How effective is AAU basketball

[Bugeaters1]

Sherry Cole doesn't think that it is very effective.

 

[TZAHL]

So by paying a fee to be on a team that guarantees equal playing time instead of earning it ......while practicing 1-2 times a week while playing 4-9 games on the weekend..... doesn’t necessarily make you a better player?  

 

Color me shocked 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cazzie22]

AAU is a fraud and an unnecessary expense for parents to put their kids on “select” teams.  It is out of control.

[TZAHL]

3 hours ago, Cazzie22 said:

AAU is a fraud and an unnecessary expense for parents to put their kids on “select” teams.  It is out of control.

 

It is great that kids have an opportunity to play.  

 

Unfortunately many parents feel that athletic scholarships are the only way to help pay for the crazy cost of college. If people weren’t willing to pay, then it wouldn’t be so out of control. I think if a lot of families looked back at the cost and time put in to playing ‘travel ball’ for all sports across the board,  the vast majority of times the investment far outweighs the reward of college athletic scholarship money. 

[swmckewon]

58 minutes ago, TZAHL said:

 

It is great that kids have an opportunity to play.  

 

Unfortunately many parents feel that athletic scholarships are the only way to help pay for the crazy cost of college. If people weren’t willing to pay, then it wouldn’t be so out of control. I think if a lot of families looked back at the cost and time put in to playing ‘travel ball’ for all sports across the board,  the vast majority of times the investment far outweighs the reward of college athletic scholarship money. 

I can't say I know, really, but can you play on most HS teams at this point without playing high level club basketball?  

[TZAHL]

55 minutes ago, swmckewon said:

I can't say I know, really, but can you play on most HS teams at this point without playing high level club basketball?  

 

Most teams meaning class A and B in Nebraska?  I’d say most kids that are varsity contributors play on AAU teams.  It isn’t a prerequisite though. If you’re good enough you’ll play for your HS and you’ll get noticed by colleges if you are good enough.   Do they improve as a player  as much as they would from working out on their own or with an individual coach or good high school coach? Up in the air.   I’m guessing Marvin Bagley and Zion Williamson would still have been major recruits without playing AAU. 

 

This guy never played AAU.  He worked his butt off and played with his high school team (smallest class in Missouri) every summer even leading up into his senior season. He turned out okay. 

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/1728225

[redsteve]

A little history:

 

Before all the select team play started in the 80's....there were local little league baseball teams. Everyone in a given neighborhood (local area) could play in the league...."Little League" is still the pretty much same. Sign up ...you get on a team...skill level isn't a factor until you would get older and had leaned skills. 

 

The YMCA had kids basketball in the 90's too, where a few kids from a grade school could get together and play in a league. That too developed into an additional "club" teams where teams were put together....but usually didn't play against "school" teams. 

 

All the many select baseball teams started in the 90's because some kids couldn't make the roster of the few really good select IE... "club" teams, so there were lots of "upstarts" in the mid 90's...everyone gets to be on a select team.  Now that's predominate in girls basketball...soccer, etc etc  Boys basketball pretty much followed the same pattern in the late 80's.

 

This AAU girls basketball thing... is no different now...than "select" baseball has been going for 25 years or so.. AAU baseball was alive back then then too, but wasn't as big a factor then. 

 

So...like said...it ends up with some players (any sport)....that can't make the high school team...even after playing select play. They weren't good enough to make the best select teams to start with. And.....like said they just play game after game, after game...not much teaching going on.  Parents that invested time and money are upset little Mary, or Bobby may not be on the H.S. team, after years of "investment".

 

But...college coaches still follow AAU to scout players...double edged sword. Don't pay and you might not get recognized. So everyone plays anyway. I've seen it happen in middle school age kids...they get recruited to a High School. My nephew was recruited for basketball in the 8th grade.

 

 

 

[Cazzie22]

I have a big problem with girls playing club Volleyball during basketball season.  Make a commitment to your teammates!   AAU will ruin High School Athletics except in football.

 

i was coaching a Middle School BB in suburban Austin and we had a weekend tournament scheduled.  One of my best players informed me he couldn’t play because he had a “select” soccer tournament in Chicago!  Situations like this leave your teammates in the lurch.  My preference would be to cut a kid that put AAU ahead of the school team.

[huskerchode]

AAU and club works for some kids, but for many it really doesn't.  Drawing on my own brief experience with my daughter in a couple of club sports (soccer and basketball) in Omaha/Lincoln areas - the least athletic kids I've ever seen in my life were on expensive club soccer teams in Omaha.  They had a lot of fun playing on teams that were competitive in the area (although not as competitive regionally or nationally) and traveling all over the country (and sometimes outside of the country) to play in tournaments.  Parents and kids had a blast.  Then kid got burned out or didn't make the HS team or just decided to quit. 

 

I wasn't one to throw money at a club just to get my kid on a team and I certainly didn't play politics to get my kid on a club team or a HS team, but we did manage to find a soccer club and a basketball club that rewarded effort and skill and those were two very good experiences for her.  But I would say there are fewer of those clubs out there than there should be. 

 

She was involved in HS sports in class C and then class A.  Both of those schools had head coaches that told her she needed to give up other sports to focus solely on basketball.  She didn't want to do that, so she walked away from basketball but still played on coed intramural basketball teams in HS and had a lot of fun playing with the guys.  In fact, there were around half a dozen girls we knew that were very good club basketball players and could have played varsity in HS had they wanted to give up other sports, but they refused so they played intramurals instead and wound up getting college scholarships in sports other than basketball.  I hated to see stuff like that, but it is what it is.

[swmckewon]

2 hours ago, Cazzie22 said:

I have a big problem with girls playing club Volleyball during basketball season.  Make a commitment to your teammates!   AAU will ruin High School Athletics except in football.

 

i was coaching a Middle School BB in suburban Austin and we had a weekend tournament scheduled.  One of my best players informed me he couldn’t play because he had a “select” soccer tournament in Chicago!  Situations like this leave your teammates in the lurch.  My preference would be to cut a kid that put AAU ahead of the school team.

Teammates don't get you a scholarship, though. 

 

I'm not defending it. But I feel like it's reached the point where, if my kid wanted to play HS basketball or softball or volleyball, we'd have to sign her up for club teams that go all summer in order to make it happen. Otherwise, not happening. Too many parents with the money and resources to do it, and the HS coaches rely on the club teams to tell them what's what. 

 

How often is a HS hoops coach, for example, surprised in a freshman tryout? Don't they know all of the best players already in the gym before they walk in? Maybe they don't. 

[Cazzie22]

In Texas they want FB players to make the basketball teams in Midle School.  Thankfully, my Middle School FB coordinator mentioned a kid in PE that might be a good player.  We only had three days to select 22 kids from 60 or so.