBSI, the varsity coach or director of basketball is responsible for ensuring players are prepared for the varsity team.

An example of programs to fit within the current school-sports system and not disrupt the system completely (with a September to April/May season like in Europe):

Elementary School

• After-school skills program

• Saturday AM Recreation League
  1st-4th graders play 3v3 (mini-hoops)
  5th-6th graders play 5v5

• No cuts

• Runs late November through February

• Minimal game coaching: Players use concepts/skills learned during the week at the skills workouts

• Instruction-based

• Man defense only

• Encourage players to play other sports in the offseason

• March-October: fee-based skills program at high school to support high school program

Playmakers League was developed to fill this role and to help reduce the workload for a varsity coach who is not a full-time director of basketball. Because the chances of the NBA, USA Basketball, or the Department of Education adopting any part of this plan is nonexistent, Playmakers is here to help varsity coaches fill this role without the role overwhelming their lives.

Junior High School

• 7th grade team: Three practices per week plus one game: Focus on development

• 8th grade team: Three practices per week plus one game

• Any player cut from either team eligible for a developmental, skill-based program like the elementary school program (Playmakers League)

• Create opportunities for every player who wants to make the commitment

High School

• 9th grade team: November-March season with 30 games

• 10th grade team (JV): November-March season with 30 games

• Varsity: November-March season with +/-30games

• Sunday afternoon informal recreational league for any players in district cut from a team. All high schools cooperate to organize, promote and assist with the league, possibly rotating sites every year.

• Fall/Spring: Limit organized basketball activities to promote multi-sport athletes, rest, weight training, plyometrics, etc. Allow open gym skill training and informal pick-up games, but no direct team coaching and/or games/tournaments against other schools.

Allow limited training and competition during summer, but prohibit teams from playing 60+ games in the six weeks from the end of school until July 31. A USA Basketball-sponsored national database that tracks games would be ideal, as federations in other countries monitor and limit games per year for players. Games should be tracked individually, not by team. Again, this takes time and money — change is hard — but if we want to do more than complain, change starts somewhere.

As long as the Peak by Friday mindset penetrates youth sports and exposure dominates high school basketball, no framework or model is sufficient. The framework creates an instructional, developmental, progressive environment: coupled with a learning orientation and growth mindset, this framework will create a profound change for youth basketball players, putting the youth back into youth basketball, while providing better preparation for elite players.