How Does a Small Italian Town Produce So Many Professional Players? With Francesco Rossi

This is the Transforming Basketball Podcast, and I'm your host, Alex Sarama. This is the podcast where we help coaches and practitioners change the way we think about basketball performance. Our goal is to create the ultimate resource to help make sense of how contemporary skill acquisition ideas can be applied within the basketball world.

Throughout the podcast, we'll unpack how an ecological dynamics framework alters our perspective If you're ready to join us in our quest to transform the basketball world, then this is the podcast for you. Welcome back to the Transforming Basketball podcast. Today we're taking a journey to Italy, Northern Italy to be precise.

And over the last 3 years, I had the pleasure of living in Borgo Manero and working with Coach Francesco Rossi. Francesco is the youth director of College Basket, And, you know, they've had so much success over the years, a small town in Italy producing numerous players.

So Francesco, it's a pleasure to have you on.

My pleasure, my pleasure, Alex.

So here's the first question for you, for the listeners. Borgo Manero, it's a small town, maybe 20,000 people. Yet despite that, you know, the results over the last few years have been astounding just in terms of, you know, we're not necessarily talking about winning national championships, even though A lot of the youth teams have been playing in the finals of Italy, but just the players coming through the program, the national team players being produced, how do you do it in such a small town?

But it's— I'm proud, of course, of these results. But the best part is that a lot of players that now are pro players, they were born in Borgomanero. I mean, we have apartments and we recruit players from all over Italy. But 80% of players that now are pro players, they are from Borgo Manero.

They were born in Borgo Manero, and I'm very proud of this. But I think that it's the methodology and the game that made the difference, and not me. It's not about me or the other coaches. We let them play. And so this is basically a revolution, but I didn't know that.

This was a revolution. For me, it was normal that, yes, we are playing basketball. Come on, let's play. And for other coaches in Italy, and now thanks to you, I know also all over the world, is something weird. It's like, I mean, I really believe that the coach is not the protagonist, the main dish of the menu.

I think that the player is the main dish of the menu. And so this is in some way something different.

I think that's great. And people don't realize, in the first year I was in Italy, I had the pleasure to work with you. I was the assistant coach on the U16— no, the U17 team. We obviously had a really good team, and, you know, just every practice was fun because we're getting to see the players play, putting them in different small-sided games.

And we're going to talk about the small-sided games later, but I want to first go back to the methodology a little bit. And I remember When you did a presentation, we had all the coaches at college and you were talking about the method of college basketball.

You spoke about play and how specifically now in the modern day, kids are not playing on the street and they're not playing games like you did when you were younger and other generations. And that's why you spoke about how we need to overcompensate for that in our practices by letting them play.

Could you speak a little bit about that for us?

Yeah, of course. I mean, in Italy we used to say that when a player is a good player and, for example, his parents were players, it's like a fault. Yes, but he's a good player because his parents were good players. So it's normal.

He was born with the ball in his hand. But it's not a fault. I mean, you cannot choose your parents. So this is just the reality of the thing. I mean, The best players are best players not because of the practice, but because of the background.

So it means that the good players, they are playing since they were born. So it's a kind of experience. So they have more experience than a normal guy in a town. And so for coaches, this is a fall because it's not the hard work that give results, but just the line.

And this is not acceptable for coaches, but it's the reality. So over the years, I cleaned up my mind of this, like the religion, like rules, and trying to see the reality. And then the method that we use in college is all about games because we want to give to the players more experience.

And over the years now, the players in Borgo Manero, they are sons and daughters of basketball. After 17 years that I'm working here, now they are all sons and daughters of basketball. They come to the gym at 6, 5, 7 years old, and then they know how to play basketball.

And this is really a revolution.

Yeah.

And so we With the players, we start from the game. We, you know, we just play. And of course, we as coaches, we help them to play in a good way. We create games, small-sided games useful to learn the game for real.

