The first week he played with the youth team of a professional club, and the second week was with an amateur team in North Holland. I had a friend of the professional team who helped me during the first week. One morning I watched two teams scrimmage. As I watched I blurted out, "don`t get caught in a one-on-one!"

My friend, Jan, told me that I was wrong to say that. "The modern game is all about training players to go one-on-one all over the field." He had told me that before. I did not agree then and I do not agree now. What to do? What to say?

Enter an international basketball tournament featuring the best professional players in America against the rest of the world. The result was a humiliation for this country and the NBA. A disaster. I would like to quote from two articles in the New York Times. Harvey Araton wrote, "The notion that mastering precepts of the game like setting a screen and moving without the ball stifles creativity (is) patently absurd." He adds, "Maybe the Nets should have been sent instead of a disjointed pickup team." One coach was quoted as saying, "I think, deep down inside, we learned about the game of basketball. We have to go out and teach the game the right way."

The next day there was a follow up article. I will quote one line. "Players often freelanced themselves into one-on-one situations resulting in missed shots."

Wow! It sounds like the problem in Holland. One-on-one is creating a mess in two sports.

I still like Dutch soccer. They really know how to teach technique and at the youth level they teach tactics. Many years ago the national staff in Holland taught me to create numerical advantage near the ball. That means two-on-one, not one-on-one. I have written about this and will not dwell on that subject.

Teach technique, but also teach tactics. Create a numerical superiority near the ball. Most of all, avoid one-on-one confrontations. I do not care what Jan says, it is wrong.