Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

I don’t get this either. Kids have been training at basketball starting at very young ages. Basketball is very similar to soccer in terms of needing tons of muscle memory and technical skills.

You know a kid will hit a certain height by the parents, but there isn’t any “natural ability” that gets ro the upper echelons without tons of practice.

Yeah, of course. This is all obvious. Literally NO ONE is making the case that athletes turn pro without lots of practice. The point is that rich parents can spend thousands of dollars getting little Larlo all the private basketball coaching the DMV has to offer starting at the age of 5, they can get him on the very most elite travel team at 10, and if by 14 he’s not tall and only an average athlete, IT DOESN’T MATTER in the least how “skilled” he is. HS coaches will drop him like a hot potato in favor of the 6’3” reasonably athletic freshman who has never played competitive basketball in his life. Because believe it or not, there is still plenty of time to teach a 14 year old how to play basketball.

You can’t get on an elite AAU team in the DMV at 13 if you aren’t a great player…so just FYI (the 10 year old will be replaced by 12 if they aren’t growing). There are plenty of average AAU teams (lots) that will keep taking the $$&s.

If the HS team is terrible, your scenario works…but that coach probably doesn’t have the ability to teach a random kid the game of basketball because terrible teams usually have weak coaches.

All the strong programs recruit 12 and 13 year olds to their HS..it’s like college recruiting basically. Your scenario doesn’t really work because there are tons of 6 ft plus really strong players (that will grow to 6’3” or above) that the coach will recruit…maybe if the 14 year old is going to hit 6’7” plus is a different story.

It’s hard to see your scenario practically happening these days.

Sure, you’re right. I’m guessing in less than 10 years we’ll see that the NBA is primarily composed of upper middle class/wealthy white boys who are between 6’0” - 6’4” and of course it will be because they were all on absolutely ELITE, incredibly COMPETITIVE AAU teams when they were 12 years old.

I’m glad you have corrected my completely misguided assumptions.

Nobody said they were white…they mostly aren’t. They still play for elite AAU teams….not sure why that is strange to you. The best athletes play for the best teams.

You don’t seem to understand how PVI, Gonzaga, Bullis. Sidwell, Dematha, SJC, O’Connell, etc create their teams (all ranked top 40 in the country).

The coaches go to the tournaments where these kids play and recruit them. They don’t show up on campus by accident.

Again…why does of any of this anger you. You can decide you don’t believe it but I don’t think you have a kid that experienced it and you literally don’t know.

I’m not angry in the least. Just pointing out how delusional some of you rich dorks are that think you can buy your kid athletic talent. All you’re really doing is bankrolling the actually talented kids who may or may not be rich (and most likely they’re not - either way they’re not paying for their spot on the team) so good job, I guess?

Again…you don’t get it. There is no rich kid bankrolling someone on one of these elite teams. Everyone on these teams is really strong…I don’t know if they are rich or not. These teams have the luxury that they don’t need anyone bankrolling anyone…many have some corporate sponsors already. Probably 90% of the kids on these teams aren’t white.

You keep providing a scenario that doesn’t reflect reality. There are plenty of average AAU teams that will take anyone’s money…but for the most part, they aren’t sending any of their players to the top high schools to play.

Also, go look at the first round NBA draft picks…the top 10 US picks all are UMC kids (again, mostly non-white though the #2 pick is white), many from the US having one or more parents that played D1 or Pro basketball. They had the luxury of free private instruction. The other top picks are European that played in academies staring as young kids.

You are the one who is seriously missing the point. In fact, you lost the plot many pages ago.

Nope…just seems like a ton of posers who don’t know how sports work these days…yet spew nonsense all day long.

The point made many pages ago was that having the right genetics will *almost always* trump having money to pay for early extensive training (i.e. buying your kid a shot). You have been trying to disprove this assertion by repeatedly providing anecdotes which… prove this assertion.

(e.g. talented kids that play for elite travel teams aren’t paying {ergo they’re there because of genetics/talent, NOT money} to be on those teams and you have no clue if they’re rich or poor; NBA draft picks having parents who were D1 or pro basketball players {i.e. genetics, obviously} which renders the question of how much money they come from completely moot)

So I say again, you have lost the plot. The original point was very simple: you cannot BUY athletic talent for your kids, and if your kid doesn’t have *it* it simply DOES NOT MATTER how much private coaching you have been paying for since kid could walk, and that fact (clearly) drives the UMC strivers in this area absolutely crazy.