Absolutely. And it's, you know, you're creating specific small-sided games. It's not just kind of like rolling the balls out, let them play 3-on-3. It's everything has a reason and a why behind it. So going back to the methodology, Fab, what's been really interesting to me is it's like, you know, look at the other coaches in the college program.

Let's take someone like Teo, and they're all aligned to this methodology, right? In the youth sector, you know, it's Alberto, whoever, you know, they're using small-sided games. What I see in a lot of youth sectors, especially in Europe, is each age group is so different, right?

And it's like each age group maybe Not only do they do a different offense, but they're practicing completely differently. How have you been able to kind of introduce this synergy and this vision so that, you know, everyone is kind of working off the same page?

The main thing is that, as I said before, is that we are not the main dish. I mean, there's a way to say in Italian, I don't know if it's useful, if it works all over the world, but in Italian is The teams are the mirror of the coach.

No, no. I mean, they are players, are guys, they are people, they can think, they can be different from the coach, from each one. I don't know how to say. So when I talk with the other coaches, I used to say that we have to help them, it's not about us.

And so Which steps we have to do to make them better. It's not about us. We don't want as coaches to put our personality over the players. And when the coaches understand that this is the right way, it's done.

Yeah, absolutely. And that's obviously what I saw. Coming on, we often spoke a lot about all the structure that we were seeing in Italy in terms of how a lot of teams played at the youth basketball sets, schema, you know, all these things.

And you use what I call triggers out of a Princeton alignment with the high post. You're running things like off-ball screening actions, chain with back screens, flare screens. It's a conceptual framework. And I think a lot of coaches at the youth level think that the game has to be controlled very rigidly.

And we have to reproduce what senior teams are running, despite the fact, as you've said, youth basketball is a completely different sport.

Yeah.

So could you just speak a little bit about why you develop offense in a different way and what you think the benefits when players are growing up with this approach?

But I know that coaches, they want to control the game because they want to win the game and they think that their way to win the game is the right way. But I want that my players want to win the game. It's not about me another time.

And so I tried to develop Princeton's offense that, you know, the book, you translate the book also in a real English, not mine, but it's a way to put the players in the court and let them choose, choose what to do in any situation.

And they have to choose what they think is good for the game. They don't have to choose what I like. Is the reason why I don't do in the practice, never, all over the practices, all over the year, 2v0, 3v0, 4v0, 5v0. You know, I don't use at all.

Yeah, ever.

Because it's some way to decide as a coach what they have to do. I don't want. The only key of the game is the defense. If you don't put the defense, for me, It makes no sense. And I don't know if I answered to the question.

You absolutely did. And it's what struck out to me too, Faz, how you adapted, like you took actions in the Princeton and you haven't, a lot of coaches hear it and they think, all right, it's a continuous offense, but it's not. And it's like the way you've adapted it, you've basically give, put players freedom in and you've just taken the Princeton actions and put them as triggers.

And it's great because that's I, you know, you see players, they're learning and they're not just repeating the same pattern over and over and over again.

But continuity in the offense cannot exist since the 24 seconds. It cannot exist because you have no time to continue something. You have to, I mean, you have to choose a situation and then play in that situation. And our Princeton is like, Yes, we start in this way and then it's about you, player, what to do.

We start in this way and then we'll see and you decide what to do.

Absolutely.

And how to create a situation and how to solve the situation. And the key is the defense. So I have to put the defense in any situation, in any small-sided games, in everything. There's the defense, offense and defense.

And Farah, we're gonna come back to the book when we wrap up, 'cause it's actually not books now. We'll come back to that at the end and talk about what you've written. I'd love to shift to small-sided games. And I think this is kind of one of the unique parts of the college program.

And I used Cambio yesterday in London, and it's so funny because now I'm working, you know, obviously in very different environments, like big extremes this season. But it's like all the stuff that I was reviewing, it's like absolutely perfect for what we're doing here at the Lions.

Yeah.

So let's start with Cambio. Could you just explain kind of that game for the coaches listening?

Yeah, so Cambio is an Italian word, of course, and means change, switch, correct? And so this is a way to create a lot of different situations, fast break situations. It's a normal game, 4v4, 3v3, 5v5, as you want. And when the coach calls cambio, the offense has to score in the other basket.

