Every discipline has a unique vocabulary and background. During high school, our defensive system used numbers to describe the type of defense (first digit) and extent of floor coverage (second digit).
With an experienced (eight seniors) team, complexity was simple. Coaching youth players, we're more likely to confuse ourselves than opponents. Telling them (and the opposition) that we're running "Horns" or high ball screen isn't revealing state secrets. The old Celtics ran six plays and the Green Bay Packers won five championships in seven years with power football execution, not trickery.
But players need to learn the why, advantages and flexibility of a given approach (spacing, opening the middle, removing natural weak side help).
If we run a 'spread' offense, it matters not whether we call it spread, out, open, 50, or donuts. I want them to explore how to play, not focus on 'running plays'.
Conversely, against "better" coaches, their predictability should help us. If we know they switch everything close and late, take advantage.
We introduce 'concepts' like triangle offense, Flex, or UCLA but I believe learning how to play outperforms executing a specific offense. Winning at the next level (high school) carries more gravitas than middle school victories. Spending hours learning how to execute an offense that they won't use at the next level doesn't prepare them, but teaching concepts does.
Everyday offense teaches players how to read and defend screens with terms like curl, pop, and bump, or hedge (show, fake trap), through, under, Ice, blitz, et cetera. Even if players understand the concepts, they still fail without communication.
So why the Periodic Table? We're not ready for "breadcrumbs" and spelling out words like Endeavour (Season 1), where Detective Constable Morse uses hymn numbers to decipher a killer's identity. But we can learn the basic elements 1 - 5 to run isolations. Plus, there's no downside to learning basic science.
(Common uses for low number periodic table elements...)
H - industrial chemical reactant and refining
He - medical application (low density gas inhalation - rare, MRI)
Li - batteries
Be - defense industry electronics (significant health risks when inhaled)
B - cleaning products, insecticides, insulation
I heard of a case where someone tried to poison their spouse with boric acid ("Croak-a-Roach") on their cheese sandwich...a poor substitute for mustard.
Lagniappe: Well-executed ball screens create problems for "individual assignment" defense. Simple is hard to stop.
Core play with option for Corner 3 if x3 helps.
Or design the ball screen to set up back cut action.
The Thibodeau Chicago Bulls liked to run the pick-and-roll to set up an elbow jump shot during the "dinosaur days" of mid-range scoring (in middle school, we still do).
