Northern Virginia Basketball...What's Missing?

[Anonymous]

Intentionally open ended question, but what are we missing in Northern Virginia basketball compared to parts of Maryland and DC?

Middle School Basketball is obviously lacking in Northern Virginia, but are FCYBL/Recreation Leagues enough to keep younger players interested?

AAU, we have a million teams all across the county, but it seems like the better programs across Northern Virginia don't compete well against the better teams in Maryland/DC. Not necessarily talking about teams like Takeover and Durant, but the more "grassroots teams as well.

Do we have enough gym space available? Are we missing out on opportunities that help Maryland and DC? Schools especially in Fairfax County and Prince William County seem overly protective of gym space.

Training, Evolution seems to work well for some kids, MVM as well. Lots of kids have personal trainers, are we missing out on larger organizations that seem incorporate everything? Similar to New World in Maryland, lots of teams, skill training, etc. Or are we not missing out on it, but just don't do it as effectively?

[Anonymous]

I don’t have experience with NOVA, but my experience of having my kid move from an AAU team in MoCo to a much better AAU team in PG county was that there were a lot of parents in PG county who had played basketball at a high level, so the general expectation of what kids could do was higher and there were a lot of kids who were trained by a mom, dad, or uncle who had played in college. I think that general knowledge base of basketball skill is much higher in PG county — kind of like soccer in non-US countries.

[Anonymous]

On the girls side, the NOVA teams compete with the DC and MD teams. If I could change anything, it would be to more evenly distribute teams. So many of the girls clubs are in Reston and Loudon

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have experience with NOVA, but my experience of having my kid move from an AAU team in MoCo to a much better AAU team in PG county was that there were a lot of parents in PG county who had played basketball at a high level, so the general expectation of what kids could do was higher and there were a lot of kids who were trained by a mom, dad, or uncle who had played in college. I think that general knowledge base of basketball skill is much higher in PG county — kind of like soccer in non-US countries.

Seems like an interesting perspective. You think that can be solved with more knowledgeable/better coaching? Training? I am curious for the NOVA families, what has your experience been with FCYBL, AAU, and High School coaches? Mostly good? Mostly bad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On the girls side, the NOVA teams compete with the DC and MD teams. If I could change anything, it would be to more evenly distribute teams. So many of the girls clubs are in Reston and Loudon

I have noticed this as well, seems like Fairfax Stars and Elevate Elite are both very competitive regionally and nationally, I feel like that is not the case on the boys side. And it does seem like outside of Stars and Elevate, the focus is on Loudoun.

[Anonymous]

2+ years ago, I moved my son from a "good" known NoVA team to PG county teams to prepare to play at higher levels of competition. Coaching is far better in DC/PG, training is more intense (lots of running), players practice more on their own with parents or hired trainers, and many teams play 9+ months of the year (with some stopping for fall football).

Gym space is often more difficult to get, at a higher cost than Fairfax county, but more trainers available in PG.

Also, most of the grassroots younger team coaches are volunteers, usually parents, but some community volunteers giving back.

Finally, all but one of the teams my son has participated on in PG/DC follow a cost-sharing model, splitting gym and tournament fees among parents, plus a minimal fee to the non-profit org sponsoring the team. Pretty sure I spend about half of what our friends spend for their kids' NoVA AAU team fees, and my son's team usually participates in 3 tournaments per month or bumps.

[Anonymous]

FCPS Middle Schools should have basketball teams. The demand is there at most MS.
NOVA has a shortage of basketball opportunities in general. There is a huge demand and not enough teams. It's unfortunate for so many teenagers that it's too competitive to play year round.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2+ years ago, I moved my son from a "good" known NoVA team to PG county teams to prepare to play at higher levels of competition. Coaching is far better in DC/PG, training is more intense (lots of running), players practice more on their own with parents or hired trainers, and many teams play 9+ months of the year (with some stopping for fall football).

Gym space is often more difficult to get, at a higher cost than Fairfax county, but more trainers available in PG.

Also, most of the grassroots younger team coaches are volunteers, usually parents, but some community volunteers giving back.

Finally, all but one of the teams my son has participated on in PG/DC follow a cost-sharing model, splitting gym and tournament fees among parents, plus a minimal fee to the non-profit org sponsoring the team. Pretty sure I spend about half of what our friends spend for their kids' NoVA AAU team fees, and my son's team usually participates in 3 tournaments per month or bumps.

