Down Under....
Mark,
Here in Sydney we have a rule that states that in Under 12's there is no zone defence. This rule is not enforced by the referees, instead it is enforced by the court administrator. Basically how it works is at that the first instance of a zone being played, the court administrator will approach the referee at the first suitable moment, who will advise the coach to stop playing a zone. The second occurance is a Technical foul against the coach.
If a coach has a certain number of technical fouls in the season for illegal D (I think it is three) they will be suspended for a fixed number of games. The reasoning is that at this level, it is the responsibility of the coaches to enforce no zone, not the referees.
Although not perfect, this system does work. In the first 2 seasons of this rule, there was a least 1 T every second game. Now, (some 6 years later) I basically never see a team warned, let alone teched.
Personally, I believe that not allowing zones is a good idea. I have seen (and played with) too many people that have gone their entire lives just playing zone, and don't really know how to play man-to-man D. If you have a problem with players giving up once they are beat, I would suggest the problem lies with the player, and not the type of defence they are playing.
Best of luck,
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