I wasn’t an athlete. Dh played a few varsity sports in high school. We are both well educated. Sports are not our world although we trek our kids to sports everyday. Our kids like to play sports. You are the one who seems kind of crazy. In our house, academics comes first. Our kids will attend good colleges and grad schools. We fortunately can afford to full pay all their tuitions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

I don’t get this either. Kids have been training at basketball starting at very young ages. Basketball is very similar to soccer in terms of needing tons of muscle memory and technical skills.

You know a kid will hit a certain height by the parents, but there isn’t any “natural ability” that gets ro the upper echelons without tons of practice.

Yeah, of course. This is all obvious. Literally NO ONE is making the case that athletes turn pro without lots of practice. The point is that rich parents can spend thousands of dollars getting little Larlo all the private basketball coaching the DMV has to offer starting at the age of 5, they can get him on the very most elite travel team at 10, and if by 14 he’s not tall and only an average athlete, IT DOESN’T MATTER in the least how “skilled” he is. HS coaches will drop him like a hot potato in favor of the 6’3” reasonably athletic freshman who has never played competitive basketball in his life. Because believe it or not, there is still plenty of time to teach a 14 year old how to play basketball.

You can’t get on an elite AAU team in the DMV at 13 if you aren’t a great player…so just FYI (the 10 year old will be replaced by 12 if they aren’t growing). There are plenty of average AAU teams (lots) that will keep taking the $$&s.

If the HS team is terrible, your scenario works…but that coach probably doesn’t have the ability to teach a random kid the game of basketball because terrible teams usually have weak coaches.

All the strong programs recruit 12 and 13 year olds to their HS..it’s like college recruiting basically. Your scenario doesn’t really work because there are tons of 6 ft plus really strong players (that will grow to 6’3” or above) that the coach will recruit…maybe if the 14 year old is going to hit 6’7” plus is a different story.

It’s hard to see your scenario practically happening these days.

Sure, you’re right. I’m guessing in less than 10 years we’ll see that the NBA is primarily composed of upper middle class/wealthy white boys who are between 6’0” - 6’4” and of course it will be because they were all on absolutely ELITE, incredibly COMPETITIVE AAU teams when they were 12 years old.

I’m glad you have corrected my completely misguided assumptions.

Nobody said they were white…they mostly aren’t. They still play for elite AAU teams….not sure why that is strange to you. The best athletes play for the best teams.

You don’t seem to understand how PVI, Gonzaga, Bullis. Sidwell, Dematha, SJC, O’Connell, etc create their teams (all ranked top 40 in the country).

The coaches go to the tournaments where these kids play and recruit them. They don’t show up on campus by accident.

Again…why does of any of this anger you. You can decide you don’t believe it but I don’t think you have a kid that experienced it and you literally don’t know.

I’m not angry in the least. Just pointing out how delusional some of you rich dorks are that think you can buy your kid athletic talent. All you’re really doing is bankrolling the actually talented kids who may or may not be rich (and most likely they’re not - either way they’re not paying for their spot on the team) so good job, I guess?

Again…you don’t get it. There is no rich kid bankrolling someone on one of these elite teams. Everyone on these teams is really strong…I don’t know if they are rich or not. These teams have the luxury that they don’t need anyone bankrolling anyone…many have some corporate sponsors already. Probably 90% of the kids on these teams aren’t white.

You keep providing a scenario that doesn’t reflect reality. There are plenty of average AAU teams that will take anyone’s money…but for the most part, they aren’t sending any of their players to the top high schools to play.

Also, go look at the first round NBA draft picks…the top 10 US picks all are UMC kids (again, mostly non-white though the #2 pick is white), many from the US having one or more parents that played D1 or Pro basketball. They had the luxury of free private instruction. The other top picks are European that played in academies staring as young kids.

You are the one who is seriously missing the point. In fact, you lost the plot many pages ago.

Nope…just seems like a ton of posers who don’t know how sports work these days…yet spew nonsense all day long.

The point made many pages ago was that having the right genetics will *almost always* trump having money to pay for early extensive training (i.e. buying your kid a shot). You have been trying to disprove this assertion by repeatedly providing anecdotes which… prove this assertion.

