AAU Basketball Newbie

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a son who was also a soccer player. He played soccer his entire life and started playing basketball at age 10. He played every other sport but not basketball. DS is athletic and did well in rec basketball. He tried out for both select and AAU teams at age 12 and did not make it. We naively thought he could show up and make the team like he did when he was 7 for soccer.

I still don’t know the hierarchy of the basketball teams. I tried to follow and read the threads. Some posters give helpful information while others seem to be mocking new to basketball parents asking questions.

My son has been doing skills training and practicing daily but I’m not sure if it is too late for him at age 13 and 8th grade. He could always return to his other sports but his heart seems to be with basketball.

1. Start with paid training programs like Evolution basketball, Pro-Fit, etc. there are tons.
2. Keep doing the paid training. Try out for easy to make teams that will take anyone who will pay them--if you post your location, someone might have an idea. These can be hard to find, but they exist. Look on the Sports engine app for teams. Pull up the Shots Up Fall League and go through the lists of 8th grade teams looking for some in your area. Make sure the team plays in local tournaments/leagues so he gets game time experience without wasting your time and money traveling for a crappy team. Keep doing the paid training because the training on these pay to play teams is not usually that great.
3. Once he gets more experience in games (with the low level AAU team) and skills (via the training), try out for better teams.

If he's in 8th grade now and you are zoned for public, he also may be able to join the spring green day workouts for his zoned public high school and play on the summer freshman league team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a son who was also a soccer player. He played soccer his entire life and started playing basketball at age 10. He played every other sport but not basketball. DS is athletic and did well in rec basketball. He tried out for both select and AAU teams at age 12 and did not make it. We naively thought he could show up and make the team like he did when he was 7 for soccer.

I still don’t know the hierarchy of the basketball teams. I tried to follow and read the threads. Some posters give helpful information while others seem to be mocking new to basketball parents asking questions.

My son has been doing skills training and practicing daily but I’m not sure if it is too late for him at age 13 and 8th grade. He could always return to his other sports but his heart seems to be with basketball.

Where do you live?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a son who was also a soccer player. He played soccer his entire life and started playing basketball at age 10. He played every other sport but not basketball. DS is athletic and did well in rec basketball. He tried out for both select and AAU teams at age 12 and did not make it. We naively thought he could show up and make the team like he did when he was 7 for soccer.

I still don’t know the hierarchy of the basketball teams. I tried to follow and read the threads. Some posters give helpful information while others seem to be mocking new to basketball parents asking questions.

My son has been doing skills training and practicing daily but I’m not sure if it is too late for him at age 13 and 8th grade. He could always return to his other sports but his heart seems to be with basketball.

1. Start with paid training programs like Evolution basketball, Pro-Fit, etc. there are tons.
2. Keep doing the paid training. Try out for easy to make teams that will take anyone who will pay them--if you post your location, someone might have an idea. These can be hard to find, but they exist. Look on the Sports engine app for teams. Pull up the Shots Up Fall League and go through the lists of 8th grade teams looking for some in your area. Make sure the team plays in local tournaments/leagues so he gets game time experience without wasting your time and money traveling for a crappy team. Keep doing the paid training because the training on these pay to play teams is not usually that great.
3. Once he gets more experience in games (with the low level AAU team) and skills (via the training), try out for better teams.

If he's in 8th grade now and you are zoned for public, he also may be able to join the spring green day workouts for his zoned public high school and play on the summer freshman league team.

This is all good advice. Agree 100%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a son who was also a soccer player. He played soccer his entire life and started playing basketball at age 10. He played every other sport but not basketball. DS is athletic and did well in rec basketball. He tried out for both select and AAU teams at age 12 and did not make it. We naively thought he could show up and make the team like he did when he was 7 for soccer.

I still don’t know the hierarchy of the basketball teams. I tried to follow and read the threads. Some posters give helpful information while others seem to be mocking new to basketball parents asking questions.

My son has been doing skills training and practicing daily but I’m not sure if it is too late for him at age 13 and 8th grade. He could always return to his other sports but his heart seems to be with basketball.

Where do you live?

We live in Tyson’s area.

[Anonymous]

If he wants to play winter county travel, someone in another thread mentioned that the Herndon teams will take anyone. Is Herndon too far for you? It looks like they are having open gyms all month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If he wants to play winter county travel, someone in another thread mentioned that the Herndon teams will take anyone. Is Herndon too far for you? It looks like they are having open gyms all month.

Try Annandale or Falls Church City as well.

For AAU, Capital City Thunder has B teams that are rec level. Also look into the St James team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a son who was also a soccer player. He played soccer his entire life and started playing basketball at age 10. He played every other sport but not basketball. DS is athletic and did well in rec basketball. He tried out for both select and AAU teams at age 12 and did not make it. We naively thought he could show up and make the team like he did when he was 7 for soccer.

I still don’t know the hierarchy of the basketball teams. I tried to follow and read the threads. Some posters give helpful information while others seem to be mocking new to basketball parents asking questions.

My son has been doing skills training and practicing daily but I’m not sure if it is too late for him at age 13 and 8th grade. He could always return to his other sports but his heart seems to be with basketball.

