Over the last month I have been pondering the full court press and also the use of trapping zones as they relate to the development of U12 players at the domestic and representative levels that I coach.
At the U12 rep level a full court press is standard, however the defense’s effectiveness of using the trapping zones have varied over this VJBL year.
At one end of the spectrum the defense has being broken repeatedly resulting in an easy offensive possession…at the other end of the spectrum is where the offensive team is trapped repeatedly in their backcourt resulting in a turnover and being scored on.
In both of the extreme ends of the spectrum it has felt like neither team has played basketball (using fundamental basketball skills) but merely executed an uneven (2 on 1, 3 on 2 etc) offensive possession where one team will tend to rack up easy buckets and the other team unlikely to score. Someone gets the W with a lopsided result.
Is there a medium ground?
When the full court press is deployed without a double team on the ball handler at a trapping zone the players tend to be more 1 on 1 where there is an opportunity for defensive and offensive skills to be displayed which leads to a coaching opportunity to develop players. I feel more comfortable with skill development under these conditions.
What does it look like if Basketball is played from the half court?
Rarely have I seen this at U12, however when I do it has required all players on the court to be developed to be able to play their role in the offense or the defense.
It is a lot harder to hide players, therefore is it the coach’s responsibility to develop future basketball players throughout their whole playing list or look for the W now?
My Answer – Develop your playing list.
Timothy Lakeman 