One Youth Coach's Opinion on Zone Defense

Inspirational Basketball shares one youth coach's opinion of zone defense.  Coach is using the definition that in zone defense each defender guards a specified area while in man-to-man defense each defender guards one opponent throughout the game.  This coach says that zone defense should not have a large presence in youth basketball.  Here are some of the reasons and explanations why coach feels this way:

1. Rebounding - can be difficult for players within a zone to quickly find specific players to box out for a rebound and sometimes the defenders become more stationary covering the zone while the offensive players have momentum.
2. Penetration - can occur when  good outside shooters penetrate weak zone perimeters.
3. Passing - can happen more as defenders guard zones, good passers can circumvent the gaps between zones
4. Trailing - when you are trailing behind in points zone defense often gives the other team time to possess the ball more
5. Nurturing young talent - zone defense supports defending from a stationary place therefore other skills like speed and team work may not be as developed

Coach shares that though professional and college teams utilize zone defense in their strategy, it should be limited for younger players.  Young players will benefit from man-to-man defense as it develops a whole range of skills that include a more aggressiveness stance, speed, agility, footwork, etc.

For more details:  Why Zone Defense is Bad for Youth Basketball

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Image Credit:  Future Stars Camps