The Cross Over Movement Blog

In many ways, my book and this site is a response to the way we develop talent and especially the way we approach youth basketball in the United States. In short, I advocate a long term approach and one which does not professionalize youth sports at a young age. On some sites, I have seen this philosophy, as well as the book, discredited by those who suggest this philosophy attempts to socialize sport: that is, eliminate competition and make everyone into winners so we can save everyone’s self-esteem. I have never advocated such a philosophy, and instead believe that the message and approach my book describes is the best way to develop talent.

Ettore Messina is regarded as one of the world’s best professional coaches. He is the coach of CSKA Moscow, one of the top three teams in Europe currently. The Cleveland Cavaliers Mike Brown sought his advice during the summer. On his blog, he answers the question of developing one’s child into a professional athlete:

First of all, it will be extremely helpful for your kid to try both an individual sport and a team sport when he’s young in order to develop himself mentally and physically. For example, I was very lucky that my daughter tried judo for 3 years when she was in primary school. This really helped her to develop her personality, to overcome her lack of self-confidence, to know her body better and to discipline herself a little bit.

When the parents of young kids ask me to train their son or daughter, I tell them to invest in martial arts lessons first and wait on the specialized basketball training until they are teenagers. I believe strongly in the discipline and the body awareness through martial arts, and the basketball players I train who did martial arts seemed like stronger, better athletes too.

The first thing that I would consider as a father is the quality of the coach. Many parents who are not very familiar with a particular kind of sports may be attracted by the system that focuses on the result. But there is a huge difference between playing sports on the professional level and teaching it to the youngsters. You’d better send your kid to the place where the focus is on the development of his personality and his qualities of a player, as it’s much more important at that age.

Agreed. I have written in the past of the programs who market as “train like a pro” and the problem with this training for young players. It is much more important to develop the interest and passion for playing at a young age and to model the desired traits, like hard work, sticktuitiveness, etc.

You should not hurry to make your kid a pro athlete that has four or more trainings a week and dedicates a lot of time to sports. Personally, I think, this should not happen until the kid turns 14-15. Young kids that are exposed to a very high level of pressure physically, technically and mentally, usually, cannot stand this kind of pressure. I would like to find a teacher for my kid who will be able to offer a reasonable level of challenge to the young players and develop some kind of group mentality, still respecting everybody’s personality.

For youths, playing multiple sports and participating is more important than specialized training. Several studies confirm that those who specialize early, peak early. In the U.S., many parents rush this specialization to improve a chance for a scholarship, but nobody needs to peak at 15-years-old to receive a scholarship. Colleges want to see potential as much as refined skills.

Let’s get down to the key question: how a parent who never played a pro sports could decide what coach is good for his child? First of all, neither the parent nor the coach should be attracted by immediate results. Second, all of us can understand if there is balance in the behavior of another person. Even if my son received more attention in terms of shooting, playing time, I would be suspicious. Because treating him like a superstar when he’s 13 years old is not a good way to develop his personality.

Again, another premise of my book, that the “Peak by Friday” mentality hinders a player’s development and enjoyment of an activity, even though adults believe an experience is not worthwhile unless they win. Remember, we need to use the motivations of kids at their age groups and not super impose adult values on kids sports.

Suppose I don’t know basketball and choose a coach for my child. The most important indicators for me would be a) my son’s mood when he comes back home after practices and b) the level of togetherness of his team when I watch their games. If I see that my child comes home perfectly adequate and most of the times positive, and his team is playing with a good sense of togetherness, for me that’s the sign that you might want to stay with this coach. If, by contrast, he comes home frustrated or behaves in some strange way, he’d better leave and find someone else.

This is a huge issue with AAU teams (and high schools to an extent), as parents believe their child needs to play with a certain team. When I was younger, I saw two programs dissolve because of parents worrying about who won the MVP trophy at a tournament or the name of the program or wanting to be with a more prestigious coach or team for more exposure, even though the players were playing with their best friends, learning the game and enjoying the experience. But, there is the “keeping up with the Jones’” mentality, and often times parents ignore their kids’ needs to find the more elite, premier, select team, and the coaches market to this desire.

Until kids turn 12-13 it’s not only sport, it’s more a game. By game I mean something that can be played with a lot of mistakes. It should involve a lot of fun. It’s like in school when you experience all the fun when you start to read, to count or to discover something new. It’s more a game for the first 4-5 years. Then it becomes more serious and you should start asking those kids to be much more selective in their understanding and their learning. You start pressing them a little bit more to organize their ability to study.

Many coaches purposely try to drive the fun out of the game and insist on perfection. However, to learn, one must make mistakes. To improve, one must enjoy the activity so he invests the necessary time and energy. Asking for too much, too soon turns kids away from the game, even though my critics say this just means they are soft. I remember watching an u-9 AAU game and the opposing coach yelled and screamed at his players and several left the court crying, to which he criticized even further. The coach, apparently, had one of today’s top high school players playing for him for a couple years. However, is it worth it to drive several kids to tears, even if it helped the one kid eventually become a great player? How many players quit the game so the one kid could achieve greatness? I walked through a gym a couple weeks ago and was astonished that parents allow coaches to treat their kids in such a way. I know that a teacher in a classroom could not get away with calling a kid dumb, but coaches esentially do the same thing.

The same in sports, it should not be about fundamentals until at least 10. For sure, you can teach your children to know their body through the use of the ball: how to catch, how to roll, how to run with the ball etc.

I questioned a coach about his offering “professional fundamental training for six-years-old and up,” and many did not understand my question. If something is good for a 10-year-old, starting at eight must give the kid an advantage. If my neighbor starts at eight, I’ll start my kid at seven. This is the mentality. However, as I write about in this week’s newsletter, if kids do not develop the general movement skills early, they eventually struggle with sport-specific skills later. At the young ages, it is far more important to use fun games to teach movement and allow young athletes to explore, rather than to set-up competitive leagues and training.

As for fundamentals to be developed until players are 16-17, the most important thing to check is coordination and balance. I would not be so paranoid with all other things. Then, obviously, you teach them how to catch, how to pass, how to shoot, how to dribble, how to move without the ball. But if they don’t have the balance and coordination, it’s difficult for them to become good basketball players. For example, Ricky Rubio is helped a lot by the great balance, coordination and quickness he has. It gives him a great advantage.