And so it depends on the point of the court, it depends on the defense, it depends on the situation, I don't know. And the players have to change the mind immediately. And the situation of the offense and the defense is completely different. And they have to manage quickly.

In this new situation. And you put a new rule in Cambio that I use, that is the 2-second rule. You have 2 seconds to decide what to do. And so it's really funny because of the rhythm. It's a high rhythm, quick decisions. There is a story.

I was in Nice for the European Championship. You know, I had players there in the national team.

Exactly.

And a guy came to me and said, Hey coach, why your team in the national finals, your teams are always the team that use fast break more? I was like, I don't know. But the key is the cambio game. Because with the cambio game, you have to move, you have to run.

As a player, you really want to score in fast break. And so I don't know if the cambio is—

No, it's great. And I think the reason it's so good, just U-Passball, is because a lot of coaches run very kind of predictable transition. And even if it's like a small-sided game, it's super predictable because the players always come from the same place, right?

Yeah.

And where Cabio is completely different is because it's never the same. So they have to adapt, and that's why it's so good. Now, one of my favorites, Fab, was when you play a lot of small-sided games where you're also using cross-court hoops. You're not just using 2 main baskets.

You're really like intentional with how you use the space. So one game you do a lot, I don't know, I can't remember the name, but you have the 2 side baskets, they're playing, it could be 3-on-3, 4-on-4, and when the ball crosses the half line, they could choose to keep attacking or change direction at any moment.

Could you speak about that one?

Yes, yes. We call this game Slovenia because Theo gave this name. I don't know why, maybe he saw this game in Slovenia. I don't know, I really don't know why. But yes, we use this game basically without dribble. And yes, it's a normal game, but when you cross the half-court line, you can choose where to score.

That's great.

It's easy, but it's not so easy because you have to choose the half-court where you have more advantage, where you can cut to the rim and score, or you have more offensive players than defenders. Or some teammates is in a good situation to score.

As usual, it's random. It's not predictable. Yeah.

It's amazing just for vision and everything. Because with some of the youth players here in London, just, I'm not like, they're not aware of the space they have and where their teammates are. And it's just literally, we played that for about 12 minutes last week at the start of practice and just instant change how they started reading, looking, trying to find where their teammates were.

It was crazy.

But those are funny games. But, and coaches think that we use for with children. No, it's the warm-up with the under-19. There was the finalist last year for the Italian Cup, you know. I mean, this is the warm-up for them. So it's not like, yes, another time is like, it's funny and so it's a fault.

Yeah.

Why? Yeah, why? I think basketball is funny. It's fine, it's fun to play basketball.

I completely agree. So the next one, Fra, is the animals game. Now this is a really good one because we, going back to college prep in December, we had a game and a team zone pressed us and we, we did terribly against it.

You remember? And we spoke after the game and we're like, yeah, let's do, let's do the animals game. And, you know, sure enough without having to put a zone break in like many coaches do. We just play with Animals, and sure enough, the concepts, the principles of play get better within a couple of times of doing it.

So what is the Animals game?

Yeah, it's tough for me to— I know it's hard, but I can try. I mean, you have at the beginning 3 offensive players on the baseline or Just in the paint and they have to score on the opposite basket. And you have 3 defenders, one in a half court, one in the other one, and one is free to play defense wherever.

And so just only with passes, they have to reach the other rim and score. And yes, it's easy, but it's not easy because, you know, a lot of coaches do the 3v0 wave. How do you say this?

Exactly.

Yes. And a lot of coaches speak about the line, like in athletic field, like in swimming pool, that you have to go straight. But we have no, how do you say, for the train.

Like scheduled tracks. No tracks.

Yeah. There aren't in the basketball court. So the players can move in the space wherever they want, wherever it's useful to catch the ball and pass the ball. And so it's the first game that I use for To know the space and to play without the ball and to teach tactic because the tactic is not something difficult.

