Coaching Youth Basketball (1 Viewer)

[Navin Johnson]

Hope your son recovers well, Chad.

Thank you.

He didn't have any noticeable inflammation and has good strength in his ankle when I tested it just sore. I had him ice and put Voltaran (one of the mother's on the team is a Physical Therapist and recommended that over other stuff) on. He seemed to not be favoring it at home.

After Saturday, I told him to ice it and he refused saying it didn't help etc. My wife got him to put a compression ankle on it but that obviously did not help Sunday.

We have a practice Wed before the Thursday game and I am going to hold him out of it then he will wear a brace for Thursday game. I am a little nervous over it and will play him only as much as I really need to as the team we are playing was the most physical team with several bigger kids on it. Those refs let it get rough though more than usual so hopefully whoever refs this game calls it less loose so it doesn't get as physical this time.

You should only ice it if it helps with the pain/discomfort levels. The whole RICE protocol we grew up believing was later recanted by the guy who came up with it. The new anacronym is MEAT (Movement Exercise Analgesics Treatment.) They believe that restricting circulation to prevent swelling only slows the healing process.

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[Chadstroma]

Hope your son recovers well, Chad.

Thank you.

He didn't have any noticeable inflammation and has good strength in his ankle when I tested it just sore. I had him ice and put Voltaran (one of the mother's on the team is a Physical Therapist and recommended that over other stuff) on. He seemed to not be favoring it at home.

After Saturday, I told him to ice it and he refused saying it didn't help etc. My wife got him to put a compression ankle on it but that obviously did not help Sunday.

We have a practice Wed before the Thursday game and I am going to hold him out of it then he will wear a brace for Thursday game. I am a little nervous over it and will play him only as much as I really need to as the team we are playing was the most physical team with several bigger kids on it. Those refs let it get rough though more than usual so hopefully whoever refs this game calls it less loose so it doesn't get as physical this time.

You should only ice it if it helps with the pain/discomfort levels. The whole RICE protocol we grew up believing was later recanted by the guy who came up with it. The new anacronym is MEAT (Movement Exercise Analgesics Treatment.) They believe that restricting circulation to prevent swelling only slows the healing process.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

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I am not a medical professional so I followed the direction of my FIL (Doctor) and one of the mothers on the team (Physical Therapist) which was to ice it 2 or 3 times that day for about 15 min each then use compression and the topical treatment with rest for the next couple of days. I didn't ask but my guess is the ice at injury time (or immediately after) is still useful to control inflammation and then the MEAT is moving on from there. Maybe it should be changed to "eat your RICE before your MEAT"?

 

[Chadstroma]

Hope your son recovers well, Chad.

Thank you.

He didn't have any noticeable inflammation and has good strength in his ankle when I tested it just sore. I had him ice and put Voltaran (one of the mother's on the team is a Physical Therapist and recommended that over other stuff) on. He seemed to not be favoring it at home.

After Saturday, I told him to ice it and he refused saying it didn't help etc. My wife got him to put a compression ankle on it but that obviously did not help Sunday.

We have a practice Wed before the Thursday game and I am going to hold him out of it then he will wear a brace for Thursday game. I am a little nervous over it and will play him only as much as I really need to as the team we are playing was the most physical team with several bigger kids on it. Those refs let it get rough though more than usual so hopefully whoever refs this game calls it less loose so it doesn't get as physical this time.

You should only ice it if it helps with the pain/discomfort levels. The whole RICE protocol we grew up believing was later recanted by the guy who came up with it. The new anacronym is MEAT (Movement Exercise Analgesics Treatment.) They believe that restricting circulation to prevent swelling only slows the healing process.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

I am not a medical professional so I followed the direction of my FIL (Doctor) and one of the mothers on the team (Physical Therapist) which was to ice it 2 or 3 times that day for about 15 min each then use compression and the topical treatment with rest for the next couple of days. I didn't ask but my guess is the ice at injury time (or immediately after) is still useful to control inflammation and then the MEAT is moving on from there. Maybe it should be changed to "eat your RICE before your MEAT"?

Follow up to all this... he got home and told him to put the gel on and he said he would, it helped a lot and he doesn't feel any pain.

 

[Gally]

After Saturday, I told him to ice it and he refused saying it didn't help etc.

The best thing for me when I rolled ankles was putting my ankle it a bucket of icewater. 20 minutes on 20 minutes off for two or three times a night. It worked wonders for me. Hurts like hell for a minute or two until it numbs.....but works great for keeping swelling down and getting back on the field.

 

[Kuz]

10U recreation championship game was last night and it was a barn burner. Both being good defensive teams led to a lot of not great shots. Our team started out down 4 but rallied to be up by 2 at halftime. *** for tat the entirety of the 2nd half. One of our bigs made a great post move, got fouled and made both free throws to put us up with 30 seconds to go. Same big, my son, blocked the other team's shot with 4 seconds left, grabbed the rebound and dribbled out the clock. Honestly, that's the most consistent intensity I've seen from him all year. Maybe something has clicked!
This has been a serious learning season for me as a coach. I've only coached younger teams in the league (6U and 8U) so it took me a while to figure out the capacity of the 10U crowd to learn more of the subtleties of ball. It's such a balance of coaching to the skilled players vs teaching fundamentals to the newer players. I've found that I can probably start teaching more complex defenses and rudimentary offensive concepts from the get-go. If I coach again in the summer league, I'm planning to throw a simple pick and roll concept into the mix as a starter offense.

Congrats to the team and you coach on the championship!

It is a challenge when you are coaching a team with a wide range of athletic ability and basketball skillsets. The way that our school teams are set up- they start in 3rd grade and from 3rd to 5th, the teams are split up (most grades two teams but sometimes three) "evenly" by talent level with no cuts or tryouts (the school's AD/PE teacher makes the determination on his own). From 6th to 8th it is a tryout with no cuts into an A team and then B team (or if three teams then two B teams that are split talent wise like previous years). Since 3rd grade for my 6th graders (this 6th grade team, I have a B team that has two A players that did not make the cut) there has been a huge difference from the best players to the least skilled players. It makes it hard to effectively develop everyone when their needs are very different.

Our first practice this year with the B team one of the first drills we did was a weave. It was ugly. I mean, just absolutely horrible. I had to stop and then do a drill that I haven't done since 4th grade that is a very basic passing drill. It was hilariously useless for my two A level players but I had to get the rest of the players up to be able to level that would be operational as a team. One thing that I have done through the year is being flexible in my practice plans. If I have one of the least skilled players out for a practice then I will step up the teaching and drills to be at a higher level and vice versa where if my better players are out then I will bring it down to focus on more basic fundamental building. So, more than a couple of practices, whatever I planned has been thrown out and I rebuild it as I go based on who is there and who is not there.

One thing I would suggest... I start focusing on the basics of offense- give and go, pick and roll, screens, spacing, off ball movement, etc right away from 3rd grade. Very similar to my commitment to M2M on defense- it can be ugly at first but with a long view both for the season and for their long term basketball career development- it is best. For my 3rd graderes this year... my assistant coach was not fully on board with M2M and after our first couple of games was pushing for us to abandon it because it was honestly ugly and a big reason why we lost games early on. I told him, not exactly in these words but in general, "I don't care if we lose games- it is their best interest for the long term for us to stick with it". I teach all of this in concepts and not really in an offense as they have no offensive plays or even an inbound play set up and you can really see then 'get it' over the course of the season. They have executed some beautiful give and go's in games and fairly good pick and rolls in games and they have really come a long way on defense to be the best defense I have seen from the teams we have played while we started off maybe the worse. All that to say.... teach it. Even the new kids will be able to pick it up as the season goes.

been coaching 30 years and still haven't used this drill. Absolutely hate it. It's not basketball movement. We do 3-man and 4 -man wide straights instead

Thanks for the update.

Sorry to interupt the blog

By all means, continue to only make replies to be negative on something in a post of mine usually in a condescending way. It makes for great conversation.

