MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Are kids really playing enough basketball games today?
West Virginia coaches Ross Hodge and Mark Kellogg believe they probably are, but not the way many of us were accustomed to playing 20, 30 or 40 years ago. Back then, you couldn’t find a park anywhere that wasn’t full of players on a sunny Saturday or Sunday afternoon.
In the small town I grew up in West Virginia, games were played from noon until sunset. You picked the teams. You made up the rules and you settled disputes, sometimes with your fists if you had to.
Pickup basketball in the Mountain State really grew out of the successes West virginia University had playing in the National Invitation Tournaments in the 1940s. Soon after coach Dyke Raese’s Mountaineers won the NIT in 1942, kids everywhere were nailing hoops to Sycamore trees in their backyards, to barns, or finding deserted streets and attaching baskets to telephone poles, as Bob Clousson onc did when he was growing up in Clarksburg in the early 1950s.
“Somebody donated half of a ping-pong table for the backboard, and we hoisted that thing up on a telephone pole,” he once recalled. “Saturday morning was our big day, and we would be out there at 7 o’clock and made sure nobody was parked underneath it so we could play all day.
“If somebody did park there, we were mad, and we played anyway and just bounced the ball off their car hood,” he said.
It was said that Jerry west played so incessantly as a child growing up in southern West Virginia that he had to take vitamin shots for nutrition, and a basket that he practiced on near his house was next to a hill, and whenever a shot was missed, the ball rolled all the way down into a deep gully.
His solution to the predicament was to quit missing.
Guard Hot Rod Hundley said playing basketball games all day long at the Charleston YMCA in the late 1940s literally saved his life.
“I remember going to the Y and you couldn’t even get on the floor,” he said. “You played winners stay up, and there would be a line of guys waiting to play. If you lost, you wouldn’t play again for an hour or longer. We played to 20 points and then the game was over. You had to write your name on the board for your team.(Years later) you could shoot a cannon through there because there wasn’t a soul there.”
Today, kids play AAU games or games in managed settings, but Kellogg is not sure if many of them are capable of arranging their own games or picking their own teams.
“they play too much organized basketball,” he explains.”Back in our generation, we just went out and played pickup games.I don’t know if our kids even know how to organize a pickup game if somebody doesn’t help them and tell them what to do and how to get going when you used to go outside and just played.
“If you lost, you may sit for 30 minutes as there were that many people waiting to play, so I think we’ve lost some of that along the way,” he said.
Hodge agrees.
“When I was playing not that long ago, you played more,” he opined. “You didn’t work out as much. You played. If
WVU Coaches Advocate for Youth Basketball Development Model Shift, Citing European Approach
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West Virginia University (WVU) basketball coaches Mark Kellogg and Josh Hodge are advocating for a shift in the youth basketball development model in the United States, pointing to the European system as a potential blueprint for improving player skill levels at the collegiate and professional levels. They argue that the current emphasis on frequent games over dedicated practice time may be hindering essential skill development.
The Contrast: US vs. European Youth Basketball
The core of the argument centers on a significant difference in training philosophies. According to Coach kellogg, the American youth basketball landscape is characterized by limited practice time coupled with a high volume of games – often five games in a single weekend with minimal practice in between. This contrasts sharply with the European model, where young players typically practice three to five times a week with only one game scheduled.
“We practice very little now at the youth level, and then they go play five games on a weekend and maybe have a practice in between, instead of the European model, which is the complete opposite,” Kellogg stated in a recent press conference WVU Sports.
This difference, Kellogg believes, contributes to the increasing presence of internationally-trained players at higher levels of competition. “We wonder why the skill levels on the collegiate and the professional level are with the more international-type players, so I think we need to find a balance here.”
The Impact of Game Volume on Development
The coaches suggest that the sheer number of games played in the US system can diminish the importance of individual game outcomes. Kellogg noted, “because we play so many games, at times, the winning and losing doesn’t mean quite as much. ‘If we’re going to lose at 9 a.m., that’s okay because we’ve got another game at 4 o’clock.'”
This constant cycle can possibly de-emphasize focused skill development and the intensity of competition that comes with a more limited game schedule.The focus shifts from improvement to simply playing through a packed calendar.
Skill Development and Live Action
Kellogg emphasized the importance of translating practice drills into effective performance during games. While acknowledging the value of individual training and skill work, he questioned whether current training regimens adequately prepare players for the demands of collegiate and professional play.”Are we working on things that will help you when you come to play for us at West Virginia?” he asked.
The Value of Competitive Play
Coach hodge underscored the crucial role of actual game experience in team development. He believes that while practice is essential for improvement and defining a team’s strategy, true understanding and cohesion only emerge through competition against other teams.
“Until you actually get out there and put your entire group together and play another group … you can get better, and you can learn what you’re trying to do, but you have to play other people before you really, really figure your team out,” Hodge concluded.
Image of Mark Kellogg Presser
WVU Women’s coach Mark Kellogg believes the European developmental model is increasing individual skills for its players. (WVU Athletic Communications photo).