Need help for special rules for Under 10 league

[Barry C. Morris]

I'm going to help plan our youth basketball league to be held at my church this year and am interested in some of the special rules that you have seen for the younger kids.
I know this has been discussed before but I can't find the discussion.

Can you give me your suggestions on some good modified rules. Some of the ones we have used in the past are: 5 seconds instead of 3 seconds and we do not allow zone defenses, only man to man. Unfortunately, this can cause the refs problems on enforcement.

I appreciate your suggestions.

[Andy]

Another good rule for this age group is no backcourt press. Once there is a turnover, rebound, or made basket the new defensive team must clear out and allow the offense to bring the ball to the division line with no pressure. You can modify this to allow pressing in the last minute of each half or quarter or after a time out, etc.

[Oz Referee]

Some of the rules that we use, or have used in the past are:

* No back-court count
* No 5 second closely defended count
* 5 seconds instead of 3 and encourage refs to talk the players out of the key
* Smaller ball (size 5 instead of 7)
* No zone - this is controlled by the administrators, not the referees. although refs can lodge a report at the end of games informing administrators that zone was played.
* No backcourt press
* Shoot free throws from halfway between free throw line and bottom of dotted circle

I think the most important thing to have for competitions in this age group is experienced referees. We have a referee that has been doing this age group for well over 25 years (he is 70 years old - check out an article about him at http://www.manlybasketball.com.au/refs/). These sort of referees can take on a coaching role, explaining rules and why a player did something wrong. With the right refs, this can work really well.

Hope that I've helped, and good luck with it - you may be responsible for discovering the next Magic or MJ!

[rainmaker]

The most important thing you can do to make your program successful is talk to Mark Padgett about ways to set up the structure of the league so that playing, not winning, is the point. He has a LOT of experinece in this philosophy, and can tell you a lot about what works and what doesn't. The single most effective tool is an active, committed board, that truly isn't as concerned about the winning. These folks need to have the authority to deal with the coaches and parents that seem to feel that "Junior would be the next Michael Jordan, if only everyone else would just get out of the way."

[A Pennsylvania Coach]

The guy who runs the site below probably has some good tips for you. He might even have a set of sample rules on the site somewhere:

http://www.coachingyouthbasketball.net/

[theboys]

Two more things:

1. Even though you're at a church, I would distribute a "code of conduct" to the coaches, parents and kids. Make it a requirement to sign the sheet in order to participate.

2. Think about eliminating the 3-point shot. With rare exception, 10-year olds cannot shoot the 3 with good form.

[CYO Butch]

How young? If 3rd grade, or below, don't even keep score. At that age, the whole process should be instructional, so a lot of violations should either be ingnored or result in a stoppage of play, verbal correction, and resumption of play without change of possession. Second or third gross violation, award the ball to other team. No zones and no tripple-teaming up through 4th grade. Warn on 3 seconds - the kid will leave if corrected - but don't call until 5 seconds. No closely guarded call when attempt is being made to advance the ball. Only call it if ball is held or the kid is not making any attempt to move in. Ideally no zones through 6th, but that would be likely to get push-back from volunteer coaches who still want to win without having to teach the kids how to play defense. Equal playing time should also be enforced. In 3rd or below, have officials draw numbers out of hat to determine who plays each quater, with no numbers put back into hat until everyone has played a quarter. Above 3rd, let coach decide, but still require that everyone plays as close to an equal amount as possible. Some leagues have charts that tell the coaches how many kids play 1, 2, or 3 quarters depending on how many are on the team. For my younger teams, I always tried to equalize playing time for the whole season as well. This should be encouraged by the league, even though the overhead of trying to enforce it would be too great for the league to bear.

Important for your sanity is to make sure all the coaches (and ideally parents) are aware of these (and any other you come up with) rules and "treatments" before the season starts. Make it clear that you won't call a double dribble for the occasional touching of the ball with two hand (for youngets ones) etc. Stress that since this is a church league, there are clear expectations for behavior. Have all coaches and parents sign a code of conduct contract that emphasizes "THIS IS FOR THE KIDS".


Good luck

[Mark Padgett]

Here are the rules our local rec league used last year for our youngest division. We had about 30 teams in this division.

3rd & 4th Boys and Girls — Introduction to Basketball
The purpose of the 3rd and 4th grade programs is to teach boys and girls the fundamentals of the game, with the greatest emphasis on sportsmanship and fair play. To achieve this goal, special rules apply.

