Anonymous wrote:Basketball is huge in the area. There are many dozens of club teams in DMV. I will say the first thing to know is AAU term is often used incorrectly. AAU is a basketball organization that have clubs in it but not all club bball teams are under AAU.

I am a high school parent of a boy at a private school that has played in Under Armor Circuit as well as Adidas.

Does anyone have any particular questions that haven’t been answered?

I don’t know as much about NoVa but will say the hottest NOVA boys team right now is DNA Elite.

That’s what some people are saying, but not necessarily true. Team Durant’s high school teams are in Springfield. DNA advertises good training which attracts people, they have some type of basketball school for kids are reclassifying, and they are attracting talent. Expect to pay hefty fees over there though. There are a couple NOVA teams just as good and even better in my opinion.

Basketball is huge in the area. There are many dozens of club teams in DMV. I will say the first thing to know is AAU term is often used incorrectly. AAU is a basketball organization that have clubs in it but not all club bball teams are under AAU.

I am a high school parent of a boy at a private school that has played in Under Armor Circuit as well as Adidas.

Does anyone have any particular questions that haven’t been answered?

I don’t know as much about NoVa but will say the hottest NOVA boys team right now is DNA Elite.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know girls teams in area but I suggest you install Tourney Machine by sports engine app. I use it to look up teams playing in local leagues and tournaments.

For winter, look up Shots Up (Springfield / Alexandria)and VA Hokies (Manassas) leagues to see the girls teams playing by age range, schedule, ranking and scores. Go watch the teams play in the coming months and get coach contacts after the game.

This is the most useful post in this thread.

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps those who say basketball is the biggest sport around here could identify any more than the 5 clubs mentioned for northern Virginia.

GTS Fusion, PV Thunder, Shots Up, Cap City Thunder, Volts/Matrix (may not be together this year) are local. More in Alexandria, Woodbridge and Gainesville, but I can't remember their names.

It's actually not that hard to start your own team. You need insurance, which takes a few weeks, and practice space (private schools rent out space as well as Arl Co). If parents have the time, it's worth it.

I don’t know girls teams in area but I suggest you install Tourney Machine by sports engine app. I use it to look up teams playing in local leagues and tournaments.

For winter, look up Shots Up (Springfield / Alexandria)and VA Hokies (Manassas) leagues to see the girls teams playing by age range, schedule, ranking and scores. Go watch the teams play in the coming months and get coach contacts after the game.

Anonymous wrote:Perhaps those who say basketball is the biggest sport around here could identify any more than the 5 clubs mentioned for northern Virginia.

I’m one of those posters. Sorry - I have a son, so I don’t know girls teams. All the clubs my son played for had only boys.

Perhaps those who say basketball is the biggest sport around here could identify any more than the 5 clubs mentioned for northern Virginia.

Anonymous wrote:So really what are the options for AAU if you live inside the beltway of NOVA? Genuinely curious for my DD. 6th grade. Please list teams other than Elevate or Hurricanes or Fairfax Stars. She's not remotely good enough. Everyone says follow Twitter but I don't know what that means. How do I find teams that practice in and around my suburban home in Annandale.

Which direction? The Vogues are a tier down, but seem well run. The coach for 6th grade girls is very respected. Loudon flight is another. D1SA is probably a bit of a better team at that age bracket than the other two. Out a bit further, Gainesville fields a team. The Hurricanes and Elevate also field B teams that are lower skill level.

So really what are the options for AAU if you live inside the beltway of NOVA? Genuinely curious for my DD. 6th grade. Please list teams other than Elevate or Hurricanes or Fairfax Stars. She's not remotely good enough. Everyone says follow Twitter but I don't know what that means. How do I find teams that practice in and around my suburban home in Annandale.

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Anonymous wrote:Black or white, compared to soccer and lacrosse there are fewer teams. And it can be like trying to find the proverbial needles in a haystack, trying to find tryouts, etc. I have girls who play(ed) HS soccer, volleyball and basketball. The other sports clubs have better marketing.

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Are you suggesting that *lacrosse* is more popular than *basketball* in the DC area? That's hilarious.

If you're talking about organized club lacrosse vs organized club basketball, yes and it isn't particularly close. If you're talking about pickup basketball, that's a different story, but that doesn't seem to be what OP is talking about

If your kid could not play basketball you can say that. Basketball is much more popular around the area at both levels outside of your rich white bubble. My DS is playing basketball D1 and has heard from college coaches that the DMV is one of the capitals of the world in terms of producing basketball players.

There are more kids on lacrosse roster than a basketball roster and this area is one of the hotbeds for lacrosse recruiting. 5 of the 10 richest counties in the country are in this area, so we tend to have a lot of families in rich white bubbles.

“Hotbed of lacrosse” is kinda like “jumbo shrimp.” More than 5 times as many kids play basketball as play lacrosse, so a national hotbed of basketball talent is going to have a lot more players than a hotbed of a niche sport like lacrosse. How do you not get this?

Jumbo shrimp are the best they are actually more $ per pound than small salad sized shrimp......One of the best lacrosse players to come out of MD and there have been many is now playing in the NBA for Golden State after having played for DC in the D league. It is not really about the number of players but the number of outstanding star players. With that, I agree this is a basketball area but also a lacrosse area. The bigger names are in basketball and it is much more rare to have a star in basketball or at least a high level D1 player and they will bring millions back to the community. Ask Bowie State about that.

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Anonymous wrote:If you live in NoVA, have your kids try out for AAU teams at younger ages and by 5th grade try out for your local FCYBL (zipcode based) teams. Those FCYBL travel teams are feeders for HS basketball.

So is AAU a necessity? There aren’t enough NOVA AAU teams making AAU a real obstacle.

Not on the girls side, like you said there aren’t enough teams for every girl playing in high school to be one one. Contrary to what PP’s said about how popular basketball is around here, there are maybe 4 big clubs on the girls side in nova and some only field one team per age group. There are some one off teams, but no where near enough for every girl who plays in high school to be on an aau team.

PP here. Very true, not enough AAU teams in NoVA for boys or girls which is why we started bringing DS to play on PG county teams. Commutes to practice sucks (going to, not leaving) but his game and IQ improved tremendously and he found the right level team to play for.

Anonymous wrote:Where do Elevate Elite and Fairfax Stars practice? It's a shame that there aren't any other teams within the beltway. Not that most would even be considered for those teams. There is a shortage of mid level AAU teams in NOVA.

DD plays for elevate and has had practices everywhere from Springfield to Chantilly. A lot depends on where the coach lives and where the players live.

Where do Elevate Elite and Fairfax Stars practice? It's a shame that there aren't any other teams within the beltway. Not that most would even be considered for those teams. There is a shortage of mid level AAU teams in NOVA.

Anonymous wrote:I would say AAU is a must. DD played country and AAU and all her teammates (split into 3 HS) made either JV or varsity at their HSs. No one from Rec will play past freshman year unless they are an anomaly in height or talent and will put in the extra time.

I think this depends on the HS. There really aren't AAU teams on the eastern side of Fairfax. We're in Fairfax and the closes practices are the Hurricanes in Arlington

Always try out for the freshman team. So many girls were scared to try out this year at my DD's public high school, then they barely had enough to fill the 15-player roster.