Players like to play more than they like to practice. Mayhem youth basketball camps offer just that. Practice, however, is necessary to player and team development inside Mayhem's basketball club. No matter what you do as a coach a certain amount of practice is tedious and boring to a player. This is because practice involves focused repetitions of skills and decisions, and repetition is often boring. Our goal is to as much as possible increase the amount of enjoyment and engagement for a player inside of AAU practice. The best way we have found to accomplish this is to replicate the game that a player likes to play as much as possible in practice. A games approach has a more holistic relationship with skill and tactical learning as the learning is always anchored to the game because a game is always being played. In a basketball game, the decision and skill cannot be separated. Tournament basketball is played in an open skill environment. An open skill is a skill that takes place in a dynamic and changing environment. The opposite of an open skill, is a closed skill. A closed skill is a skill that takes place in a stable, predictable environment where a player knows exactly what to do and when to do it. This does not describe a basketball game, but coaches often drill basketball skills as if they were closed skills (training a skill in isolation – lay-ups, dribbling, shooting with no decisions or defense). For example, dribbling a basketball in space with no defender present could be classified as a closed skill. The dribbling is being performed in a relatively stable environment. When this same skill is performed during a games approach to coaching drill (small-sided game or 5-on-5), the player is faced with numerous defenders creating an unpredictable, unfamiliar and unstable environment. This same skill of dribbling is now classified as an open skill and will transfer to club basketball. In a games approach players develop an understanding of the game and identify the technical and tactical skills required.  If necessary we intervene to assist players with technical skills or discuss tactical aspects. Players practice the skills in conditions that relate to the game. Players are introduced to a game requiring skills that are both tactical (what to do) and technical (how to do it). Since the AAU environment is open and constantly changing, the movements have to be continually adapted. Skills are therefore predominantly perceptual.  A girl or boy basketball player must know what they are trying to do before learning how to do it. Coaches should always show the whole first, then break it down. Decisions and skills should almost never be separated. This is because every basketball skill must go through the open skill process so it is more effective to teach a player how to play in an open environment that simulates the game of AAU basketball.