Unsportswomanlike Play?

[mick]

Originally posted by Hawks Coach
I feel as though I am in the minority here, but I find this to be entirely different from legitimate deception based on basketball skill. Running good screens, having the ability to turn quickly, ball fake, crossover, these are all basketball skills and are an inherent part of the game. The play referenced here has nothing to do with basketball, just taking advantage of the gullibility of young kids trying to master a complex game. I would never run this type of deception and find it entirely unsporting. Especially against 4-6th graders.

Teach them to play the game, not to use these kind of tricks as a substitute for skill. As to whether to call it, I suppose this is not covered by the unsportsmanship rule. However I think folks ought to seriously reflect on why we have kids playing sports and what lessons we are trying to teach them before running plays like this in youth basketball.

Gee, Coach. T'ain't a biggie. It should only work once against any team.
If you teach it, it won't work against your team. We ran it once in 1964. That was probably before the automobile.
mick