Former Loyola assistant teaches Chicago-area kids to have fun on the court

ByLarry Snyder WLS logo
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Former Loyola assistant teaches Chicago-area kids to have fun on the court
Dave Adelman, a former assistant basketball coach at Loyola University, has spent the last decade teaching kids in Chicago to play the game with a focus on fundamentals and fun.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Dave Adelman is a former assistant basketball coach at Loyola University and other top programs.



For the last decade, he's been running Play Hard Hoops in the Chicago area.



What's unique about Dave's program is that while teaching the kids the fundamentals, he's also showing them how to play basketball with a focus on spacing and the inside-outside play prevalent in the NBA today.



"Obviously basketball has evolved to where every player plays on the perimeter today, so the one thing we really try not to do is say, 'You're a center, you're a big man.' We want all the kids to learn how to handle the basketball," Adelman said.



Adelman added that he never tries to teach the kids to dominate the game.



"I try to teach the kids the right play because if you're a good player, eventually you're going to play with other good players and if you learn how to make the right play, then you will continue to advance to the highest level in the game," he said.



Ultimately, Adelman wants parents to make sure kids have fun on the court.



"What's really important to me is that they say, 'Hey, my kid loves playing basketball right now,' and that's really the most important thing I'm trying to do," he said.

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