Would anyone be able to comment on VA Elite or Playmakers or any other AAU/NOVA team?

[Anonymous]

My son is in sixth grade and plays travel 7th, division two. He has some good ball handling skills and is unusually tall for his age, but he's not as quick as some kids.
Anyways, he has it in his head that he wants to do AAU for spring and summer. These two teams came up in conversation with other parents, but i'm hoping to get some more feedback- is there an AAU team that you'd recommend? If he plays down to sixth, he'd probably do well. If he sticks with seventh he'd be a semi-strong back-up. He might be 'great' somewhere down the line, but right now I'd label him as 'good-for-travel'. Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

Depends on where you are located. Most teams at this level practice twice a week. If practices are far away it may be difficult to get there especially in rush hour traffic. NOVA is a big area.

[Anonymous]

Until this year, my son played in the 6th grade year in the area. If you've never played AAU before, here are some things you need to understand. If your kid is not one of the top 7 or 8 players on the squad, they may not play much. These teams play to win not always to develop all players on the squad. Most of these teams practice almost year around. The AAU scheduling is a nightmare (you will be in tournaments and leagues that don't publish your game schedule until Thursday two days before game time.) Parent culture can be horrendous -- lots of yelling at refs and kids (that's probably everywhere these days).

I'd move to 6th grade to try to get as much playing time as possible. I also suggest you visit some teams for a practice during the winter. That will be the way to figure out if the squad will be a good fit for your kid. Contact these two organizations and tell them you're interested in visiting a practice and learning more about their program even though you may not really be looking to play until the spring.

When you visit, focus on these things: 1) coaching style and philosophy of the club; 2) is it parent coached (this often/always creates issues of favoritism for coach' kid and kid's friends for playing time); 3) how much tournament and out of town travel do you want to do? 4) where will my kid fit in with this squad?

With those two questions in mind, I'd check out these two organizations that I've been relatively impressed by:

NOVA 94 http://www.nova94feet.com/

MADE basketball http://www.madesportsunlimited.org/ (but that would require you driving to MoCo).

[Anonymous]

To build on what PP said: I would absolutely not go with a program that is parent coached. One of the things that you are paying for with AAU (or that the sponsorship covers if you play for a grassroots team) is professional coaching.

Also, you may know this, but if not: be aware that there is a HUGE variation in the level of programs that call themselves AAU. For some teams (usually at younger age groups), AAU means just that --- teams built to compete in tournaments sanctioned by the amateur athletic union that feed into the national division 1, 2 and 3 AAU tournaments.

However, especially for older kids, AAU often used as a catchall for teams ranging from at the low end select (one step above rec) teams that play mostly in local leagues to at the upper end sponsored shoe company teams that play in EYBL, UAA and Adidas Uprising circuit events. Then there is a large middle ground of teams that are not grassroots sponsored teams but play exclusively in tournaments put on by folks like HoopGroup in places like Philly, Myrtle Beach, and Las Vegas. Note that none of these (local leagues, grassroots shoe company leagues or HoopGroup type tournaments) have any connection to AAU, and they also don't check ages nearly as closely (or at all).

Sorting all of this out is kind of a pain. You may go to a 7th grade tryout and see all the kids doing flashy dunks in layup lines (partially because with re-classing, lots of kids play down one or two age groups and graduate a year or two late in order to improve their college prospects). That can be uncomfortable if your kid is the only one not at that level.

One tip: if you are looking at an organization whose teams play on the shoe company circuit (e.g. Boo Williams, Team Takeover VA, DC Premiere, DC Blue Devils), be aware that those kids are crazy good (at least their A teams are).

Don't know anything about NOVA 94, but MADE has a pretty broad range of levels. Also, they have many great coaches.

[Anonymous]

This is all great information, and I would just add that -- looking down the road a few years -- if your son is hoping to play in college, VA Elite's U17 showcase team does receive recruiting exposure, and the club has a solid record of getting players scholarships at small schools. That team is kind of a Virginia all-star team kind of thing, like Team Loaded VA, with players coming from Winchester, etc. Nova Cavs AAU also has a strong focus on Div. III and high-academic opportunities. The guys who run both of those clubs do spend time networking and showcasing their players. Nova 94 Feet isn't known for college recruiting at all, but it's a great organization, so maybe they will evolve into that.

Some other Nova teams to look at right now are Nova Suns, Man II Man, and Nova Warriors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To build on what PP said: I would absolutely not go with a program that is parent coached. One of the things that you are paying for with AAU (or that the sponsorship covers if you play for a grassroots team) is professional coaching.

Also, you may know this, but if not: be aware that there is a HUGE variation in the level of programs that call themselves AAU. For some teams (usually at younger age groups), AAU means just that --- teams built to compete in tournaments sanctioned by the amateur athletic union that feed into the national division 1, 2 and 3 AAU tournaments.

However, especially for older kids, AAU often used as a catchall for teams ranging from at the low end select (one step above rec) teams that play mostly in local leagues to at the upper end sponsored shoe company teams that play in EYBL, UAA and Adidas Uprising circuit events. Then there is a large middle ground of teams that are not grassroots sponsored teams but play exclusively in tournaments put on by folks like HoopGroup in places like Philly, Myrtle Beach, and Las Vegas. Note that none of these (local leagues, grassroots shoe company leagues or HoopGroup type tournaments) have any connection to AAU, and they also don't check ages nearly as closely (or at all).

Sorting all of this out is kind of a pain. You may go to a 7th grade tryout and see all the kids doing flashy dunks in layup lines (partially because with re-classing, lots of kids play down one or two age groups and graduate a year or two late in order to improve their college prospects). That can be uncomfortable if your kid is the only one not at that level.

One tip: if you are looking at an organization whose teams play on the shoe company circuit (e.g. Boo Williams, Team Takeover VA, DC Premiere, DC Blue Devils), be aware that those kids are crazy good (at least their A teams are).

Don't know anything about NOVA 94, but MADE has a pretty broad range of levels. Also, they have many great coaches.

Meant to type "Team Takeover, Team Loaded VA..."

[Anonymous]

Team Virginia, Team Ultimate, Nova Heat . . . the list goes on

[Anonymous]

Are you or you spouse unusually tall too? I think most coaches will most certainly take tall kids with tall parents.

[Anonymous]

I'm not the OP, and I understand what you're saying, but tall kids often struggle at the middle-school level because, if they haven't basically reached peak height velocity and matured, they tend to lack the agility and quickness (and ballhandling dexterity) to cope with the pressure defense and transition offense that determine the outcome of practically every game, at least in high-level AAU and travel. It can be a tricky challenge for coaches to get their skinny, scrawny post players into the game without creating adverse mismatches against quicker, smaller players. Today's youth basketball is an ugly, chaotic spectacle, imho, because of the pressure defense.