Keep doing what you're doing. Love your posts & you should be proud of how much you do for your kids...

 

[Chadstroma]

10U recreation championship game was last night and it was a barn burner. Both being good defensive teams led to a lot of not great shots. Our team started out down 4 but rallied to be up by 2 at halftime. *** for tat the entirety of the 2nd half. One of our bigs made a great post move, got fouled and made both free throws to put us up with 30 seconds to go. Same big, my son, blocked the other team's shot with 4 seconds left, grabbed the rebound and dribbled out the clock. Honestly, that's the most consistent intensity I've seen from him all year. Maybe something has clicked!
This has been a serious learning season for me as a coach. I've only coached younger teams in the league (6U and 8U) so it took me a while to figure out the capacity of the 10U crowd to learn more of the subtleties of ball. It's such a balance of coaching to the skilled players vs teaching fundamentals to the newer players. I've found that I can probably start teaching more complex defenses and rudimentary offensive concepts from the get-go. If I coach again in the summer league, I'm planning to throw a simple pick and roll concept into the mix as a starter offense.

Congrats to the team and you coach on the championship!

It is a challenge when you are coaching a team with a wide range of athletic ability and basketball skillsets. The way that our school teams are set up- they start in 3rd grade and from 3rd to 5th, the teams are split up (most grades two teams but sometimes three) "evenly" by talent level with no cuts or tryouts (the school's AD/PE teacher makes the determination on his own). From 6th to 8th it is a tryout with no cuts into an A team and then B team (or if three teams then two B teams that are split talent wise like previous years). Since 3rd grade for my 6th graders (this 6th grade team, I have a B team that has two A players that did not make the cut) there has been a huge difference from the best players to the least skilled players. It makes it hard to effectively develop everyone when their needs are very different.

Our first practice this year with the B team one of the first drills we did was a weave. It was ugly. I mean, just absolutely horrible. I had to stop and then do a drill that I haven't done since 4th grade that is a very basic passing drill. It was hilariously useless for my two A level players but I had to get the rest of the players up to be able to level that would be operational as a team. One thing that I have done through the year is being flexible in my practice plans. If I have one of the least skilled players out for a practice then I will step up the teaching and drills to be at a higher level and vice versa where if my better players are out then I will bring it down to focus on more basic fundamental building. So, more than a couple of practices, whatever I planned has been thrown out and I rebuild it as I go based on who is there and who is not there.

One thing I would suggest... I start focusing on the basics of offense- give and go, pick and roll, screens, spacing, off ball movement, etc right away from 3rd grade. Very similar to my commitment to M2M on defense- it can be ugly at first but with a long view both for the season and for their long term basketball career development- it is best. For my 3rd graderes this year... my assistant coach was not fully on board with M2M and after our first couple of games was pushing for us to abandon it because it was honestly ugly and a big reason why we lost games early on. I told him, not exactly in these words but in general, "I don't care if we lose games- it is their best interest for the long term for us to stick with it". I teach all of this in concepts and not really in an offense as they have no offensive plays or even an inbound play set up and you can really see then 'get it' over the course of the season. They have executed some beautiful give and go's in games and fairly good pick and rolls in games and they have really come a long way on defense to be the best defense I have seen from the teams we have played while we started off maybe the worse. All that to say.... teach it. Even the new kids will be able to pick it up as the season goes.

been coaching 30 years and still haven't used this drill. Absolutely hate it. It's not basketball movement. We do 3-man and 4 -man wide straights instead

Thanks for the update.

Sorry to interupt the blog

By all means, continue to only make replies to be negative on something in a post of mine usually in a condescending way. It makes for great conversation.

Keep doing what you're doing. Love your posts & you should be proud of how much you do for your kids...

Thank you. I very much appreciate that!

 

[Chadstroma]

The final for Saturday is set. We play the team we finished playing back to back in each if our league's regular season games on their home court (which is the worse court for all the schools.... smaller court, not much room from baseline to wall and there are low hanging arches that for any shot outside of free throw line with proper arch will get rejected). We best them 25-10 and 32-9. The full size court (we will be playing at one of the local catholic HS) will favor us and our pressure defense/run and gun style, so I like our chances.

Thursday is the semi final to earn our other final spot in the other league for Sunday.

Our A team did not make it to finals for this league. Actually, the only other school team to do so is our 7th B team. For @The Z Machine

 

[The Z Machine]

Sounds like that A team underperformed. And there's no chance for a scrimmage against them since they crashed out?

 

[Chadstroma]

Sounds like that A team underperformed. And there's no chance for a scrimmage against them since they crashed out?

There may be...

I am not sure how it panned out exactly in the league we have our final on Saturday for since the brackets have not been updated online. In that league they were the 5th seed and lost either in the quarter final or semi final.

In the other league, they play tonight against the 2nd seed as the 7th seed. The 2nd seed is a team that I figured at the start of the year to be one of the rougher teams. It will be a tough game. That A team seems to be all over the place in terms of wins and losses so I have no idea how they will end up tonight.

So far though- it has landed exactly as I predicted to the AD with them being mid seed teams bounced in the middle of playoffs. I hate being right on that. Those kids on that team deserve to be doing better. They are a great group of boys and many of them light up when they see me around the school, come and give me high fives and chat with me which I absolutely love. It is more frustrating as I am confident that if I was given the team that I thought should be A that they would be a high seed.... 1-3 and would be fighting for those finals. Obviously, I can not prove that and we will never know but I think it would be a very good possibility.

However, I screwed up and didn't realize that my schedule was wrong. Thursdays game is actually the quarter final (not semi) and the Sunday game would be the semi final (not final) with the following Sat on the 8th being the final. So, we will have all next week open for practices and pretty much the pick of what I want in gym times as most teams will not be playing (assuming we continue to win and make it there) If that is the case, I could reach out and see to schedule a scrimmage with them as a request to help us get ready for our game. I think the boys would be excited to do it so as long as schedule wise it worked out... it might still happen.

My assistant told me that the team we play Thursday was at our Saturday game video tapping out game.

One last note- our 8A team was really the team to beat but unfortunately their top two players have been injured. One, their big man who is super athletic and quick who is their best player and their PG who is a small little quick guard type that you would normally expect from a PG. The big guy is available to come back but the PG is out for the season. They did not make it in the one league but I am hoping they sneak in to the finals in the other and get the big guy back and make a run.

 

[Chadstroma]

The A team lost their playoff game so they are out in both leagues. I was unfortunately right in my assessment.... mid seeds that exit early in playoffs down from what I think would have been the team to beat. All I can do is focus on our team these boys finishing their seasons strong.

 

[Chadstroma]

29-3
30-23

Wooooo, that was a game. I am pretty sure that the team was missing their second best player the first time we played them which ended in a blow out. This game, though we lead the whole way with a 12 point lead at one point, was a battle and intense game. This is our non-Catholic league.... well, still mostly the Catholic schools we play in our other league but there is one public JH school in this league which was this team. Their two best players were athletes on par with my two best players and the big difference was my third best player and that my two best players had a better skillset. My entire lineup made plays through the game. it was the best full game an opponent has played us in league games.

My son's ankle responded well to treatment through the week. Enough that I was ok with him practicing on Wed though I ran a very low exertion practice mostly going over plays and focusing on rebounding. He did end up sitting a good chunk of the game as he got in foul trouble. My other A player also got in foul trouble towards the end so I had to place my third best player on their best player which was their main offensive threat. By the end of the game, they all had 4 fouls.

I did lose my starting 5 player about mid way through the 1st half as he rolled his ankle. There really was no noticeable swelling so I think there is a good chance he can play this weekend. Basically gave him the same treatment plan as my son to ice it again after they got home (had ice on it when he came out) and then use the voltron (whatever the real name is), get a compression sleeve and if needed a brace.