(e.g. talented kids that play for elite travel teams aren’t paying {ergo they’re there because of genetics/talent, NOT money} to be on those teams and you have no clue if they’re rich or poor; NBA draft picks having parents who were D1 or pro basketball players {i.e. genetics, obviously} which renders the question of how much money they come from completely moot)

So I say again, you have lost the plot. The original point was very simple: you cannot BUY athletic talent for your kids, and if your kid doesn’t have *it* it simply DOES NOT MATTER how much private coaching you have been paying for since kid could walk, and that fact (clearly) drives the UMC strivers in this area absolutely crazy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

I don’t get this either. Kids have been training at basketball starting at very young ages. Basketball is very similar to soccer in terms of needing tons of muscle memory and technical skills.

You know a kid will hit a certain height by the parents, but there isn’t any “natural ability” that gets ro the upper echelons without tons of practice.

Yeah, of course. This is all obvious. Literally NO ONE is making the case that athletes turn pro without lots of practice. The point is that rich parents can spend thousands of dollars getting little Larlo all the private basketball coaching the DMV has to offer starting at the age of 5, they can get him on the very most elite travel team at 10, and if by 14 he’s not tall and only an average athlete, IT DOESN’T MATTER in the least how “skilled” he is. HS coaches will drop him like a hot potato in favor of the 6’3” reasonably athletic freshman who has never played competitive basketball in his life. Because believe it or not, there is still plenty of time to teach a 14 year old how to play basketball.

You can’t get on an elite AAU team in the DMV at 13 if you aren’t a great player…so just FYI (the 10 year old will be replaced by 12 if they aren’t growing). There are plenty of average AAU teams (lots) that will keep taking the $$&s.

If the HS team is terrible, your scenario works…but that coach probably doesn’t have the ability to teach a random kid the game of basketball because terrible teams usually have weak coaches.

All the strong programs recruit 12 and 13 year olds to their HS..it’s like college recruiting basically. Your scenario doesn’t really work because there are tons of 6 ft plus really strong players (that will grow to 6’3” or above) that the coach will recruit…maybe if the 14 year old is going to hit 6’7” plus is a different story.

It’s hard to see your scenario practically happening these days.

Sure, you’re right. I’m guessing in less than 10 years we’ll see that the NBA is primarily composed of upper middle class/wealthy white boys who are between 6’0” - 6’4” and of course it will be because they were all on absolutely ELITE, incredibly COMPETITIVE AAU teams when they were 12 years old.

I’m glad you have corrected my completely misguided assumptions.

Nobody said they were white…they mostly aren’t. They still play for elite AAU teams….not sure why that is strange to you. The best athletes play for the best teams.

You don’t seem to understand how PVI, Gonzaga, Bullis. Sidwell, Dematha, SJC, O’Connell, etc create their teams (all ranked top 40 in the country).

The coaches go to the tournaments where these kids play and recruit them. They don’t show up on campus by accident.

Again…why does of any of this anger you. You can decide you don’t believe it but I don’t think you have a kid that experienced it and you literally don’t know.

I’m not angry in the least. Just pointing out how delusional some of you rich dorks are that think you can buy your kid athletic talent. All you’re really doing is bankrolling the actually talented kids who may or may not be rich (and most likely they’re not - either way they’re not paying for their spot on the team) so good job, I guess?

Again…you don’t get it. There is no rich kid bankrolling someone on one of these elite teams. Everyone on these teams is really strong…I don’t know if they are rich or not. These teams have the luxury that they don’t need anyone bankrolling anyone…many have some corporate sponsors already. Probably 90% of the kids on these teams aren’t white.

You keep providing a scenario that doesn’t reflect reality. There are plenty of average AAU teams that will take anyone’s money…but for the most part, they aren’t sending any of their players to the top high schools to play.

Also, go look at the first round NBA draft picks…the top 10 US picks all are UMC kids (again, mostly non-white though the #2 pick is white), many from the US having one or more parents that played D1 or Pro basketball. They had the luxury of free private instruction. The other top picks are European that played in academies staring as young kids.

You are the one who is seriously missing the point. In fact, you lost the plot many pages ago.

Nope…just seems like a ton of posers who don’t know how sports work these days…yet spew nonsense all day long.

The point made many pages ago was that having the right genetics will *almost always* trump having money to pay for early extensive training (i.e. buying your kid a shot). You have been trying to disprove this assertion by repeatedly providing anecdotes which… prove this assertion.

