We just wrapped up our season of YMCA youth basketball. Another succesfull season under the belt and by successful, we mean that the kids had fun and maybe learned a little about the great game of basketball. The YMCA has a long history of fostering an early love for basketball with their youth programs throughout the U.S. It\’s a well-run program so let\’s find out a little more how it works.

First of all, the YMCA is primarily a volunteer-based program for youth basketball. This means that the coaches are generally fathers or mothers of the players in the league. I personally coached two teams this season since my sons are in different age brackets. The age brackets generally run age 5, age 6-7, ages 8-9, and ages 10-11. Like with most youth sport programs, they usually stop around age 12 since middle school sports takes over from there. The age brackets generally work pretty well and the YMCA does a good job of ramping up the rules as each age band progresses which is good because basketball is not exactly an easy sport. It\’s really tough to learn the basic skills such as dribbling, shooting, and passing which generally are not natural skills like throwing a baseball (or rock or fill in the blank).

For the age 5 group, it\’s pretty laxed on the basic rules as kids just try to wrap their head around what is going on. It\’s hard enough to figure out who to \”guard\” and what that even means. For the younger groups, it\’s not uncommon to have colored wrist bands so you can match up and find the person you need to guard. The wristbands usually disappear around the age 8-9 level. Travelling is another tough one and there are a few adults (not to mention NBA players) that still don\’t quite have that down. Generally, the refs will gently remind the players about traveling towards the end of the age 6-7 seasons but the act itself will not result in a change of possession. That changes in the age 8-9 level where the refs will call travelling and even fouls on the shot. It\’s not a bad thing since your most traveling culprit will generally never do it again once called for it by a ref during the game.

Defense for the lower age levels usually restricts the defensive player to a certain taped off area loosely spaced at about a 3 point range. This allows the new players to have a safety zone on offense where they can dribble without the fear of a steal. The defensive zone usually disappears around the age 10-11 level which also brings in another exciting facet of the game. Fast breaks. In the lower levels, a team or member cannot fast break. The defense is given time to get set before the offense can bring the ball down (or while the defense is bringing the ball down). At age 10-11, fast breaks are now part of the game.

Like with most things in life, the coaching really depends on who you get. There are some great coaches and some that are average. After all, it\’s a volunteer based set-up. The key point is that a coach allows the kids to have fun with the game and make it a positive experience. After all, if the kids enjoy the YMCA basketball experience, they\’re more likely to play the game on their own and that\’s really the only way to get the skills down that the game requires as the high school basketball level.

Author Bio: Dennis Jarvis writes about the world of Prep Sports including high school sports such as high school football, basketball, and baseball.

Category: Sports
Keywords: ymca basketball, youth basketball, high school basketball, prep basketball, prep sports