Sat is the Championship game for the other league and this league will have the semi-final Sunday. Not sure who we play yet as they play tonight. It could be the same team we are playing in the Championship Sat or the 4 seed that was one of two teams we never played. I think not playing them will be an advantage for us as the teams we have played are certainly adjusting trying to defense us better with a little bit of success.

 

[Chadstroma]

30-3
36-8

League Championship

We jumped out ahead quick and never looked back. They changed their defense which was obviously aimed at trying to slow down my scorer and it didn't work and turned in a 27 point game (most off of the fast breaks). My boys were really on point in getting both ball and off ball movement, screens, pick and rolls, finding the open man. Very few mistakes on offense. Defense was lock down. My son was on their best offensive threat which they were desperately trying to get him loose to shoot 3's or get their big man loose down low on pick and rolls. My son for the most part didn't let him get any shots off that weren't contested. He also added in an efficient 7 points with 60% from the field. I think the opposing kid he was guarding was probably 0-6 or so from 3 and really never had a good look. We played our normal M2M pressure and generate points off the fast breaks. My big guy that rolled his ankle didn't seem slowed at all from it and he actually got way more aggressive which is something I have been begging from him from day 1. He had his best game today. My third best player was a beat on defense and rebounding. He flat out took the ball several times away from the other team. The rest of the boys all made plays at one point whether a nice defensive play forcing a turnover, a steal, rebounds, assists, etc. My little guy that has only scored one point this season from a free throw (not for a lack of trying.... he is 0-30 for the season) got a good shot off and it looked good but just missed.

In the other league the team we played today lost to the team we are going to play in the semi-final tomorrow with a last minute shot (the opposing coach told me). It is a team we have not played before. The other bracket plays right after our game so assuming we win our semi-final, I will stay and watch the following game we will have the week to practice and get ready.

 

[Kuz]

30-3
36-8

League Championship

We jumped out ahead quick and never looked back. They changed their defense which was obviously aimed at trying to slow down my scorer and it didn't work and turned in a 27 point game (most off of the fast breaks). My boys were really on point in getting both ball and off ball movement, screens, pick and rolls, finding the open man. Very few mistakes on offense. Defense was lock down. My son was on their best offensive threat which they were desperately trying to get him loose to shoot 3's or get their big man loose down low on pick and rolls. My son for the most part didn't let him get any shots off that weren't contested. He also added in an efficient 7 points with 60% from the field. I think the opposing kid he was guarding was probably 0-6 or so from 3 and really never had a good look. We played our normal M2M pressure and generate points off the fast breaks. My big guy that rolled his ankle didn't seem slowed at all from it and he actually got way more aggressive which is something I have been begging from him from day 1. He had his best game today. My third best player was a beat on defense and rebounding. He flat out took the ball several times away from the other team. The rest of the boys all made plays at one point whether a nice defensive play forcing a turnover, a steal, rebounds, assists, etc. My little guy that has only scored one point this season from a free throw (not for a lack of trying.... he is 0-30 for the season) got a good shot off and it looked good but just missed.

In the other league the team we played today lost to the team we are going to play in the semi-final tomorrow with a last minute shot (the opposing coach told me). It is a team we have not played before. The other bracket plays right after our game so assuming we win our semi-final, I will stay and watch the following game we will have the week to practice and get ready.

Congrats

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

Our 3rd grader joined a new AAU team this fall and our first real tournament was this weekend. It was definitely an eye opener! We played 4 games in the span of 10 hours. Trust me when I say that was a LOT for 9 YOs. It was insane watching the 8th grader teams, though. They were all big, fast, and skilled. One team had a kid who had to be 6'5" and 220.

Our team competed well with the teams that have been around much longer and came home with a runners up trophy.

 

[Chadstroma]

Our 3rd grader joined a new AAU team this fall and our first real tournament was this weekend. It was definitely an eye opener! We played 4 games in the span of 10 hours. Trust me when I say that was a LOT for 9 YOs. It was insane watching the 8th grader teams, though. They were all big, fast, and skilled. One team had a kid who had to be 6'5" and 220.

Our team competed well with the teams that have been around much longer and came home with a runners up trophy.

I have mixed feelings about AAU. I am not a fan of the set up where they tend to play way more games than they do practice but when it comes down to it, whether it is good, neutral or bad is largely based on the coach.

Best wishes for your little guy. I have had so much fun watching my 3rd graders make huge strides in skill development and understanding of basketball. There is something special about these early ages and playing basketball.

 

[acarey50]

Our 3rd grader joined a new AAU team this fall and our first real tournament was this weekend. It was definitely an eye opener! We played 4 games in the span of 10 hours. Trust me when I say that was a LOT for 9 YOs. It was insane watching the 8th grader teams, though. They were all big, fast, and skilled. One team had a kid who had to be 6'5" and 220.

Our team competed well with the teams that have been around much longer and came home with a runners up trophy.

I have mixed feelings about AAU. I am not a fan of the set up where they tend to play way more games than they do practice but when it comes down to it, whether it is good, neutral or bad is largely based on the coach.

Best wishes for your little guy. I have had so much fun watching my 3rd graders make huge strides in skill development and understanding of basketball. There is something special about these early ages and playing basketball.

This is entirely dictated by the coaches/parents. As a coach/team, you can decide how much you practice - if you can get gym time, player commitment, etc.) -and how much you play. Usually it's the parents pushing for more games as they view the games as what they are paying for, when really it should be the practice/development that they should view as what they are paying for.

Of course there is essentially zero barrier to entry to AAU/"Club" basketball, and it, like just about every youth sport these days, is overwhelmed with lots of people that have making money as their primary motivator vs. developing players.

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

Our 3rd grader joined a new AAU team this fall and our first real tournament was this weekend. It was definitely an eye opener! We played 4 games in the span of 10 hours. Trust me when I say that was a LOT for 9 YOs. It was insane watching the 8th grader teams, though. They were all big, fast, and skilled. One team had a kid who had to be 6'5" and 220.

Our team competed well with the teams that have been around much longer and came home with a runners up trophy.

I have mixed feelings about AAU. I am not a fan of the set up where they tend to play way more games than they do practice but when it comes down to it, whether it is good, neutral or bad is largely based on the coach.

Best wishes for your little guy. I have had so much fun watching my 3rd graders make huge strides in skill development and understanding of basketball. There is something special about these early ages and playing basketball.

I'm in the same boat with the AAU circuit, especially at this age. Our team philosophy from the start has been NOT to overload / burn out the players and to practice/play ALL the kids in order to develop as many as possible. We've already seen several teams that practice 3x a week and play a tournament every weekend. Those folks tend to prioritize winning at the cost of developing those deeper bench players. I get it, but our philosophy has always been that development at this age is more important that trophies. One tournament in, we can already see it. Our 6th man (my son), led the team in rebounds and is getting more aggressive / taking more risks on offense. We had 4 games and 4 different kids led the team in scoring. We'll see how this plan plays out, but I expect each individual will get better as the entire team progresses. Hopefully this method keeps their passion for the game intact instead of beating it to death.

 

[thecatch]

Where do you start in terms of getting involved in a decent travel/AAU basketball program for younger kids? Is it sort of local word of mouth like travel baseball seems to be?

 

[thecatch]

I'm wrapping up my inaugural coaching season this weekend. Mostly 10–11-year-olds in a 10-12 y/o league. I've at least familiarized them with most of the basic core concepts they'll need for the rest of their basketball careers, and they work hard and play excellent team defense. But we're still 500 as we just don't have any good offensive players - I've spent a good chunk of the practices this season working on basic layup form, which most of them still can't do well. It's a little frustrating as we're deep with decent athletes and there isn't an awful player on the roster (though we don't have anyone who is above-average height either), and with those ingredients I thought I could coach them up to be better than we are. I'm coming to grips with the fact that I probably did about the best I could do with what we had, and our 1-2 hours of practice time a week (and we only got a second hour because I personally rented out a gym outside our league structure).