(e.g. talented kids that play for elite travel teams aren’t paying {ergo they’re there because of genetics/talent, NOT money} to be on those teams and you have no clue if they’re rich or poor; NBA draft picks having parents who were D1 or pro basketball players {i.e. genetics, obviously} which renders the question of how much money they come from completely moot)

So I say again, you have lost the plot. The original point was very simple: you cannot BUY athletic talent for your kids, and if your kid doesn’t have *it* it simply DOES NOT MATTER how much private coaching you have been paying for since kid could walk, and that fact (clearly) drives the UMC strivers in this area absolutely crazy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

I don’t get this either. Kids have been training at basketball starting at very young ages. Basketball is very similar to soccer in terms of needing tons of muscle memory and technical skills.

You know a kid will hit a certain height by the parents, but there isn’t any “natural ability” that gets ro the upper echelons without tons of practice.

Yeah, of course. This is all obvious. Literally NO ONE is making the case that athletes turn pro without lots of practice. The point is that rich parents can spend thousands of dollars getting little Larlo all the private basketball coaching the DMV has to offer starting at the age of 5, they can get him on the very most elite travel team at 10, and if by 14 he’s not tall and only an average athlete, IT DOESN’T MATTER in the least how “skilled” he is. HS coaches will drop him like a hot potato in favor of the 6’3” reasonably athletic freshman who has never played competitive basketball in his life. Because believe it or not, there is still plenty of time to teach a 14 year old how to play basketball.

You can’t get on an elite AAU team in the DMV at 13 if you aren’t a great player…so just FYI (the 10 year old will be replaced by 12 if they aren’t growing). There are plenty of average AAU teams (lots) that will keep taking the $$&s.

If the HS team is terrible, your scenario works…but that coach probably doesn’t have the ability to teach a random kid the game of basketball because terrible teams usually have weak coaches.

All the strong programs recruit 12 and 13 year olds to their HS..it’s like college recruiting basically. Your scenario doesn’t really work because there are tons of 6 ft plus really strong players (that will grow to 6’3” or above) that the coach will recruit…maybe if the 14 year old is going to hit 6’7” plus is a different story.

It’s hard to see your scenario practically happening these days.

Sure, you’re right. I’m guessing in less than 10 years we’ll see that the NBA is primarily composed of upper middle class/wealthy white boys who are between 6’0” - 6’4” and of course it will be because they were all on absolutely ELITE, incredibly COMPETITIVE AAU teams when they were 12 years old.

I’m glad you have corrected my completely misguided assumptions.

Nobody said they were white…they mostly aren’t. They still play for elite AAU teams….not sure why that is strange to you. The best athletes play for the best teams.

You don’t seem to understand how PVI, Gonzaga, Bullis. Sidwell, Dematha, SJC, O’Connell, etc create their teams (all ranked top 40 in the country).

The coaches go to the tournaments where these kids play and recruit them. They don’t show up on campus by accident.

Again…why does of any of this anger you. You can decide you don’t believe it but I don’t think you have a kid that experienced it and you literally don’t know.

I’m not angry in the least. Just pointing out how delusional some of you rich dorks are that think you can buy your kid athletic talent. All you’re really doing is bankrolling the actually talented kids who may or may not be rich (and most likely they’re not - either way they’re not paying for their spot on the team) so good job, I guess?

Again…you don’t get it. There is no rich kid bankrolling someone on one of these elite teams. Everyone on these teams is really strong…I don’t know if they are rich or not. These teams have the luxury that they don’t need anyone bankrolling anyone…many have some corporate sponsors already. Probably 90% of the kids on these teams aren’t white.

You keep providing a scenario that doesn’t reflect reality. There are plenty of average AAU teams that will take anyone’s money…but for the most part, they aren’t sending any of their players to the top high schools to play.

Also, go look at the first round NBA draft picks…the top 10 US picks all are UMC kids (again, mostly non-white though the #2 pick is white), many from the US having one or more parents that played D1 or Pro basketball. They had the luxury of free private instruction. The other top picks are European that played in academies staring as young kids.

You are the one who is seriously missing the point. In fact, you lost the plot many pages ago.

Nope…just seems like a ton of posers who don’t know how sports work these days…yet spew nonsense all day long.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

I don’t get this either. Kids have been training at basketball starting at very young ages. Basketball is very similar to soccer in terms of needing tons of muscle memory and technical skills.

You know a kid will hit a certain height by the parents, but there isn’t any “natural ability” that gets ro the upper echelons without tons of practice.

