My daughter's 7th grade bball team

[atxhawk]

Just got back from my 7th grade daughter's bball tournament. The score of the game before her's was 15-1. Yes, you read that right, 15-1. The team that won doesn't play real good basketball, they just try and beat you up basically and the refs for some reason let them get away with it. In my girl's game they didn't allow either team to get away with the same amount of physical play at all. Yeah, don't remember the score since her team got crushed. Trying to block it out of my mind and hers to prepare for tomorrow's game and hope they can finish in 3rd.

 

[Ozhawk]

Youth sports are like a necessary evil. .

No they are not. My daughter is out for AAU basketball and my other daughter is out for AAU volleyball.

BOTH of them will not be doing it ever again. I would say it was a parenting mistake for letting them go out. My wife and I decided that we were going to let our kids be kids. You know play outside and see the world type of stuff. I simply cannot believe the stupidity behind yelling at little girls and practicing hours on end. I am very happy that I was a child during the mid- 70s..we actually acted like kids instead of being carted around from tourney to practice.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

No they are not. My daughter is out for AAU basketball and my other daughter is out for AAU volleyball.

BOTH of them will not be doing it ever again. I would say it was a parenting mistake for letting them go out. My wife and I decided that we were going to let our kids be kids. You know play outside and see the world type of stuff. I simply cannot believe the stupidity behind yelling at little girls and practicing hours on end. I am very happy that I was a child during the mid- 70s..we actually acted like kids instead of being carted around from tourney to practice.

Yea. It gets pretty rediculous when now tourneys are consistently held on holidays like Mother's Day etc. Or now, kids don't attend Baptisms or other important functions because of sports or tournaments.

Unfortunately, this day in age, these sports drive families schedules. We have nieces & nephews who now don't go on the family vacation to a Minnesota resort unless the timing doesn't interfere with the first week of football practice for the boy & this was when he was 10 or 11.

I'm sure my wife & I will act similar to this when our boys get up there in age, but that isn't saying it's right.

 

[Ozhawk]

Yea. It gets pretty rediculous when now tourneys are consistently held on holidays like Mother's Day etc. Or now, kids don't attend Baptisms or other important functions because of sports or tournaments.

Unfortunately, this day in age, these sports drive families schedules. We have nieces & nephews who now don't go on the family vacation to a Minnesota resort unless the timing doesn't interfere with the first week of football practice for the boy & this was when he was 10 or 11.

I'm sure my wife & I will act similar to this when our boys get up there in age, but that isn't saying it's right.

Take my advice. DONT DO IT. your kids will not be better people because they played AAU sports or whatever. We are DONE and our daughters will have the chance to be kids again. AND family will be JUST THAT family. Organized sports for young kids screws them up.

 

[bighawkeyedaddy]

In my opinion, it's all about how the parents look at the situation. I am coaching my son's 6th grade basketball team, we are not AAU affiliated. There are plenty of tournaments and scrimmages that you can get in without being affiliated with AAU. We will end up playing about 25 games when our season ends next week. All of the parents understand that this is an opportunity for the kids to get some experience playing the game, and that's it. No trying to live your life vicariously through your child on this team.

We have played several teams that are like us and we can compete with, some teams that are a little bit better than us, and then we have played a few top notch AAU teams that beat us by 70 points. I had to actually chastise one opposing coach for continuing to put an aggressive half court trap on us while up by 35 late in the second half.

When I was a kid I would have loved to have the opportunity to play as many games as my son has this winter, we only had the Park and Rec league where you might get to play 8 games in a winter. I think that these leagues/games can be a big benefit as long as you don't have a group of overbearing parents (good luck with that in this day and age)

 

[bkim24]

Take my advice. DONT DO IT. your kids will not be better people because they played AAU sports or whatever. We are DONE and our daughters will have the chance to be kids again. AND family will be JUST THAT family. Organized sports for young kids screws them up.

I apologize that you must have had a bad experience playing AAU/travel ball.

Coming from a kid who won 2 national titles and place in the top 10 twelve times at national tournaments I have no idea how playing organized sports 'screws them up'

 

[Ozhawk]

I apologize that you must have had a bad experience playing AAU/travel ball.

Coming from a kid who won 2 national titles and place in the top 10 twelve times at national tournaments I have no idea how playing organized sports 'screws them up'

Sorry harsh words. My 4th grader was practicing 9 hours a week. Which is more than the HS bball team. The litany of family fucntion that she missed because of tourneys and practice is long. Family sledding events, birthday parties of friends, family get togethers and on and on and on. I guess I should have said that it screws up family dynamics. At least with my tribe. I have 4 kids and we have decided that they will all be just fine away from the regiment of organized sports. At least until they get into school sports.

