Originally published in Hard2Guard Player Development Newsletter, Volume 4.
Small-sided games (SSG), such as three-vs-three basketball, play a variety of roles within player and team development. Often, SSG are used for specific conditioning purposes or to re-acclimate gradually to the sport after injury. Most coaches use SSG as practice drills with an eye toward skill development. Some organizations use SSG as the game itself, modifying the sport to create more manageable, just-right challenges for youth players who may lack the skill, size, strength, and/or spatial awareness to excel in a full-sided game.
Small-sided games create similar physiological stress as full-sided games in soccer (Katis & Kellis, 2009; Jones & Drust, 2007), field hockey (Konarski & Strzelczyk, 2009) and basketball (Sampaio et al., 2009). A recent study examined the heart rate of 15-year-old boys and found that during three-vs-three and four-vs-four basketball games (25-minute games), the players’ heart rates were over 80% of HRMax with the three-vs-three games posting slightly higher heart rates. These games produced “similar cardiovascular stress as other intermittent exercises specifically designed to improve athletes’ endurance” (Sampaio et al., 2009).
Small-sided games are specific training: The load matches a full-sided game as opposed to reducing stress for an easier day or general conditioning activity. Konarski and Strzelczyk (2009) suggested SSG be incorporated as more specific training during the preseason as a replacement for more intensive training activities such as interval training. Assuming a year-round schedule for a high school varsity team, basketball players should focus on general training during the theoretical offseason in the spring and summer, starting with rest and recovery after the season and continuing with more general preparatory training (strength, agility) for the upcoming stress of the season. Small-sided games are an appropriate conditioning activity in terms of physiological load during the preseason (October/November).
Small-sided games elicit specific training effects, and therefore do not represent easy or reduced physiological load during the postseason stages that should emphasize rest and recovery or the early preseason that should build a tolerance for the specific training. Coaches must understand the goals and aims for different activities. Small-sided games may be an appropriate activity during the offseason, just as playing full-sided games may be appropriate. However, players need general training as part of the annual cycle too.
Small-sided and modified games are an effective tool for technical and tactical development. Full-sided games accentuate the differences in skill levels and increase the discrepancy between the most and least talented. The best 9-11 year-old boys possessed the ball 30-160 times, whereas lesser players ranged from 12-82 times (Parkin, 1980; Weidner, 1998). Engelhorn (1988) obtained similar results for girls, as did Ortega et al. (2006) for boys, showing the vast differences in actual participation prior to adolescence. More possession equals more opportunities for skill development, and these studies show a reduced opportunity for the players who need the most skill development.
A Playmakers League coach compared a Playmakers League and a full-sided recreational league in terms of meaningful touches and engaged defensive plays. Meaningful touches were defined as “the opportunity to execute a practiced skill in a game situation: A pass against a defender, a triple-threat move, a dribble move against a defender, or any shot attempt.” An engaged defensive play was defined as “any time the player actively played defense: Guarding the ball, defending a cutter or actively helping and recovering; and any defensive rebound; standing in the key in help defense or protecting the weak side did not count.”
The coach found:
Offensive Meaningful Touches
3v3 both teams total touches 101
5v5 both teams total touches 80
Engaged Defensive Plays
3v3 both teams total touches 104
5v5 both teams total touches 84
Dividing those plays evenly amongst all players (which is unrealistic), three-vs-three players averaged 37 meaningful touches and 38 engaged defensive plays, whereas five-vs-five players averaged 16 meaningful touches and 17 engaged defensive plays.
The average three-vs-three player had twice as many opportunities to make a play with the ball against a defender and twice as many opportunities to defend an opponent. Multiply the difference over a recreational season (let’s assume eight games) and the average player receives over 160 more offensive and defensive opportunities to execute skills, read opponents, and make plays; multiply the difference over an AAU season of 40-60 games, and the differences are astronomical.
Small-sided games, and specifically three-vs-three, are a modification aimed at improving the developmental and competitive elements of the game by creating more space, more time, and more ball possessions, meaning more opportunities for technical and tactical skill development. However, small-sided games are not an easy or less stressful alternative because they produce a similar physiological load as full-sided games. These studies suggest SSG may be the answer as an alternative to full-sided games at the developmental level because of the similar physiological load plus the additional technical and training repetitions.
See playmakersleague.com for more information.
I use 3x3 and 2x2 for my 5th grade rec team. The players absolutely love it and it makes a huge difference in getting our weaker players ready to play. We are not more talented or any deeper than the other teams we play, but the difference is every player on our team is ready to PLAY when the get on the floor. I find that the weaker players grow faster playing 3x3 on teams with the stronger players because they have to find a way to keep up. It does wonders for the kids’ confidence in themselves and each other, which gets them sharing the ball more in 5x5 games as well.
Like many other concepts, the SSGs got overused in the UK in some environments. Every other aspect of training was abandoned in the name of specificity. Some things (strength, power and speed) are hard to develop within games for well conditioned athletes. They need to be developed outside of the sport and then applied within the sport.
Hamstrings are an example of a muscle group in football (soccer for you) that work differently at top speeds compared to sub-maximal runs. The injuries occur during top-speed runs in matches: perhaps because players are unused to running at top speeds?
But SSGs are great for all the reasons you mention.