How hard is it to get into AAU from rec?

[Anonymous]

6th grade girl who has only played two years of rec basketball. Strong defender, not very aggressive offensive player. Any chances?

[Anonymous]

It would depend on the team and their needs.

Some of it might be the quality of the club/team as well.

The way we see it now, is that it's kind of hard to get kids onto some teams at older ages (MS). Where a lot of teams have been playing together for several years. So there are very few spots that opens up for new players to try to get. There might be better chances if the team plays in mixed grade levels and a good portion of players moved onto the higher grade level.

There are some teams/clubs that take everyone and they just make more teams for that season. But then you have to question their quality of play. We know one family who joined a club like that and mentioned that their team was regularly in last place. And the next season I saw they had their kid back in rec.

I'm a big believer in defense wins games. But you really need to impress coaches at tryouts. And there are probably people that can play tough defense and score.

But it also doesn't hurt to try. So you can always send your daughter to tryouts and at the very least see what areas she needs to work and improve on for the next time tryouts come around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would depend on the team and their needs.

Some of it might be the quality of the club/team as well.

The way we see it now, is that it's kind of hard to get kids onto some teams at older ages (MS). Where a lot of teams have been playing together for several years. So there are very few spots that opens up for new players to try to get. There might be better chances if the team plays in mixed grade levels and a good portion of players moved onto the higher grade level.

There are some teams/clubs that take everyone and they just make more teams for that season. But then you have to question their quality of play. We know one family who joined a club like that and mentioned that their team was regularly in last place. And the next season I saw they had their kid back in rec.

I'm a big believer in defense wins games. But you really need to impress coaches at tryouts. And there are probably people that can play tough defense and score.

But it also doesn't hurt to try. So you can always send your daughter to tryouts and at the very least see what areas she needs to work and improve on for the next time tryouts come around.

Height matters as well

[Anonymous]

Nearly impossible.

[Anonymous]

Not hard at all for girls

[Anonymous]

My son made the switch from rec to aau in 8th grade. He went to about 6 tryouts and was offered positions on 2 teams.

He went from being the lead scorer of his rec team to the worst kid on a not very highly rated aau team. But he improved a lot with the higher level practices and training.

[Anonymous]

Is she tall and a stand out player on a good rec team? If not, don't bother.

[Anonymous]

Very easy. There is an AAU level for just about any kid. She's not making a top Elevate or Stars team, but she could make the Vogues or Flexxx or a dozen other small clubs playing low level aau

[Anonymous]

OP, I’d recommend spending six months or a year doing individual training with a good coach. My kid went from being the worst player on a rec team that always lost in 6th grade to being a starter on a very good AAU team and bench player and reliable scorer on a high school team whose starters all played D1 mid major or higher ball. AAU games did little to help that progression. What helped was (hard, uncomfortable) skills and conditioning training and playing 3 on 3 with college players.

[Anonymous]

Very very political.
Buddy up to a coach

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is she tall and a stand out player on a good rec team? If not, don't bother.

There are far more kids that play AAU and Travel than in rec teams. How can they all be tall and stand out players??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is she tall and a stand out player on a good rec team? If not, don't bother.

There are far more kids that play AAU and Travel than in rec teams. How can they all be tall and stand out players??

That doesn't sound right. There's one AAU team for Arlington but a couple of dozen rec teams each season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is she tall and a stand out player on a good rec team? If not, don't bother.

There are far more kids that play AAU and Travel than in rec teams. How can they all be tall and stand out players??

That doesn't sound right. There's one AAU team for Arlington but a couple of dozen rec teams each season.

Travel is not AAU. Arlington basketball does not have AAU teams.

[Anonymous]

Very hard - my DD tried out for some teams in spring of 6th and it was a rude awakening.

[Anonymous]

Do you mind sharing which teams she tried out for in 6th? I'm not OP but we're in a nearly identical situation with our 6th grader.

Anonymous wrote:Very hard - my DD tried out for some teams in spring of 6th and it was a rude awakening.