When Garret Anderson is your Angel on defense

Today we examine a page out of the basketball playbook that came from an Angel.

Coaches are always looking for an edge, picking the brains of others and researching the latest and greatest in techniques, coaching methods and strategies, including highly motivated volunteer parents in youth sports.

With two boys, I enjoyed coaching for many years, including high school baseball (with no kid on the team). But coaching middle school basketball forced me to create plays to fit our personnel and learn more game strategies to develop a better team. It stimulated unforeseen competitive juices, while attempting to tweak my squad in the most positive way imaginable and utilize the players in their best of means.

As a youth basketball coach, the rules did not allow for the full-court press, except in the last two minutes of a game, and half-court traps were not allowed until the seventh- to  eighth-grade level, or middle school beginning in sixth grade.

Coaching was among the utmost thrills in my life, experiencing butterflies before games and contemplating the next game’s lineup as if something actually depended on it. Coaches have egos, and if any coach takes any pride in what they do, they give it their unsurpassed effort. The passion for coaching was easy, along with a sense of duty to represent the school or youth organization to its highest account.

Coaching for me was a white-knuckle rush. In my first year as a middle school basketball coach, it was fun to unleash all of the game’s components, from a court-entrance tip drill to the almighty full-court press, in which many quick baskets can be won if you have an athletic defense with good instincts.

As the sixth-grade coach at Mariners Christian School in Costa Mesa, the first time our team truly got whipped was against a team well-coached by former Angel outfielder Garret Anderson.

We had no answer for the half-court trap, as our guards struggled to make passes and usually turned the ball over. It was hard to watch as we dribbled up court and rarely even took a shot because of the suffocating trap. But we worked hard on improving afterward and learned a lot that day.

Anderson, inducted into the Angels’ Hall of Fame in 2016 and a member of the 2002 World Series championship team, schooled our team on our home court. The Calvary Church Santa Ana team that Anderson coached was bigger, faster and more talented than our unit, but what really tripped us up was the half-court trap.

At first when I realized who was coaching the Calvary team, I thought it was pretty cool. After all, Anderson played 17 years in the major leagues, was a three-time American League All-Star for the Angels and won the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game MVP in 2003. Anderson had more hits than any major leaguer between 1997 and 2003, except for Derek Jeter.

But once the basketball game started, it was obvious that both coaches clearly wanted to win, and only one, Anderson, would be celebrating the fruits of victory.

Later in the season, Anderson shared his insights with me about the defensive 2-2-1 zone, the half-court trap, and the special “timing” of it as two defensive players converge on a ball-handler at half court.

We dreaded playing them a second time – we got smoked, again – but Anderson was gracious and helped me realize the best play in middle school basketball. Trapping the ball-handler at the right time, at just the right spot, is the key to a successful defense in middle school, and my teams used it for the next three years.

We called the play “North Carolina” or “Kentucky” or some other school in the south. We barked out different school names to mix it up so the opponent would not expect it. It became the staple of our defense.

I talked to Anderson about it recently after bumping into him at a special event. “I didn’t know what I was doing as a coach, and I learned (the trap) from another coach, and it worked,” Anderson said.

So here’s a toast to GA and working out of traps.