 

[bkim24]

Sorry harsh words. My 4th grader was practicing 9 hours a week. Which is more than the HS bball team. The litany of family fucntion that she missed because of tourneys and practice is long. Family sledding events, birthday parties of friends, family get togethers and on and on and on. I guess I should have said that it screws up family dynamics. At least with my tribe. I have 4 kids and we have decided that they will all be just fine away from the regiment of organized sports. At least until they get into school sports.

I understand what you are saying now.

 

[atxhawk]

Interesting read on AAU ball.

Play their hearts out - TrueHoop Blog - ESPN

 

[Hawkeye11en1]

Sorry harsh words. My 4th grader was practicing 9 hours a week. Which is more than the HS bball team. The litany of family fucntion that she missed because of tourneys and practice is long. Family sledding events, birthday parties of friends, family get togethers and on and on and on. I guess I should have said that it screws up family dynamics. At least with my tribe. I have 4 kids and we have decided that they will all be just fine away from the regiment of organized sports. At least until they get into school sports.

The practice, IMO, is where it can get out of hand. I didn't win national titles or anything like the poster above, but we played a few national tournaments and a lot of state stuff. Where we differed from most teams is we only practiced once a week, for about 2 hours. That was really just so that everyone could get to know each other. It made the experience fun, played with and against some very good competition, and it didn't kill our social/family lives. It's hard to find that mix that makes everyone happy.

 

[HawkI101]

No they are not. My daughter is out for AAU basketball and my other daughter is out for AAU volleyball.

BOTH of them will not be doing it ever again. I would say it was a parenting mistake for letting them go out. My wife and I decided that we were going to let our kids be kids. You know play outside and see the world type of stuff. I simply cannot believe the stupidity behind yelling at little girls and practicing hours on end. I am very happy that I was a child during the mid- 70s..we actually acted like kids instead of being carted around from tourney to practice.

Believe me I wish this wasn't the case. When I say it is a necessary evil I only mean that if your child wants to be good at a sport or at least get to play on their high school team they will need to play the AAU stuff. You won't find many good high school players that didn't play it and if your high school's players didn't then their team won't be any good.

It is like keeping up with the Jones'.

 

[HawkI101]

Sorry harsh words. My 4th grader was practicing 9 hours a week. Which is more than the HS bball team. The litany of family fucntion that she missed because of tourneys and practice is long. Family sledding events, birthday parties of friends, family get togethers and on and on and on. I guess I should have said that it screws up family dynamics. At least with my tribe. I have 4 kids and we have decided that they will all be just fine away from the regiment of organized sports. At least until they get into school sports.

If you wait until they are in school sports to play and practice they won't be good enough to get any playing time on the team.

9 hours of practice is a lot for 4th graders but if your HS team isn't even practicing that much a week then they probably aren't very good.

 

[HawkI101]

I have coached 3 varsity sports at 4A / 3A schools within the past years and if you want those varsity sports to be any good you have to have a feeder program of youth players playing AAU basketball. Doesn't have to be Kingdom Hoops or All Iowa Attack. All varsity coaches will want that. They want their young kids together playing in tournaments and practicing at a young age (probably starting around 3rd or 4th grade).

Now what makes the AAU bad is letting your kid play for a coach who cares about winning more than having fun and getting better. I would put my kid on a different team if that was the case. And having parents that are too worried about the reffing or are constantly yelling and screaming. I have told many parents to shut up or leave during my kids' youth days, and these were parents of my kids' teammates.

You definitely don't have to participate in the AAU stuff but your child will be behind the 8 ball if they really like a sport and want to have a shot on their varsity team someday.

 

[DuffMan]

It's just sad because when I was growing up there was a group of kids in our town that depending on the day could be found playing basketball at the court, playing baseball at the diamond, or playing football in the church lot (or Ryan's back yard). Many of us became accomplished HS and college athletes simply by playing pick up games all year long.

We probably spent as much, if not more time, practicing sports than these AAU teams but I'd be willing to bet we learned a heck of a lot more about life that most of these kids do. We certainly didn't have to put up with any of the parents or coaches politics.

If you could stick a J, throw a tight spiral, or hit a baseball into the ditch you were picked first, regardless of whether or not your dad was coaching, or your mom's business paid for the jerseys.

 

[sodakhawkeye]

It's just sad because when I was growing up there was a group of kids in our town that depending on the day could be found playing basketball at the court, playing baseball at the diamond, or playing football in the church lot (or Ryan's back yard). Many of us became accomplished HS and college athletes simply by playing pick up games all year long.