 

[Chadstroma]

31-3
34-13

First time we played this team and it went the way as most of our games have BUT the boys have really started getting locked in. All of them. They are playing the best basketball of the season with really nice ball movement, passing and lock down defense. It is hard enough for these other teams to match up with our athletic two A level players to begin with but whether it is fast break, set offense or in bounds all of the boys.... well, most, I had one boy who all of a sudden is lost on our base motion offense... the entire bench was yelling at him to fill in when he was just standing there. I don't know if he has a minor stroke or something but he was asking me what we was suppose to do on it.... an offense we started working on from day 1 and through the entire year.... but other than that...... they were all moving the ball and off ball like they should and making adjustments as they needed. Some of the ball swings were just absolutely beautiful. They have all improved greatly and it is so good to see. Again, my little trainwreck almost made a shot.... though I didn't see it. I just happened to turn to tell something to one of the players on the bench and then heard the crowd get excited and then crash and looked at my assistant and said "he almost made a shot, didn't he?"

One semi funny thing happened. My son got a steal and started to head down court. The kid next to him went to follow and their feet tangled up and the kid kind of fell into him and pushed him down hard. Totally accidental, just one of those basketball things that happen at times. My son was in some pain and so I came over to him. He got up and was telling the kids aroud him that he was good.... but he was crying and his face was all clinched in pain. So I say "are you good?" and he shaked his head yes and let out this "yea" throw basically clinched teeth. Something about it just made me laugh a bit and I said "that isn't very convincing". The other coach has come up as well and I realized that that might have come off really badly, so I turned to him and said "it is my son, he is ok." and he was like "Oh yea, ok, that makes sense" and we laughed walking off the court. My son is fine, just a bit of a bruise on his hip, which is also why I think I laughed because I knew he was ok and just in pain a bit.

On to the Championship game next Saturday which will be our last game of the season.

The game played after us was the game that determined who we will play. So, I stayed along with a couple of the other boys and watched the game. It was one other team we have not played (I think the only other team we have never played in either league) and another team. The team we did not play won the game and I believe they were the 2nd seed. Watching the game, I think they likely won based on two things: 1- they did get a lot of fast breaks going and 2- they have three kids that are taller... I think two of them are taller than my big and the third is about the same height. I think they have dominated other teams on the boards against other teams. They will not be able to do that against my boys- even if they have the height on us, my boys are more skilled in boxing out and crashing the boards. Offensively, they looked to run a 3 out 2 in with their two big guys on either side of the low post. They would either try to feed them or take an outside shot and have them rebound. I feel confident that they will not be able to run on us and they will not be able to get the boards. I think we have a very good shot at both Championships.

 

[Chadstroma]

Where do you start in terms of getting involved in a decent travel/AAU basketball program for younger kids? Is it sort of local word of mouth like travel baseball seems to be?

I haven't looked but this is how I would do it if I were to (so take it with however amount of salt you would like). I did do this when I considered having my son do club soccer though I ultimately decided against it.

AAU has a club locator so that is the natural spot to start. See who is nearby and if you have multiple choices then list them out. I would reach out to them and get a hold of whoever I needed to to ask questions. I then ask the following:

1. Who are the Coached: Who are the coaches, how are they selected and what is their resume?
2. Coaching Philosophy: What is the coaching philosophy of the club? What stands this club out against others?
3. Practice Schedule: How often are practices held, and what is the typical duration of each practice? What are the policies about missed practice time?
4. Playing Time: How is playing time determined? Is it based on skill level, effort, or?
5. Multi-Sport Athletes: Important for me as my kids are multi-sport athletes: Is it allowed and how to you approach this?
6. Team Composition: What is the age and skill level of the players on the team? How many players are on the roster? How are the teams selected?
7. Travel Requirements: How much travel is involved for games and tournaments? Are there any out-of-state or out-of-country trips planned?
8. Costs: What are the costs associated with joining the club? What are the total costs for everything?
9. Competition Level: What level of competition does the team typically face? How have the teams performed historically?
10. Player Development: What opportunities are there for individual skill development? Are there additional training sessions, private lessons or camps available?
11. Communication: How does the club communicate with parents and players?
12. Club Values: What values does the club emphasize? How do they handle sportsmanship, teamwork, and discipline?

I would ask around too for anyone I could that have any experience in it.

 

[acarey50]

Where do you start in terms of getting involved in a decent travel/AAU basketball program for younger kids? Is it sort of local word of mouth like travel baseball seems to be?

I think a lot of that might be location dependent. Where I am in Southern California, there are literally hundreds of "club/travel" basketball teams in a fairly close proximity, with a dozen + options for tournaments within 30-45 minutes each weekend. Some are the bigger clubs that have multiple teams at multiple age groups, but most are smaller that are either just a couple of teams or even just one team that wanted to stick together. I will definitely say that "bigger" is definitely not always better.

One place to start would be to talk to your local high school coach and see what they can tell you about any local programs, or if they have their own feeder program. Most of the high schools here have either their own programs run by their coaches, or an informal relationship with one or more of the local clubs. At the very least, hopefully the coach can give you some insight on which programs he would recommend you check out to find the best fit for your kid.

Also, a ton of the clubs here are NOT "AAU", you definitely don't need to limit yourself to just programs that run through AAU.

 

[Chadstroma]

I'm wrapping up my inaugural coaching season this weekend. Mostly 10–11-year-olds in a 10-12 y/o league. I've at least familiarized them with most of the basic core concepts they'll need for the rest of their basketball careers, and they work hard and play excellent team defense. But we're still 500 as we just don't have any good offensive players - I've spent a good chunk of the practices this season working on basic layup form, which most of them still can't do well. It's a little frustrating as we're deep with decent athletes and there isn't an awful player on the roster (though we don't have anyone who is above-average height either), and with those ingredients I thought I could coach them up to be better than we are. I'm coming to grips with the fact that I probably did about the best I could do with what we had, and our 1-2 hours of practice time a week (and we only got a second hour because I personally rented out a gym outside our league structure).

That right there is rough. It is very hard to develop offensive skills in that time period unless the kids themselves are going home and working on it.

One thing I do at the end of each year is are these two things so the kids can continue to develop.

1. I talk to each kid individually. I ask them questions about how they feel the season went, what they feel good about, specific things that they got better at, etc then ask them if they plan on playing again next year. If they do then I ask them what they think they need to work on during the off season and then how they can work on it and how much time they plan on investing into it. I let them really drive pretty much the entire conversation. I will wrap up by telling them what I saw and thought (all positive) and then give them one thing that I think that would be the one thing I think they should focus on. Ask them if they agree or not and then revisit their commitment to work in the off-season including that if they agreed.
2. I send an email to the parents. I give them a debrief of what I observed of their son during the son. Focus on positive but I don't run away from things I think they need to work on (at this point not skill related but maybe attitude or work ethic or whatever). If there is something I think they need to work on, I give suggestions on things that might help that they can do or encourage. I encourage them to encourage the kids to work during the off season. I give them the one focus item I believe would help the kid the most (same as discussed with the boy) and give them ideas on how to help with that. I also give them a list of camps and clinics that they can do that I believe are good and ones to avoid. This year, I went out and got discounts for some of the groups that I believe are really good.

 

[Chadstroma]

Where do you start in terms of getting involved in a decent travel/AAU basketball program for younger kids? Is it sort of local word of mouth like travel baseball seems to be?

I think a lot of that might be location dependent. Where I am in Southern California, there are literally hundreds of "club/travel" basketball teams in a fairly close proximity, with a dozen + options for tournaments within 30-45 minutes each weekend. Some are the bigger clubs that have multiple teams at multiple age groups, but most are smaller that are either just a couple of teams or even just one team that wanted to stick together. I will definitely say that "bigger" is definitely not always better.

One place to start would be to talk to your local high school coach and see what they can tell you about any local programs, or if they have their own feeder program. Most of the high schools here have either their own programs run by their coaches, or an informal relationship with one or more of the local clubs. At the very least, hopefully the coach can give you some insight on which programs he would recommend you check out to find the best fit for your kid.