1. Start with paid training programs like Evolution basketball, Pro-Fit, etc. there are tons.
2. Keep doing the paid training. Try out for easy to make teams that will take anyone who will pay them--if you post your location, someone might have an idea. These can be hard to find, but they exist. Look on the Sports engine app for teams. Pull up the Shots Up Fall League and go through the lists of 8th grade teams looking for some in your area. Make sure the team plays in local tournaments/leagues so he gets game time experience without wasting your time and money traveling for a crappy team. Keep doing the paid training because the training on these pay to play teams is not usually that great.
3. Once he gets more experience in games (with the low level AAU team) and skills (via the training), try out for better teams.

If he's in 8th grade now and you are zoned for public, he also may be able to join the spring green day workouts for his zoned public high school and play on the summer freshman league team.

This is all good advice. Agree 100%.

I also agree that this is good advice. If your son really loves basketball and wants to play at a higher level, training with Evolution or Pro-Fit is a must at this point. Evolution has helped my son tremendously over the past few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a son who was also a soccer player. He played soccer his entire life and started playing basketball at age 10. He played every other sport but not basketball. DS is athletic and did well in rec basketball. He tried out for both select and AAU teams at age 12 and did not make it. We naively thought he could show up and make the team like he did when he was 7 for soccer.

I still don’t know the hierarchy of the basketball teams. I tried to follow and read the threads. Some posters give helpful information while others seem to be mocking new to basketball parents asking questions.

My son has been doing skills training and practicing daily but I’m not sure if it is too late for him at age 13 and 8th grade. He could always return to his other sports but his heart seems to be with basketball.

Where do you live?

We live in Tyson’s area.

For training, both Pro-Fit and Evolution are in Merrifield, so they're close to Tysons. For county/select basketball, it all depends on your zip code. Living in Tysons, you may fall under Vienna, McLean, and Falls Church. I would look at the zip code coverage for all 3 of those teams. Someone mentioned Herndon and Annandale, but you can't just pick and choose your team. You must try out for teams that accept your zip code. I highly doubt Tysons zip codes would fall under the Herndon or Annandale teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a son who was also a soccer player. He played soccer his entire life and started playing basketball at age 10. He played every other sport but not basketball. DS is athletic and did well in rec basketball. He tried out for both select and AAU teams at age 12 and did not make it. We naively thought he could show up and make the team like he did when he was 7 for soccer.

I still don’t know the hierarchy of the basketball teams. I tried to follow and read the threads. Some posters give helpful information while others seem to be mocking new to basketball parents asking questions.

My son has been doing skills training and practicing daily but I’m not sure if it is too late for him at age 13 and 8th grade. He could always return to his other sports but his heart seems to be with basketball.

Where do you live?

We live in Tyson’s area.

For training, both Pro-Fit and Evolution are in Merrifield, so they're close to Tysons. For county/select basketball, it all depends on your zip code. Living in Tysons, you may fall under Vienna, McLean, and Falls Church. I would look at the zip code coverage for all 3 of those teams. Someone mentioned Herndon and Annandale, but you can't just pick and choose your team. You must try out for teams that accept your zip code. I highly doubt Tysons zip codes would fall under the Herndon or Annandale teams.

Each team gets at least two out of zip code exceptions. A division 3 team might just need any body and willing to use their excpetion on him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a son who was also a soccer player. He played soccer his entire life and started playing basketball at age 10. He played every other sport but not basketball. DS is athletic and did well in rec basketball. He tried out for both select and AAU teams at age 12 and did not make it. We naively thought he could show up and make the team like he did when he was 7 for soccer.

I still don’t know the hierarchy of the basketball teams. I tried to follow and read the threads. Some posters give helpful information while others seem to be mocking new to basketball parents asking questions.

My son has been doing skills training and practicing daily but I’m not sure if it is too late for him at age 13 and 8th grade. He could always return to his other sports but his heart seems to be with basketball.

Where do you live?

We live in Tyson’s area.

For training, both Pro-Fit and Evolution are in Merrifield, so they're close to Tysons. For county/select basketball, it all depends on your zip code. Living in Tysons, you may fall under Vienna, McLean, and Falls Church. I would look at the zip code coverage for all 3 of those teams. Someone mentioned Herndon and Annandale, but you can't just pick and choose your team. You must try out for teams that accept your zip code. I highly doubt Tysons zip codes would fall under the Herndon or Annandale teams.

Each team gets at least two out of zip code exceptions. A division 3 team might just need any body and willing to use their excpetion on him.

For teams that are trying to fill out rosters, FCBYL looks the other way on zip codes

[Anonymous]

They also look the other way when D1 coaches are trying to stack their teams.

[Anonymous]

It's not too late. EVERYTHING changes once these kids hit puberty and some kids will drop basketball for another sport because it becomes impossible to do more than 1 travel sport well after 7th grade or even before which will open up spots. Have him go out for reputable AAU orgs for the spring season. There are a lot of roster changes and shifting to other teams as these kids enter high school and even once in 9th grade... unless he's short, if he's short with limited experience it will limit his chances. Height really comes into play as the kids age.