without the typical response of you know nothing about the game, can the Hawk parent who is bashing his own son's coaches please explain how playing a zone is hampering these young man from playing defense when they get to high school
Man defense is significantly more complex than a simple 33 zone. On ball the defender has to know how to play his man from any spot on the field (vs one small area in zone). He has to know the footwork, how to open his hips and run, how and when to throw checks, how to recover when someone slides, how to handle picks, etc.
Off ball the defenders have to know who is the 1 slide, 2 slide, 3 slide etc in a constantly changing situation. Vs in a zone they are always in the same spot on the field so the slides are very basic. Man defense requires a lot of thinking, communication, and quick decisions. Zone defense is much simpler.
Generally teams out zones in when they think their defense is not capable of playing man to man. And a 33 zone is the simplest most basic zone there is. Essentially the hawks coaches are admitting that their defense is not good, so they will force an outside shot and gamble that the opponent cannot shoot hard enough to beat their goalie. This works until they are older and kids can shoot much harder and more accurately.
That’s the 30 second overview. There are many more nuances.
