Go to another club then.
If you are south of Grand Junction Rd, Woodville or Western Magic, north of GJ Rd Centrals. Simple!

anon, 387

So you thinkyou have problems - have a look at the games won /games played totals for U12- U18's Div 1 boys.

Sturt 19.5/20
West 12/18
Tigers 12/20
Eastern 10.5/18
F/ville 10.5/20
Centrals 5/10
Norwood 9.5/20
Woodville 5.5/18
South 4.5/20
North 2/18

I think your U12's first years are doing fine in Div 1. I was thinking of moving my son down there and try to be part of that group. I don't think things are as bad as with other clubs.

does anyone from Sturt care to share their secrets as to how they are able to consistently have good teams from U10's/U12's. You would think that coaching takes a while to develop kids at these ages but they seem to have ready made basketballers straight out of the box.

How much training is involved etc etc. Just would be curious to benchmark it against what happens at our club.

Don't be too quick to right those clubs off Cat in the Hat.

Sturts ongoing success in 10's and 12's is simple.
Domestic Competitions and skill clinics.
Go to Pasadena on a Thursday and Friday night between 5 and 6, it will become clearer.
That is unless everyone thinks Sturt poaches under 10's as well!!!!

Anon, 781,

I won't bite on the poaching of U10's but skill clinics take some time to have an impact but it seems Sturt U10's are always good from day one.

At what age do you allow kids to participate in skills clinics.

Tigers used to run skills trainings for 5 year olds and that flowed on to major success at Under 10 level.

Do you mean Aussie Hoops??

IMO, there are a number of key reasons for Sturt's dominance at junior levels, particularly boys. My observations:
1. Discipline. Sturt boys are generally more disciplined and consequently can stick to a game plan better than un-disciplined boys. I often see their boys run to a very specific spot on court as part of their play.
2. Commitment. Sturt boys appear to be more commited to the sport. I doubt if any of them play 2 sports. They are not torn between football/soccer/cricket/volleyball etc and bball.
3. Parents. Are supportive of the teams and provide resources to their boys and the coach.
4. Coaches. Are experienced, cool in a drama and expect to win.
5. Game plan - defence. The entire Sturt defensive game plan seems to revolve around aggressive guarding and stealing in a trap situation. The defensive setup is typically full court press in a 2-2-1 zone. Against undisciplined boys this flusters them into turnovers and when in possession an easy layup on goal is achieved. They aim to keep the ball in their court for the game. Double guarding the ball is how they force errors against ball hogs.
6. Game plan - offence from back court. Sturt work well as a team and pass off more to open players than other teams. No ball hogs on their teams. When the ball is in their back court, the standard plan is a series of quick passes down court. A player seems to set themselves up on the soft side each play. If they can't layup, the soft side gets used.
7. Game plan - offence around key. Sturt seem to like to get their points in the paint. If they are held up around the 3 point ring, the passer always cuts into the key, or there is a cutter into the key always. Poor man on man D means a pass into the key for an easy layup each time.


Beating Sturt is actually pretty easy. It's about putting presure on them. Their aggressiveness is their defence weakness and they can get called for blocks and arm fouls which then puts the pressure on them, not you. IMO, their outside shooting is their offence weakness and so preventing passes to cutters flusters them into taking outside shots. They expect a high shooting % and so when they start to miss, the presure is back on them and so they then take risks.

These are just my observations, whether they plan it that way is another thing.

They may not 100% correct, but the trap approach seems to be the cornerstone of their defensive approach.
Beat the trap, beat Sturt

But to run traps requires a degree of skill and discipline especially when straight out of U10 into U12. Also in U10 a greater awareness of team play and the necessary skills which goes with that.

How does Sturt do that - or are they lucky in that kids have been practising skills from 4 or 5 and then turn up at Pasadena. I don't believe either of those. How much training is done at that level??

Just for information the Div 2 games won v games played. It is a little distorted as some clubs run two teams in Div 2. In addition Magic and Torrens Valley are included. Each of these clubs have 3 teams and each have two of those teams undefeated. I would suggest that some of these teams could compete at Div 1 better than some of the teams in Div 1. Also is this proliferation of clubs dragging players away from member clubs. Obviously the kids are happy playing Div 2 otherwise they would have moved.

Magic 12/15
Torrens V 12/15
Sturt 27/35
F/Ville 14.5/25
Centrals 7/15
South 7/15
Norwood 13.5/30
Woodville 5.5/15
North 7/20
Southern 6/20
West 4.5/20
Eastern 1/10

Some surprising movements between Div 1 and Div 2

any ten year olds play for fun anymore or are they checking hoops for percentage breakdowns?

Do West U12 have space for another player??

Just for interest - Sturt's under 10 boys only train one night per week - allowing them to play other sports on Sundays (such as footy and soccer) if they so desire.

Two of my son's went through Sturt under 10's
Yes they only train once a week, but the success is a very clear and simple focus.
All under 10's want to .......
Dribble with their heads down
Dribble as soon as they get the ball
Chase the ball in defence
Shoot wild unbalanced shots.
Boys going through the Sturt program are contstantly focused on....
Staying on one player in defence
Correct defence principles, body position, effort levels with no reaching
Both Left and right hand shooting and dribbling is demanded
Dribbling with heads up and passing the ball ahead
Having boys without the ball getting ahead of the ball and spreading the offencive floor

That's it.....simple, but it works
It is also a great preperation for 12's

with all this natter, plus referring back to a couple of other posts with NBA clubs and food, I thought, "If Clubs were countries, who would they be?"
(Please don't take offence, it's just meant to be light hearted and not serious)
West Adelaide (Australia)  you know you're at the Port when you see an empty packet of Escort Blue in the carpark next to a Farmer's Union Iced Coffee while someone brushes past eating an egg and bacon sandwich. She'll be right mate.
Centrals (Ireland)  like the Irish, are dreamers, this year is always going to be "the year".
Woodville (Scotland)  independent and strong, you don't mess with a Scot
Eastern (New Zealand)  the country cousins we all have to have
Southern (India)  vast and mysterious and no-one really wants to go there
North (Canada)  always seem to be around the place and make their mark felt at critical times
Norwood (England)  were a once mighty empire, they have a lot of members from far away places
Torrens Valley (Cornwall)  should they be part of England or not?
Forestville (USA)  their influence extends beyond their shores
Sturt (Germany)  exact, precise and efficient in what they do
Western Magic (Denmark)  small and resourceful. Punch above their weight class.
South (Spain) - proud heritage, up there with the big boys, but have gone missing of late

(Mod: Ball for effort.)

Putting the U20's aside is it feasible that North on the boys side could not collect a single point at the upcomimg State and Reserves champs. They are winning 10% less games than the second weakest club Woodville!

What is wrong up there - we need clubs like North to be strong for the betterment of the whole competition

Just a question on clearances.

1. Is it automatic that you stand down from playing for the rest of the season if cleared or only if insisted on by the clearing club.

2. If you can't play can you still train with the new club?

Thanks

no, yes.

An interesting stat on under 10's, straight from a group of slightly drunk parents, so you can count on the accuracy!!!
Sturt Under 10 boys Div 1
In 12 years under their current coach they have lost 11 games in total.
OK, give or take a few games, but we think we are close.
Amazing when you think about it

nah they pay the refs so they can win the next game and convince sturt refs to referee their grand final

But they lost the won that count last year - the GF.

From what I saw last year this grade was very close with West, Sturt and North all very very close with Norwood not far behind.

Hopefully this continues into the future - will make for some better competition