Yeah, of course. This is all obvious. Literally NO ONE is making the case that athletes turn pro without lots of practice. The point is that rich parents can spend thousands of dollars getting little Larlo all the private basketball coaching the DMV has to offer starting at the age of 5, they can get him on the very most elite travel team at 10, and if by 14 he’s not tall and only an average athlete, IT DOESN’T MATTER in the least how “skilled” he is. HS coaches will drop him like a hot potato in favor of the 6’3” reasonably athletic freshman who has never played competitive basketball in his life. Because believe it or not, there is still plenty of time to teach a 14 year old how to play basketball.

You can’t get on an elite AAU team in the DMV at 13 if you aren’t a great player…so just FYI (the 10 year old will be replaced by 12 if they aren’t growing). There are plenty of average AAU teams (lots) that will keep taking the $$&s.

If the HS team is terrible, your scenario works…but that coach probably doesn’t have the ability to teach a random kid the game of basketball because terrible teams usually have weak coaches.

All the strong programs recruit 12 and 13 year olds to their HS..it’s like college recruiting basically. Your scenario doesn’t really work because there are tons of 6 ft plus really strong players (that will grow to 6’3” or above) that the coach will recruit…maybe if the 14 year old is going to hit 6’7” plus is a different story.

It’s hard to see your scenario practically happening these days.

Sure, you’re right. I’m guessing in less than 10 years we’ll see that the NBA is primarily composed of upper middle class/wealthy white boys who are between 6’0” - 6’4” and of course it will be because they were all on absolutely ELITE, incredibly COMPETITIVE AAU teams when they were 12 years old.

I’m glad you have corrected my completely misguided assumptions.

Nobody said they were white…they mostly aren’t. They still play for elite AAU teams….not sure why that is strange to you. The best athletes play for the best teams.

You don’t seem to understand how PVI, Gonzaga, Bullis. Sidwell, Dematha, SJC, O’Connell, etc create their teams (all ranked top 40 in the country).

The coaches go to the tournaments where these kids play and recruit them. They don’t show up on campus by accident.

Again…why does of any of this anger you. You can decide you don’t believe it but I don’t think you have a kid that experienced it and you literally don’t know.

I’m not angry in the least. Just pointing out how delusional some of you rich dorks are that think you can buy your kid athletic talent. All you’re really doing is bankrolling the actually talented kids who may or may not be rich (and most likely they’re not - either way they’re not paying for their spot on the team) so good job, I guess?

Again…you don’t get it. There is no rich kid bankrolling someone on one of these elite teams. Everyone on these teams is really strong…I don’t know if they are rich or not. These teams have the luxury that they don’t need anyone bankrolling anyone…many have some corporate sponsors already. Probably 90% of the kids on these teams aren’t white.

You keep providing a scenario that doesn’t reflect reality. There are plenty of average AAU teams that will take anyone’s money…but for the most part, they aren’t sending any of their players to the top high schools to play.

Also, go look at the first round NBA draft picks…the top 10 US picks all are UMC kids (again, mostly non-white though the #2 pick is white), many from the US having one or more parents that played D1 or Pro basketball. They had the luxury of free private instruction. The other top picks are European that played in academies staring as young kids.

You are the one who is seriously missing the point. In fact, you lost the plot many pages ago.

Nope…just seems like a ton of posers who don’t know how sports work these days…yet spew nonsense all day long.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I said this before, and I'll say this again. In order to make a varsity team in expensive neighborhoods such as Langley, McLean, Potomac, kids, on average, are from either UMC or UC families, with extensive training when they were young.

You can, of course, point out a few exceptions here and there, but exceptions are not the norm.

So wealthier kids are more likely to make the teams at wealthier schools in wealthier neighborhoods than poor kids who can’t afford to live in those neighborhoods and therefore don’t attend those schools? Shut the front door! What an amazing insight!

She’s truly brilliant but can afford Larlos tennis lessons so he can play number 8 on Langley

Having money does not guarantee that your kids will make HS varsity teams in wealthy areas, but not having money guarantees that your kids will likely NOT make HS varsity teams due to lack of training. There are sports where not having money for training will hurt you, no matter how talented you are.

More importantly, not having money will guarantee that your kid won’t make varsity at the wealthy high schools because you can’t afford to live in the wealthy neighborhoods that feed those high schools.

Poor athletic talented kids will make varsity at poor high schools, get recruited, and eventually turn pro, while rich little Larlo is still going to be bragging at 40 about how he was a multi sport athlete because he played golf and water polo…

Most of the poor high schools have terrible sports teams. Nobody recruits from terrible teams and good players will do anything possible to get out of there.

