When I first came to Newfoundland, I ran into something called "fair play". It was the first time I had ever seen this notion and to be honest, as an elite coach, I did not really support it. I thought it would be better to have athletes playing "real basketball."  Later in life, when my son entered junior high, I decided that it would be good for me to coach his team.  My three years spent in that environment convinced me that fair play was the best system to encourage player development at the younger ages and really up through junior high.  It forces the coach to work with all their athletes and not just those they see as "gifted".  In order to compete, you need 10 functional athletes, so you cannot ignore the other players to focus on just the 2 or 3 best players.  We know that many of the physical ailments that afflict athletes are overuse injuries.  We also know that the risk of injury climbs exponentially with the build up of vast amounts of playing time.  I often see parents absolutely indignant that coaches do not play their children during games.  I have often said that parents should be just as indignant if a coach plays their child for an entire game with out a sub.  That is just as damaging, and potentially more dangerous, than not playing a child at all.  Saving coaches from themselves with systems like fair play is vital to a healthy basketball environment.  A coach should aim to play as many players as possible. You may not be able to find every player a meaningful role in every game, but you can certainly find every player a meaningful role in every season, to help keep them engaged and attached to the sport.  

Coaches often approach youth sport with the wrong goals in mind. How often have I heard coaches say, " Life is about winners and losers.", "We have to prepare these young people for the real world.", "It's all about competition!"  You will never meet a more competitive person than me. I compete for everything, I was legitimately upset in school if someone passed in a test or exam before me.  If I am doing it, then I am trying to do it well and trying to beat those around me.  As with most people, I often project my hyper competitiveness unto other people, but my life has been full of constant reminders that not everyone feels the same.  In fact, young athletes rarely pay attention to the score or outcome.  I can remember coaching my first club U14 game. We were playing a strong team and the game did not go well. We lost by between 20 and 30 points, and as the game was winding down, one of the players turned to me and said, "Are we winning or losing?"  It was a genuine question, she had no idea of the outcome.  Young athletes just want to play, they want to be on the floor and run around, the outcome or its significance is often the furthest thing from their mind.  It is important, especially at young ages, not to project your hurt or disappointment about outcomes on your athletes.  Not to make them feel an out sized sense of loss, or embarrassment about a final score, that they would not otherwise worry about.  As long as players are getting a chance to play and run around and experience and experiment with the game, they can have just as much fun losing by 30 as they can winning by 30.  But if their coach, or parent, is upset and embarrassed, they will feel that shame, because they care about their coach and parents and gaining their approval.  It will diminish their enjoyment and may even lead to them stepping away from the sport.  You must be able to separate people from outcomes.  Just because a group of people lose a game, it does not mean they have a flaw in them as humans or a shortcoming in their character that causes them to lose. Your reactions to them should be the same after a win as after a loss.  If you are not capable of that, you may not be cut out for youth sport and there is no sin in that. You may be best at coaching older athletes who have a grasp of outcomes and are seeking to be successful.  You still need to separate the player from their performance and care for people whether they play well or poorly.  Older age groups may be emotionally more prepared to deal with the in game consequences of not playing well.  The other part of this is the necessity to allow youth players to experiment with the game, even if it has negative consequences in terms of the outcome.  We had a taller player on one of our club teams who loved to grab rebounds and just take off dribbling up the floor, only ever using her strong hand, and always with her head down. The inevitable outcome of these wild forays with the ball was almost always a turn-over.  My assistant finally turned to me and said, "We have to stop her from dribbling."  I replied that we could endure these mistakes and that if we did we would be rewarded.  After one year, the player had become very good at pushing the ball forward, dribbled with both hands, was hard to stop driving to the basket. She was one of the better players in her age group.  My assistant admitted that I had been right not to curtail her dribbling.  The long term outcome of allowing that player to explore her game was a more confident, skilled player, who now can do a lot more things in a game.  It is important in youth sport to keep in mind: allow players to grow, do not project your emotions unto them and do not make the experience all about competition when it should be all about growth, development and fun.

The NLBA reflects on those following things as the most important aspects of youth sport: fun, activity and learning.  Those should be the guiding aspects of any youth program and any parent judging a youth program has the right to expect those three elements to be involved and question if anything interferes with achieving them.  If you are coaching at that level, You need a passion for development. You have to genuinely enjoy seeing athletes improve above anything else.  There should not be an over importance placed on any single player, whether that comes in the form of how shots or possessions are distributed, or whether it comes in personal recognition above team accomplishments.  Our youth tournaments are designed to promote activity and passion and avoid the negative aspects of early recognition like an out sized sense of importance, pressure or anxiety associated with performance, or a lack of retention because of a lack of recognition. We allow larger team sizes and more flexibility with line-ups. Any coach who asks players not to participate in order to allow fewer shifts is not in line with what is best for all athletes and sport in general. Parents should have concerns if player rotation is used below grade 7 or 8 when it is mandatory to play certain numbers and not necessarily all players can play every game.  We need to have an environment where every child has a sense that they could possibly be a good player. If over time, they come to their own conclusion that they lack the passion or physical ability to play the sport at higher levels that is fine, it is their decision, but we should not make choices at the youth level that preclude athletes from arriving at those decisions on their own, or by de-selecting them at early ages.  The NLBA's choices and how we structure our programs are leading to growth across the province, more teams, more players and more tournaments.  The game is returning to healthier footing outside the city with many youth sport champions.  If we all continue to emphasize the right elements of youth sport, the game will continue to grow in a positive manner.