No Fundamentals? No Rings!
By Darron Thomas
During the middle of last year’s basketball season I made a drive to watch a few teams play that I hadn’t seen much of. Before the junior varsity games got started the two schools played their 7th grade teams. While it was a competitive game one thing that became clear was the difference in the level of fundamentals that one team possessed over the other and that group won. What was more glaring during the course of the game was the decisiveness and discipline of the group. Each youngster knew where they were to be each time down the court and each one knew where the ball was designed to go and if the option wasn’t there they knew what the second option was. They had no fear on offense and shot three pointers with effectiveness when the opportunity arose. No forced shots or lack of patience on offense and a mental toughness that one usually only sees with varsity players. I had to keep reminding myself that I was watching 7th graders. My final observation was that this 7th grade team was executing the same offense and defense that their varsity team does and that this group had been drilled and worked with for countless hours. This 7th grade group will win championships and rings to go with them in three or four years. They will win because of someone’s commitment to them and the commitment those kids will put into achieving their goal. There is no magic bullet or easy solution when it comes to building a championship team. It can’t begin when kids reach their sophomore season. If kids aren’t drilled and taught basic fundamentals prior to their entry into junior high it’s often too late by the time they reach the high school level. The exceptions are the pure, gifted ones which are far and few in between. All it takes is the examination of the most successful schools year in and year out to discover the effectiveness of early development of young athletes. There are scores of young talented kids in the 4th-6th grade levels that will have to play catch-up to those kids that have been taught years earlier. Why most schools don’t have developmental programs is a mystery but those that do certainly have things figured out. So, no fundamentals? No rings!
By Darron Thomas
During the middle of last year’s basketball season I made a drive to watch a few teams play that I hadn’t seen much of. Before the junior varsity games got started the two schools played their 7th grade teams. While it was a competitive game one thing that became clear was the difference in the level of fundamentals that one team possessed over the other and that group won. What was more glaring during the course of the game was the decisiveness and discipline of the group. Each youngster knew where they were to be each time down the court and each one knew where the ball was designed to go and if the option wasn’t there they knew what the second option was. They had no fear on offense and shot three pointers with effectiveness when the opportunity arose. No forced shots or lack of patience on offense and a mental toughness that one usually only sees with varsity players. I had to keep reminding myself that I was watching 7th graders. My final observation was that this 7th grade team was executing the same offense and defense that their varsity team does and that this group had been drilled and worked with for countless hours. This 7th grade group will win championships and rings to go with them in three or four years. They will win because of someone’s commitment to them and the commitment those kids will put into achieving their goal. There is no magic bullet or easy solution when it comes to building a championship team. It can’t begin when kids reach their sophomore season. If kids aren’t drilled and taught basic fundamentals prior to their entry into junior high it’s often too late by the time they reach the high school level. The exceptions are the pure, gifted ones which are far and few in between. All it takes is the examination of the most successful schools year in and year out to discover the effectiveness of early development of young athletes. There are scores of young talented kids in the 4th-6th grade levels that will have to play catch-up to those kids that have been taught years earlier. Why most schools don’t have developmental programs is a mystery but those that do certainly have things figured out. So, no fundamentals? No rings!