The hope is you get connected to someone that can connect you to the sports privates. In the DMV, the WCAC teams for most sports…as well as STA, Landon, Georgetown Prep as well (though those are harder to gain acceptance).

The scenario you outlined is now almost extinct.

Herndon sent a kid to Princeton baseball this year. Seems like better ROI than Langley/McLean pyramids. 🤷‍♀️

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

I don’t get this either. Kids have been training at basketball starting at very young ages. Basketball is very similar to soccer in terms of needing tons of muscle memory and technical skills.

You know a kid will hit a certain height by the parents, but there isn’t any “natural ability” that gets ro the upper echelons without tons of practice.

Yeah, of course. This is all obvious. Literally NO ONE is making the case that athletes turn pro without lots of practice. The point is that rich parents can spend thousands of dollars getting little Larlo all the private basketball coaching the DMV has to offer starting at the age of 5, they can get him on the very most elite travel team at 10, and if by 14 he’s not tall and only an average athlete, IT DOESN’T MATTER in the least how “skilled” he is. HS coaches will drop him like a hot potato in favor of the 6’3” reasonably athletic freshman who has never played competitive basketball in his life. Because believe it or not, there is still plenty of time to teach a 14 year old how to play basketball.

You can’t get on an elite AAU team in the DMV at 13 if you aren’t a great player…so just FYI (the 10 year old will be replaced by 12 if they aren’t growing). There are plenty of average AAU teams (lots) that will keep taking the $$&s.

If the HS team is terrible, your scenario works…but that coach probably doesn’t have the ability to teach a random kid the game of basketball because terrible teams usually have weak coaches.

All the strong programs recruit 12 and 13 year olds to their HS..it’s like college recruiting basically. Your scenario doesn’t really work because there are tons of 6 ft plus really strong players (that will grow to 6’3” or above) that the coach will recruit…maybe if the 14 year old is going to hit 6’7” plus is a different story.

It’s hard to see your scenario practically happening these days.

Sure, you’re right. I’m guessing in less than 10 years we’ll see that the NBA is primarily composed of upper middle class/wealthy white boys who are between 6’0” - 6’4” and of course it will be because they were all on absolutely ELITE, incredibly COMPETITIVE AAU teams when they were 12 years old.

I’m glad you have corrected my completely misguided assumptions.

Nobody said they were white…they mostly aren’t. They still play for elite AAU teams….not sure why that is strange to you. The best athletes play for the best teams.

You don’t seem to understand how PVI, Gonzaga, Bullis. Sidwell, Dematha, SJC, O’Connell, etc create their teams (all ranked top 40 in the country).

The coaches go to the tournaments where these kids play and recruit them. They don’t show up on campus by accident.

Again…why does of any of this anger you. You can decide you don’t believe it but I don’t think you have a kid that experienced it and you literally don’t know.

I’m not angry in the least. Just pointing out how delusional some of you rich dorks are that think you can buy your kid athletic talent. All you’re really doing is bankrolling the actually talented kids who may or may not be rich (and most likely they’re not - either way they’re not paying for their spot on the team) so good job, I guess?

Again…you don’t get it. There is no rich kid bankrolling someone on one of these elite teams. Everyone on these teams is really strong…I don’t know if they are rich or not. These teams have the luxury that they don’t need anyone bankrolling anyone…many have some corporate sponsors already. Probably 90% of the kids on these teams aren’t white.

You keep providing a scenario that doesn’t reflect reality. There are plenty of average AAU teams that will take anyone’s money…but for the most part, they aren’t sending any of their players to the top high schools to play.

Also, go look at the first round NBA draft picks…the top 10 US picks all are UMC kids (again, mostly non-white though the #2 pick is white), many from the US having one or more parents that played D1 or Pro basketball. They had the luxury of free private instruction. The other top picks are European that played in academies staring as young kids.

You are the one who is seriously missing the point. In fact, you lost the plot many pages ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

I don’t get this either. Kids have been training at basketball starting at very young ages. Basketball is very similar to soccer in terms of needing tons of muscle memory and technical skills.

You know a kid will hit a certain height by the parents, but there isn’t any “natural ability” that gets ro the upper echelons without tons of practice.

Yeah, of course. This is all obvious. Literally NO ONE is making the case that athletes turn pro without lots of practice. The point is that rich parents can spend thousands of dollars getting little Larlo all the private basketball coaching the DMV has to offer starting at the age of 5, they can get him on the very most elite travel team at 10, and if by 14 he’s not tall and only an average athlete, IT DOESN’T MATTER in the least how “skilled” he is. HS coaches will drop him like a hot potato in favor of the 6’3” reasonably athletic freshman who has never played competitive basketball in his life. Because believe it or not, there is still plenty of time to teach a 14 year old how to play basketball.

