AAU Basketball is indeed the devil

We had an interesting situation a few years ago with high school girls soccer.
There was a girl who was without a doubt the best player in the area. She played for a club powerhouse. Her school's team was the best in the area. She had a scholarship locked up with a high profile college.
But, she was continually away with the U18 national team.
Her school won the section championship with her scoring most of the key goals. She was a nice kid, not an ego-maniac. Her parents were over-bearing.
Our problem came when we were putting together the all-area team.
Should she be Player of the Year when she played only 8 or 9 of her school's 30 or so matches? Would we look silly by choosing somebody else when everybody knew she was the best player?
We went ahead and gave her the award.

 

This gets back into the eternal "all-area selection" threads on the journalism boards, but I've always had a rule that a player must play in a majority of her team's games in order to be selected POY or to the first or second teams.

Otherwise, "honorable mention."

Her parents, of course, would go nuts. The response would be, "if it was really that important to you to have daughter dearest named to the high-school all-star team, she probably should have played in at least half of her high school games."

 

AAU only goes to like 5th grade.
My kid plays 1st grade Upward... It was OK.
It could have been a lot worse.

 

AAU is only about 1 percent of the basketball that goes on in the summer time.

All the Nike-sponsored teams, Reebok-sponsored tournaments, adidas-sponsored showcases--all the sleazy crap that brings the Myron Piggie types out of the woodwork -- have absolutely nothing to do with the AAU. The only connection is that teams that have registered to be AAU teams have signed up for these tournaments in the non-AAU portion of their schedule.

Your summer basketball lesson, brought to you by Shaggy.

 

Relax, I apologize, I may have you mixed up with Bubbler or one of the other guys who covers/roots for mid-majors but I know we (we meaning, on these threads) had have some heated discussions about the AAU model versus the European model around the Olympics and other international competitions.

No, it is not even in the same conversation.

In fact, from what I’ve seen from the Upward program at different churches I’ve been to, it goes way overboard the other way in trying to stamp out competition all together.

In those Upward leagues, everyone plays the same amount of time, there are no standings, score is not kept if one team gets more than ten points ahead and there are no isolation plays or double teams allowed and, all together now, everyone gets a trophy….

 

When I coached, I was approached to coach an AAU team during the off season. I told them over and over that I detested AAU and everything it stood for, but players could not find a coach. Finally I agreed, met the players and parents, most I already knew. The parent that was trying to get me the most had a player who is now playing DI, so they were a decent group.

I go to a meeting and see one of my school players show up with a rival coach because they are going to play with him on his AAU team.

So I was forced into recruiting my own school players to play for me on my AAU team.

That was the second I walked away.

 

There is no doubt that summer basketball has more then it's share of scumbags. However this also provides a showcase for a huge group of players that otherwise would fall between the cracks of college recruiting.

I have seen this first hand with some kids from my area. One is now in the NBA and when he was a junior in high school I was told countless times that he was too small and slow to be a major D1 kid. He blew up on the summer circuit and was the best player on the court most every game. Soon the same coaches that said he was too small and slow(also too white) were begging for his commitment. There are plenty of problems with summer hoops but it does help many kids.

 

I'll play devil's advocate -- how come your school players don't have the right to play for whatever summer league team they want?

 

Because the ethics of a school coach trying to persuade his own player to play for him in another league is just wrong.

 

93 - the one thing I think that is RIGHT about AAU/summer basketball is that it gives kids a chance to play a different style of basketball with a different coach than his high school coach.

I think the more qualified coaching voices a player hears the better.

 

True, but school coaches wading into this venue is not a good idea.