At what age does a kid need to start playing basketball to make the varsity team by high school?

[Anonymous]

This was my DD but she played rec through 4th and started travel at 5th grade. The problem with not starting travel earlier is you will not easily break into a good team.
She also did individual and group lessons each week starting in 6th or 7th grade. She played at a Catholic HS.
DS did the same and was a 6’1 freshman and did not make the freshman team.

[Anonymous]

Impossible question to answer without knowing the gender and the school.

My son (6’”5, 50% three point shooter) was the very end of the bench on the varsity team at a nationally ranked high school as a freshman - they literally put him in when up 30 and ran plays to have the kid at the end of the bench get transition dunks to annoy teams they were beating.

He went to practice with his cousin in Ohio and was much better at everything (like 1-5) than the varsity captains.

[Anonymous]

By three years old. Get them into travel basketball by the time they are six. They should be playing basketball in Europe every summer by the time they’re 10 years old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let’s assume the kid will be 6’0” by high school, so a pretty average height

IMO it's mostly just a matter of reps. Doesn't really matter if they do those reps over a long period of time building up or somewhat intensively over a couple of summers.

I say mostly, because there are some things to consider. When it comes to basketball athleticism, the slowest things to develop are those ligaments and tendons. This is where it really helps to start younger and take your time, hopefully develop good technique for all that jumping, cutting stopping on a dime. I know kids that have started later than my daughter, they caught up pretty quickly by doing several AAU teams at the same time and camps all summer, but then they had some injuries a combination of overuse, not being developed fully and bad technique.

Though, there is a substantial amount of coachability also. Like if you went through your middle school, JV programs and can understand what the coaches are asking you to do, they may keep you around over other kids especially if you're looking at riding the bench most the time. There were kids that tried out later in my high school program, they had a late growth spurt but just didn't understand a thing the coach said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Impossible question to answer without knowing the gender and the school.

My son (6’”5, 50% three point shooter) was the very end of the bench on the varsity team at a nationally ranked high school as a freshman - they literally put him in when up 30 and ran plays to have the kid at the end of the bench get transition dunks to annoy teams they were beating.

He went to practice with his cousin in Ohio and was much better at everything (like 1-5) than the varsity captains.

This is very true. It really depends on gender and school. This is a very competitive area for basketball.

[Anonymous]

What I wish I had known early on is that you need to focus on getting your child on a circuit team. AAU teams and coaches control everything now. Focus on development, training and a good AAU team. If your kid isn't going to be tall, focus on him playing the 1 or 2 role on a team and train for that.

[Anonymous]

Well, 6' isn't a "pretty average height." But whatever.

It just depends on athletic ability. There are some folks who play in the NBA who never played until high school. They are freaks of talent/nature though. Most need to start learning a sport as early as possible to be competitive.

[Anonymous]

6'0 is very average for HS basketball at least locally.

My ds was the shortest one on his large public school team and he was 5'11.