Constant fear of being cut

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think in areas like the DMV coaches and organizations have the luxury of numbers so they aren’t forced to develop kids who are less physically mature and can pick kids for their teams based on size. Of course these teams wants to win and be competitive (as do the kids and families who sign up to play), but we’ve gotten so out of balance. My boys were right in the middle of the pack size wise so we were able to avoid a lot of this, but definitely saw kids get pushed out for size reasons earlier than they should have (pre-puberty) in baseball and basketball. These were highly engaged, solid athletes who got the later growth card.

Do you think there are so any kids playing in the DMV area because of all the nerdy type parents working in government were never in sports so they are all signing their kids up?

Growing up it was the kids in the driver seats not the parents. In the northern states when the water turned to ice the kids were out there shoveling snow off the ice to play hockey all day. By middle school the committed and talented were in organized hockey. Football same thing. The kids who loved it didn’t have coaches until middle school but they knew everything about the game and knew how to play already. Basketball was the easiest sport to practice. All you needed was a ball and a hoop. Kids were out there for hours.

The kids who preferred video games or were very academic and studied on weekends were at home. It was kind of like by middle school the future varsity players and a small percentage of future college or pro players was set.

Now there’s such an overload of kids playing thanks to corporations getting in the game. For a price anyone can play. And like this pp said, there’s a constant fear of getting cut. There’s a lot of talk about puberty and height and growth. There’s parents taking their kids all over the place to try and do what former kids did with ease. Why the change?

Kids are still out there for hours - my kid practiced every night in the park, even on days he had team practice, often until 11:00 PM. Days he had practice, it would just be 45 minutes to an hour of ball handling and shooting. Other days it was 2 hours of drills and conditioning. I see other HS kids doing the same thing.

The difference is that most of those kids also now have individual trainers and access to tons of resources. Plus weight training, plyometrics, sprint training, and nutritionists.

The kids on my 1980s high school’s varsity team wouldn’t make my kid’s freshman team, and nobody at my high school was dunking as a freshman. Nowadays in the DMV, lots of kids are.

Your kid is committed and probably has the talent, all that work will probably be worth it. I don’t know your child’s race or height but to be realistic White basketball players make up less than 20% of the NBA plus about 20% of NBA players are from European or African countries. I don’t know the DMV statistics but the average height is 6’6”. Raw talent and height will win out fancy gyms and private coaches every time.

When you post about the NBA in a conversation about high school basketball, you’ve lost the thread. When you post about the race of NBA players as if there was a quota system, you’ve lost the thread. Players who are good go far regardless of race. What you’re seeing is correlation, not causation, except at a population level.

Try to stay on topic.

The reality is that height without talent AND lots of practice gets kids nowhere in competitive environments — when my kid played JV they cut a 6’10” kid who couldn’t protect the ball.

In competitive environments like many DMV schools, kids need not only height and athleticism, but also hard work AND fancy trainers. And it’s not the case that low SES kids don’t have trainers. The super talented kids my son played with had trainers lining up to work with them for free so they could brag about training those guys.

Forget NBA, look at colleges. There’s always quite a bit of bragging about the competitive DMV schools and their private training, travel sports, nutritionists, sprinting, looking to play D1 ball without mentioning the odds are tiny that these kids will be good enough. Even with all that time and money spent.

I never mentioned low SES. The talented kids with obvious potential will get what’s necessary to achieve that potential. You’re right there is no quota in basketball. But are you trying to pretend the game isn’t dominated by Black Americans? Also there are more international players than White Americans in the NBA and their numbers keep rising.

I’m just wondering why so many kids who enjoy playing the sport can’t just enjoy playing the sport without pushy parents who go too far and ruin their kid’s experience. It’s hard to believe this is all done just to play ball in high school. How can there be any joy in playing when there is a constant fear of being cut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, my kid is a DI college athlete in a non-revenue generating sport. With the changes coming to college sports roster sizes are likely going to be cut. All the freshman are stressed they’ll get the ax B4 they have a chance to develop. Cant wait to hit the transfer portal and start the whole recruiting process over again. . . But. The key lesson here is enjoy the present. No one ever knows when they’ll play their last game due to injury or roster cut. You can make a plan, for if he is cut, but then refuse to engage on the rumination of the worry. One-day-at-time must be your mantra. This is a good skill to have.

Even if they cut his sport I assume there will be opportunities for him to still play or maybe see what other sport he might enjoy since he’s athletic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think in areas like the DMV coaches and organizations have the luxury of numbers so they aren’t forced to develop kids who are less physically mature and can pick kids for their teams based on size. Of course these teams wants to win and be competitive (as do the kids and families who sign up to play), but we’ve gotten so out of balance. My boys were right in the middle of the pack size wise so we were able to avoid a lot of this, but definitely saw kids get pushed out for size reasons earlier than they should have (pre-puberty) in baseball and basketball. These were highly engaged, solid athletes who got the later growth card.

Do you think there are so any kids playing in the DMV area because of all the nerdy type parents working in government were never in sports so they are all signing their kids up?

