It’s time we as coaches, parents and organizers of youth basketball begin to understand the importance of adapting the game to the kids instead of asking the kids to adapt to the game.
I attended a 3rd/4th grade game today and was reminded how ridiculous our youth system is when we are asking kids of this age to play on a basket at 10ft. While every player on the court could seemingly make a basket at the 10 ft rim height, only a few were able to perform anything resembling a fundamentally sound shot. As equally important, the limited range of even the better shooters on the 10ft basket turned the game into nothing more than a steal and layup contest instead of teaching the kids the game of basketball.
Sure, one player heaved up a shot from just inside the 3 point line and it found its way into the basket. But the majority of shots from even 5 to 6 feet missed everything including the backboard. Kids of this age aren’t strong enough to play the game with a rim at 10ft.
Imagine how much better the flow of the game would be if kids could shoot from 10 and 15 feet away. Youth coaches work hard to introduce proper spacing, but when a kid can only convert a basket from 3 or 4 feet out how can you expect the kids to embrace the concept of spacing.
Another bi-product of playing on a rim too high is fewer players on the floor are capable of scoring consistently, leading to less sharing of the basketball. I have to believe every team in youth basketball teaches players how to pass the basketball and even encourages good ball movement during games. But when you have kids playing on a rim that’s too high for their physical ability, you essentially force the better players into carrying the scoring weight.
After overhearing a parent frustrated that his son had just missed his 5th layup of the game, I had to get up and watch the rest of the game from a different vantage point. I wanted to ask the dad who was expressing his frustration to try making a layup, running full speed with the rim height moved up to 12 feet. That’s essentially equivalent to what we’re asking 3rd and 4th graders to do on a 10 ft basket. Watch a professional, college or even high school game and you’ll see players converting layups with finger rolls or soft releases against the backboard because they are playing much, much closer to the rim. Candidly, a layup is one of the harder shots for a youth player to make yet parents and coaches too often believe it to be the first shot their kids should learn to make.
So what’s my recommendation?
- 6 ft rims – Kindergarten and 1st grade
- 8 ft rims – 2nd grade
- 9 ft rims – 3rd / 4th grade and I could be convinced that 5th grade belongs here as well
- 10 ft rims – 5th grade and beyond
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