"B" Games

[Hawks Coach]

MS players are generally 12-14 years old, so it is not clear why you would need a lot of limit for that age if you begin to allow pressing at the 9-12 age group. Esepcially since those that make a MS team usually are the 10-15 kids that made it through a 25-50 player tryout (at least in my area).

My opinion on pressing is just that they fail to learn to execute half court offenses if their team lives by just pressing and fast breaking. When kids get to HS and the presses don't yield as many turnovers, they will spend most of the game in a half court offense (this is true for the 95% of the players who do not attend the best pressing school in the area). If all these kids have ever done is press and run, you have no player who can function in a halfcourt game for 32 minutes.

I am a firm believer in teaching both aspects of the game, because you learn different skills in the open court then you do in the half court game. Players need to know how to bring and break full-court pressure, how to fast break, and how to run zone and man offense in the half court.