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What is The Hail Mary Huck?
The most famous Hail Mary pass in college football was delivered by Doug Flutie to Gerard Phelan in the Orange Bowl, as the future Heisman winner, Doug Flutie and the Boston College Eagles stunned the U of Miami in one of the most memorable college shootouts ever played. The Hail Mary play is highly unlikely to succeed. It is a last-second, long bomb thrown into a defense that is 100% sure the play is coming. Once the ball is thrown, the sideline and coaches all fall to their knees and pray that it will succeed.
When comparing Doug Flutie‘s Hail Mary pass to the youth basketball Hail Mary Huck there really is no comparison. The Hail Mary Huck of a five or six year old basketball player has a much lower percentage of success than Doug Flutie‘s Hail Mary pass.
When looking at youth basketball it is hard to figure out what is an age-appropriate skill. Even parents and youth coaches with decades of playing and coaching experience, have a hard time coaching youth basketball players. Youth development has never really been looked at too closely until 2013 when USA basketball and the Jr. NBA combined forces to provide youth players and youth coaches with a set curriculum. Yet even with these new resources, each player and team has a different skill level.
Our goal is to share our experience coaching youth basketball and observing basketball development from kindergarten to high school so that other youth coaches may better understand their own child and players development.
Our coaching philosophy is at the younger levels is to keep it simple and make sure players are having fun. We also focus on teaching skills that all players in an age group can complete successfully. There are some skills and fundamentals that are completely inappropriate to teach to a particular age group because, for whatever reason, players will not be able to execute that fundamental at that point in life.
Teach Age-Appropriate Skills
Passing we feel is a skill that requires decision making, and experience that most kindergarten to 3rd grade basketball players do not possess. It is almost comical to watch a youth basketball player try to inbound the ball to teammates when there is no back court pressure. There are 2 to 3 completely wide open players with no defense on them and a youth basketball player is completely overwhelmed. It seems to be a life or death decision for the inbound passer.
The other common scenario is when a youth basketball player grabs a rebound, deciding who to pass the ball to is nearly an impossibility. The player will do like most other youth basketball players who grab a rebound. The player will put the ball on the floor and put the head down and dribble down court. If he is like most other youth basketball players, he will pick up the ball and run three or four steps before restarting the dribble. This is age appropriate and should be embraced. So coaches and parents learn to love the Hail Mary Huck.
As the first scoring move in youth basketball, the Hail Mary Huck will be chucked once players are old enough to learn to play at a higher level of basketball. But at the younger levels this should be a move that all parents and coaches learn to love and appreciate, because it is actually probably the only move that is age-appropriate at the youngest levels of basketball. So for parents and coaches to encourage a child to pass when first learning to play basketball, we feel is like asking a middle school student to complete a calculus problem. No matter how hard they try, they will not be able to do it.
Practice the Hail Mary Huck
Coaches should embrace the full court Hail Mary Huck by making it a a part of their warm-up or practice routine. Trying to teach players to pass the ball is not age-appropriate and it’s actually doing a disservice to the players. Teach the players the moves they will use right now this season. In kindergarten and first grade this is this is the only scoring move that should be practiced. As players grow older focus on more age appropriate scoring moves.
It is also important to remember that making a shot is highly unlikely in youth basketball. Players should be praised for being able to actually have a field goal attempt. Shooting the ball and missing is what most players do at this age. So if a player hits the backboard that is a step in the right direction. Coaches and parents can encourage the players by saying nice try.
Remember at this age it is all about having enough fun to come back to the next practice or game. Basketball buddies should encourage players to shoot at an indoor hoop. Shoot at the local playground. Or if a player and family are fortune enough to have a hoop at the house, go out to the driveway and shoot. Follow USA guidelines and be sure to lower the basket to the age appropriate rim height.
Looking at the big picture
We would be doing a huge disservice to our readers if we were to simply say the Hail Mary Huck is the end all be all for kindergarten, first, and second grade basketball. This is not true. There are many other skills that can be focused on especially dribbling. Dribbling allows all players to have multiple repetitions if each player has a ball in practice. Any coach would see incredible progress if the majority of practice time were focused on dribbling. We have many dribbling drills that you can read over to see and incorporate into your practice plans.
Improvement is the number one priority in youth basketball.
The #1 goal for all players should be improvement. The youth basketball journey is a long one and there is no way to tell who will make it to a high school basketball program, so do not try to identify the next Lebron James. Simply keep teaching the players
What’s Next?
Looking ahead, the next scoring move for this age group is the block shot. That will be the focus as the season progress and you can click here to learn more about the block shot.
We hope you enjoyed this post and found it helpful as you watch your young basketball player. If you are looking for more ways to be involved in a child’s basketball career check out our tips for basketball buddies.