How Do You Play Man-To-Man Defense In Youth Basketball?
When the youth basketball team you’re coaching is ready to practice a more aggressive defense or you’d like to give the players individualized instruction, opt for man-to-man instead of zone. Use these tips to help teach the kids to create an impenetrable wall around the basket and prevent the opposition from taking easy shots. Assign each player a man to guard and let him know that it’s his responsibility to cover him without expecting help from the other defenders. If his man has the ball, the player on defense should try to drive him away from the best play or force him to go in a specific direction, make a bad pass or take a bad shot. Teach each defensive player to stand between his man and the ball when he doesn’t have possession of it. Encourage each defender to stay low, within touching distance of his opponent and be ready to pivot, slide and move to stay with his man. He must keep the opposition from becoming an easy target for a pass or even intercept or deflect an incoming p
