One of the most frustrating and time-consuming jobs of a youth coach is getting your players up to speed with the philosophy of your team. Perhaps they have come from another club or school, or perhaps they have just moved up in their age bracket. Whatever the case, the faster you can get them on board with your offensive and defensive philosophies, the more success the players and the team will have.
Some of the hurdles that get in the way of this are out of your control. The players might be new to basketball. They might never have played at a competitive level. Maybe they just want to have fun and their intensity isn't at the level you want. But some of the problems are learned behaviors from their previous coaches and programs. One of the best ways to overcome this is to set up a clear and coherent progressive plan for all the youth teams at your club or school.
In our opinion here at Helpside Hoops, we think Rick Torbett's Read and React Offense is by far the best solution. With its system of 17 layers that build progressively, it is perfectly suited to youth programs that graduate players into older age groups in the same club. Let's take a look at how it works.
What is the Read and React Offense?
The Read and React offense is a layered system of offensive fundamentals created by Rick Torbett. He is the founder and lead instructor of Better Basketball, a basketball training company with some excellent DVDs and a great approach to teaching the game of basketball.
The basis for the Read and React offense is the 17 individual layers that work together to create a seamless offensive unit ready to deal with any defense your opponent may throw at you. The layers consist of 2-player reactions that fit into the construct of a 5-player offense. Each layer addresses one read of the defense that the ball handler makes and the corresponding reactions by the other 4 players on the team.
What is interesting about the read and react is that it is a useful offense from the first layer. Unlike most offenses that require knowledge of all the working parts, like screens, cuts and rotations, Read and React functions out of the gate. It obviously gets better with each additional layer, but for youth programs, the simplicity of the system makes it ideal.
The 17 Layers
As already mentioned, the Read and React offense is built on a system of layered reads and reactions. These layers are taught one at a time to the point where they become habit. Then the next layer is added and drilled until it becomes habit. And so on.
The layers in Level A start off simply with the Pass and Cut. This is such an important part of basketball, particularly for youth players, that it has to come first. This layer gets the players and the ball moving as well as keeps good spacing. All of the 3 Pillars of a Successful Offense and we are only at the first layer!
From there, Read and React moves on to Dribble Penetration. This layer allows coaches to teach individual offense and defense. Coaches can also start to instill a competitive spirit in their team with lots of 1 on 1 drills.
The remaining 3 layers in the foundation level of Read and React look at Post Rotations, Baseline Drives, and the Direct Dribble. At this point, any youth team has all the offense it will need to be competitive.
Level B of the Read and React completes the framework of the offense with Layers 6 thru 10. Here, players learn Handoffs, Ball Screens, Reverse Dribbles, Back Screens and Staggered Screens respectively. Most youth teams could stop here. They would have learned all the basic offensive principles, and, hopefully, how to defend them too.
Level C is designed to allow teams to move out of a 5-Out set and into a set with some post options. That is not to say that Read and React cannot be taught immediately from a 3- or 4-Out set, but we recommend using the 5-Out for simplicity. It also helps create Positionless Players, a goal all youth coaches should strive for with their players.
Layers 11 through 13 look at further Post Rotations, Post Passing, and Post Screening. Here, the players can master the skills needed in the post. As youth players get older, they will start to differentiate themselves both physically and in their style of play. Implementing the post layers will give the players with a penchant for post play an outlet for their growing skill set.
As your team reaches Level D, they will be an offensive force. And now they will be ready to put the finishing touches on the Read and React. Layers 14 to 17 look at Next Best Actions and more specific aspects of team offense. Teams will master the Pin and Skip, how to attack Zone Defense, Transition, and the Second Attack, as well as Perfecting the Flow of the offense.
Why the Read and React Offense?
On the surface, the 17 layers of the Read and React offense may seem daunting. Especially for youth teams. This couldn't be farther from the truth. The concept of the layered offense actually makes it easier for youth players than most other offenses. As players learn each layer through repetition, they feel confident in their ability to run the offense. Even after the first layer. With this confidence comes a desire to learn more of the offense as well as greater comfort on the court.