You can’t get on an elite AAU team in the DMV at 13 if you aren’t a great player…so just FYI (the 10 year old will be replaced by 12 if they aren’t growing). There are plenty of average AAU teams (lots) that will keep taking the $$&s.

If the HS team is terrible, your scenario works…but that coach probably doesn’t have the ability to teach a random kid the game of basketball because terrible teams usually have weak coaches.

All the strong programs recruit 12 and 13 year olds to their HS..it’s like college recruiting basically. Your scenario doesn’t really work because there are tons of 6 ft plus really strong players (that will grow to 6’3” or above) that the coach will recruit…maybe if the 14 year old is going to hit 6’7” plus is a different story.

It’s hard to see your scenario practically happening these days.

Sure, you’re right. I’m guessing in less than 10 years we’ll see that the NBA is primarily composed of upper middle class/wealthy white boys who are between 6’0” - 6’4” and of course it will be because they were all on absolutely ELITE, incredibly COMPETITIVE AAU teams when they were 12 years old.

I’m glad you have corrected my completely misguided assumptions.

Nobody said they were white…they mostly aren’t. They still play for elite AAU teams….not sure why that is strange to you. The best athletes play for the best teams.

You don’t seem to understand how PVI, Gonzaga, Bullis. Sidwell, Dematha, SJC, O’Connell, etc create their teams (all ranked top 40 in the country).

The coaches go to the tournaments where these kids play and recruit them. They don’t show up on campus by accident.

Again…why does of any of this anger you. You can decide you don’t believe it but I don’t think you have a kid that experienced it and you literally don’t know.

I’m not angry in the least. Just pointing out how delusional some of you rich dorks are that think you can buy your kid athletic talent. All you’re really doing is bankrolling the actually talented kids who may or may not be rich (and most likely they’re not - either way they’re not paying for their spot on the team) so good job, I guess?

Again…you don’t get it. There is no rich kid bankrolling someone on one of these elite teams. Everyone on these teams is really strong…I don’t know if they are rich or not. These teams have the luxury that they don’t need anyone bankrolling anyone…many have some corporate sponsors already. Probably 90% of the kids on these teams aren’t white.

You keep providing a scenario that doesn’t reflect reality. There are plenty of average AAU teams that will take anyone’s money…but for the most part, they aren’t sending any of their players to the top high schools to play.

Also, go look at the first round NBA draft picks…the top 10 US picks all are UMC kids (again, mostly non-white though the #2 pick is white), many from the US having one or more parents that played D1 or Pro basketball. They had the luxury of free private instruction. The other top picks are European that played in academies staring as young kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

I don’t get this either. Kids have been training at basketball starting at very young ages. Basketball is very similar to soccer in terms of needing tons of muscle memory and technical skills.

You know a kid will hit a certain height by the parents, but there isn’t any “natural ability” that gets ro the upper echelons without tons of practice.

Yeah, of course. This is all obvious. Literally NO ONE is making the case that athletes turn pro without lots of practice. The point is that rich parents can spend thousands of dollars getting little Larlo all the private basketball coaching the DMV has to offer starting at the age of 5, they can get him on the very most elite travel team at 10, and if by 14 he’s not tall and only an average athlete, IT DOESN’T MATTER in the least how “skilled” he is. HS coaches will drop him like a hot potato in favor of the 6’3” reasonably athletic freshman who has never played competitive basketball in his life. Because believe it or not, there is still plenty of time to teach a 14 year old how to play basketball.

You can’t get on an elite AAU team in the DMV at 13 if you aren’t a great player…so just FYI (the 10 year old will be replaced by 12 if they aren’t growing). There are plenty of average AAU teams (lots) that will keep taking the $$&s.

If the HS team is terrible, your scenario works…but that coach probably doesn’t have the ability to teach a random kid the game of basketball because terrible teams usually have weak coaches.

All the strong programs recruit 12 and 13 year olds to their HS..it’s like college recruiting basically. Your scenario doesn’t really work because there are tons of 6 ft plus really strong players (that will grow to 6’3” or above) that the coach will recruit…maybe if the 14 year old is going to hit 6’7” plus is a different story.

It’s hard to see your scenario practically happening these days.

