Development

Yesterday I told you that at those websites I listed would help you learn something. So, now it's my turn to prove that these websites helped me learn something.

Of course, we all know that the fundamentals are the most important thing to nail first. Why bother with any sophisticated strategy if your team doesn't even have the skills to execute it? However, once you develop this relatively basic area, there are a few ways you can take your team and each player individually. One way to develop athletes is to specialize whereas other coaches prefer to develop more well-rounded athletes who will not excel in any area but be proficient in all of them.

Both systems have their benefits, and that's what I'm going to look at right now. Specializing is what I feel needs to be done eventually. However, if you do it at a young age, what happens if the players develop differently as they get older? Some kids might be really short until high school, but they could hit a growth spurt and all of a sudden be better suited for the post. What do you do then? This is a pitfall of early specialization. It is not bad to have tall people who have skills like a guard, but it is a problem when a guy stops growing at five foot eight and all he knows is how to play the post. So, I think you eventually need to specialize, but make sure you're absolutely sure about what position that player will be best suited for in the long run, not just right now.

Photo by Ed Yourdon on Flickr