Son’s bball team is horrible—advice please

[Anonymous]

c'mon y'all of course his son can be a very good varsity level player but still only scores 5 points in a game - the other team is just so much better. no need to be mean to OP.

[Anonymous]

You buried the lede, op-the most striking thing n your story is that your husband is a complete d1ck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you know the skill mismatch will stay the same all season? Both within your team and between your team and opponents?

By 7th grade, if a kid can't even dribble, they aren't going to be a decent player after a few months of practice

+1. Op I get it and this sucks for your son. However- for the vast majority of kids school sports is not where they go to excel. Put your kid in a travel league where he can really work on his skills with kids at his level. Write this off as a waste of time, but required for school and a chance to learn some leadership and sportsmanship skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do you know the skill mismatch will stay the same all season? Both within your team and between your team and opponents?

By 7th grade, if a kid can't even dribble, they aren't going to be a decent player after a few months of practice

Unless he’s 6’3 already

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your son doesn't sound like he's good, either. Definitely stick to tennis and football. There's nothing worse than than a team that places every child instead of making cuts.

His team put up 5 points. If OP's son was remotely skilled, they should have been able to score more by themselves especially in the second half when the other team backs off. A team down that much should be getting every possible foul call, so just constantly driving for layups should give him a ton of foul shots.

True, but that assumes someone can at least in-bound to him, which may not be the case. Moreover, he might not be good enough to dribble through traffic by himself to the hoop.

Someone can inbound to him. The other team is not doing full press if they’re up by 20+. I agree OP’s son is not as good as she thinks. It may be true that a coach said something like “at least Joey is pretty good on JV, he should be able to lead the team.” That does not mean the same as he is Varsity material. OP, you’ve got a lot of good advice. Your son will learn a lot, including how to score more than 5 points as the start of the team. It will be good for him and maybe he will be good enough next year for 8th grade. Your husband’s opinion is horrible. That’s is no attitude to have.

Your kids must not play in DC. DCPS middle school basketball is all about being aggressive, and you will definitely have teams pressing when they are up by 20+.

Actually my kid is an 8th grade player for DCPS. I stand by my statement. I doubt OP’s kid plays on DCPS and I don’t agree with your statement about DCPS playing full press with 20 point lead but we can agree to disagree. My kid plays PYBL where they do in fact still do full press with large leads because point differentials count for playoffs. They still let the other tram inbound. My son’s team beat a team by 30+ points last week but they had at least one other player score 20 points or more.

The best kids will make the varsity team, period. Kid is 7th grade so it could have gone either way. I agree with PP, he really should be playing travel and using middle school as a way to get extra minutes. Although he needs to be on a developmental type travel team not just any 13U team as the really good ones will be varsity level boys with a few reclass kids, with a few dunking. 7th grade really is a pivotal year for boys in basketball. If OP states where she lives, I’d be happy to give a few Recs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You buried the lede, op-the most striking thing n your story is that your husband is a complete d1ck.

+100

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know that the team is bad. But that is okay too. As someone else pointed out this is a learning experience. This is a chance to see if your son is a leader and can help the other kids. Does your son rise to adversity or apparently like your husband - quit.

Not everything in life will come easily or naturally. A JV basketball team is an excellent environment to see what your son's character is made of - much better than when he is 30 and working a time sensitive work project that is not coming together and his job is on the line.

+1 This is a great opportunity for him to grow as a person. It’s not his main sport, and everyone who knows basketball will be able to read the team situation instantly, so he his ego should not be involved in wins or losses. He will impress absolutely everyone, including the varsity coaches for the MS and HS (who will surely be keeping tabs), if he sticks with it, takes it seriously and works to improve the team instead of playing down to their level. There is zero pressure here to do anything other than be active and a good sport, and he can have fun if he shakes off his frustrations. Have him watch the original Bad News Bears.

Excellent advice!

[Anonymous]

My issue with baseball is it seems to have many kids who just look out of shape. Sports is supposed to get you in shape. I just want the kids be active and have fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My issue with baseball is it seems to have many kids who just look out of shape. Sports is supposed to get you in shape. I just want the kids be active and have fun.

OP is talking about basketball. But competitive baseball typically has boys that are in great shape.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My issue with baseball is it seems to have many kids who just look out of shape. Sports is supposed to get you in shape. I just want the kids be active and have fun.

It is not limited to Baseball. We have a childhood obesity problem, that's a separate issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know that the team is bad. But that is okay too. As someone else pointed out this is a learning experience. This is a chance to see if your son is a leader and can help the other kids. Does your son rise to adversity or apparently like your husband - quit.

Not everything in life will come easily or naturally. A JV basketball team is an excellent environment to see what your son's character is made of - much better than when he is 30 and working a time sensitive work project that is not coming together and his job is on the line.

+1 This is a great opportunity for him to grow as a person. It’s not his main sport, and everyone who knows basketball will be able to read the team situation instantly, so he his ego should not be involved in wins or losses. He will impress absolutely everyone, including the varsity coaches for the MS and HS (who will surely be keeping tabs), if he sticks with it, takes it seriously and works to improve the team instead of playing down to their level. There is zero pressure here to do anything other than be active and a good sport, and he can have fun if he shakes off his frustrations. Have him watch the original Bad News Bears.

This is an opportunity for him to become a better basketball player as well. If he weren’t getting playing time, I could maybe see quitting, but not in this situation. When you join a team, you make a commitment and you don’t quit after the season has started because your teammates aren’t good. It’s different if he’s being subjected to some sort of abuse or in a situation where he can’t grow as a player, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.

Your son may have a limited role or struggle on the Varsity team while this could be an opportunity to take on a leadership role. The other players can’t dribble? He has the opportunity to be a ball dominant player. He can learn to run the point or if he already can, learn to do it better.

At this age, player development is the most important thing. Tell him that if he feels he deserves to be with his friend, show the coaches the mistake they made by playing well in the current situation.