Youth Zone Defense play
Youth Zone: Forced Shot and the Rebound
- Court
- Half court
- Length
- 11 steps
About this play
For ages 12 and up, after the man-to-man series. The zone's deal only pays off if it rebounds the shot it chose to give up, and this play shows a whole possession ending the way the zone wants: a swing, a skip, a contested wing three, and then the part youth teams skip. In a zone there is no man to box out, so each defender boxes an area and the nearest body in it: the defender on the ball boxes the shooter, the three low defenders form a triangle around the rim and each finds a body, and the off-ball guard drops to the free-throw line for the long miss. Why the long rebound is the zone's problem: the shots it concedes are long, long misses bounce long, and a zone with nobody at the free-throw line gives the offense its best look of the possession, the putback. Where the advantage lies: a contested three that the zone rebounds is the best possible outcome of a possession; the same shot rebounded by the offense is the worst. Nobody in a zone is assigned a body ahead of time, so the triangle and the area box-out have to be drilled on their own or they will not happen in a game. Common youth mistakes: standing in a spot without finding a body, two defenders boxing the same player while the weak side is empty, and the guards watching the flight. The area box-out comes from Michael Seideman's zone rebounding video and that Coach's Clipboard page on rebounding out of a zone; give them a look if you want the drills.
