Wanna play tag?
Tag is a simple game. Someone’s chasing and someone’s spacing. Tag is the best cleverness training. Why? As long as you can keep space between you and the person chasing you, you win. The desire to compete pushes you to creativity, fakes, and acceleration.
That’s the second principle of Race and Space that helps programs score more points, develop better players, and have more fun.
Playing games is fun. Basketball is a game just like a foot race or a game of tag. Those games are fun to play because the objective is simple.
When we complicate a game we slow it down. When we control the players, we remove the joy. When we slow it down, talk too much, and put in too many rules the game isn’t fun to watch, coach, or play.
Less Rules = More fun.
Every coach wants to play more in transition. Every coach knows that you get more efficient shots in transition than you do against a set defense.
Basketball is a game of opposites.
What are the hardest things to teach your team to do? I’d bet that transition defense made the list.
Except now, we’re going to get better at the opposite (of transition defense). That’s transition offense.
When you commit to Race and Space principles you are capitalizing on the weakness of your opponents. You aren’t just improving your transition play.
The ability to make reads and execute skills at speed will improve your offense against a set defense, too.
Spacing is how you create separation between each offensive player and their defender. We don’t just space once and stand there, we play tag the entire time we are in possession of the ball. If a player has the ball they are attacking the advantage, if they don’t have the ball they are spacing for advantage.
Each of the ten layers teaches players how to execute those two principles in the situations they will be in most often.
The best teachers build systems that develop:
- Skills - identify and improve what players do most
- Roles - clarify constraints and objectives
- Reads - make better decisions faster
A SAVI (savvy) coach knows that playing fast and getting a quick shot isn’t the goal. Getting a better shot is. When your system includes skills, roles and reads, your players will thrive. The effectiveness of your offense always comes down to what types of shots your offense is generating. The team that creates better shots over the course of a game will be more successful.
Race and Space simplifies offense to get you better shots more often.