Also, a ton of the clubs here are NOT "AAU", you definitely don't need to limit yourself to just programs that run through AAU.

Yea, that was a good point I forgot to bring up. There are a ton of more club teams that are not AAU and that doesn't mean that they are less than.

I LOVE the going to the HS coaches and asking them. Pure gold there. I was thinking of pretty much everything other than that in terms of asking around.

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

Where do you start in terms of getting involved in a decent travel/AAU basketball program for younger kids? Is it sort of local word of mouth like travel baseball seems to be?

Most teams hold skills and drills sessions in the fall for new/perspective players. Make no mistake, they are essentially tryouts. From what I've seen, there can be huge philosophy differences between programs and even between coaches within programs. We participated in one and decided against the team based on the coaching philosophy (militaristic with lots of yelling). It helps to know or get to know some parents that have been through the process. Do the best you can to vet the programs around you early on. From what I've gathered, it's not difficult to changes teams if it doesn't work for your child, but you need to know the options. Good luck!

 

[Chadstroma]

6-6-2
8-14

I missed the last couple of games for my little guys with conflict with my 6th grade team. Last night was a tournament game.... win and move on, lose and the season is over. We were missing one of our better players and the boys were not playing very well to start. Then one of my other better players literally ran off the court over to a trash can and threw up. So he goes out of the game and we move on.... after a while his Mom said he ate too much before the game and was fine. We were down 2-12 so we made a little run at the end but way too short.

They all made progress as individuals and playing as a team. I think we were 0-4 to start the season so the .500 season kind of showed how much they all grew through the season.

 

[Chadstroma]

32-3
36-14
Championship

And that is the season. That makes it a 30-0 record in league play for the regular season and playoffs. Two league Championships.

In the championship game, we never were down but the first half was pretty competitive until the very later part when we started to pull away. At half we had a 9 point lead. As has been the case all season, our defense lead the way with superior rebounding even though they had the height advantage on us. We got a lot of points off of fastbreaks created from the defense in steals and forcing errors. When our offense was set up, we passed around well and then when their defense would focus too much on my other A player my son would drive and make them pay (9 points for the game but got fouled several times on the ground and on shot plus a few that were not called). I put my best non-A player who plays with passion and determination which shows in very good defense and rebounding on their best offensive player as I wanted my two A players to pressure their guards. Plus, my son, who I usually put on their best offensive player, sometimes gambles too much and will not stick with his man but I know I can tell this other boy to stick with him and he would and he did. He denied him the ball to the point they started having him bring up the ball at point but then he couldn't create anything. He finally started putting his back to the basket and using his size to bully his way down. My boys (later I put one of my bench guys on him) did a great job of holding their ground even though he has several inches and many more pounds on either of them. Most of the boys scored (my little trainwreck almost scored as well.... I really thought it was going to go in but it just missed). Speaking of him... we had a little end of year celebration Friday night and one of the parents pointed out that he has more league and tournament championships than anyone in the grade except my son which he is tied with since they are the only two boys I have had since 3rd grade.

All the boys really improved greatly through the year and they really started to gel together and play really well as a team as well. My son improved his offensive skills a lot even though he would defer to my other A player a lot so points wise he did not score as much as he really could but I love that unselfish play. My other A player continued to develop his offensive skills but what I really liked was how he improved his on ball defense which was nearly on the level with my son by end of year. All the other boys improved basically in all facets of the game by leaps and bounds.

A good end to the season.

Schedule wise and busy wise the A vs B team game just couldn't come together. Several of their boys play club basketball as well as baseball and since their season was done they prioritized their other sports which makes sense.

 

[The Z Machine]

Congrats, Chad. Pretty amazing season. No more tournaments left to play?

Does your son play baseball?

 

[Chadstroma]

Congrats, Chad. Pretty amazing season. No more tournaments left to play?

Does your son play baseball?

Thank you!

No, the season is over. I mean, I could find tournaments. The Spring sports for school are starting this week or next as well as several of the boys play baseball (my son does not but is playing soccer, volleyball and track for school this Spring). My other A player has his club basketball (which is getting close to wrapping up their season) and then also joined another clubs spring ball team (I recommended the club to his father as he isn't playing any other sports otherwise until school football starts in August). Plus, as much as I LOVE coaching the boys, I am worn and tired. Head coaching two teams along with work, being pretty much the only parent to be the Uber and everything else going on... I am happy for the break.

I am wrapping up sending my end of year reports to all the parents and then no basketball other than playing with my boys and camps/clinics until November.

 

[Chadstroma]

Got my 3rd graders together for a summer league. We offered it out to both 3rd grade teams and ended up with 13 (actually 14 as a boy who did not play basketball least season asked to be on yesterday) which my goal was at least 10 as you tend to bleed several boys every game due to vacations, other activities, etc. The other HC and myself are coaching with me taking the lead.

Right before the 3rd this month, he reached out and said we could get into a tournament. I was reluctant as we were combining two teams that hadn't even practiced together and then he told me it was free and close by- SOLD. It was a one day tournament where you play two games. We played the first team and beat them by 20+. The second game we trailed most of the game but then the boys came up and tied it with under 2 minutes left. The other team got free throws and made one with something like 40 seconds left. They have press in the last two in this league which was super different for our boys who had to play D behind three point line all game long for the season. I wasn't sure if they would press or not so drew up a quick press break for them and told them that they had time so don't throw it up fast. They didn't press. My son (at point) did a good job of getting it down, getting a good pass off and we had a decent look... almost went in... but didn't. We got the rebound, back up and almost but no.... repeat another 2 or 3 more times and then time expired. It was a fun game.

We play our first league game tonight. It is fun, getting to know more of the boys in the grade. Getting them some extra development and playing time so they can progress.

Tried to get a team together for my 6th grader but not enough interest. He will be busy enough anyways though.

 

[Navin Johnson]

Getting ready for NBBL (u19 Bundesliga 2007-09) Qualification this summer. 6 groups of five teams play round robins the first weekend with the top two advancing to three groups of four the following weekend. You carry your result with you and play the 2 remaining teams with top 2 from each group qualifying. I came to this club a coule months after they lost in qualis last year and the team was coached by committee during the last season. Zone is not allowed until this, and u18, age group here so there is a pretty steep learning curve as teams will try and gimmick their way thru quali's. The previoous coach, and one of the guys who coached by committee, insisted on just running their man stuff against zones (zipper-ball screen, zipper-pin-down, and some horns stuff), smh. Right now I have the 2009's and will be in charge of coaching the group next season, but trying to save them from themselves and incorporate more suitable zone tactics, ie Hablein's 4-flash and Hackenburg's zone-motion. Can't expect much more in a short amount of time but will add zone triangle before the season starts Also putting in run and jump and changing their spread PnR to Princeton Point. It should be interesting as our best player changed to a club and then they didn't get their paperwork in on time so he might be back. Second best player is in the US and FC Bayern stole our center.

 

[Chadstroma]

Game last night did not go well. We had 11 boys. The other team had 6 and they were mostly all good players. Our starters did well enough with a good amount of confusion on their part which is understandable since we have had 1 and 1/2 practices really of bringing two teams of 3rd graders together. The other teams played some M2M but also did a good amount of zone- so there was a lot of open guys with one of our players standing on an island watching the game. We were right in it up until I really starting getting into the rotation of players. We ended 6-20.

I have a practice scheduled today but only 6 showing attending. So, will focus on skill development as continuing the install for offense would not help with most of the boys out.

 

[Chadstroma]

Been challenging so far with this team. We have had 3 practices and trying to get a group of 3rd graders that played on two different teams all last season on the same page has been hard to do with so little time on the court. Our last game, we had 13 of the 14 boys on the team (we had another boy who did not play at all this previous season join the team because he wants to play basketball now) and that created a ton of chaos for the boys and hard for them to get into a rhythm or flow of the game as I rotated the roster in and out to try to get the boys roughly about the same playing amount of playing time. We lost by 1. We really need a larger roster during the summer as several boys often will be out each game for other activities or vacation but having 13 boys that you are trying to get them all some decent playing time was rough.