The main reason we love the Read and React offense is for its simple approach to building positionless players that know how to play the game intuitively. With the rigorous repetitions involved in training this offense, players develop lightning quick reaction times to every situation in the game. Whether a drive, a pass, a handoff or pick and roll, players know exactly what their response should be. And they don't have to think about it. They just react.
The constant repetitions drill this immediate response into the players. And it makes them smarter on the court. Even if they move to another team that is running another offense. They can quickly adapt because they know what to do when different situations arise.
The Read and React offense, because of its layered approach, gives coaches time to concentrate on individual skills within the game. Take Layer 6, for example. The dribble handoff. Here coaches can not only teach the handoff, but also how to defend it. And different ways of defending it. Hedge it. Trap it. Whatever you want. With all the drills at this time being focused on the dribble handoff, you can look at every aspect of it. And the same is true for all the other skills in the offense.
Another reason we recommend the Read and React offense for youth programs is that it makes coaching so easy. If all the youth teams in one program are running the Read and React, players coming up from the team below are already well-versed in the basic movements of the offense. They are also used to the coaching style that is required to master it.
This also means that coaches of individual teams are only responsible for teaching certain layers of the offense. The very young teams will be focusing on learning the foundation of the offense. They will master the basic movements of Pass and Cut as well as the Dribble Penetration movements. As a coach of a senior team, you are starting out with players fully aware of how to run your offense. You only have to work on expanding their view of the offense. Just think how much farther ahead you would be if you didn't have to teach new players the offense every season. You could spend more time on defensive concepts, rebounding and set plays.
Who should use the Read and React?
Some coaches are blessed with a well-rounded team with a couple of bigs, some good attacking wings, and a point guard that handles the ball well. Well, they can run any offense. But what about you? But what about the team with no bigs? Or the team with no experience? The Read and React will work with any team composition.
Why? Because it isn't an offense in the traditional sense. It has no fixed plays or movements within it. It is a system of 2-player reads and reactions that fit into the construct of a 5-player offense. It can be run with a 5-Out set for the team with no bigs. Or a 3-Out set for the team with two or more bigs. It can be run out of a 1-4 set or a 1-3-1 set. It can be played against Man to Man defense, or a zone.
The Read and React teaches players to move intelligently within any offensive situation. The ball handler is given the responsibility and the freedom to read the defense as they see fit. The other four players will then react accordingly to that action. When these reactions are well-trained, they are immediate. This makes defending a Read and React team very difficult because all five players are moving as one.
Beyond its versatility at the set-up level (5-Out, 4-Out, etc.), it is also a viable option for teams at any level of play. Teams are using it at the NCAA level, all the way down to U10 teams. Because of the layered system, it can be run very simply or with the complex interweaving of all 17 layers. This makes it an effective solution for coaches at all levels.
It also makes for fun basketball to watch. With the amount of freedom given to the players and the quick reaction times, a well-trained team will be moving as one unit and breaking down whatever the defense throws at them. It is exciting attack-oriented basketball! One of the beautiful parts of the offense is that there are no wrong moves. Whatever the ball handler does, the others simply make the appropriate reaction. And everyone knows where the others will be after each movement. One machine with all its parts working in harmony.
Where to start with the Read and React?
This is surprisingly easy. There are dozens of guides, videos and tutorials online for the Read and React. Spend some time going through these, go to one of Rick Torbett's clinics or check out Read and React Offense: The Definitive Guide. It is complete with individual layer breakdowns for theory, drills and strategies.
The Read and React offense is a must-have for any club looking to build a strong program from the ground up. It will create a team-first mentality backed by solid fundamentals that easily transfer into skilled execution.
Do you have questions? Or something to add? We would love to hear from you. So, leave a comment and let us know what you think about Rick Torbett's Read and React offense.