Here's some rules to compare

[so cal lurker]

Originally Posted by just another ref

The fact is, at this age, it is often difficult to tell what kind of defense they're playing.

I think the *purpose* of no zone rules is that one cannot learn to play zone properly without first learning to play man. It's a good *development* rule. (The varsity coach at my high school forbid the freshman teams from playing zone for the first part of the season for exactly this reason.)

And I think the *purpose* of the no double team rule is to enable players to pass and move the ball rather than to have traps all the time and no ability to run an offense. (And to prevent the aggressive double team of weaker players who have no chance to do anything.) But when winning becomes more important than development (which sadly seems to happen in most kids sports - and sometimes the younger they are the worse it is), it gets mushy. And coaches caring more about winning than developing give the ball to the best player for one and one rather than actually trying to teach team basketball.