they got your try out money. Honestly it's to feed you into the lower teams to finance the club.

Disappointed as it appears DD did not receive an offer. Honestly what is the point of tryouts when teams are preselected?

Anonymous wrote:NP. So can we assume the lower level teams are partially funding the top teams or top players to supplement whatever $$ not provided by sponsorships?

DC plays for a B-team of an up and coming circuit team org. The top team is now recruiting players from other circuit teams. I suppose the recruits won’t be paying to join (or minimal team fees) while our spring/summer fees will significantly rise to cover the top team players.

Yes, it is very common for younger teams and B teams to subsidize top teams/players. These teams are often required to do extra fundraising or volunteer hours at tournaments when the top teams do not.

Anonymous wrote:I put together an AAU team a few years ago with a volunteer coach, my time volunteered too. To pay for gym space, insurance, uniforms and tournaments locally, it was $500 per player. It’s a long season. If your fee is covering coaches’ travel costs to out of town tournaments, it will be more. Anything above that is covering non-team expenses, assuming the coach is a volunteer.

A few years ago I managed a basketball team and last year I handled finances for a name-brand travel team including creating budget (options) and determining expenses in order to cost out every team member’s share. (Coaches volunteered and paid own travel costs.) Per player costs ranged $400 (spring/summer) to $850 (all of last year).

Now that my son plays for a team that pays coach travel expenses and probably a stipend, fees are over $1000 for a few months.

I put together an AAU team a few years ago with a volunteer coach, my time volunteered too. To pay for gym space, insurance, uniforms and tournaments locally, it was $500 per player. It’s a long season. If your fee is covering coaches’ travel costs to out of town tournaments, it will be more. Anything above that is covering non-team expenses, assuming the coach is a volunteer.

NP. So can we assume the lower level teams are partially funding the top teams or top players to supplement whatever $$ not provided by sponsorships?

DC plays for a B-team of an up and coming circuit team org. The top team is now recruiting players from other circuit teams. I suppose the recruits won’t be paying to join (or minimal team fees) while our spring/summer fees will significantly rise to cover the top team players.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As with all major circuit teams, they have people scouting near by states and cities for players. It's a business. If they don't do well in the circuits, they risk getting kicked out and losing money from the shoe companies.

Plus, after Takeover/Stars/Durant/GLP/Thrill, not much talent left over for Elevate in the DMV. Gotta look elsewhere.

Elevate still has some big names in the top teams.

Anonymous wrote:As with all major circuit teams, they have people scouting near by states and cities for players. It's a business. If they don't do well in the circuits, they risk getting kicked out and losing money from the shoe companies.

Plus, after Takeover/Stars/Durant/GLP/Thrill, not much talent left over for Elevate in the DMV. Gotta look elsewhere.

As with all major circuit teams, they have people scouting near by states and cities for players. It's a business. If they don't do well in the circuits, they risk getting kicked out and losing money from the shoe companies.

Anonymous wrote:As with most circuit teams/programs, very few kids on the top team in ES/MS are still there by HS. Check out Elevate IG page. They announced players from NC, GA, TN, etc. Not many NoVA kids.

How does that work?

As with most circuit teams/programs, very few kids on the top team in ES/MS are still there by HS. Check out Elevate IG page. They announced players from NC, GA, TN, etc. Not many NoVA kids.

Is the SSB team essentially the gold team as they move up in age let’s say from 13u? Or is the SSB team an entirely different team at 15u when they get in the circuit?

Anonymous wrote:Long shot on this ask but has anyone gotten an offer for 17U ? Lower team ok.
Are those teams mostly recruits and DD has wasted time attending tryouts?

The SSB team already formed way before try outs. They recruit for that team.

The 2nd team is formed from try outs mostly and players from last year.

Anonymous wrote:Long shot on this ask but has anyone gotten an offer for 17U ? Lower team ok.
Are those teams mostly recruits and DD has wasted time attending tryouts?

Don't think of tryouts as a "waste of time" even if your DC has no chance to make a team. At minimum, it's time away from devices. Your DC will at least get workout time in a gym (hard to find open gyms these days) and get good feedback about where she or he stacks up against competition. And you can network with other parents to potentially get good info on other teams or tryouts. I always try to seek out parents of current team members to glean info.

Recently, I brought my DS to a tryout mainly for a workout, even though I knew the development-level team was recruiting newer players. He complained it was a waste of time, but I met up with a parent coach who gave me good info on other teams looking for DS's skill set and he invited us to workout with his son and friends in a gym he rents.

Exception -- tryouts can be a waste of time if you skip another tryout at same time to bring your DC to a stretch team they likely won't make.

Long shot on this ask but has anyone gotten an offer for 17U ? Lower team ok.
Are those teams mostly recruits and DD has wasted time attending tryouts?