A few years ago, I wrote down the goals I wanted to accomplish over the next 20 years. On my list towards the top was 'become a basketball coach.' About a week later I got a phone call asking if I was interested in coaching the varsity and JV girls basketball teams at a local high school. I left my full-time job and stable income to join the public school system and become a coach.
A lot goes into being a coach. There are certifications, classes, liabilities to consider, decisions to make, schmoozing to do, fundraising to (constantly) do, camps to plan, teachers to work with, and oh yeah...actual coaching to do. Basketball isn't like football or baseball; those sports require time for players to develop physically. That's why the NFL mandates that you be out of high school for at least three years before entering their league. Physically, you just aren't ready yet. Similar case with baseball, especially pitchers. But the NBA is full of 18 and 19-year old kids who are actually doing pretty well. A lot of players left high school to go straight to the NBA.
So basketball is a sport where kids can be pro-level ready faster. Usually kids start playing organized ball in middle school or junior high. There are rec leagues, middle school/junior high leagues, and AAU (amateur athletic union) or club basketball like CYO leagues. Having great coaches at younger ages can really speed up the development process for a basketball player.
Looking back on things, it wasn't until high school when I got real coaching. I was sent to good camps, played good competition, and received real training to help with basketball. After having coached high school for a few years, I've gotten to know how the system works a little bit better. This blog post is specifically about my experience coaching as well as junior high school coaches and the role that they play.
I won't mention what schools were involved in my coaching, but I started coaching at a high school in the Salt Lake City area. Again, it was a girls team. I worked with the varsity, JV, and sophomore teams. I created the plays and determined what we would run. I had most of the responsibilities of the head coach despite being an assistant. The plan was for me to get into the school system, preferably as a bookkeeper, and take over the team once my brother-in-law decided to give it up. It didn't quite work out that way, and it was for the best. I ended up becoming a substitute teacher, tracker, tardy program developer, and community education teacher.
Our first year was rough. The team I was coaching just finished the previous year with a 7-14 record (3-11 in conference). We were losing 8 of our best 10 players, with one of those being just a sophomore. Oh, and one of those eight girls led the entire state of Utah in scoring. That was also playing in 4A while we were moving up to 5A (in Utah, 5A = division 1). So our first year was tough to say the least, but we made it to the play-in game for the playoffs. We came up a little short, but it was the most success that school's girls team (or boys for that matter) had seen in a little while.
Someone can coach from the sideline all they want, but until they actually enter the coaching world, there's a lot that that person just doesn't know. I learned a lot from that first year. There are a ton of things that take up your time that you never really had to worry about before. In fact, we brought in a players' dad to coach the sophomore team that next year since one of our coaches left (we had a coach leave every year; another fun thing to do is replacing other staff members) and he was in awe at how much it took to get these high school girls playing good basketball. I'm glad he did though; he's an awesome guy.
One of the biggest surprises for me came early into my second year. Since we didn't have a ton of interest from our 10th, 11th, and 12th graders, we needed to recruit some freshmen to play. Now just so you understand, middle schools and junior highs are different (mostly). Middle schools hold students that are in 6th - 8th grade while junior highs hold those from 7th - 9th. Even though 9th graders are, for all intents and purposes, high school students, they have their classes in the junior high buildings. They'll still usually use the high school for certain things, athletics being a big one. So while in the junior high building, despite being a high school student, 9th graders can play for their junior high athletic teams.
I had never seen anything like this, in Ohio or in Oklahoma. Now most 9th graders who are involved in AAU or whose parents push them to prepare to play in college and professional (if possible) are automatically set on playing for their high school team once they hit 9th grade. However, a lot of playes and coaches have the expectation of the best 8th graders returning to play for their junior high school for their 9th grade year. I'd never seen 9th graders playing for junior highs before, mostly because I'd never seen 9th graders in their junior high or middle school building before. Everywhere else they're with their high school counterparts.
Now, I am of the opinion that 9th graders should play in high school - period. You're in high school, why is playing in junior high even an option? But I get the players who aren't very good or who aren't planning on playing basketball post-high school wanting to stay back and playing with their friends. It's not really the athletes or their parents that I have an issue with; it's the coaches. Junior high coaches want their teams to be successful. What coach doesn't, right? But so many junior high coaches hold back their 9th graders to play junior high ball rather than high school ball. That's not right.
There are so many things wrong with this on so many different levels. I believe it's in the best interest of the player to play up, not down. Actually, as a 9th grader, you're not even playing up when you play high school ball...you're just playing at the level that you're currently at! A lot of the boys teams have a varsity, junior varsity, sophomore, and freshmen teams. Some girls teams do, too. But to convince a 9th grader in high school to play against junior high kids is selfish to me. You've got to do what's best for the student.
Again, I'm not talking about players who don't really care about playing in college or professionally. I'm talking about the really good players who want to continue their careers past high school. Even if a player is borderline, you still should send them to play high school. There are so many advantages to playing for the high school. Here are some:
- More games...10-12 games in junior high, 20-21 games in high school
- More practice time...the seasons are longer, so there are more days to practice
- Get to know future teammates and coaches better
- Better competition
- More opportunities for additional playing time over the summer
- Typically better coaching
Other than playing with friends, which you'll make new ones at the high school level anyway, I don't see any advantages of playing in junior high over high school if you're remotely interested in competing. My last year coaching I was trying to talk to one girl and her dad about playing for the high school team rather than the junior high team, especially since she wanted to play in college. She kept thinking about it and wanted more time. Honestly, it's not me it's helping. If anything, I can give more playing time to the other girls who are there. High school coaches recruiting 9th graders are for the benefit of the 9th grader. So when junior high coaches try to convince them to play with their junior high team, I see that as selfish.
As you might have guessed, we were hated at those junior highs. Even the receptionists would give me dirty looks. "He's trying to steal our best players." Are you kidding me? I'm trying to give them a better opportunity than they have at the junior high. That girl I recruited? She ended up playing for the high school. She got to play in 40 games her 9th grade year since she played on both the JV team and the sophomore team. She would've played in 10 at the junior high, that's it. This past year, she's been the varsity team's leading scorer. It's obvious that freshman year playing with the high school helped her.
There are some good recommendations for junior high coaches online that anyone can use. This particular site has a great one listed at #8: get together with the high school coach and run a system that compliments their scheme. No wonder the high school I coached at sucked (both girls and boys) for so long before I got there and after I left; the junior highs who are supposed to be supportive hated us! It was a battle to keep a lot of good 9th graders in our own school system! That's a fundamental problem.
So if you're thinking about coaching junior high basketball, please take these things into consideration. Rather than relying on the 9th graders who should already be playing in high school (they do almost everywhere else in the country), try to develop the 7th and 8th graders that you have. My niece is playing junior high ball and tells me the same thing I heard from all the junior high athletes I recruited: the coaches don't really teach much, they just kind of roll the balls out there and give tips here and there. Be better than that, and keep the best interests of the student as first priority.
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