Thursday, October 23, 2014

AAU Makes Sweeping Changes

 

 

For as many years as I can remember, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) has allowed teams to have at least 3 grade exceptions per team. Well, that long-standing practice has apparently changed, and will have a significant impact on travel basketball. According to a very reliable source, at their annual board meeting in Fort Lauderdale, FL last week, the AAU changed their rules to prohibit any grade exceptions in ages 7-14 effective immediately.

 

As we all know, the key to placing high at the AAU Nationals is often about the number and quality of a team’s grade exceptions. With this new model, teams will be forced to refigure, as kids are forced to play on teams based on their age. Any many cases, teams will lose their best 3 players who will now be forced to find teams in their own age. The specific details of the rule changes are not yet known, but any way you cut it, the face of middle school basketball will change forever.

 

Undoubtedly, the impetus for such a dramatic change could be directly related to the number of cheating scandals AAU experienced this past summer. Those of us who follow travel basketball closely know the players, organizations and situations that could be responsible for AAU’s dramatic shift in policy. If you think about it, hundreds of teams participate in AAU Nationals every year, and of those hundreds of teams, about a quarter of those teams are the truly elite, have quality grade exceptions, and have a realistic chance of winning it all. Consequently, AAU was faced with allowing a few teams at the very top to negatively affect the majority of the “middle of the road” type teams who are really generating most of the revenue.

 

 

We will all wait to see the ramification of the rule changes and time will only tell how teams and organizations will respond. Programs like the National Youth basketball League (NYBL) could be part of the answer for many teams, as their bylaws place no restrictions on grade exceptions. For many parents, who have tired of all the hype and exposure given to the so called grade exceptions, this news will be a God send, and will help even the playing field for their child. Hold on folks, things are about to get really interesting!

Posted by National Youth Basketball League NYBL at 2:55 PM 152 comments:

I like the rule change but it is gonna be a mess for a little bit. The odd thing is current reclassed 8th graders will play as freshman this year and next year when they are actually in 9th grade they will play 9th grade again. The 9-12th grades have not changed just the 7u-14u. That is my understanding of it anyway.

another interesting thing to me is this is just for boys. The girls didn't change.

I like the rule change but it is gonna be a mess for a little bit. The odd thing is current reclassed 8th graders will play as freshman this year and next year when they are actually in 9th grade they will play 9th grade again. The 9-12th grades have not changed just the 7u-14u. That is my understanding of it anyway.

I agree, it is going to be a potential mess because it is effective immediately. No buffer year to role out the changes and prepare. Overall it should be good for AAU though.

Hopefully it slows down the reclassing of kids for sports. I don't foresee most of the showcase teams making many changes to their rosters though outside of not playing in nationals. I imagine most of the grade exception kids leave to play on the higher level teams that will play based on their grade now instead of playing their age. The guy who wrote that article runs arguably the top league for middle schoolers in the country and he will still allow the elite teams to play in his league based on grade. At the end of the day though, AAU will benefit from this and so will the shoe company teams IMO.

I cannot cite chapter and verse, but I have been to 5 national AAU tournaments the last 2 years, and there were no such thing as "grade exceptions" when we turned in our rosters or checked in. I was under the impression that about three years ago, they did away with the "grade exception" and made it a grade based eligibility (e.g. 7th grade as of October 1 is eligible to play in the 7th grade tournament the following summer as long as they did not turn 14 before the prior August 1). Effectively, it makes everyone a "grade exception".... you could have a team full of 14 year olds play in the 7th (or 15 year olds in the 8th or 16 year olds in the 9th) as long as they were, in fact, in that grade (you have to show a report card or transcript at the time of check in to prove the grade, as well as the age).

henry steele, you are correct. The article is just calling all hold backs grade exceptions.

Newly posted on the AAU website:

2015 AAU BOYS BASKETBALL RULE CHANGES

Categories: National News, Basketball, Boys Basketball, FAQ, Features, Rules

Listed below are the new eligibility rules for boys' basketball in the 2015 season.

7 & Under: An athlete can be no older than 7 on August 31, 2015

8 & Under: An athlete can be no older than 8 on August 31, 2015

9 & Under: An athlete can be no older than 9 on August 31, 2015

10 & Under: An athlete can be no older than 10 on August 31, 2015

11 & Under: An athlete can be no older than 11 on August 31, 2015

12 & Under: An athlete can be no older than 12 on August 31, 2015

13 & Under: An athlete can be no older than 13 on August 31, 2015

14 & Under: An athlete can be no older than 14 on August 31, 2015

15U/9th Grade: An athlete can be no older than 15 on August 31, 2015. Grade Exception: An athlete who is in the 9th grade as of Oct 1, 2014 and who is no older than 16 on August 31, 2015 is eligible to play in the 15U/9th grade division

16U/10th Grade: An athlete can be no older than 16 on August 31, 2015. Grade Exception: An athlete who is in the 10th grade as of Oct 1, 2014 and who is no older than 17 on August 31, 2015 is eligible to play in the 16U/10th grade division

17U/11th Grade: An athlete can be no older than 17 on August 31, 2015. Grade Exception: An athlete who is in the 11th grade as of Oct 1, 2014 and who is no older than 18 on August 31, 2015 is eligible to play in the 17U/11th grade division

19U/ 12th Grade: An athlete can be no older than 19 on August 31, 2015. Grade Exception: An athlete who is in the 12th grade as of Oct 1, 2014 and who is no older than 20 on August 31, 2015 is eligible to play in the 19U/12th grade division

I am curious to see how the trickle down affect will play out with all of the non aau events and leagues. Most of these types use aau rules which has allowed for a 24 month period per grade. This worked because a team could be formed with the intention of playing in the aau state and national and not have to make roster changes. With these adjustments to the aau rules, will more teams shy away form holdback players and will the non certified events change their rules?

So they added a 19U/12th Grade division? I was wondering what would happen to 18 year old juniors.

This will seriously affect the rosters of 14U teams on down.... at the AAU national tournament, even in the D3 division, many teams in the 7th grade teams were composed of mostly 14 year olds, who would now be ineligible.

Does this go into effect for girls also?

This will seriously affect the rosters of 14U teams on down.... at the AAU national tournament, even in the D3 division, many teams in the 7th grade teams were composed of mostly 14 year olds, who would now be ineligible.

no boys only

This is the way it should have been all along. I understand the intent of the other rule, but people always find ways to take advantage of it and ruin a good thing.

This is the way it should have been all along. I understand the intent of the other rule, but people always find ways to take advantage of it and ruin a good thing.

 

I agree but I think it should have included the girls too, it is just as bad with the girls. I always thought just do it by age like they do baseball or softball.