I beat a variety of drums in my Winning Hoops blogs, none more important, however, than the one I’m beating today, the issue of playing time in summer basketball.
One of my pet peeves as a head coach was watching other coaches not playing all their players during summer games.
Nothing infuriated this old coach more than to watch 15-20 kids warm up for a particular team and see 5-8 of them play. Mop up time doesn’t count for me.
If 20 kids show up, then 20 kids should play, if for no other reason than the fact that they probably all paid for the privilege.
Coaches, this is summer ball, not the regular season. Do yourself and your program a favor: Play your kids.
Make every player feel important. By doing so, you may find that you’ll develop a player or two that you weren’t counting on when your program started.
Here are a couple of hints to aid the process of playing all those kids.
Hint No. 1 — Platoon.
I’ve enjoyed good success in off-season games by playing kids in a system, which saw me substitute groups of five at a time.
Kids get really psyched up when you do this. They really do. Try it. It’s a great aid to improving a future substitute pattern for you and your staff.
Hint No. 2 — Substitute your best players with two of your weakest or youngest.
I have had great success in the off-season by using the most experienced of my players with some of the younger, more inexperienced at the same time.
The younger kids really get fired up to walk on the floor with the so-called big kids.
Trust me when I tell you that the mental aspects of the game are as important as anything you might do in the summer.
All coaches owe all kids in the summer hoop program a fair shake. They really do.
By not playing all your kids, or giving them a seat at the end of the bench, you discourage kids who might have blossomed for you in the less-pressurized environment of summer basketball.
And finally, give all participants a chance to work on their perimeter shot. Waste no time in your gym. What is missing from a lot of high school basketball programs in the summer is the opportunity to shoot a ball.
Plan accordingly. There’s nothing better than an open gym in the summertime.
Sometimes, we’ve over-organized ourselves with all this stuff.
There’s nothing better than a kid, a ball, and a basket.