Growing up it was the kids in the driver seats not the parents. In the northern states when the water turned to ice the kids were out there shoveling snow off the ice to play hockey all day. By middle school the committed and talented were in organized hockey. Football same thing. The kids who loved it didn’t have coaches until middle school but they knew everything about the game and knew how to play already. Basketball was the easiest sport to practice. All you needed was a ball and a hoop. Kids were out there for hours.

The kids who preferred video games or were very academic and studied on weekends were at home. It was kind of like by middle school the future varsity players and a small percentage of future college or pro players was set.

Now there’s such an overload of kids playing thanks to corporations getting in the game. For a price anyone can play. And like this pp said, there’s a constant fear of getting cut. There’s a lot of talk about puberty and height and growth. There’s parents taking their kids all over the place to try and do what former kids did with ease. Why the change?

Kids are still out there for hours - my kid practiced every night in the park, even on days he had team practice, often until 11:00 PM. Days he had practice, it would just be 45 minutes to an hour of ball handling and shooting. Other days it was 2 hours of drills and conditioning. I see other HS kids doing the same thing.

The difference is that most of those kids also now have individual trainers and access to tons of resources. Plus weight training, plyometrics, sprint training, and nutritionists.

The kids on my 1980s high school’s varsity team wouldn’t make my kid’s freshman team, and nobody at my high school was dunking as a freshman. Nowadays in the DMV, lots of kids are.

Your kid is committed and probably has the talent, all that work will probably be worth it. I don’t know your child’s race or height but to be realistic White basketball players make up less than 20% of the NBA plus about 20% of NBA players are from European or African countries. I don’t know the DMV statistics but the average height is 6’6”. Raw talent and height will win out fancy gyms and private coaches every time.

When you post about the NBA in a conversation about high school basketball, you’ve lost the thread. When you post about the race of NBA players as if there was a quota system, you’ve lost the thread. Players who are good go far regardless of race. What you’re seeing is correlation, not causation, except at a population level.

Try to stay on topic.

The reality is that height without talent AND lots of practice gets kids nowhere in competitive environments — when my kid played JV they cut a 6’10” kid who couldn’t protect the ball.

In competitive environments like many DMV schools, kids need not only height and athleticism, but also hard work AND fancy trainers. And it’s not the case that low SES kids don’t have trainers. The super talented kids my son played with had trainers lining up to work with them for free so they could brag about training those guys.

Forget NBA, look at colleges. There’s always quite a bit of bragging about the competitive DMV schools and their private training, travel sports, nutritionists, sprinting, looking to play D1 ball without mentioning the odds are tiny that these kids will be good enough. Even with all that time and money spent.

I never mentioned low SES. The talented kids with obvious potential will get what’s necessary to achieve that potential. You’re right there is no quota in basketball. But are you trying to pretend the game isn’t dominated by Black Americans? Also there are more international players than White Americans in the NBA and their numbers keep rising.

I’m just wondering why so many kids who enjoy playing the sport can’t just enjoy playing the sport without pushy parents who go too far and ruin their kid’s experience. It’s hard to believe this is all done just to play ball in high school. How can there be any joy in playing when there is a constant fear of being cut.

People say this all the time, but the reality is that parents know by 7th grade or so if their kid is on that track. My kid wasn’t a superstar, but his coaches started talking to him about playing D1 by about 7th grade. He didn’t - he only got serious D1 recruiting interest from schools he had no interest in, but of his varsity teammates, 4 went to ACC schools, 2 went to mid majors, 1 went low level D1, and 2 more went JUCO.

As for pushy parents, I never met those. I did meet lots of parents like me who marveled that our otherwise laid back kids would do things like shovel the snow off an outdoor court to train for hours outside in January in 20 degree weather with no coat or gloves. Or take a deflated basketball and pump on international vacations and find a court next to the beach to play pickup with the locals. Or spend so much time training and doing homework that they develop the ability to sleep any time they have 20 unscheduled minutes, and that this was totally normal among their peer group, so that a 30 minute car ride with 4 teenagers meant 28 minutes with all 4 sleeping.

[Anonymous]

My cousin was a top ten nationally ranked lacrosse player in high school so there was little doubt he would play at a D1 university.

This was the 90s so no one was telling 7th graders that they would be good enough for D1. No one was having 10 year olds train six days a week because an amateur coach said he had potential. There has to be a lot of disappointment with coaches saying that to very young kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does your DC have constant anxiety about being cut from their team? If so, how have you helped them handle that?

Background—DS has always been one of the stronger players but he’s late to grow/go through puberty and is now feeling like he’s on the chopping block because of his size. He works hard outside of team stuff and coach plays him (and he does reasonably well), but after seeing some kids get cut last season who were of similar stature, DS is expressing a lot of concern around his future with the team. Ordinarily I’d suggest he needs to talk to the coach but it’s become clear that the head of the organization (who doesn’t know the boys well/have real relationships with the families) is calling the shots vis a vis team selection so not sure what good a talk with the coach would do. Switching teams would be very difficult at this time.