It's just the position of the defense. And with this game, you can see the key is to look at the defense. And then I grew up with 4 players, 4 defenders, and 1 per half court and 2 free to move, it's more difficult.

And I allowed one dribble.

Yeah.

So they have to choose where to go, if use the dribble, if don't use the dribble, which kind of shot I want to take. And so it's all about decisions. And I said to you, I remember, I remember, hey Alex, they did full-court pressure, let's do the animal drill because you can put also more defender Exactly.

More defenders.

You could change it however you need. You can change it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I use this game with under-15 every day at the beginning of the season, every day, because they have to stop to look. And the defense also, they have to fake, decide to attack the line pass or stay in the paint.

And of course, it's repetition without repetition.

Exactly. And I love too for how you spoke about defensive decision-making. I think people forget about that a lot in all these small-sided games. We're not just doing it for the offense, it's benefit of the defense too. It's so important.

So about the defense, I want to say something. For coaches, the defense is just to be aggressive, just to be, or zone, or to be aggressive. No, the players can decide what to do on defense. They can fake, they can attack, they can stay.

It's all about decision also in defense. It's really important.

So true. And I also want to get to player development, small-sided games, because I think, you know, we spoke about it a lot, like some of the one-on-one, those smaller formats. And one of my favorite ones you did is dribbling in a cage.

So maybe we could just finish with that one because I think again we see a lot of static ball handling in the basketball world, 2-ball dribbling, and you know, you don't need any of that when you have a really good small-sided game like cage dribbling.

Yeah, the cage is— I'm very proud of the cage. It's my favorite, the cage. Basically you put your point guard, if you have a senior team or under-19, you have the point guards, you put a player with the ball in the cage. You can do the cage with cones, I don't know, with lines, or I don't know, just as a small part of the court.

And you put a pit bull defender in the cage that the only goal of the defender is to touch the ball. There's no basket to defend, just to steal or to touch the ball. And of course, with some different rules sometimes, offensive players do ball handling really well without boring, boring, and boring, you know, exercises of dribbling.

And I put, sometimes I put the rule that the defender has not a basket to defend, but the offensive player has a basket to face. So basically he cannot turn his back.

Nice.

But he can put only the shoulder.

That's a great constraint.

And so with— it's easy. With simple rules, you create the game and you do ball handling, uh, some way.

Yeah, that's great. That's so practical. So, Fra, let's get now, as we wrap up the podcast, let's get to your books. So could you just outline, you know, where, where coaches can find those and just give some more information about those books in general?

But, uh, the one in English is free entry, and if you put Free entry on Amazon. There's my book in the book section, free entry. And it's about my conceptual Princeton offense. And there are also some small-sided games, some funny stories, you know.

And of course, at the end, something about methodology. There's the chapter, how to coach conceptual Princeton offense. Not only is it not like a set plays book. Right. But it's also about methodology. Then I wrote one another book. Right now is in Italian, but my friend Vitor is translating in some languages.

You know he speaks Japanese, Portuguese, blah blah blah, French, and and so he's translating in in other languages and is all about methodology and small-sided games. Of course, the cambio. Animals, all these small-sided games.

That's great stuff. And finally, where can coaches find you on social media? Maybe if they have a question from today's episode, what's the best way to get in touch and follow you?

Twitter, Fra Coach Rossi, and also Instagram, Fra Coach Rossi.

Fantastic. And I'd say, you know, anyone who can go visit Borgo Manero— we had a lot of coaches obviously come over the last 3 years, Fab, but I know you guys have a very welcoming policy to any coaches worldwide if they want to go check out a practice.

Yeah, they can come to visit us in Borgomanero. Borgomanero is a nice city and it's close to the lakes and to the mountains, so it's good also for visit. And close to Milan or Torino, they also can visit the area.

Yeah, I would obviously highly vouch for that. It's a, it's a shock going from Borgomanero to London, that's for sure. But, um, thanks so much for coming on the podcast today. Great episode.

Thank you. I hope my English is good enough. Absolutely, it is brilliant.

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