No way

 

You are entitled to your opinion, but so far, my kids' AAU coaches have been more experienced knowledgable than the school coaches, from middle school up to high school, and I know other parents from our who would agree with me. I guess it depends on the AAU and school coaches you have. My kids learned many more offensive and defensive sets, presses, etc. and learned many more advanced skills via AAU. Plus, another advantage that an AAU coach can have over a school coach is acting as a trainer for a kid over several years and getting to know the kids' strengths and weaknesses. School coaches often only have 2-3 years to figure out the talent they have and what each kid is capable of doing best, and they aren't always able to do that effectively.

As anything these days, it takes a good amount of money to enter teams in tourneys as well as rental fees for a place to practice. The down side is some families can't afford the cost, this mostly effects inter city kids, is it fare to everyone else to make them pay extra money for those who cant afford to go? There are some teams that charge most of the players in the area of $3,000 per year, but don't charge others one cent, to me that isn't fare for those paying the extra money so the others can play. Sometimes a player cannot find a sponsor, there are just so much money people will donate.

 

I was at an AAU event last spring and was shocked at the language that the coach was using towards his 6th grade team, I was more shocked that the parents there did not step up to complain about the coaches language towards 6th graders. Then we wonder why these kids are using foul language anywhere and anytime, on and off the court. This was the firsttime I ever seen this after watching 100s of AAU games.

 

But over all I think AAU is a good experience.

You are entitled to your opinion, but so far, my kids' AAU coaches have been more experienced knowledgable than the school coaches, from middle school up to high school, and I know other parents from our who would agree with me. I guess it depends on the AAU and school coaches you have. My kids learned many more offensive and defensive sets, presses, etc. and learned many more advanced skills via AAU. Plus, another advantage that an AAU coach can have over a school coach is acting as a trainer for a kid over several years and getting to know the kids' strengths and weaknesses. School coaches often only have 2-3 years to figure out the talent they have and what each kid is capable of doing best, and they aren't always able to do that effectively.

 

You should be thankful to have had a good AAU coach. As posted above - I'll admit occasionally better... but there are a LOT of kids who have been taken advantage of by some shady coaches in the AAU circuits.

 

Don't get me wrong - in the Right situation an AAU experience can provide a kid the opportunity to play all year long and to travel and see places they wouldn't have seen otherwise and to play against some really good players.

 

I also think that the younger AAU circuit is much more beneficial than the older divisions. It's when you get shoe companies and college boosters and AAU coaches with selfish agendas that things turn sour quickly.

You should be thankful to have had a good AAU coach. As posted above - I'll admit occasionally better... but there are a LOT of kids who have been taken advantage of by some shady coaches in the AAU circuits.

 

Don't get me wrong - in the Right situation an AAU experience can provide a kid the opportunity to play all year long and to travel and see places they wouldn't have seen otherwise and to play against some really good players.

 

I also think that the younger AAU circuit is much more beneficial than the older divisions. It's when you get shoe companies and college boosters and AAU coaches with selfish agendas that things turn sour quickly.

 

I don't look at the AAU coach as a personal role model off the court. They are often paid "trainers" who are getting paid to teach your kids skills. I know there are many shady coaches out there too with personal agendas. But there are plenty of politics in school ball as well.

I'm sorry but there is NO WAY that anyone can convince me that AAU coaching is "often better" than the coaching that schools provide. Occasionally better - maybe, but overall I'll stick with NO WAY...:fight:

Well, I've read your posts and don't know where you've soured on the AAU scene, but I will say this. I know for me at least, that my son's AAU coach was better for him than his gradeschool coach. Not only my son, but many that I've known and have seen. No offense to the gradeschool and middle school coaches, but you're not getting high school coach knowledge at these levels at most schools IMO. All are AAU coaches of that caliber? No. But I feel entirely opposite to your view on the caliber of coaches, at least the ones I've had first hand experience with. I know that my son's coach was of a higher caliber, because I was his gradeschool coach, and his AAU coach was of higher caliber!

I don't look at the AAU coach as a personal role model off the court. They are often paid "trainers" who are getting paid to teach your kids skills. I know there are many shady coaches out there too with personal agendas. But there are plenty of politics in school ball as well.

 

Yes, there are some school coaches with personal agendas and politics plays a part way too often, but the school coaches can be held accountable. They have rules they are to abide by.

 

If an AAU coach screws a kid out of $2000 on a trip to LA by promising that he will cover all meals and transportation but then doesn't follow through - the only ones that coach is accountable to is the parents he's already screwed and the parents know that college coaches will be calling him for an evaluation of their son. There is no accountability to regulate the coaches in AAU. That is why there are so many crooked folks involved.

 

Let your kid go play a summer with Eddie Ford's teams - they are the most high profile AAU teams in Kentucky - and see if you have the same views you do now.