This doesn't sound super healthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My cousin was a top ten nationally ranked lacrosse player in high school so there was little doubt he would play at a D1 university.

This was the 90s so no one was telling 7th graders that they would be good enough for D1. No one was having 10 year olds train six days a week because an amateur coach said he had potential. There has to be a lot of disappointment with coaches saying that to very young kids.

> My cousin was a top ten
>nationally ranked lacrosse player
Lacrosse has zero to do with basketball. In basketball, top players make hundreds of millions of dollars, and top college coaches are paid millions every year. Now kids can get NIL money and monetize their social media. The effect of all that money flows down to younger kids. My kid’s HS and AAU teams got tons of Nike money. HS kids in the DMV are paid to train over the summer with fake jobs — it’s a whole cottage industry that tons of people know about and lots of people who should do something about it ignore. Identifying prospects is big business. It is terrible and corrupt, but that’s how works.

> This was the 90s so no one was
>telling 7th graders that they would
>be good enough for D1
Of course they were. My buddy who played professionally overseas talked about going a middle school AAU tryout in the 90s with 600 kids. The 12 who made the team all played D1.

> No one was having 10 year olds
>train six days a week because an
>amateur coach said he had potential
You can’t “have” a kid train 6 days a week, particularly at 10. By 12, my kid was training that much, but he was badgering us to take him to the gym and, once there, complaining bitterly if we wanted to leave after only two hours (“come on, 5 more minutes, please!”). I don’t think kids without that kind of internal motivation go very far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My cousin was a top ten nationally ranked lacrosse player in high school so there was little doubt he would play at a D1 university.

This was the 90s so no one was telling 7th graders that they would be good enough for D1. No one was having 10 year olds train six days a week because an amateur coach said he had potential. There has to be a lot of disappointment with coaches saying that to very young kids.

> My cousin was a top ten
>nationally ranked lacrosse player
Lacrosse has zero to do with basketball. In basketball, top players make hundreds of millions of dollars, and top college coaches are paid millions every year. Now kids can get NIL money and monetize their social media. The effect of all that money flows down to younger kids. My kid’s HS and AAU teams got tons of Nike money. HS kids in the DMV are paid to train over the summer with fake jobs — it’s a whole cottage industry that tons of people know about and lots of people who should do something about it ignore. Identifying prospects is big business. It is terrible and corrupt, but that’s how works.

> This was the 90s so no one was
>telling 7th graders that they would
>be good enough for D1
Of course they were. My buddy who played professionally overseas talked about going a middle school AAU tryout in the 90s with 600 kids. The 12 who made the team all played D1.

> No one was having 10 year olds
>train six days a week because an
>amateur coach said he had potential
You can’t “have” a kid train 6 days a week, particularly at 10. By 12, my kid was training that much, but he was badgering us to take him to the gym and, once there, complaining bitterly if we wanted to leave after only two hours (“come on, 5 more minutes, please!”). I don’t think kids without that kind of internal motivation go very far.

Lacrosse and basketball are both sports so they have things in common. The difference is there is no money in pro lacrosse.

Unless your kid is attending one of the Catholic schools that recruit you’re not making sense. The DMV is not some hub where they produce children who will play in the NBA some day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My cousin was a top ten nationally ranked lacrosse player in high school so there was little doubt he would play at a D1 university.

This was the 90s so no one was telling 7th graders that they would be good enough for D1. No one was having 10 year olds train six days a week because an amateur coach said he had potential. There has to be a lot of disappointment with coaches saying that to very young kids.

> My cousin was a top ten
>nationally ranked lacrosse player
Lacrosse has zero to do with basketball. In basketball, top players make hundreds of millions of dollars, and top college coaches are paid millions every year. Now kids can get NIL money and monetize their social media. The effect of all that money flows down to younger kids. My kid’s HS and AAU teams got tons of Nike money. HS kids in the DMV are paid to train over the summer with fake jobs — it’s a whole cottage industry that tons of people know about and lots of people who should do something about it ignore. Identifying prospects is big business. It is terrible and corrupt, but that’s how works.

> This was the 90s so no one was
>telling 7th graders that they would
>be good enough for D1
Of course they were. My buddy who played professionally overseas talked about going a middle school AAU tryout in the 90s with 600 kids. The 12 who made the team all played D1.

> No one was having 10 year olds
>train six days a week because an
>amateur coach said he had potential
You can’t “have” a kid train 6 days a week, particularly at 10. By 12, my kid was training that much, but he was badgering us to take him to the gym and, once there, complaining bitterly if we wanted to leave after only two hours (“come on, 5 more minutes, please!”). I don’t think kids without that kind of internal motivation go very far.

Lacrosse and basketball are both sports so they have things in common. The difference is there is no money in pro lacrosse.

Unless your kid is attending one of the Catholic schools that recruit you’re not making sense. The DMV is not some hub where they produce children who will play in the NBA some day.

Bless your heart.