Q: What can I expect with 10-11 year old players? Will they get it? How many layers apply? What are your thoughts about conducting a practice at this age? Is the R&R designed for this age?

A: The short answer is yes, the R&R was designed with our youth in mind. But the idea of “grasping the concept” is not something that I would worry about at the youth level. It’s not necessary for each individual player to grasp the big picture and realize that they are playing by principle. My experience with young players is that they want to know where to go and what to do. There’s comfort for them to know what’s OK and what’s not. The first 3 to 5 layers (what’s called LAYING THE FOUNDATION on the DVDs) can be taught and practiced like any offense. The kids will know where to go and what to do when the ball is dribbled or passed on offense. For your sake, you will have a working offense that is “predictable” from your standpoint (that is, you’ll always be able to tell each kid what they should have done in any circumstance) but “unpredictable” or “unscoutable” from your opponent’s viewpoint.

Another good point for young players is that the offense is based on 2-player reads and reactions. Each player does not need to know what’s happening from a 5-player viewpoint (like you, the coach, will). Each player can be drilled to the point of habit so that the offense is not a thinking game. The uniqueness of R&R is that the way I’ve designed the offense will guarantee that ALL of the players, reacting with their 2-player habits, will result in a 5-player-coordinated-team-offense.

Of course, eventually, the more they run it, the better the chance that they will begin to see why they are being trained to react in these prescribed ways. Your team will only get better with time and as they do, you will be the judge as to whether and when you add another layer of habits.

Randy Evans is a middle school coach in Cleveland, TN who had the same questions and doubts (that all of us have at the beginning).You can watch a preview of his interview on the READ AND REACT page on our website. In the full interview on DVD 5, Randy makes the point that he never went beyond the THIRD layer of the offense because of the effectiveness of the first 3 layers!

Conducting a practice is a tough question and something that I want to address in future videos because you are not alone in your question and concerns. Here’s my suggestion: Consider using the drills from DVD 3 for warm-ups, conditioning, shooting, lay-ups, passing, etc. In other words, pick the drills from the first 3 layers and use them for lay-up drills or shooting drills or whatever fundamental you need to emphasize. In this manner, you get two birds with one stone. Along with your fundamental work, you’ll get the reactions needed to run the offense. When you work 5 on 5, work on both offense and defense at the same time. It doesn’t have to be “live”; the offense can practice without taking a shot and the defense can practice without touching the ball. You’ll collapse time frames in this manner. Instead of sprints, use the full-court TRIPS that I show on DVD 3 for conditioning AND training transition AND training the half court offense. And then, during the last part of your practice, you can try for “live” scrimmage and see what habits are “sticking” and which ones are not. That will tell you what to emphasize in the next practice.