AAU Basketball - A Parents Perspective

This is a reprint of an article I wrote back in June.

As a long time coach I have always had players who played AAU ball. I use to confer with other coaches regarding AAU. Their thoughts were quite simple. AAU ball is for the great players to help them get exposure. It made sense to me and I usually steered my best players toward AAU in the spring.

This year as my sons 5th/6th grade school team finished up a 16-0 season I thought to myself, "what can my son do to improve his game". He was a starter on the team and a good player but far short from being a great player. He had expressed to me that he would like to get better I reluctantly suggested that he played AAU. So we searched to find a team.

We found a 12U AAU team in our area and he tried out for the team. He made the team and he quickly found out that most of the kids were better than him. Most of them were the best players on their respective school teams. The team practiced twice a week and the practices were extremely intense. Most of the parents would stay and watch practice, I was no different. I watched as my kid struggled especially athletically. He just wasn't as quick or as fast as the other players. My kid noticed the same thing. He had a decision to make. He could quit and not get any better or he could take the beating, keep working and hopefully improve.

The season lasted 8 or 9 weeks. We continued to practice twice a week and played in 4 weekend tournaments. We won some games and lost some games. We were man handled by some teams but we were able to win a tournament and compete at a pretty high level. My son did his best everyday to get better whether it was in practice or a game. Some games he scored others he didn't. Some practices went well others didn't. During the course of the AAU season my son would ask me to go over to the gym so we could work on his game. I took him every time he asked.

In reflecting on my son's first AAU basketball experience. I have to say it was nothing but positive. My son realized he had to elevate his game in order to compete at a high level. His work ethic increased 100%. His quickness and game speed improved immensely. He developed moves that used his opponents superior athleticism against them. He developed a deeper love for the game that I adore. He even told himself that he needs to get stronger in order to compete at a high level. He starts every morning and ends every day with sit ups. He says he is trying to develop better core strength. I can honestly say that my son is twice the player he was before he played AAU. Both he and I are looking forward to next basketball season.

Another thing my son gained during his experience with AAU was new friendships. He only knew 3 of the kids going in. I find him talking with some of the other boys on the phone or through text messaging. It is nice to see him develop some new friendships during the experience.

Huron League Coaches

Airport-Spencer Roecker
Flat Rock-Dave Bogataj
Grosse Ile-Brian Friel
Huron-Jim Kabfliesch
Jefferson-Jon Scharf
Milan-Steve Tropea
Riverview-J.J. Hatzl
SMCC-Randy Windham

District Basketball Championships

Flat Rock 14
Grosse Ile 13
SMCC 13
Milan 11
Riverview 8
Airport 7
Huron 4
Jefferson 1

Sunday Basketball

If your looking to watch some good high school basketball throughout the month of September and early October. Get down to Detroit Consortium High School on Sundays and watch some of the top players from the metro Detroit area play ball. The league starts on September 6th and runs for 6 weeks until October 11th.

You will most likely see a couple of the best Huron League players tuning up their game down there. Consortium is located on Rosa Parks Blvd just east of the old Tiger Stadium site. The school is on the north side of the road and the gym is in the back.