Still looking for basketball opportunities
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Anonymous
| Our DD (11) didn’t make the two AAU teams she tried for. It seemed there weren’t many open spots. She would still like to play. Are there any tryout opportunities left? Or any other team basketball options for us to pursue. We are in MD but would travel. |
Anonymous
| Look for a spring rec league nearby. |
Anonymous
|
NP-Not sure how to track down spring leagues….
Following! Are those competitive? |
Anonymous
| Have you checked out PPA? |
Anonymous
Probably not that competitive but frankly it’s pretty low bar for a ten year old girl to make a travel team, and your daughter didn’t make one, so rec would be fine. |
Anonymous
For boys it depends entirely on WHICH AAU teams she tried out for. I assume it’s the same for girls. OP, it might make more sense to look for skill development opportunities — small group or individual training. Most kids will learn nothing from rec because most people who coach rec are kind and generous people who know next to nothing about teaching basketball skills. Basketball is extremely trainable. Everybody loves to talk about talent, but most of what people call talent is really just putting in the effort to learn skills. My kid’s trainer (an ex pro and pro coach) was adamant that he could teach any averagely athletic kid who (was willing to work crushingly hard) to be an above average high school varsity player. My kid went from very, very bad to being one of the best on a travel team (where he played up a year) with about 18 months of individual training and small group play (mostly 3 on 3). |
Anonymous
|
Agree with posters above to pursue skill training and small leagues run by trainers. We are in similar situation with my son. He didn’t make the 2 strong teams but made 2 weaker teams with skill levels just above rec but a lot more expensive to play for a spring season. So we are considering playing for a small team run by his trainer to get exposure to league play that will also provide guided training.
Your daughter can contact teams next fall to ask about open gyms and off season leagues. My sons last team picked up new players in fall. Also very important to scope out all the competition so take your daughter to several tournaments to watch the teams she may be interested in joining and especially to watch coaches (do they yell a lot, play the bench?) I’m not familiar with MD training but these 2 are popular and offer a free trial session. You should also ask to observe a small group class and their in house leagues. https://evobball.com/ https://tru2formhoops.com/ |
Anonymous
which trainer is this? |
Anonymous
For ten year old girls basketball, the bar for making an AAU team is really low. |
Anonymous
I think for 10yrs, it could be low but our DD is decent but the teams she tried didn’t tell us why they didn’t take her. It is disheartening and she still seems committed. Have all teams tried out? We would still look. We will do skills clinics but really want to get her game experience. |
Anonymous
| Check out Classics. Someone mentioned PPA - that might be an option also - they have a premiere league with tryouts and a development league with no tryouts - just register and she will be placed in a team. |
Anonymous
| Does MADE have girls' teams? SPD Basketball is good for developmental play. Does KOA have girls teams? |
Anonymous
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I’m not familiar with girls teams but I know most younger boys teams finished tryouts and made offers already. Why don’t you dig through these archives to find mention of girls teams and try to contact the coaches? In the meantime find a pay to play team and trainer to prepare your DD for the next level of play. Definitely sign up for summer girls basketball camps (good ones fill up quickly).
In addition to training places listed above, try Pat the Rock and HoopEd. |
Anonymous
Sorry, this is a bit of a rant. I think it's important to distinguish between "developmental" and "pay to play." Developmental groups will ideally take anyone, but they will demand kids learn skills and hold kids to a high standard (e.g. if you don't sprint during drills, you're kicked out of the workout). Pay to play teams will take your money and assure you that your kid is on a super elite team, despite that fact that they may be very, very many levels down the overall hierarchy of teams. We had no idea when my kid started travel ball how many levels existed, how different they were, and how much difference coaching makes. Lots of teams exist that will take your money, put your kid out on the floor with a disinterested or incompetent coach on the sidelines (even if they are "professional coach" and a former D1 or international player) and let them get sink or swim with no effective coaching. Those same teams will enroll your kid's team to compete in big HoopGroup or Elevate tournaments and essentially blame the kids when they get blown out or can't get the ball past half court. Also, they may not tell you that those tournaments have 4 or 5 divisions, and your kid's team traveled to, for example, Atlanta to play in the lowest division against competition weaker than most local teams. This was our experience with DS's first team -- a total "pay to play" experience. In contrast, when DS moved to a better coached team, suddenly he was like a different player because he was actually being coached. So, my advice would be to first work on basic skills. I'm not sure what this is for 10U girls, but for 7th grade boys it would be something 20 correct, full speed layups in a row with both hands, >90% makes on reverse layups, can make 8 out of 10 free throws, can dribble up and down court staying very low and pounding a ball with each hand looking up without losing either ball, can dribble full speed looking up with either hand (and FULL SPEED is really important --- lots of kids who are early cuts in tryouts are kids who seem to do everything in slow motion). It's important to note that all of these skills can be learned by any averagely athletic kid if they put in the time AND they know how to practice (which they won't until they are taught). Unless you're a basketball coach, skilled individual training is important here because kids will insist on doing things the easy way, not the right way AND they will absolutely think they are doing things correctly when they are not -- most people who aren't super athletes do not have the proprioceptive sense to know what their body is actually doing versus what they think it's doing. Once your kid has basic skills, look for an opportunity for your kid to play lots of 2 on 2 or 3 on 3 with coaching to try to learn how basketball works as a team sport - screen and roll, give and go, pick and pop, hedging a screen, switching, all the basic mechanics of the team game. Then, try to find a successful team with strong coaching so that they can learn the 5 on 5 game. One way to know if a team is well coached is to see if the coaches adjust positions and personnel to help the team as the game goes along. A good coach will yell something like "Sarah, she's going left every time", and suddenly Sarah takes away the left hand drive on defense. Also, look for teams where kids seem to know what to do at all times (not just 4 kids ball watching while a point guard with delusions of being Kyrie dribbles too much). Look for teams that run back on defense every time and teams where kids cheer each other a lot -- well coached teams will cheer like crazy when a bench player scores or gets a block, because they know good minutes off the bench mean that starters can go harder when they are back in the game. If you are willing to invest the time before your kid is ready to do tryouts, going to some local tournaments or league games and watching teams play (and coaches coach) can be really illuminating. |
Anonymous
| * with each hand = pounding two balls at the same time. |