A Recent “Ask the Coach” question and response:
Q: “I run a 1-3-1 press. What do you think about a 1-3-1 over a 1-2-2 press. Also any help with breaking this press would be very helpful. I coach 5th grade boys and girls”
A: Hey Coach,
Are you talking about running a 1/4 or 1/2 court press? I assume that you are, since most youth leagues don’t allow full court presses.
- Both a 1-3-1 and 1-2-2 can be very effective with the age you’re coaching. I’d have to know your personnel better to give you an informed answer, but I can quickly cover some points to consider for both.
- A 1-3-1 will typically give you more steal opportunities, especially if you have a kid with good anticipation playing in the middle. At this age, a kid with good instincts for the ball - sort of like a free safety in football - can have a field day from the middle of this press. Several years ago I had a 5th grade team that won their city championship mainly from running a 1/2 court 1-3-1. We had a kid in the middle who had great anticipation and did an excellent job of reading the passer’s shoulders in the trap (the shoulders never lie - the eyes do).
- The downside of a 1-3-1 is that it places a lot of stress on the baseline defender; who will have to cover the entire baseline, from corner to corner, against patient teams. At the same time, you probably aren’t going to face a whole lot of patient teams, so you can probably run your 1-3-1, and just keep an eye on the baseline player.
- A 1-2-2 can be very effective as well. As a half court trap, it probably wont get you as many quick steals as a 1-3-1, but you’ll have better coverage in the short corners.
I’ll add my standard disclaimer here: What you run is entirely up to you, of course - but you should at the very least be spending a lot of practice time teaching man to man defensive fundamentals and principles, even if you don’t play a lot of man to man in games. You’ll be laying a solid groundwork for development as your players get older. Man to man is harder to teach than zones, and will seem less organized than zone a lot of the time - but a solid man to man defensive skill-set is the backbone to any good defense.
As far as attacking a 1-3-1 or 1-2-2; the basic principles for attacking either one remain the same. Without getting into specific patterns, a few key principles that work in any situation:
1. Ball Fakes - they cause the zone to shift, leaving players open in the direction opposite of the fake.
2. Get the ball to the middle. If you have a tall player who can pass, an easy solution with young kids is just to put that player right in the middle of the press and pass over the top of it.
3. Try to always have a player stationed at a good passing angle behind the ball
4. is an extension of 3 - be patient. One good ball reversal will put an end to most halfcourt traps.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Tom 12.14.08 at 2:36 pm
NO FIFTH GRADE TEAM SHOULD BE OLAYING ZONE DEFENSE OF ANY KIND!!!
This is the problem with youth basketball, and it travels upwards to all levels. At the fifth grade level kids should be learning to move their feet correctly, maintain good position, and see man and ball. If a coach is spending the proper amount of time teaching these concepts and the basic offensive skills he should be teaching, there will be no time left over for zones, traps, or presses.
These defenses are effective at lower levels because the offensive skills possessed by players at his age are not developed to the point that they can successfully attack them. This turns the game into steal lay-up, steal, lay-up, steal, lay-up. No one learns to play properly this way and it can become frustrating and discouraging for the players. Coaches at this level should stick to the basics and quit watching ESPN getting all these X’s and O’s from wherever it is they are getting them. They should instead go to the local high school coaches, who will without a doubt tell them what I am telling them.
I have been blessed to learn the game and coaching it from some of the best coaches in the nation. For 18 years I coached at a feeder school to Peoria Manual High School, in Peoria , Illinois during a period when they won a National Championship, four straight Illinois AA championships, finished second once, and third in twice. During that Period their cross-town rival, Peoria High School finished second twice and won back to back state championships, and a third local school, Peoria Richwoods finished second twice and third once. The coaches of these schools were more than generous to me with their time and input and I learned a great deal from them and several others.
The most important lesson I learned was that players who really learn the basics at a younger level and have fun while doing it are a key factor in the success of high school programs. These coache’s, and many others I had the great fortune to learn from didn’t even like their freshman teams to play zone or use traps and presses, let alone fifth graders. The job of younger level coaches is to develop player’s skills so that the High School Varsity and College coaches can X+ O. This does not make them unimportant or irrelevant. Just the opposite, IT MAKES THEM MORE IMPORTANT.
Another coach to whom I had the great privilege to speak with and learn from was Hall of Fame coach Lou Henson. I was at a clinic sponsored by his program and had the opportunity to speak with him during the “Social Hour.” He was quite gracious and inquired where I coached. I replied tha I was “just a Jr. Hi coach” and he interrupted me, saying “Son, don’t you ever say that you are just a junior hi coach. You do more coaching at that level than I ever dream of doing at this level.”
I have always remembered that.
So remember, at the early levels of sport, coaches have a tremendous responsibility. They have as much if not more impact on the future success of their players than anyone. When coaching at the early levels you will be more effective, and meet this responsibility if you remember two things:
1. It’s not what you know that counts, it’s what they learn.
2. KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID.
Coach Stinson 12.15.08 at 7:45 pm
I’m glad you feel strongly about the issue.
I wouldnt ever teach zone to a 5th grade team either.
But who made the unspoken decree that teaching basketball and running a zone cannot be done at the same time? And exactly what developmental milestone does a player have to reach before he is physiologically equipped to attack a zone trap? Beating a trap can almost always be done successfully with a ball fake and a ball reversal. Doing that is only out of the developmental reach of a team whose coach has not taught them how to do it.
Lou Henson was right. Coaches at lower levels do a LOT of coaching. Including the ones who run zones.
I used to freak out any time I read anything about youth coaches running zones. And despite all of my ranting, they kept running them. Even more shocking, some of their players went on to do very well in highschool, college and some in the NBA. Those coaches lived up to their responsibility to teach the game well, and then some. Moreover, I’ve known some horrible coaches who run nothing but man to man; they can’t teach it to save thewir lives. The issue is TEACHING the game well…that is something that needs to be given more focus at alll levels. A lot of teams that run zone do so because their coach is ‘getting cute’ or is a bad teacher…that does not mean that anybody who is running a zone at the youth level isnt teaching their kids..