Taking a step away from which teams are better than which, how advanced of schemes do folks think 6th graders can and should learn?
I know fundamentals are still the key and coach players, not plays, but still curious about:
- Is this the age to add a 2nd or 3rd offensive set? - Add 2nd EMO set? - Install both adjacent and crease slide packages? - Teach kids to slide and recover to hole and open man, like in college, or double the ball and just bump back to original offensive player guarded? - How complex of clears?
Or just keep things simple and focus on kids operating better within a single scheme (i.e, moving the ball faster, more off-ball movement, emphasizing dodge-pass-pass-redodge/shot, anticipating 2nd and 3rd slides)? Either way, I think fundamentals are still most important, but any practice time spent teaching a new offensive set or slide package is time away from 4v4 or shooting drills.
For most of the country this past Summer (so not MD or LI AA team), I'd say you had a solid 2021 team if they could pass, catch and shoot with both hands, clear through for dodgers, run one offense well, had one ride down, had 2-3 EMO plays out of a single set, had a pass-first mentality and knew how to play on- and off-ball D in either a crease or adjacent slide package. Better teams, obviously, had better off-ball movement, passed before slide could get to them and picked well (most non-hotbed picking at U11, I thought, gained little).
