[PGCougar]

There are two basic methods of coaching. Coaching for instruction and coaching for performance. At the youngest age groups it needs to be entirely the former and as you move up the continuum, you shift emphasis towards performance.

But watching lots of High School and AAU games, it appears to me that there ought to be lots more empahsis on coaching for instruction and a lot less coaching for performance. The story about the 5th grade girl crying made me want to puke. Give me a break, the kid is 10!!!

Problem is that most AAU and HS coaches watch college level coaches. Now if Bobby Knight wants to rip into a player because he made a bad pass, I can understand it at that level. He is yelling at a kid who has played hoops at a high level most of his life and is getting serious money from the college and should have known better by now. I can understand a little bit of this "performance yelling" taking place at the High School level, but let's face it, most players in High School have a lot to learn about the game. But.. That's not the same thing as a 11 year old kid deciding (and it's probably the kid's parent deciding) that they are going to step up to a more competitive level.

So no, I don't buy into the argument that good coaches have to yell at their kids to get them to step up. Most of those coaches are mimicking a style that isn't effective at the level they're coaching.