The game consists of 9 minute running quarters, a 3 minute halftime and 1 minute between quarters with the clock stopping only for timeouts, but not for free throws. The score shall not be shown at any time.

Back court guarding, zone defenses and isolation plays (set plays involving only a single offensive player) are not allowed at any time in the game.
In the front court, defensive players must remain within six feet of their offensive player, but may switch. Double teaming (two players only) is allowed only when the
ball-handler is in the key.
Coaches are allowed on the court for match-ups if either of the teams has substituted more than one player, or at the beginning of a quarter, as long as the time taken does not become excessive in the opinion of the officials.
During regulation time, each team receives four full (and no 30-second) timeouts for the game, with no more than two timeouts being allowed per half.
All teams shall use the intermediate size (28.5”) ball.
Players will be allowed up to 5 seconds in the key.
5 second closely guarded calls will not be called.
Free throw shooters shoot from a line four feet shorter than standard.
All games will use a nine foot hoop.
In 3rd and 4th grades, two warnings per team, per type, will be issued for violations of the no back court, zone, illegal double-teaming and isolation rules, followed by team technical fouls.

[rainmaker]

Mark --

I know this may not apply to this agelevel, but you might explain also about the way teams get put together. I think your way is the best I've ever heard for a rec league. It REALLY cuts into the star-studded-team cr@p.

Also, the part about the coaches submitting to a board which has a strong and vocal referee component is very important at any age.

[Richard Ogg]

Our church runs a youth league for the community. While we do not require anyone to sign a behavior statement, I am intollerant of negative comments. I will and have thrown parents and coaches out of the gym. Positive encouragement only, and nobody speaks to my youth ref's!

We don't change the rules as much as others have suggested, but in our 8-10 year old league I tell our ref's to not call any "dexterity" violations. That means we ignore the travels at the beginning and end of each dribble, the bunny hops on shooting, etc. Our 3-seconds is at least 5, although not specified that way in the rules.

Many parents tell us we run the best league in the area. I think the point is by our focus it meets their desires better. If you read our rules (http://r.ogg.home.att.net/YBLRules.htm) you will see that we have no substitutions; players substitute between quarters only (OK, a few exceptions you can read).

I don't eliminate zone defenses because each team has players who have no clue what they are doing. A zone defense allows a coach to position them in a less critical area while they learn the game. IMHO man-to-man can really cause a game to flop if there is a real hot-shot on the court that no one player can defend. Even in the younger ages, we have some of those.

Good luck!

[Mark Padgett]

Originally posted by rainmaker
Mark --

I know this may not apply to this agelevel, but you might explain also about the way teams get put together. I think your way is the best I've ever heard for a rec league. It REALLY cuts into the star-studded-team cr@p.

Also, the part about the coaches submitting to a board which has a strong and vocal referee component is very important at any age.

We do not start our "classic" divisions until 5th grade, so all teams in 3rd and 4th are strictly recreational. The coach and one assistant get their kids on their team, but all other kids are drafted. We conduct a top to bottom, bottom to top draft and limit each team to eight kids total. We do not honor special placement requests, except if there are twins, then we will honor their parents wishes to place them on either the same or separate teams. We use this same procedure for all grades in our rec division, except HS. We let kids play with their friends there, and pretty much form their own teams. It works pretty well at that level.

Teams are not formed by neighborhood or school. This way, kids meet kids from other schools, and they already know more kids when they get to middle and high school.

We have a Board of about 15, and 5 of us also referee. There is a Board member at each game to handle problems. We wear a distinctive shirt. We have a zero tolerance policy in all grades for abuse of the referees by players, coaches and/or spectators. If someone gets so bad I have to eject them, there really is not much recourse for them since I am both a referee and a Board member. I take my responsibility seriously, since we have over 1200 kids in the program. I am starting my 14th year on the Board.

[theboys]

Hey, Mark P.

Your league sounds like an awesome organization. You should think about publishing some sort of "guide" to setting up youth basketball programs.

Have you been with the league from the beginning?

[Mark Padgett]

Originally posted by theboys
Hey, Mark P.

Your league sounds like an awesome organization. You should think about publishing some sort of "guide" to setting up youth basketball programs.

Have you been with the league from the beginning?

No - it is 23 years old. At various times, we combined for a few years with neighboring cities, but we have more than enough kids by ourselves, so we just make our boundaries for rec the same as the school district.

