What we stand for
Every player, coach and parent here stands on these three. They come before the basketball.
Joy
We play because we love it. A session that never makes you smile rarely teaches you much. We celebrate the odd finish, the wild pass, the moment it all flows.
Excellence
Full effort and full attention on every rep. That is the standard, more than a perfect result. We measure ourselves against the best, wherever they are.
Respect
For coaches, teammates, opponents, refs and the game itself. Every day. The way you treat people is the way you play basketball.
Learning inside the game
We coach with the constraints-led approach. It comes from ecological dynamics and Karl Newell's model from 1986, developed further by researchers like Keith Davids. The idea: there is no one perfect technique. Movement is a player's answer to a problem, and every player answers it a bit differently.
So we spend our time shaping the problem. Three things shape it:
- The task: the rules of the game, the size of the ball, how many players.
- The environment: the court, the space, the noise, the defense.
- The player: height, how tired they are, their head that day, what they can already do.
Change the rules or shrink the space and players find their own solutions. That kind of skill holds up in a game.
Our sessions look like loud, competitive pickup games with specific rules. Players solve the same problem again and again, and the answer is a little different every time. You will see very few lines and no cone drills.
Say your kid needs to shoot better. We skip the lecture on where the elbow goes. We put them in a game where scoring means shooting over a defender, and change the rules so the right choice pays off. The game does the teaching. Their skills then hold up on a busy Saturday, in the games that count.
What we expect
- Players: take on the hard stuff, make mistakes at game speed, talk to each other.
- Coaches: design good games and talk less.
- Parents: value good decisions and adaptability over picture-perfect form.
By age
The idea stays the same at every age. What changes is how hard the problem is.
Mini and Junior
Movement and fun, with the learning happening underneath. Tag while dribbling, Red Light Green Light, 2v2 on small hoops. We leave their shooting form alone at this age.
U13 and U15
Reading an advantage. 3v3 and 4v4 small-sided games, built around spacing, cutting and the half-second decision. Defense gets tougher so the skills have to adapt.
U17, U19 and Men
Specific tactical problems. 5v5 situations, playing out of ball screens, rules for each position (bigs must short-roll). Everything at game speed, with harder reads.
What we leave out
Unguarded shooting from one spot. Ten shots from the same place feels productive. With nobody guarding, there is nothing to read and nothing to decide, and that shot rarely shows up on game day.
Body cues. "Keep your elbow in" pulls a kid's attention into their own body at the wrong moment. Focusing on the target or the flight of the ball works better. Form sorts itself out when the task asks for it.
Lines. Twelve players, one ball, eleven standing around. In an hour most kids get maybe five minutes of work. We run small games side by side instead, so everyone moves the whole time.
Over-coaching. Stopping every 20 seconds for a speech takes away the thing that teaches players most: working it out themselves. When the behavior is wrong, we change the rule and let the game teach.
Games we use
A few of the rules we change to get the skill we want, without micromanaging form.
Decision speed
- Half-second rule: shoot, pass or drive within half a second of the catch.
- 3v2 to 2v1: whoever shoots goes back on defense.
- No-dribble 4v4: cutting, spacing and quick passing.
- Advantage starts: 1v1 with the defender facing away, hand on the attacker's hip.
Spacing and movement
- Corners filled: players in both corners before any shot.
- Score off a cut: a basket counts only off a pass to a moving cutter.
- Paint touch: the ball touches the paint before a perimeter shot.
- 4-out, 1-in fill: when a player drives, someone fills behind.
Finishing through contact
- Pad 1v1: the defender uses a heavy contact pad at the rim.
- Weak hand: a finish with the other hand counts 3.
- Swish only: touch finishes and floaters, off the backboard does not count.
- Trailing defender: 1v1 break, defender one step behind.
Defense
- Recovery: the defender touches the baseline before guarding the drive.
- Stay down: defenders keep their feet on the floor and wall up.
- Switch everything 3v3.
- Trap the box: automatic double team when the ball enters the short corner.
Shooting
- Closeout shooting: the passer sprints straight out at the shooter.
- Plus/minus: make +1, miss -1. Reach +5 in 2 minutes.
- Shot on the move: sprint from the wing to the top before the catch.
- Ball sizes: heavy ball, size 6, size 7.
Transition and talk
- Name the passer: the scorer calls out the passer's name or the point is gone.
- 5v3 break: two defenders waiting at half court. Score in 6 seconds.
- Silent scrimmage: pointing and eye contact only.
- Rebounder pushes: the defensive rebounder brings it over half court.
A 75 minute session
One theme per session. We build the games around it and let them run.
- 0 to 10Warm-up gamesStraight into movement: tag with basketballs, keep-away, 2v1 continuous.
- 10 to 25The themeSay the theme is attacking closeouts. 2v2, the defense starts under the rim, passes out to the wing and sprints to close out. Lots of reps.
- 25 to 50HarderMove to 3v3 or 4v4 and add a rule: a point only counts off a drive past a closeout.
- 50 to 70Open scrimmageThe special rules come off. Normal 5v5, few stoppages, and we watch whether the new habits carry over.
- 70 to 75Cool-downEasy movement and a few questions. "What was hardest about attacking today?" The players speak first.
How we track progress
We look at the skills that carry into a game.
- Decision speed: do they catch and pause, or catch and go?
- Spacing: when a teammate drives, do they fill the open gap?
- Adaptability: can they finish with either hand, off either foot, when contested?
- Talk: do they call screens without a coach telling them to?
Where we learn from
- Alex Sarama: Director of Methodology at the Cleveland Cavaliers, Transforming Basketball. One of the leading voices on this approach in basketball.
- Chris Oliver: Basketball Immersion. Brought decision training and zero-second decisions into everyday coaching language.
- Tyler Coston: SAVI Coaching. Very good at building rules that grow naturally into game play.
- Brian McCormick: 21st Century Basketball Practice. Made the case against lines and block practice in youth basketball.
- San Antonio Spurs: they use team dinners and culture to get players deciding together. Same principle, applied to a whole club.
Reading and listening
- "The Constraints-Led Approach", Renshaw, Davids et al.
- "Nonlinear Pedagogy in Skill Acquisition", Jia Yi Chow
- "21st Century Basketball Practice" and "Fake Fundamentals", Brian McCormick
- Basketball Immersion podcast: "Applying Ecological Dynamics with Alex Sarama"
- The Coaching Lab: "Tyler Coston on Constraints and SAVI"
- Slappin' Glass: "Small-Sided Games and Decision Making"
- On social: @AlexJSarama, @tylercoston, @BBallImmersion, @coach_spinz, TransformingBasketball.com
Come and watch
A session will look chaotic. That is on purpose. Your first session is free.