Winning or FUNdamentals, which comes first? Written by: An Anonymous Youth Coach

FUNdamentals…  Most coaches have the desire to win, but a true coach has the desire to teach, to education, to pass on knowledge that will help a young player. A winning program always seems to be the one that everyone wants to talk about and emulate. What coach wouldn't want to have an established basketball program like the University of North Carolina or newer developing program like the University of Florida? However, what has made that winning program, is it superior athletes or superior coaching or a combination of both? It is probably a little bit of everything. If we are going to coach youth-aged athletes, then the coaches should know how important it is to teach fundamentals as well as winning and losing. This means these school-aged players need to want to learn the fundamentals.

Winning…   The problem with basketball is that it is a game, that usually means there is a winner and a loser. You can teach all the fundamentals in the world and have an undersized team, and who is going to win the game? I think we should care. Everyone wants his/her child to play club ball. It's supposed to make you better, right? Whether it is AAU, YBOA, traveling, or a CYO team, or the local YMCA, coaches are more than ever emphasizing the "W". They will continue to play their strongest, most skilled players while the other players watch from the sidelines. There is nothing more demoralizing than losing to a kid that doesn't get the opportunity to play. The coach should give every player a chance. 9 out of 10 coaches do not have high enough expectations for their players, including the starters. Players need to be pushed to improve to their utmost potential. A good player accepts and wants criticism, any player who is only craving encouragement, will not learn or strive. Players learn from mistakes and from being corrected. It’s good to encourage, but a coach and/or parent(s) must also be careful not to over praise, this is not good for the player or the team.

Mixed Feelings… We have tried maybe a bit too hard to take the competitiveness out of youth sports today. We need to find a middle ground. Remember Little League baseball's pledge to start every game, "but win or lose, I will always do my best.". Would you want a team that didn't care or had no desire? Or would you want a team that tried their best every time? Coaches have looked at both sides of this coin. One coach had the opportunity to coach a team that actually had no "heart". They had no desire to win or lose for that matter. You could not inspire these kids to even try. Their skills showed. That team lost 19 of 20 games that season. It didn't bother these kids at all. Out of fourteen kids on this Little League team only one had competitiveness. He had skills and fundamentals. The rest couldn't even catch a ball. They literally had no desire to try. “Win or lose I will always do my best”… NOT. On the other side of the same coin, this same coach has had many teams that tried their hardest and lost. But, at the end, no one had his/her heads down. They knew they tried their hardest and that was the importance of trying to them. They would come to practice desiring to become better players. It had nothing to do with winning, it was practice. Game time would come and maybe they would win. But the coach always knew these kids would try their hardest. That is called "competitiveness." Not winning.

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Questions for practice discussion:

Think about the article you just read. What really makes you a winner on the court?