NOVA AAU TEAMS (Nova94, Fairfax Stars, NovaCavaliers

[Anonymous]

My son played for a NoVA94 orange team for 2 years. Every player is required to tryout even the starters. The coaches’ kids also show up for tryouts.

Both tryouts we were notified within a day, and Last coach pressed us for an immediate or quick decision because they obviously ranked kids.

I know my son’s former NoVA94 team will be losing several players who tried out and joined other teams, however they still attended NoVA94 tryouts so those kids are holding all options open (and I’m not sure they notified the NoVA94 coach of their intentions to leave even though they openly discuss it).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son played for a NoVA94 orange team for 2 years. Every player is required to tryout even the starters. The coaches’ kids also show up for tryouts.

Both tryouts we were notified within a day, and Last coach pressed us for an immediate or quick decision because they obviously ranked kids.

I know my son’s former NoVA94 team will be losing several players who tried out and joined other teams, however they still attended NoVA94 tryouts so those kids are holding all options open (and I’m not sure they notified the NoVA94 coach of their intentions to leave even though they openly discuss it).

I think he knows now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son played for a NoVA94 orange team for 2 years. Every player is required to tryout even the starters. The coaches’ kids also show up for tryouts.

Both tryouts we were notified within a day, and Last coach pressed us for an immediate or quick decision because they obviously ranked kids.

I know my son’s former NoVA94 team will be losing several players who tried out and joined other teams, however they still attended NoVA94 tryouts so those kids are holding all options open (and I’m not sure they notified the NoVA94 coach of their intentions to leave even though they openly discuss it).

I think he knows now.

And he’s pissed

[Anonymous]

Can someone speak to their experience with Fairfax Stars? DS made the 10U team.

What about the St. James AAU team? We expect DS to make it there as well. We were not able to try out for Nova CAVS or NOVA 94 due to conflicts with other games.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone speak to their experience with Fairfax Stars? DS made the 10U team.

What about the St. James AAU team? We expect DS to make it there as well. We were not able to try out for Nova CAVS or NOVA 94 due to conflicts with other games.

I don't think the Fairfax Stars boys team is considered that rigorous. It's my understanding that they play in about one tournament a month during the spring season but each age is different. If you could watch tryouts, I would pick whichever team you think has more talent but that's just my approach. If not that then who has closer practices and allows for multiple sports if your kid plays them which I would assume he does at 10U.

[Anonymous]

Does the St James put together good girls teams? We're committed to a different team this year, but it would be a more convenient location for us next season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone speak to their experience with Fairfax Stars? DS made the 10U team.

What about the St. James AAU team? We expect DS to make it there as well. We were not able to try out for Nova CAVS or NOVA 94 due to conflicts with other games.

If you had conflicts and missed tryouts, it’s probably a good idea to reach out to the coaches. They may figure a way to still evaluate your kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone speak to their experience with Fairfax Stars? DS made the 10U team.

What about the St. James AAU team? We expect DS to make it there as well. We were not able to try out for Nova CAVS or NOVA 94 due to conflicts with other games.

As others have said, a team is as good as the talent level recruited and the coaching. And how many players are stacked onto the team.

Fairfax Stars is a solid AAU organization, tops for girls but not recently competitive for boys. It is expensive... registration/practice fee ($475 I think) charged for the season (and charges for every season), plus uniforms, plus cost-sharing of all tournaments, and expenses (mileage) for coaches to attend away tournaments.

St James hires "professional" coaches/trainers so you are essentially paying for training and expensive gym space. I think the fee was $1000 last fall/winter. But some of the coaches quit last year leaving the teams hanging.

I consider both to be decent starter teams for development. NoVA Cavs and Nova94 (orange) had their pick of talent from the many FCYBL travel kids who showed up for tryouts.

[Anonymous]

I though ST James was buying Team Durant. Did that fall through

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does the St James put together good girls teams? We're committed to a different team this year, but it would be a more convenient location for us next season.

Following!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I though ST James was buying Team Durant. Did that fall through

I don’t think that is accurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I though ST James was buying Team Durant. Did that fall through

I don’t think that is accurate.

At one point they were, I guess it fell apart

https://northernvirginiamag.com/family/family-features/2019/06/19/kevin-durants-youth-basketball-program-partners-with-the-st-james/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I though ST James was buying Team Durant. Did that fall through

I don’t think that is accurate.

At one point they were, I guess it fell apart

https://northernvirginiamag.com/family/family-features/2019/06/19/kevin-durants-youth-basketball-program-partners-with-the-st-james/

They weren’t buying Durant, they were forming a partnership where the Durant teams could train there and the high school level teams do train practice there. Was no buyout.

[Anonymous]

DS tried out a new team called Valiant Knight. It's a brand new/unknown team and the coach had to distribute tryout flyers in our local MS gym. Not a lot of kids showed up in the tryout and it was very easy to make the team. DS would most likely be a starter and have a lot of playing time.

DS also made another well-known team and we were about to reject the offer from Valiant Knight. But then I looked up the coach's name and was quite surprised. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SirValiant_Brown. He was a pro player and second in the nation in scoring in 1999 (NCAA D1). He is very nice and low-key. Many well-known AAU coaches in this area claim to have exceptional backgrounds but none compare to him.

So should DS join this team? The team may not be competitive, but will DS improve significantly with this coach, especially with more playing time? DS used to play for two of the well-known clubs mentioned in the subject, but I saw no significant improvement over the course of the season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS tried out a new team called Valiant Knight. It's a brand new/unknown team and the coach had to distribute tryout flyers in our local MS gym. Not a lot of kids showed up in the tryout and it was very easy to make the team. DS would most likely be a starter and have a lot of playing time.

DS also made another well-known team and we were about to reject the offer from Valiant Knight. But then I looked up the coach's name and was quite surprised. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SirValiant_Brown. He was a pro player and second in the nation in scoring in 1999 (NCAA D1). He is very nice and low-key. Many well-known AAU coaches in this area claim to have exceptional backgrounds but none compare to him.

So should DS join this team? The team may not be competitive, but will DS improve significantly with this coach, especially with more playing time? DS used to play for two of the well-known clubs mentioned in the subject, but I saw no significant improvement over the course of the season.

What is he charging? Is he going to be the coach or will he have other people coaching the team?