As someone from Fairfax County, I find this to be really interesting. Why do you think the coaching is so much better in DC/PG? Just from anecdotes, lots of the bigger AAU organizations in Fairfax/Prince William County (Family Over Fame, Virginia Elite, Nova 94, Nova Cavaliers, etc.) all seem to have a good chunk of Varsity/HS coaches that also coach AAU/Travel. Players practicing on their own, completely understandable, and maybe that's something that you can't control.

And I feel like all of the teams in Northern Virginia also follow a similar cost sharing model? How are they paying for tournaments if they don't do that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS Middle Schools should have basketball teams. The demand is there at most MS.
NOVA has a shortage of basketball opportunities in general. There is a huge demand and not enough teams. It's unfortunate for so many teenagers that it's too competitive to play year round.

Do you mean from a recreational standpoint? What do you mean it's too competitive to play year round?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
As someone from Fairfax County, I find this to be really interesting. Why do you think the coaching is so much better in DC/PG? Just from anecdotes, lots of the bigger AAU organizations in Fairfax/Prince William County (Family Over Fame, Virginia Elite, Nova 94, Nova Cavaliers, etc.) all seem to have a good chunk of Varsity/HS coaches that also coach AAU/Travel. Players practicing on their own, completely understandable, and maybe that's something that you can't control.

And I feel like all of the teams in Northern Virginia also follow a similar cost sharing model? How are they paying for tournaments if they don't do that?

PP. To clarify, I was referring to the younger, grassroots teams in Maryland. I realize AAU teams for older ages are often coached by experienced HS coaches.
Some teams do charge for overhead but I assume they keep a reserve, have higher expenses, subsidize coaches with stipends, maybe hire trainers, etc. But, I was comparing cost-sharing model to the for-profit or pay-for-play teams in DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
As someone from Fairfax County, I find this to be really interesting. Why do you think the coaching is so much better in DC/PG? Just from anecdotes, lots of the bigger AAU organizations in Fairfax/Prince William County (Family Over Fame, Virginia Elite, Nova 94, Nova Cavaliers, etc.) all seem to have a good chunk of Varsity/HS coaches that also coach AAU/Travel. Players practicing on their own, completely understandable, and maybe that's something that you can't control.

And I feel like all of the teams in Northern Virginia also follow a similar cost sharing model? How are they paying for tournaments if they don't do that?

PP. To clarify, I was referring to the younger, grassroots teams in Maryland. I realize AAU teams for older ages are often coached by experienced HS coaches.
Some teams do charge for overhead but I assume they keep a reserve, have higher expenses, subsidize coaches with stipends, maybe hire trainers, etc. But, I was comparing cost-sharing model to the for-profit or pay-for-play teams in DMV.

At least for girls, Durant is always good, Takeover is usually good, the Thrill teams that I've seen are very good. The rest of the DC and MD teams are very hit or miss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS Middle Schools should have basketball teams. The demand is there at most MS.
NOVA has a shortage of basketball opportunities in general. There is a huge demand and not enough teams. It's unfortunate for so many teenagers that it's too competitive to play year round.

that’s strange. Arlington middle schools have basketball teams. Parents should push for that in Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS Middle Schools should have basketball teams. The demand is there at most MS.
NOVA has a shortage of basketball opportunities in general. There is a huge demand and not enough teams. It's unfortunate for so many teenagers that it's too competitive to play year round.

that’s strange. Arlington middle schools have basketball teams. Parents should push for that in Fairfax.

I agree x1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS Middle Schools should have basketball teams. The demand is there at most MS.
NOVA has a shortage of basketball opportunities in general. There is a huge demand and not enough teams. It's unfortunate for so many teenagers that it's too competitive to play year round.

that’s strange. Arlington middle schools have basketball teams. Parents should push for that in Fairfax.

I thought it was because it was too difficult to bus kids to play games, but now they are doing cross-country and track in middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS Middle Schools should have basketball teams. The demand is there at most MS.
NOVA has a shortage of basketball opportunities in general. There is a huge demand and not enough teams. It's unfortunate for so many teenagers that it's too competitive to play year round.

Do you mean from a recreational standpoint? What do you mean it's too competitive to play year round?

DP. I’m not certain if this is what that poster meant, but in Vienna, the house leagues are so filled with travel kids during winter, which is the only time they have them, that kids who just enjoy the game, but aren’t great or even good don’t really have a positive experience and get very little play and usually end up quitting. I can think of five boys in my neighborhood alone who quit by age 10, because the travel team kids on the winter league are so amazing (and they really are! Super impressive to watch) the average or still learning kids never got the chance to play or learn.