How hard is it to get on an AAU basketball team?

[Anonymous]

My 12yo DS loves basketball. He was recently cut from travel basketball. He only started playing basketball a year ago but has played many other sports in the past including soccer, baseball, tennis and golf. He has not done any skills training.

Wondering if he has any hope of AAU basketball.

He is at the top of rec basketball.

[Anonymous]

AAU is really broad (the best ‘AAU’ teams will never even play in AAU tournaments). There are teams that run the gamut from worse than bad rec to multiple players who will end up in the NBA. What area are you located in?

[Anonymous]

If he was cut from an fcybl team tryout, those teams are usually harder to make then most AAU teams.
If you have the money, there's an AAU team willing to accept him.
Where do you live?

[Anonymous]

There's a ton of AAU teams popping up everywhere. They will take anyone willing to pay.

[Anonymous]

OP- look at some one on one training through the winter and some of the lower AAU team to start.
Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- look at some one on one training through the winter and some of the lower AAU team to start.
Good luck!!

This. My kid started one on one and small group training when he was the worst player on a bad rec team. After a couple of months with a really good trainer, he was playing up a year and starting on a not bad mid-tier AAU team. By high school, he was playing on a team with kids hoping to make the NBA.

It's important to recognize the levels in basketball and recognize that -- contrary to the conventional wisdom that basketball is all about athleticism and natural talent -- most kids move through lots of levels. Kids need a base level of athleticism, but beyond that, it's really about how good their coaches and trainers are and how willing the kid is to train hard and do what their trainers teach them (e.g. hundreds of hours of form shooting in the paint rather than going to the gym and missing threes, hours of exhausting ball handling drills rather than playing pickup with their buddies). To me, that's actually the rarest thing -- seeing a kid who knows how to train and is willing to do the work. It's really mentally hard, and most kids can't make themselves do the work, so they go to the gym and play around with their friends and call it training.

[Anonymous]

Try Durant or Takeover.

They take anyone and are super easy to get on……

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- look at some one on one training through the winter and some of the lower AAU team to start.
Good luck!!

Op here. This is so promising. We live by Tyson’s/McLean. I would love to sign him up for a lower AAU team and some skills clinics.

Can you recommend lower AAU teams?

I have no idea how to find them. We are new to basketball.

[Anonymous]

Nova 94 is based near you and usually has a bunch of teams at every age group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP- look at some one on one training through the winter and some of the lower AAU team to start.
Good luck!!

Where do you find one-on-one training?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- look at some one on one training through the winter and some of the lower AAU team to start.
Good luck!!

This. My kid started one on one and small group training when he was the worst player on a bad rec team. After a couple of months with a really good trainer, he was playing up a year and starting on a not bad mid-tier AAU team. By high school, he was playing on a team with kids hoping to make the NBA.

It's important to recognize the levels in basketball and recognize that -- contrary to the conventional wisdom that basketball is all about athleticism and natural talent -- most kids move through lots of levels. Kids need a base level of athleticism, but beyond that, it's really about how good their coaches and trainers are and how willing the kid is to train hard and do what their trainers teach them (e.g. hundreds of hours of form shooting in the paint rather than going to the gym and missing threes, hours of exhausting ball handling drills rather than playing pickup with their buddies). To me, that's actually the rarest thing -- seeing a kid who knows how to train and is willing to do the work. It's really mentally hard, and most kids can't make themselves do the work, so they go to the gym and play around with their friends and call it training.

OP here. I sincerely appreciate your post. My child was discouraged. I know he will put in the work. As of now, he only plays with his friends and shoots in our driveway. He has only played with volunteer dad coaches. I will try to enroll him in some clinics and get him a one on one coach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- look at some one on one training through the winter and some of the lower AAU team to start.
Good luck!!

Op here. This is so promising. We live by Tyson’s/McLean. I would love to sign him up for a lower AAU team and some skills clinics.

Can you recommend lower AAU teams?

I have no idea how to find them. We are new to basketball.

The easiest thing to do is
1. Find some local teams. Go to a site like BallerTV and find local events (https://www.ballertv.com/search?section=events&text=dmv), then find some teams in your kid's age group and gender. Or go to a league site like Force One (https://www.forceonebasketball.org/results-other) and look at standings to get an idea of how the teams stack up (I think, looking at results, that the American conference in ForceOne would be less competitive one).
2. Then you can look on social media for information about those teams' tryouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- look at some one on one training through the winter and some of the lower AAU team to start.
Good luck!!

Where do you find one-on-one training?

We found my kid's first trainer by contacting HoopEd and asking for ideas. You can also ask around at camps and clinics. Also, a site like https://www.coachup.com/sports/silver-spring-md/basketball can provide some ideas.

Just don't be afraid to try several trainers and switch. My kid trained with 3 different trainers, and they were all good for different stuff. One, for example, was a great conditioning trainer, but his skills were bad and he shot worse than my kid.

One thing to be aware of: most trainers will train your kid to dribble and shoot, which is important, but you will have a hard time finding a trainer to teach your kid to dribble while being guarded aggressively, to finish through contact, to tip/steal the ball, to fall without hurting themselves when taking a charge or being fouled while making a layup. Those are super important things that most kids who don't grow up around super competitive basketball don't learn, and they make a big difference to how your kid comes across to other players and how much fun they have (i.e. do they look scared and seem like an easy kid to steal the ball from or do they seem like a kid that loves/looks for contact).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- look at some one on one training through the winter and some of the lower AAU team to start.
Good luck!!

Where do you find one-on-one training?

We found my kid's first trainer by contacting HoopEd and asking for ideas. You can also ask around at camps and clinics. Also, a site like https://www.coachup.com/sports/silver-spring-md/basketball can provide some ideas.

Just don't be afraid to try several trainers and switch. My kid trained with 3 different trainers, and they were all good for different stuff. One, for example, was a great conditioning trainer, but his skills were bad and he shot worse than my kid.

One thing to be aware of: most trainers will train your kid to dribble and shoot, which is important, but you will have a hard time finding a trainer to teach your kid to dribble while being guarded aggressively, to finish through contact, to tip/steal the ball, to fall without hurting themselves when taking a charge or being fouled while making a layup. Those are super important things that most kids who don't grow up around super competitive basketball don't learn, and they make a big difference to how your kid comes across to other players and how much fun they have (i.e. do they look scared and seem like an easy kid to steal the ball from or do they seem like a kid that loves/looks for contact).

That's why my kid prefers small group training. They learn how to play against against opponents. Even one on one, I've never seen a trainer not using pads to try and knock a kid off of their line during layup drills

[Anonymous]

My son’s friends train at Evolution. We’re planning to sign up my son too.

https://evobball.com/