Charliebball
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OT:Two Interesting Articles On the Good & the Bad of AAU Basketball
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Thanks for posting - they are both pretty balanced pieces. A couple of thoughts:
1. This is another aspect of the stratification of our society by financial/time resources. There is no way that some families can afford the 'grassroots' commitment of money and time to get the exposure that might lead to a scholarship for a talented child. That might not matter if they live in a hotbed of HS competition area of the country or in a large metro area where prep schools are 'recruiting' out of the public schools and giving scholarships based on athletic potential, but there are large swaths of the country where those conditions do not exist. Think of a Jessica Moore playing in Alaska for example.
2. The shift from the HS season to the AAU season for evaluation creates a disadvantage for multi-sport athletes - the schedule conflicts get bigger, and the 'cross-training' aspect of playing multiple sports gets lost. Bent got much more exposure once she concentrated on basketball.
3. The lack of actual coaching at AAU is a real detriment to player development and to good basketball.
4. One of the big advantages of AAU is mentioned in one of the pieces - because the teams are pulling talent from a much larger geography, the players actually are playing the positions they are more likely to play in college than they may be playing within the framework of their HS team. That and the chance to play with and against more balanced talent is significant.
1. This is another aspect of the stratification of our society by financial/time resources. There is no way that some families can afford the 'grassroots' commitment of money and time to get the exposure that might lead to a scholarship for a talented child. That might not matter if they live in a hotbed of HS competition area of the country or in a large metro area where prep schools are 'recruiting' out of the public schools and giving scholarships based on athletic potential, but there are large swaths of the country where those conditions do not exist. Think of a Jessica Moore playing in Alaska for example.
2. The shift from the HS season to the AAU season for evaluation creates a disadvantage for multi-sport athletes - the schedule conflicts get bigger, and the 'cross-training' aspect of playing multiple sports gets lost. Bent got much more exposure once she concentrated on basketball.
3. The lack of actual coaching at AAU is a real detriment to player development and to good basketball.
4. One of the big advantages of AAU is mentioned in one of the pieces - because the teams are pulling talent from a much larger geography, the players actually are playing the positions they are more likely to play in college than they may be playing within the framework of their HS team. That and the chance to play with and against more balanced talent is significant.
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