First of all, THANK YOU for choosing to be a coach in our youth program. You could have chosen to do countless things with your time but instead, you are here, reading this guide to help give our players the best experience you can possibly give them. We have an incredible youth program already in place, with over 200 participants between boys and girls. This is only possible with the sacrifice you make for our program.

I hope you fully grasp the impact you have as a coach, and strive to be a mentor to the players that you influence through the game of basketball. One of the great things about sports is the ability to fail and have no real consequences - don't ever forget that. I'd ask you to please take the challenge head on to not only develop basketball and players, but good people. 

We have 4 goals in our development model:

1. To create global players "every player develops every skill" through 8th grade

2. To develop players with advanced athletic, tactical, technical and psychological skills 

3. To meet players needs at each phase of development

4. Prepare players for their next level of competition 

Notice, there is no goal tied to winning. As coaches at the youth level, we must resist the urge to sell out to winning. Winning is great, and no one wants to be discouraged by constantly losing, but we should measure our performance based on the soundness of our teams, not the scoreboard (Performance > Outcome, we control performance). At the youth level, the aim is to develop skilled players with a strong foundation of fundamentals that are learning how to conduct themselves properly, not to win championships. Championships are byproduct of a lot of things - talent, coaching, luck, etc. Please keep the focus on player and personal development, championships will happen. 

I believe there is a distinction between teaching and coaching. Teaching is helping players learn fundamental skills and helping them learn how to play the game. Teaching is measured in the improvement of the soundness of the players from the time they started with you as a coach until that time has ended. Coaching is game planning, strategies, executing plays, and drilling to a system of play. Coaching is measured in winning. I believe what we do as coaches needs to be a balance of both, but the best way to help players develop at the youth level is to do more teaching, and less coaching. 

If you were to ask me, "what's the easiest way to organize and coach a team?" I would say it would be to use 2-3 zone and a structured, patterned offense. But using that approach doesn't teach players how to play the game of basketball. It teaches them a few specific things to understand and that structure allows them to function at their current level. If we are about development, which is what we want to be about, we will remove rigid structure and allow mistakes to be made through man to man defense and a conceptual offense, helping the players learn. This makes them better players in the long run, which is the core of our development model. 

If you have questions about this information or ideas to improve what we are doing, don't hesitate to ask - rrussell@bridgeportisd.net, 682-438-4242

- Coach Ryan Russell

What is the Long Term Athlete Development model? 

This is a 12 year development plan that teaches the game of basketball in stages instead of all at once. It is important because children who are taught the right things at the right times are not only more likely to remain active later in life, but are more likely to reach their sporting potential. 

Why is there an emphasis on Small Sided Games (SSG) and 3 on 3? 

Small Sided Games and 3 on 3 break the game down into more manageable components for players to digest, as well as allow players to handle the ball more and make more decisions compared to 5 on 5 play. We believe in SSG and 3 on 3 so much that we plan to implement a 3v3 offseason development league in the future. 

What's the best way to use this guide? 

We'd like our coaches to study development stage they will be coaching, and have the flexibility to scale up or down depending on the skill level of the players on the team. Some groups of players may be more advanced, and can handle concepts tailored to the next stage of development, and some may need to be scaled down. Process this information and try to apply it to the best of your ability. I know it can be extremely challenging to get a lot accomplished in short practices, but we need to prepare and think big picture as coaches. Prepare to play a game this weekend, but also keep the long term development of the players as a guiding principle to what each practice looks like. 

What youth offense is recommended if we aren't running a lot of plays? 

A conceptual, rule based offense either out of a 4 out or 5 out alignment. The high school programs all run transition into 4 out alignment. Both of these alignments promote "global players." Within the alignment create some rules for the players, like: after you pass, cut to the basket and fill out to the weak side, or "Player X" can ball screen after any reversal pass, or if the ball is trapped form diamond spacing. Beyond a base offense, have a few sets to run on dead balls that take advantage of your personnel. Try not to stop play to run sets, only use them on dead balls. In reality, transition tends to dominate youth basketball - pushing a defensive rebound or a pressing defense or breaking a press creates offensive advantages. So in the big picture, there is more value in teaching concepts such as "diamond spacing" to break a trap or protecting the basket then stopping the ball in transition, than is is to put in lots of set plays. 

What is the best way to use the drills presented in this guide? 

Obviously a team needs to prepare for competition by implementing a base offense, adding BLOBs, preparing for situations, etc. Aside from preparing for competition, we'd like the players exposed to as many of these drills as possible, and as frequently as possible. This provides the best base of learning for them to build skills as they elevate through the program. If you are unsure about the execution of a drill, email me and I'll be happy to help or send one of our coaches into your practice to help with it. If you feel very confident in the execution of a particular drill, do it frequently within your practice structure. 

THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR COMMITMENT AND DEDICATION! I TRULY BELIEVE WE ARE BUILDING SOMETHING SPECIAL HERE AT BRIDGEPORT, BUT IT TAKES A LOT OF PEOPLE TO GET THE PROGRAM TO THE TOP. THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE. I'M HERE TO BE A RESOURCE FOR YOU.  PLEASE REACH OUT IF I CAN HELP.