My revised and ready for print column on AAU.
*note, when I first typed out my AAU column, I did it in the heat of the moment with no editing. After re-reading it, it kind of sucks and is somewhat hard to read at points. Here, I have developed some of my ideas and have done some editing on my own. However, it is not New York Times ready... That will come later... hahaha


AAU basketball is slowly ruining athletes and sports

AAU is slowly degrading sports.
I stand by that statement.
I grew up playing traveling team basketball in the mid 1990’s. Our team – started when we were in fifth grade and ran until eighth grade – was from our town, not from great players from around the area or state getting together to play. We played as a team representing our school and our town. This traveling team helped us grow together as a team and as friends before we got into high school.
I didn’t think it was that bad. I didn’t think any youth traveling teams (AAU) were bad until I started finding out just how much it costs to play AAU.
I’m glad, now, that my parents disliked it. It cost them loads of money. My team didn’t even play in tournaments in Las Vegas, Indy or St. Louis. We played in Evansville, Beloit, Madison and Oregon, WI.
We played area teams on Saturday’s and the occasional Sunday in the winter months. Our traveling teams didn’t keep us out and away from playing other sports or doing our homework. We had practice twice a week for about an hour and a half or so at a random gym in town.
However, in today’s world (the world of AAU), parents drive their kids many miles just to practice with kids from other schools. They do this year round.
Why?
So that the kids have 1/1000th of a better shot at playing college basketball? What’s the benefit then? The NBA? Not really.
For the amount of money that parents are pouring into AAU, be it into coaches, league, shoes, and tournaments (hotels, foot, gas, traveling expenses), the money they would save if they weren’t sending these kids everywhere would essentially pay for college.
I love college sports. I played baseball in college. There is a different commitment that you learn as a college athlete in order to handle both your sport and your schoolwork. That commitment is not taught outside of the school year during summer ball.
The only out-of-school league I played in during high school growing up was Legion baseball, in which whoever from our team wanted to keep playing some more played during the summer.
We didn’t play fall ball as other schools and teams do. We didn’t travel to Florida in December. And yet, some of us played college baseball.
With the AAU-fest of today’s world, we are ruining our children of being allowed to play what they want to play and to play just for the love of the game and the love of being with friends.
Kids used to be two or three-sport athletes. Today, those kids are rare. It’s especially worse in basketball.
Boys stay away from football because they don’t want to ruin their basketball career. They don’t want to disappoint their coach – or their parents.
The parents, the coaches, and the colleges. They are the ones who benefit. AAU makes the sport more of a chore to some, rather than a fun game.
Slowly but surely, our kids will be playing only one sport.
Why? Because otherwise no college will call on them. Lets face it, playing a college sport is the only way to live life, right?
Oh, it’s not?
Wait, you’re right, living your life through your child is what to do in case you failed growing up. So why not get your kid involved in AAU right away?
My daughter is 19 months old. Does anyone know if there is a local 2-year-old AAU basketball team in the area? It could sure teach her to love basketball, and it will help me pay for her college expenses.
Getting back to my original thoughts, I started “traveling team” when I was in 5th grade, the first year it was available to any one in the town. By the time I was in 8th, our town had it down to 3rd grade. Today, I’ve heard kindergarten and 1st graders are playing traveling and AAU hoops.
This is just wrong. Kids don’t develop their bodies until they’re are in their teenage years.
I had a teammate who was six feet tall in 6th grade. Guess what? He was 6’1” as a senior in high school. He went from a dominant post player during traveling ball into a guard/forward with an outside jump shot.
He didn’t even play basketball after his junior year of high school. I quit my sophomore year. I was wore out, and I was the one pushing myself.
My parents never pushed me to be the best basketball player I could be. They knew I loved to play, so they let me play. When I was done, I was done.
My little brother didn’t get into sports until he hit high school. He hated being dragged to every game of mine, or of our oldest brother.
When he hit high school, he realized that he could run – fast. He doesn’t have the eye-hand cooridnation to hit a 90 mph college fastball and he couldn’t juke a 200 pound linebacker – but he could run fast in a straight away, so he joined track and field.
Knowing that he is not a great “athlete,” he has since developed a love of sports that he didn’t have growing up when he was forced to go to all of my games.
Now I wish I hadn’t played every sport that I did. He is slowly becoming a good guy to talk to about sports, and he is relatively new to the subject.
I have a feeling this is happening more and more in the world than just in the Krebs household.
Until we as a community start to ease back on this whole “Let’s find the next Michael Jordan at age 7,” it is only going to get worse.
Despite my disgust for youth being exposed, I am a fan of the NBA drafting players out of high school. Many great players have come from there – Kobe, Kevin Garnett, LeBron, Amare Stoudamire, and Tracy McGrady.
But I am not a fan of recruiting and offering scholarships to players who are 14 (coughUSCcough).
We as a social group (or even the athletics commissions from around the states) need halt our kids from playing these sports all year long, each kid in America will turn into an exact replica of a kid in China: One kid plays basketball, one plays baseball, one does gymnastics, and the one who can’t do any works either in a rice paddy, toy factory, or jeans factory.
I was originally a fan of the AAU world. The idea is great: Give kids a chance to play all year round against other great players.
But since I’ve developed my brain and developed how to think for myself, I can see that the AAU cause in general is slowly taking away America’s truest sports hero – the all-around athlete.