opportunities for rising 6th grade girl

[Anonymous]

I'm looking for a "next step" for a really tall rising 6th grader who is very motivated in basketball and recognizes the need to up her skill level. She has previously done a rec league for a few years, a couple of camps, and driveway hoops with dad. She's not a stand-out player but could be with the right experiences.

I don't want to squash this drive with something uber-competitive but do want to help her meet her goals for something more challenging.

For winter we could do the middle school team and/or a boys & girls club county competitive team. But what is out there for the fall for this developmental level and age? We are in PG County and I recognize the need to drive, but I do want to keep it realistic and sane.

I recently heard of AAU so just read a really long thread on DCUM on that topic. It was full of acronyms like EYBL, GTS, and about a hundred more -- a literal alphabet soup. None of it made a lot of sense. And it was focused on very elite opportunities and geographic areas that are a bit far. Help! And remember I'm starting from ground zero here.

[Anonymous]

Where does she live? If she's in northern Virginia, then she should be playing county. It's comprised of teams fielded primary from rec leagues.

https://www.fcybl.org/zip-codes

The exception is if she is unfortunate enough to live in Arlington. They get to draw from all of Arlington and the teams are hard to make (doubly so if she doesn't already play for the Hurricanes) and players are restricted to clubs in their own counties.

AAU stands for Amateur Athletic Union and is just short hand for travel basketball. AAU as an organization used to organize tournaments, but now most teams will never actually play in an AAU even even though they're referred to as AAU teams.

EYBL is the nike sponsored league for high schoolers, you don't have to worry about that yet.

GTS is a girls club in Loudon

[Anonymous]

We have found navigating this to be really difficult for a girl who is okay/good (not great) at basketball and wants to get better. My daughter is also very tall and was decent in her rec league. We investigated a few 6th grade AAU teams last year but there were so so so many girls at the tryouts and they were really good. It just felt like we had missed the boat by not being a part of the system before 6th grade. My daughter found it very discouraging and decided to stick with her rec and school team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have found navigating this to be really difficult for a girl who is okay/good (not great) at basketball and wants to get better. My daughter is also very tall and was decent in her rec league. We investigated a few 6th grade AAU teams last year but there were so so so many girls at the tryouts and they were really good. It just felt like we had missed the boat by not being a part of the system before 6th grade. My daughter found it very discouraging and decided to stick with her rec and school team.

The problem is that people recommend the best club when anyone asks and those clubs are hard to make. There that go all the way down to being almost at a rec level but playing year round, the problem is that they are usually local so when someone says they live in McLean, no one will recommend Shots Up and when someone says they live in Lorton, no one recommends Vogues. That leaves everyone with the impression that these teams either don't exist or are rare.

[Anonymous]

The top AAU girls basketball programs for 4-8 graders in NoVa are below (general location in parenthesis):

Fairfax Stars (Fairfax Co)
Elevate Elite (Reston/Herndon)
Hurricanes (Arlington Co)
Potomac Valley Thunder (McLean/Bethesda)
Vogues (Vienna)
GTS Fusion (Unsure)

There are lots of threads about which are best, but I have found that the top teams in each are all generally about equal. Once you get into high school age groups, the Fairfax Stars totally changes into a national powerhouse, so its a bit of a different club compared to the rest because it is in Nike's EYBL, the top league in the country. At that point, Elevate Elite jumps to Adidas circuits, and GTS Fusion jumps to Under Armor.

But at 6th grade, I would look into whichever team practices closest to your daughter's school so you can make it to practices on time without much trouble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The top AAU girls basketball programs for 4-8 graders in NoVa are below (general location in parenthesis):

Fairfax Stars (Fairfax Co)
Elevate Elite (Reston/Herndon)
Hurricanes (Arlington Co)
Potomac Valley Thunder (McLean/Bethesda)
Vogues (Vienna)
GTS Fusion (Unsure)

There are lots of threads about which are best, but I have found that the top teams in each are all generally about equal. Once you get into high school age groups, the Fairfax Stars totally changes into a national powerhouse, so its a bit of a different club compared to the rest because it is in Nike's EYBL, the top league in the country. At that point, Elevate Elite jumps to Adidas circuits, and GTS Fusion jumps to Under Armor.

But at 6th grade, I would look into whichever team practices closest to your daughter's school so you can make it to practices on time without much trouble.

That list is what people are complaining about. OP said her kid was a good rec player, but wasn't on the level of the try outs they showed up to. That crosses off Fusion (loudon and wester fairfax) stars off your list because they typically only have on team. RVT and Hurricanes vary, but does not alway have a B team. Elevate can carry up to three, so that may be an option, but it's still a hard club to make. Vogues are not good and easy to make at every grade level, but if you get a certain Vienna coach, he's a screamer. OP, if you give us a location, we can give you clubs that your daughter would probably make

[Anonymous]

This is OP. I did say in my original post that we are in PG County. I know PG County is big and some areas are actually close to NoVA, but not so much for us. We are Hyattsville/College Park area.

Thanks for the replies so far!

[Anonymous]

PG Co is totally different I believe. Not sure there are a lot of PG County posters on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

I've seen the Pg jaguars play and the seem to be the level you describe. The classics are more moco, but they fit the description of what you're looking for

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've seen the Pg jaguars play and the seem to be the level you describe. The classics are more moco, but they fit the description of what you're looking for

Thanks. I'm looking into Classics. Looks like they just posted some info updated today! Do you know if you have to live in MoCo or do they allow outsiders?

[Anonymous]

I’m in Virginia, I’m just think of teams I’ve seen that fit what you describe. Maybe more of a trek, but the flames could be another option.

[Anonymous]

PVThunder could be a great option if they field B teams. Their A teams are mostly established.

[Anonymous]

PVT practices can be in NoVa, so not a great option for OP

[Anonymous]

Don’t know if Olney is too far OP but imo their sports are between rec and travel even though there rec.
my now rising 7th grade girl did it thru them last winter and loved it. She learned a lot. I think it’s very Coach dependent but we’ve done soccer thru OBGC too and been happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PVT practices can be in NoVa, so not a great option for OP

PVThunder splits between MD and VA for some teams. Other teams are solely MD so would be good for OP.