I'll pass on what a friend of mine who was the head coach of a local high school team told me once. He felt that if a kid wasn't involved with an AAU team by the time they made it to high school, they were going to have to blow him away at try outs to make the team, because try outs were just too short a time to evaluate talent therefore he relied on watching the AAU circuit teams. This was a large high school, which probably made it more important to this coach. On a personal note, I don't care how good the TEAM is, what matters is how good the COACH is as far as laying down the fundamentals to a player. Coaches need players with great fundamentals, a good AAU coach can help in this area, anyone can learn how to shoot, it's all the other attributes that make a kid invaluable to a coach.

Well, I've read your posts and don't know where you've soured on the AAU scene, but I will say this. I know for me at least, that my son's AAU coach was better for him than his gradeschool coach. Not only my son, but many that I've known and have seen. No offense to the gradeschool and middle school coaches, but you're not getting high school coach knowledge at these levels at most schools IMO. All are AAU coaches of that caliber? No. But I feel entirely opposite to your view on the caliber of coaches, at least the ones I've had first hand experience with. I know that my son's coach was of a higher caliber, because I was his gradeschool coach, and his AAU coach was of higher caliber!

 

 

I think we are talking about two different animals. I'm ok with the younger AAU stuff as I posted earlier.

 

It's the high school 17 and under, all-star, high profile, sponsored by NIKE or ADIDAS, OJ Mayo publicity making, money hungry AAU crooks that I'm talking about.

 

The Scott Co. Heat 9 and under team has one of the best coaches around coaching them. Those kids are blessed to have a good man and a good coach. He teaches the fundamentals and teaches the kids how to play team ball. We don't even have grade school teams in Scott Co. My posts are about High School aged kids only... and comparing those coaches to Varsity and JV coaches only.

I think we are talking about two different animals. I'm ok with the younger AAU stuff as I posted earlier.

 

It's the high school 17 and under, all-star, high profile, sponsored by NIKE or ADIDAS, OJ Mayo publicity making, money hungry AAU crooks that I'm talking about.

 

The Scott Co. Heat 9 and under team has one of the best coaches around coaching them. Those kids are blessed to have a good man and a good coach. He teaches the fundamentals and teaches the kids how to play team ball. We don't even have grade school teams in Scott Co. My posts are about High School aged kids only... and comparing those coaches to Varsity and JV coaches only.

I understand, but when you lump them all together in a blanket statement, the fact remains that the ages up to 14U for instance account for a huge sum of AAU teams. I'd guess that the older teams may have more issues due to the added fluff you mentioned previously. And again, I'm not being argumentative, just saying that at the levels that I've been involved with, the coaches for the most part have been very knowledgeable.

IMO we have not seen the improvement in true basketball skill at the high school level in Kentucky that one would expect with the amount of time spent in AAU ball. The game could be improved with more true practice and drills (ie fundamentals) than what kids get playing AAU. Shooting is not any better and probably worse than it used to be.

IMO we have not seen the improvement in true basketball skill at the high school level in Kentucky that one would expect with the amount of time spent in AAU ball. The game could be improved with more true practice and drills (ie fundamentals) than what kids get playing AAU. Shooting is not any better and probably worse than it used to be.

 

Perhaps defense is better or more physical than it used to be too. More contact and bumping and handchecking is allowed.

Perhaps defense is better or more physical than it used to be too. More contact and bumping and handchecking is allowed.

 

Defense is definitely more aggressive today. Even taking that into consideration, the quality of basketball is no better than it was prior to the proliferation of AAU teams.

Defense is definitely more aggressive today. Even taking that into consideration, the quality of basketball is no better than it was prior to the proliferation of AAU teams.

I think one reason for this has been mentioned before. Too many players want to be the next And1 player and instead of working on their shot and free throws, they work on their "hot-dogging", and lower their rim so they can work on their dunks.

AAU has been very beneficial for my son's growth in the fundamentals of the game. He has been blessed with outstanding coaching and personal workout programs along with learning to set goals and to achieve them. However I personally checked out several AAU programs before we made a commitment to a team.

He has met many new friends and experienced many good things he wouldn't have experienced if it were not for AAU. We live in a small rural community where opportunity is limited. If you want to play and learn the game then you must go out of the county.

Yes, there are some school coaches with personal agendas and politics plays a part way too often, but the school coaches can be held accountable. They have rules they are to abide by.

 

If an AAU coach screws a kid out of $2000 on a trip to LA by promising that he will cover all meals and transportation but then doesn't follow through - the only ones that coach is accountable to is the parents he's already screwed and the parents know that college coaches will be calling him for an evaluation of their son. There is no accountability to regulate the coaches in AAU. That is why there are so many crooked folks involved.

 

Let your kid go play a summer with Eddie Ford's teams - they are the most high profile AAU teams in Kentucky - and see if you have the same views you do now.

My kid played for Eddie Ford last summer and had a great experience!!! He loved it and want's to play for him again this year. It was kind of expensive but he took care of everything for one fee!!!!!!!