Sure, you’re right. I’m guessing in less than 10 years we’ll see that the NBA is primarily composed of upper middle class/wealthy white boys who are between 6’0” - 6’4” and of course it will be because they were all on absolutely ELITE, incredibly COMPETITIVE AAU teams when they were 12 years old.

I’m glad you have corrected my completely misguided assumptions.

Nobody said they were white…they mostly aren’t. They still play for elite AAU teams….not sure why that is strange to you. The best athletes play for the best teams.

You don’t seem to understand how PVI, Gonzaga, Bullis. Sidwell, Dematha, SJC, O’Connell, etc create their teams (all ranked top 40 in the country).

The coaches go to the tournaments where these kids play and recruit them. They don’t show up on campus by accident.

Again…why does of any of this anger you. You can decide you don’t believe it but I don’t think you have a kid that experienced it and you literally don’t know.

I’m not angry in the least. Just pointing out how delusional some of you rich dorks are that think you can buy your kid athletic talent. All you’re really doing is bankrolling the actually talented kids who may or may not be rich (and most likely they’re not - either way they’re not paying for their spot on the team) so good job, I guess?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

I don’t get this either. Kids have been training at basketball starting at very young ages. Basketball is very similar to soccer in terms of needing tons of muscle memory and technical skills.

You know a kid will hit a certain height by the parents, but there isn’t any “natural ability” that gets ro the upper echelons without tons of practice.

Yeah, of course. This is all obvious. Literally NO ONE is making the case that athletes turn pro without lots of practice. The point is that rich parents can spend thousands of dollars getting little Larlo all the private basketball coaching the DMV has to offer starting at the age of 5, they can get him on the very most elite travel team at 10, and if by 14 he’s not tall and only an average athlete, IT DOESN’T MATTER in the least how “skilled” he is. HS coaches will drop him like a hot potato in favor of the 6’3” reasonably athletic freshman who has never played competitive basketball in his life. Because believe it or not, there is still plenty of time to teach a 14 year old how to play basketball.

LOL No. They will drop the hypothetical kid like a hot potato in favor of a 6'3" kid who has been in basketball since age 5. The tall kid is out of luck if he doesn't have any skills. In fact, the tall kid with no skills and experience is less desirable than the short kid who can hustle on the court.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

I don’t get this either. Kids have been training at basketball starting at very young ages. Basketball is very similar to soccer in terms of needing tons of muscle memory and technical skills.

You know a kid will hit a certain height by the parents, but there isn’t any “natural ability” that gets ro the upper echelons without tons of practice.

Yeah, of course. This is all obvious. Literally NO ONE is making the case that athletes turn pro without lots of practice. The point is that rich parents can spend thousands of dollars getting little Larlo all the private basketball coaching the DMV has to offer starting at the age of 5, they can get him on the very most elite travel team at 10, and if by 14 he’s not tall and only an average athlete, IT DOESN’T MATTER in the least how “skilled” he is. HS coaches will drop him like a hot potato in favor of the 6’3” reasonably athletic freshman who has never played competitive basketball in his life. Because believe it or not, there is still plenty of time to teach a 14 year old how to play basketball.

LOL No. They will drop the hypothetical kid like a hot potato in favor of a 6'3" kid who has been in basketball since age 5. The tall kid is out of luck if he doesn't have any skills. In fact, the tall kid with no skills and experience is less desirable than the short kid who can hustle on the court.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen folks. When we’re talking about natural elite athletic talent, NO ONE is talking about tennis.

Send your little phenom out onto the basketball court and get back to us. Until then, stop embarrassing yourselves.

I don’t get this either. Kids have been training at basketball starting at very young ages. Basketball is very similar to soccer in terms of needing tons of muscle memory and technical skills.

You know a kid will hit a certain height by the parents, but there isn’t any “natural ability” that gets ro the upper echelons without tons of practice.

Yeah, of course. This is all obvious. Literally NO ONE is making the case that athletes turn pro without lots of practice. The point is that rich parents can spend thousands of dollars getting little Larlo all the private basketball coaching the DMV has to offer starting at the age of 5, they can get him on the very most elite travel team at 10, and if by 14 he’s not tall and only an average athlete, IT DOESN’T MATTER in the least how “skilled” he is. HS coaches will drop him like a hot potato in favor of the 6’3” reasonably athletic freshman who has never played competitive basketball in his life. Because believe it or not, there is still plenty of time to teach a 14 year old how to play basketball.