Lower level AAU basketball teams with B and C teams

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OK, my son played in FCYBL for this age group and I have seen most of these teams.

McLean's second team was not good. He has a chance at making that OR the Falls Church team which played in the lowest division. The Vienna second team was also pretty weak but I think would be hard to break into.

So prioritize: (1) McLean, (2) Falls Church
(3) Vienna/Great Falls. Take him to the open gyms and reach out to the coaches ahead of time.

If you are OK with a drive, two other options are Herndon (may be hard up for players), FPYC (their second team was really not good) or Gum Springs (2 teams, both average). But it can get old driving in the dark on weeknights all winter long to far away practices-its a long season.

If he's not in the assigned zip codes, the coaches have to be willing to use an exception on him.

My son felt not supported by us last year. We were more focused on siblings and kept pushing this kid to continue with the sports and activities he had been doing previously.

We are all in for basketball and we are making basketball the priority. I’m willing to drive. We will take any team that will take him whether that is Herndon or Chantilly.

[Anonymous]

Also Springfield (SYC) didn't have enough players for a team last year so that's another good target for you.

[Anonymous]

Do any of his friends play on any of the local teams? Sometimes it helps to have an in.

[Anonymous]

Make a note of all the targeted teams open gyms. Spend Sept going to open gyms (it will be good free training) and checking out how good the other players are. Then by tryout week, you will know where you want to focus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make a note of all the targeted teams open gyms. Spend Sept going to open gyms (it will be good free training) and checking out how good the other players are. Then by tryout week, you will know where you want to focus.

How do I find these open gyms?

Last year, a friend told us to go to workouts but I had no idea where to find these. Is a workout the same as an open gym?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make a note of all the targeted teams open gyms. Spend Sept going to open gyms (it will be good free training) and checking out how good the other players are. Then by tryout week, you will know where you want to focus.

How do I find these open gyms?

Last year, a friend told us to go to workouts but I had no idea where to find these. Is a workout the same as an open gym?

Yes, same thing.
Look on the websites for the different organizations and some will have started listing open gyms/workouts for Sept.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make a note of all the targeted teams open gyms. Spend Sept going to open gyms (it will be good free training) and checking out how good the other players are. Then by tryout week, you will know where you want to focus.

How do I find these open gyms?

Last year, a friend told us to go to workouts but I had no idea where to find these. Is a workout the same as an open gym?

Yes, same thing.
Look on the websites for the different organizations and some will have started listing open gyms/workouts for Sept.

Follow them on instagram. Most clubs maintain their instagram accounts much better than their websites. See if there are e-mail lists you can sign up for

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make a note of all the targeted teams open gyms. Spend Sept going to open gyms (it will be good free training) and checking out how good the other players are. Then by tryout week, you will know where you want to focus.

How do I find these open gyms?

Last year, a friend told us to go to workouts but I had no idea where to find these. Is a workout the same as an open gym?

Yes, same thing.
Look on the websites for the different organizations and some will have started listing open gyms/workouts for Sept.

Follow them on instagram. Most clubs maintain their instagram accounts much better than their websites. See if there are e-mail lists you can sign up for

AAU teams have social media, its uncommon for community basketball orgs to post on instagram. They still all use websites.

[Anonymous]

Here is the link to all of the FCYBL member clubs. Many have not yet posted tryout info but several are hosting skills training now at a cost.

https://www.fcybl.org/fcybl-member-clubs

Here is the list of zip codes.

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

If your DC is new to the team/program or unknown to coaches, prioritize trying out for your home zip code team (unless its a top team like Mclean or Vienna). Zip code exceptions are hard to come by unless your DC is an AAU player of the coach, very tall or very very good--enough to bump a former player.

[Anonymous]

Its pretty far for you but I just got an email that Willis Diggs basketball academy is having fall team tryouts. They are low level.

[Anonymous]

If he is a relatively new player,


NO WAY he will make a PYBL team or a towns Select travel teams. Too much competition.

Best is to play in your town’s house league. Get good experience as play time is guaranteed, unlike travel. Also get a good skill trainer, like Evolution or Pro-Skills.

Then in spring try out for a lower level AAU team or maybe play Little Legends to get some extra game experience if you don’t make an AAU team.

[Anonymous]

It's so sad that "he started at 11" means he's too late.

[Anonymous]

Not sure if this is something that would interest him, but Pro Fit has a 3v3 league starting this weekend:

https://profitathletes.com/3v3-league-2024/

Apparently registration closes tonight (Wednesday the 2nd) at midnight.

We haven't tried this program, but from past experience (Arlington summer 3v3) even with disparate skill levels 3v3 can be a good place to hone skills and have fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's so sad that "he started at 11" means he's too late.

I guess but if you read the OP's post it talks about playing travel soccer and to me that reads they were all in on soccer until it became apparent their son wasn't going to move up the ranks and moved to another sport.

This isn't unusual - soccer is probably one of the worst youth sports out there for being required to be "all in" at way too early of an age. It is likely because of the view by many soccer/club programs is that they want to move to what happens in Europe where professional soccer clubs run academies attempting to find young kids and train them until they join the top end club. Many US soccer/club programs think the only way to compete with that model is to push kids at younger and younger ages into soccer only mode.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's so sad that "he started at 11" means he's too late.

I guess but if you read the OP's post it talks about playing travel soccer and to me that reads they were all in on soccer until it became apparent their son wasn't going to move up the ranks and moved to another sport.

This isn't unusual - soccer is probably one of the worst youth sports out there for being required to be "all in" at way too early of an age. It is likely because of the view by many soccer/club programs is that they want to move to what happens in Europe where professional soccer clubs run academies attempting to find young kids and train them until they join the top end club. Many US soccer/club programs think the only way to compete with that model is to push kids at younger and younger ages into soccer only mode.

Op here. My son was very good at soccer. He stopped playing because he liked basketball more, not because he could not move up. He also played golf, tennis, baseball, swim, football in elementary. The only sport he did not play was basketball.