I am pushing hard to get the parents to give me the boys availability so I will plan out a rotation in groups if I have 10 or more going to the game. Hoping that will limit the confusion they seemed to have with boys being out of position or not knowing who they were guarding etc which was very evident in that last game. I start with 5 on one group and 5 on another that is roughly 'equal' with talent and then if more than 10 figure out how to move them in and out keeping the substitutions more limited and hopefully help the boys out that way while still getting them all playing time.

We had a game this Thursday but I had to reach out to the league and ask if they could reschedule or we would be forced to cancel as the schools soccer team ended up having a playoff game for this Thursday and since all but 1 of the 14 boys play on that soccer team- there was no choice.

 

[Chadstroma]

Game yesterday. 12 boys at the game. I broke 10 of them into two groups to try to get them some consistency in playing in groups and then worked the other two in. I tried to make each group somewhat even in skill level.

We played our rival school where they had I think 7 and it certainly appeared to be the school's best 7 boys who are also clearly practicing together significant time. We got creamed 27-6.

Offensively, the boys are just too confused and really are not running an offense. My son, our best point guard, is learning how to play point. A couple of times when he got a good step, instead of attacking the basket, he would go wide and then put himself in a poor position. I tried to adjust that with coaching but then he started pressing straight down the middle between two defenders which often didn't end well. Defensively, there is just a lot of poor positioning and no help on the M2M. It is basically impossible to attempt to correct either with no practice. We did not have much opportunity to practice when school was open and now that there is no school, we can't use it at all. Once baseball ends, we will grab a few practices at local courts but the summer league will be done or almost done. Hopefully we can just build skill levels and then maybe get into another one day tournament or two later.

I signed both of my sons up for a somewhat local club team tryout. The boys will be doing some camps out of that club this summer and my son asked about playing for them. I really do not think we will do it if he makes the team, mostly for logistical reasons, but at the least, I would like to see if he makes it. I also plan to have him tryout for a local club as well. If he makes that one then we would most likely do that- again mostly for logistical reasons as several of his classmates play for that club and they are here in town versus the other one which is about a 20 min drive. Even if he makes both- we may not do either as I still am split on whether he should continue with winter season swim versus playing both school and club basketball. He is within striking distance to getting the swim club record in 50 Fly as one reason to continue but also the conditioning he gets from swim is just so superior. On the other hand, if he wants to play HS basketball, this he does need more time in basketball to develop further. I also would like him to be coached from someone else other than me as well. Just get away from the father/son dynamic and also see the game through another coaches eyes as he has only played for me. But I told him that we would discuss it and see.... but if he doesn't make the teams then there really isn't anything to discuss. Same for the little one. We shall see.

 

[Chadstroma]

They both made the team(s). They have multiple teams at each level apparently. Watching them versus who they were up against, I liked their chances but that was with one big caveat that we were at just one tryouts and there were three more previous to that where there was the option to be at one or all or somewhere in between.

I am going to have to talk to the wife and kids on it but I am pretty much thinking we pass at this point. It think it will be too hard logistically with the school teams and then this team and most likely not having any people we know on the team. The local team only has one team per grade level so there is a chance they do not make it. I think those tryouts are in July so if we pass on this and then don't make it then they will not play a club team. We shall see.

- - -

On the other front, my daughter played her first HS games with JV summer league team. They played a nearby public school first which is in their league. They lost. I think our team was heavy freshman versus the other team but not sure. Then they played a Catholic school. They clearly have been playing together a while and my daughter said that a couple of the girls were on varsity. They spanked us- getting up 10-0 like in the first minute. They pressed and our girls were just dribbling right into the traps (actually it was more one girl than anyone else but hey, it is a team) once they stopped pressing it was more of a contest but we were already down like 30-2 or something like that. Ended somewhere in the 45-23 range. My niece was playing point which was good to see... she was a forward in Jr High but she is pretty much done growing and will not have the height to play that in HS. My daughter was clearly nervous and clearly rusty and at times confused (but the confusion was pretty much a common trait as a team since they only practiced like 3 or 4 times together.

 

[Gally]

I really do not think we will do it if he makes the team, mostly for logistical reasons, but at the least, I would like to see if he makes it. I also plan to have him tryout for a local club as well. If he makes that one then we would most likely do that- again mostly for logistical reasons as several of his classmates play for that club and they are here in town versus the other one which is about a 20 min drive. Even if he makes both- we may not do either as I still am split on whether he should continue with winter season swim versus playing both school and club basketball.

As a coach that has gone through putting on tryouts and selecting kids for these type things if you don't have any intention of playing on the team you shouldn't waste the coaches time and resources by trying out. I understand the idea of getting experience for your kid but if you have no intention of letting them play on the team if they make it then it's not really a good look for that coach that is taking away from evaluating the kids that will play if they make it. Just my two cents from the coaches side of things.

 

[Chadstroma]

I really do not think we will do it if he makes the team, mostly for logistical reasons, but at the least, I would like to see if he makes it. I also plan to have him tryout for a local club as well. If he makes that one then we would most likely do that- again mostly for logistical reasons as several of his classmates play for that club and they are here in town versus the other one which is about a 20 min drive. Even if he makes both- we may not do either as I still am split on whether he should continue with winter season swim versus playing both school and club basketball.

As a coach that has gone through putting on tryouts and selecting kids for these type things if you don't have any intention of playing on the team you shouldn't waste the coaches time and resources by trying out. I understand the idea of getting experience for your kid but if you have no intention of letting them play on the team if they make it then it's not really a good look for that coach that is taking away from evaluating the kids that will play if they make it. Just my two cents from the coaches side of things.

Thanks for sharing your perspective.

My son asked to try out. I told him he could but wasn't sure if we would be able to do it and would discuss if he made the team. I added my younger one because he always wants to do what big brother is doing. There was no time to really consider as the last tryouts were the next morning and I waa signing them up around 10pm. I knew I was leaning on no but thought it might be possible with the logistics. The more I thought through it the more it just would not work. I paid them for their time so I am fine with how we handled it.

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

Finished up our 3rd grade AAU season a few weeks back and wanted to give some thoughts.

1. There aren't enough 3rd grade teams in our area (North Carolina) to consistently play in tournaments. We very often played against 4th grade competition (which can be good and bad) and occasionally were playing 5th graders. The flip side is that we actually competed with most of these teams and it should make us better next year against kids in our age group.

2. We spent the majority of the season working on several offense sets and mostly m2m help defense. For the most part, the defense was easier to teach than the offense. On both sides of the ball our 3rd graders would get lost/overplay/lose their man/etc. Another year and they will have it down, though. We also installed a press, which almost all our opponents used most of the game. Press break definitely took a while to teach/learn.

3. The season is a slog. We started with a skills/drills open 'tryouts' in September and didn't finish our season until the end of May. It definitely had some burnout affect on some of the kids, particularly my son. Hopefully the kids will be rejuvenated with other sports and some leisure over the summer and into the fall. We will scale back the season quite a bit in 2025/26.

Overall, though, it was a good learning experience for both parents, coaches, and players. The kids really bonded during our time in the gym and most are already looking forward to next season.

 

[Chadstroma]

Finished up our 3rd grade AAU season a few weeks back and wanted to give some thoughts.

1. There aren't enough 3rd grade teams in our area (North Carolina) to consistently play in tournaments. We very often played against 4th grade competition (which can be good and bad) and occasionally were playing 5th graders. The flip side is that we actually competed with most of these teams and it should make us better next year against kids in our age group.