I should mention that our HS boys and girls coaches put on clinics for our rec coaches and help pick our classic teams, since we are the main feed into their program. There are no school sponsored teams in elementary or middle schools in our district, so we "are it."

We do not have sponsorships, and the entire program is paid for through registration fees. This year, rec is $65 for grades 3-8 and $85 for HS (we pay the refs more for HS). Classic can run as much as $350 including uniform, depending on how many tournaments are entered and how much the team travels. We also have a financial assistance program both in rec and classic. We fund this through late registration fee penalties. We provide reversible jerseys to all rec players each year and we must pay the school district for gym rental fees.

A few years ago, we had a mom insist her son be placed on the same team as a neighbor so he could get a ride to all games and practices from the neighbor's dad. She claimed she had no other means of transportation. I dealt with her and asked her if she couldn't impose upon her husband, since he owned 6 car dealerships!

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by Mark Padgett
No - it is 23 years old. At various times, we combined for a few years with neighboring cities, but we have more than enough kids by ourselves, so we just make our boundaries for rec the same as the school district.

I should mention that our HS boys and girls coaches put on clinics for our rec coaches and help pick our classic teams, since we are the main feed into their program. There are no school sponsored teams in elementary or middle schools in our district, so we "are it."

You should also mention that both the boys' and the girls' varsity teams consistently make it into the state play-offs, about two years out of three, over the past 10 years or so. This is not a particularly wealthy suburb -- very mixed economically, as well as racially. This league reaches and helps a wide range of children and gives a great asset to the community.

Also, Mark has been kind enough to invite me to work for him this winter. After all the problems I've had working other rec leagues in the past, do you think I'll be taking advantage of his offer? Does a cow eat grass?

[RecRef]

Originally posted by Barry C. Morris
Unfortunately, this can cause the refs problems on enforcement.

I appreciate your suggestions.

Refs and the kids have no problems. It is the coaches and the parents..
----
Be realistic with your rules and the enforcement of them.

Man to Man/No Double Team Defense:
-For kids these ages the court is not a rectangle. It is really 2 triangles. The base of each is the division line and the point is the basket. o<|>o As the ball moves toward the basket you are going to have more and more players around it. If the dribbler moves close to another player allow that player to swipe at the ball or to block the dribbler’s progress. If the dribbler enters the lane allow close defenders to defend the lane.
-Depending on the size of the court you are using, set a reasonable distance, say 3 to 5 feet, which a defender must stay within the person he is guarding.
-Allow switching off by the defender if he is blocked. Do not allow the original defender to go back to his man until the next dead ball. This stops the problem of double team.
-While not strictly a man-to-man issue you need 100% enforcement of offensive contact on a screen. Too often a screener will plow into B1 on a screen/pick.
-It is advisable that the same players defend each other as a good number of this kids will be “lost in space.”

Backcourt Defense:
-No backcourt defense on an inbounds play.
-Allow a momentary defense on a turnover or missed shot.
-Never allow a fast break or a long pass to take place undefended. Said another way, don’t put the defense at a disadvantage. Make the offensive player either hold the ball or dribble in place until the defenders cross the division line. If they are going to fast break let anyone defended it not just the assigned defender.

Time counts:
-10 seconds: Enforce it; don’t let a team kill the clock because there is no backcourt defense.
-5 seconds: If the ball handler is moving don’t count. If the ball handler is stopped or trapped, count the count.
-3 seconds: Open for debate how long it should be. We use 6 seconds for our 7&8 year olds and 3 for our 9s. The point is to call it early and call it often. Remember the triangle above? Most kids are going to hangout in the vicinity of the basket. Get them out of the lane.

Operational:
-Think about no score or turning off the score on the clock if a team gets a 20-point lead.
-Seven-minute quarters with stop clock. These kids are in better shape than you think.
-Remember to teach them what they did wrong. Don’t just call a travel or a block but tell them what the did.
-The refs need to remember that these are children. If they need to talk to a kid they should either kneel or bend down to get to there level.
-Most leagues struggle with equal playing time. There is no easy answer. Our league requires that each player plays 2 full quarters per game. We have 8 players per team.
-Basket height is 8 feet for the 7&8s and 9 feet for the 9 year olds.
-The foul line is moved up 3 full feet. This even though the courts used at this age are small.

-AND LAST BUT REALLY FIRST- Safety above all else. Call held balls as soon as 2 kids get their hands on the ball. If they go to the floor after a loose ball, which the will because the have no fear, call a jumpball.