We probably spent as much, if not more time, practicing sports than these AAU teams but I'd be willing to bet we learned a heck of a lot more about life that most of these kids do. We certainly didn't have to put up with any of the parents or coaches politics.

If you could stick a J, throw a tight spiral, or hit a baseball into the ditch you were picked first, regardless of whether or not your dad was coaching, or your mom's business paid for the jerseys.

I wish this was still the case, but unfortunately its not. Kids have many more options and the majority of them involve technology.

I have parents ask me all the time to have open gym for kids all summer long. I ask them why? We have great parks and driveways to get better. They don't need the gym.

 

[GravyJones]

It's just sad because when I was growing up there was a group of kids in our town that depending on the day could be found playing basketball at the court, playing baseball at the diamond, or playing football in the church lot (or Ryan's back yard). Many of us became accomplished HS and college athletes simply by playing pick up games all year long.

We probably spent as much, if not more time, practicing sports than these AAU teams but I'd be willing to bet we learned a heck of a lot more about life that most of these kids do. We certainly didn't have to put up with any of the parents or coaches politics.

If you could stick a J, throw a tight spiral, or hit a baseball into the ditch you were picked first, regardless of whether or not your dad was coaching, or your mom's business paid for the jerseys.

Ah, the good old days. I had a friend with a couple of older brothers that were big into math. They'd help us organize our teams and leagues and keep all sorts of stats all while playing in driveways or back yards with no officiating or fancy equipment.

 

[HawkI101]

Ah, the good old days. I had a friend with a couple of older brothers that were big into math. They'd help us organize our teams and leagues and keep all sorts of stats all while playing in driveways or back yards with no officiating or fancy equipment.

My favorite was NCAA tourney time. We would create the entire 64 team bracket and play one on one or two on two games for the entire bracket to see who the champ was. That would take us a week to play through. But now kids just do that on their x-box.

 

[bighawkeyedaddy]

My favorite was NCAA tourney time. We would create the entire 64 team bracket and play one on one or two on two games for the entire bracket to see who the champ was. That would take us a week to play through. But now kids just do that on their x-box.

We did the same thing. It always sucked when it would be one of those cold, windy March days out, you would have to adjust your jump shot or just drive to the lane all the time because the wind would blow your shot completely off!

I remember shoveling the driveway off and going out and shooting hoops in freezing temperatures during halftime of Hawk games too, you never see anyone doing that anymore.

 

[DuffMan]

I wish this was still the case, but unfortunately its not. Kids have many more options and the majority of them involve technology.

I have parents ask me all the time to have open gym for kids all summer long. I ask them why? We have great parks and driveways to get better. They don't need the gym.

Well, I long for the days in which the most respected kid in the neighborhood got that way by leading the summer long whiffle ball season in dongs as opposed to amassing the most career frags in COD: Black Ops.

 

[DesMoinesHawki]

No they are not. My daughter is out for AAU basketball and my other daughter is out for AAU volleyball.

BOTH of them will not be doing it ever again. I would say it was a parenting mistake for letting them go out. My wife and I decided that we were going to let our kids be kids. You know play outside and see the world type of stuff. I simply cannot believe the stupidity behind yelling at little girls and practicing hours on end. I am very happy that I was a child during the mid- 70s..we actually acted like kids instead of being carted around from tourney to practice.

Amen! I, too, grew up in the 70s. We would practice a couple of times a week for an hour or so and then play our games on Saturdays. Now you have teams travelling the country; kids practicing on holidays; two-hour practices; insane parents ... and the list goes on.

I have a great example within my own family. One of my brothers thought his son/my nephew was going to be the next Pele soccer player. Had him join an elite soccer team; traveled the Midwest, spending plenty of dollars on travel, uniform, fees, etc. ... Fast forward five years ... he is just your average college kid ... Hasn't touched a soccer ball in four years and could care less about the sport ...

Some parents today are absolutely amazing. They are re-living the glory days through their kids; or setting expectations for their kids that they themselves could not achieve. Yes, coaches should be firm with their players ... But let's leave the coaching, etc., to the coach. For the parents who knock the decisions of the coach, perhaps they should grab a whistle and offer to help coach the team. Instead, it is easier to sit on the stands and berate the coaches or the referees.

Somewhere along the line our society has taken a turn South ... And go to almost any youth sporting event for a first-hand look. The main and only reason I will not get into coaching is because I don't want to deal with the insane parents. Not sure I want to accept listening to coaching advice from the soccer mom wearing her "not so" "skinny" jeans who thinks her precious Julie should play the entire game.

I give kudos to one of my other brothers for pulling his youngest from football. Why? Because they were practicing five nights a week for close to two hours a night ... And he was only 10 years old ...