2. We spent the majority of the season working on several offense sets and mostly m2m help defense. For the most part, the defense was easier to teach than the offense. On both sides of the ball our 3rd graders would get lost/overplay/lose their man/etc. Another year and they will have it down, though. We also installed a press, which almost all our opponents used most of the game. Press break definitely took a while to teach/learn.

3. The season is a slog. We started with a skills/drills open 'tryouts' in September and didn't finish our season until the end of May. It definitely had some burnout affect on some of the kids, particularly my son. Hopefully the kids will be rejuvenated with other sports and some leisure over the summer and into the fall. We will scale back the season quite a bit in 2025/26.

Overall, though, it was a good learning experience for both parents, coaches, and players. The kids really bonded during our time in the gym and most are already looking forward to next season.

September through May is one heck of a long season. That is really more like two and a half seasons. Overall, that is awesome though, sounds like they battled hard through it all. They sure as heck earned some off time.

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

Finished up our 3rd grade AAU season a few weeks back and wanted to give some thoughts.

1. There aren't enough 3rd grade teams in our area (North Carolina) to consistently play in tournaments. We very often played against 4th grade competition (which can be good and bad) and occasionally were playing 5th graders. The flip side is that we actually competed with most of these teams and it should make us better next year against kids in our age group.

2. We spent the majority of the season working on several offense sets and mostly m2m help defense. For the most part, the defense was easier to teach than the offense. On both sides of the ball our 3rd graders would get lost/overplay/lose their man/etc. Another year and they will have it down, though. We also installed a press, which almost all our opponents used most of the game. Press break definitely took a while to teach/learn.

3. The season is a slog. We started with a skills/drills open 'tryouts' in September and didn't finish our season until the end of May. It definitely had some burnout affect on some of the kids, particularly my son. Hopefully the kids will be rejuvenated with other sports and some leisure over the summer and into the fall. We will scale back the season quite a bit in 2025/26.

Overall, though, it was a good learning experience for both parents, coaches, and players. The kids really bonded during our time in the gym and most are already looking forward to next season.

September through May is one heck of a long season. That is really more like two and a half seasons. Overall, that is awesome though, sounds like they battled hard through it all. They sure as heck earned some off time.

It was good experience for them, for sure. My son will play rec ball this summer, but that'll mostly be a cakewalk compared to the competition we had during the travel season. Hopefully it'll boost his confidence and get him rejuvenated for the upcoming travel season, which will be much shorter.

 

[Chadstroma]

Finished up our 3rd grade AAU season a few weeks back and wanted to give some thoughts.

1. There aren't enough 3rd grade teams in our area (North Carolina) to consistently play in tournaments. We very often played against 4th grade competition (which can be good and bad) and occasionally were playing 5th graders. The flip side is that we actually competed with most of these teams and it should make us better next year against kids in our age group.

2. We spent the majority of the season working on several offense sets and mostly m2m help defense. For the most part, the defense was easier to teach than the offense. On both sides of the ball our 3rd graders would get lost/overplay/lose their man/etc. Another year and they will have it down, though. We also installed a press, which almost all our opponents used most of the game. Press break definitely took a while to teach/learn.

3. The season is a slog. We started with a skills/drills open 'tryouts' in September and didn't finish our season until the end of May. It definitely had some burnout affect on some of the kids, particularly my son. Hopefully the kids will be rejuvenated with other sports and some leisure over the summer and into the fall. We will scale back the season quite a bit in 2025/26.

Overall, though, it was a good learning experience for both parents, coaches, and players. The kids really bonded during our time in the gym and most are already looking forward to next season.

September through May is one heck of a long season. That is really more like two and a half seasons. Overall, that is awesome though, sounds like they battled hard through it all. They sure as heck earned some off time.

It was good experience for them, for sure. My son will play rec ball this summer, but that'll mostly be a cakewalk compared to the competition we had during the travel season. Hopefully it'll boost his confidence and get him rejuvenated for the upcoming travel season, which will be much shorter.

Oh yea, that will super charge their skill development. I am sure they are further along than my boys from Nov-March and then this summer league which we have not really been able to do much development with as we have so little in way of practice time. 3rd grade is the level for being lost half of the time for sure. At the end of the our season, most were starting to catch on but the summer league has them confused a lot but that is mostly due to two teams coming together.

Does your son play in other sports?

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

Finished up our 3rd grade AAU season a few weeks back and wanted to give some thoughts.

1. There aren't enough 3rd grade teams in our area (North Carolina) to consistently play in tournaments. We very often played against 4th grade competition (which can be good and bad) and occasionally were playing 5th graders. The flip side is that we actually competed with most of these teams and it should make us better next year against kids in our age group.

2. We spent the majority of the season working on several offense sets and mostly m2m help defense. For the most part, the defense was easier to teach than the offense. On both sides of the ball our 3rd graders would get lost/overplay/lose their man/etc. Another year and they will have it down, though. We also installed a press, which almost all our opponents used most of the game. Press break definitely took a while to teach/learn.

3. The season is a slog. We started with a skills/drills open 'tryouts' in September and didn't finish our season until the end of May. It definitely had some burnout affect on some of the kids, particularly my son. Hopefully the kids will be rejuvenated with other sports and some leisure over the summer and into the fall. We will scale back the season quite a bit in 2025/26.

Overall, though, it was a good learning experience for both parents, coaches, and players. The kids really bonded during our time in the gym and most are already looking forward to next season.

September through May is one heck of a long season. That is really more like two and a half seasons. Overall, that is awesome though, sounds like they battled hard through it all. They sure as heck earned some off time.

It was good experience for them, for sure. My son will play rec ball this summer, but that'll mostly be a cakewalk compared to the competition we had during the travel season. Hopefully it'll boost his confidence and get him rejuvenated for the upcoming travel season, which will be much shorter.

Oh yea, that will super charge their skill development. I am sure they are further along than my boys from Nov-March and then this summer league which we have not really been able to do much development with as we have so little in way of practice time. 3rd grade is the level for being lost half of the time for sure. At the end of the our season, most were starting to catch on but the summer league has them confused a lot but that is mostly due to two teams coming together.

Does your son play in other sports?

He's played soccer in the past and wants to play flag football in the fall, which I support. I think FF will help him toughen up a bit and allow him to develop more fast twitch muscles. As it stands right now, he's a bit of a plodder (albeit a 5'1" plodder). Working on his speed/quickness will help with basketball a ton.

 

[SWC]

this will be the first year in a long long long time that i am not coaching this summer wisconsin changed its contact rules for coaches and athletes so that means they can coach summer and fall ball instead of needing non staff assistants and i am having withdrawal take that to the bank brohans

 

[Chadstroma]

Finished up our 3rd grade AAU season a few weeks back and wanted to give some thoughts.

1. There aren't enough 3rd grade teams in our area (North Carolina) to consistently play in tournaments. We very often played against 4th grade competition (which can be good and bad) and occasionally were playing 5th graders. The flip side is that we actually competed with most of these teams and it should make us better next year against kids in our age group.

2. We spent the majority of the season working on several offense sets and mostly m2m help defense. For the most part, the defense was easier to teach than the offense. On both sides of the ball our 3rd graders would get lost/overplay/lose their man/etc. Another year and they will have it down, though. We also installed a press, which almost all our opponents used most of the game. Press break definitely took a while to teach/learn.

3. The season is a slog. We started with a skills/drills open 'tryouts' in September and didn't finish our season until the end of May. It definitely had some burnout affect on some of the kids, particularly my son. Hopefully the kids will be rejuvenated with other sports and some leisure over the summer and into the fall. We will scale back the season quite a bit in 2025/26.

Overall, though, it was a good learning experience for both parents, coaches, and players. The kids really bonded during our time in the gym and most are already looking forward to next season.

September through May is one heck of a long season. That is really more like two and a half seasons. Overall, that is awesome though, sounds like they battled hard through it all. They sure as heck earned some off time.

It was good experience for them, for sure. My son will play rec ball this summer, but that'll mostly be a cakewalk compared to the competition we had during the travel season. Hopefully it'll boost his confidence and get him rejuvenated for the upcoming travel season, which will be much shorter.

Oh yea, that will super charge their skill development. I am sure they are further along than my boys from Nov-March and then this summer league which we have not really been able to do much development with as we have so little in way of practice time. 3rd grade is the level for being lost half of the time for sure. At the end of the our season, most were starting to catch on but the summer league has them confused a lot but that is mostly due to two teams coming together.

Does your son play in other sports?

He's played soccer in the past and wants to play flag football in the fall, which I support. I think FF will help him toughen up a bit and allow him to develop more fast twitch muscles. As it stands right now, he's a bit of a plodder (albeit a 5'1" plodder). Working on his speed/quickness will help with basketball a ton.

Soccer is great for that (speaking as a Dad who does not like soccer and only watches it when my boys play). Can't beat soccer for footwork improvement and learning get light on your feet. Wait... 5'1" and going into 4th?

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

Finished up our 3rd grade AAU season a few weeks back and wanted to give some thoughts.

1. There aren't enough 3rd grade teams in our area (North Carolina) to consistently play in tournaments. We very often played against 4th grade competition (which can be good and bad) and occasionally were playing 5th graders. The flip side is that we actually competed with most of these teams and it should make us better next year against kids in our age group.

2. We spent the majority of the season working on several offense sets and mostly m2m help defense. For the most part, the defense was easier to teach than the offense. On both sides of the ball our 3rd graders would get lost/overplay/lose their man/etc. Another year and they will have it down, though. We also installed a press, which almost all our opponents used most of the game. Press break definitely took a while to teach/learn.

3. The season is a slog. We started with a skills/drills open 'tryouts' in September and didn't finish our season until the end of May. It definitely had some burnout affect on some of the kids, particularly my son. Hopefully the kids will be rejuvenated with other sports and some leisure over the summer and into the fall. We will scale back the season quite a bit in 2025/26.

Overall, though, it was a good learning experience for both parents, coaches, and players. The kids really bonded during our time in the gym and most are already looking forward to next season.

September through May is one heck of a long season. That is really more like two and a half seasons. Overall, that is awesome though, sounds like they battled hard through it all. They sure as heck earned some off time.

It was good experience for them, for sure. My son will play rec ball this summer, but that'll mostly be a cakewalk compared to the competition we had during the travel season. Hopefully it'll boost his confidence and get him rejuvenated for the upcoming travel season, which will be much shorter.

Oh yea, that will super charge their skill development. I am sure they are further along than my boys from Nov-March and then this summer league which we have not really been able to do much development with as we have so little in way of practice time. 3rd grade is the level for being lost half of the time for sure. At the end of the our season, most were starting to catch on but the summer league has them confused a lot but that is mostly due to two teams coming together.

Does your son play in other sports?

He's played soccer in the past and wants to play flag football in the fall, which I support. I think FF will help him toughen up a bit and allow him to develop more fast twitch muscles. As it stands right now, he's a bit of a plodder (albeit a 5'1" plodder). Working on his speed/quickness will help with basketball a ton.

Soccer is great for that (speaking as a Dad who does not like soccer and only watches it when my boys play). Can't beat soccer for footwork improvement and learning get light on your feet. Wait... 5'1" and going into 4th?

Agreed. The footwork, speed and offensive flow of soccer really helps with all sports, IMO. It certainly has helped my 12YO get the offensive flow of ice hockey.

Yep, dude is 5'1" going into the 4th grade. I fully expect him to be at eye level with me going into middle school.

 

[Chadstroma]

Agreed. The footwork, speed and offensive flow of soccer really helps with all sports, IMO. It certainly has helped my 12YO get the offensive flow of ice hockey.

Yep, dude is 5'1" going into the 4th grade. I fully expect him to be at eye level with me going into middle school.

How tall are you?

I was always the tallest growing up... very rarely meeting someone my age that was taller. I always thought I was 6'1'' as I was in 8th grade and stopped. Literally always thought this... I think I did grow more and maybe 6'2" or 6'2 1/2. I just found this out this morning. No joke.

So, Thursday I took my older son to the Notre Dame Jr High Football camp. Standing waiting for my son to get some autographs from the coaching staff, one camper was next to me and taller than me. He couldn't be more than 8th grade and would have been roughly an inch or two taller than me. I said something to him about being in 8th and he said he was 6'4 1/2" and I balked at it saying I was 6'1" and he had and inch or two on me. He replied that he had just been at the Dr's appointment and that was the measurement (which I figure with him being that tall that they would take extra care to get a good measurement on him). So, this morning, I tried to measure myself and I am taller than 6'1" for sure. Hard to get a real good measurement doing it yourself but no doubt taller than 6'1".

Anyways, yes, I would get him exposed to a bunch of sports and have do multiple sports at least up to Jr High. I really am a proponent for multi sports even if one sport has been signaled out as their love. Others sports help develop and train them as well in ways that doing one can not (soccer being an example, you can not improve footwork as well focusing on basketball as you can taking some time to play soccer). It also helps keep them fresh and away from burnout. I mean, the number of kids who drop sports in HS is tremendous and not an insignificant number were one sport athletes who just tire of their sport. It also helps avoid injury from overuse and wearing down concentrated muscle groups.

I would consider these sports as the best compliments to development in basketball:
- Swim, unmatched for development of strength, conditioning, lung capacity, explosiveness, etc- all with almost no injury risk and no stressing of his joints etc. (at that size, that is a huge plus, at these ages maybe does not notice it but building him up with saving wear and tear on his body is huge). There is different thoughts on competitive swimming assisting in height growth as well so there may or may not be helpful to get the most out of his height- my view is it will certainly not hurt and the decompression of the spine while swimming certainly can't hold him back. Huge advocate for swimming for most athletes but would strongly push you to explore it for him.
- Soccer (as much as I am not a fan of the sport itself), as discussed footwork is unmatched. Develops agility and endurance. Using your body and positioning to protect the ball. Spacing and off ball movement as well.
- Volleyball, the obvious point here is jumping. Plus, it may end up being a good sport for him anyways with his height. Also, agility, explosiveness, hand speed and reflex development.

 

[Chadstroma]

Yesterday, we had a game and won 14-12. I was delayed and my Assistant Coach was unable to attend due to a last minute work emergency so his wife coaches the first half. We were up 10-2 when I showed up just before half. She put them into a zone using mostly the boys from the other team and then man when it was mostly the boys from my team. Which apparently was effective. We went to man and the other team came back strong.... taking a 12-10 lead. I was thinking "ouch" as the only difference was me coaching and my son showing up who is one of the better players. We fought back and went up with under a minute left and held them off. Afterwards, I joked with her than we should fire me and her husband and have her run the team. The big difference easily was that some of the boys from the other team struggle with M2M defense since they did a lot of zone defense last season. I am just comfortable losing games now to focus on M2M believing it will pay off in the long run for both their individual development and as a team later.

 

[Chadstroma]

My daughter has been playing summer league JV team which is her first taste of HS ball. She has been very timid and just getting into it. She also is getting back into basketball as she missed her 8th grade year due to a broken arm suffered 15 seconds in the first game. I gave her a few pointers like telling her to be more aggressive and she has a marked improvement in play. She got a steal, took it down with a little cross over move and took it all the way with a nice finish. In the second game she hit a three. She hasn't been getting a ton of minutes which I get from her play but I think she will have an outside shot to make the JV team IF she continues to get more comfortable, loosens up and just plays. She has a nice outside shot and could be a decent off the bench 2 guard.

One question for anyone that has watched girls HS ball... which I have not pretty much ever.... I am trying to figure out if it is just the refs they have had, summer league or if it is the way it is but it really seems that the refs let these girls play. I mean, they give a lot of no calls on legit fouls. It seemed pretty consistent to me and balanced. It has been that way over the 5 games I have watched. It just seems more physical than boys basketball that I have seen.