--Tuesday, Nov. 13
My AAU Bitchfest
Ok, so I came across an interesting thread on WisSports.net. It is deleted now, but I made what I deemed a worthwhile post. And just to give you a bit of an unwanted tease, it was in the High School Girls Basketball forum...
--------------------------------------------
I went on to sat that AAU basketball is slowly degrading sports. I stand by that. I grew up playing traveling team basketball in the mid 90's. Our team was from our town, not from great players from around the area or state getting together to play. We played as a team. We played for our school. It helped us grow together as a team in school.
I didn't think it was that bad, until I started finding out just how much it costs to play AAU. I'm glad, now, that my parents hated it. It costed them loads of money. We didn't even play in tournaments in Las Vegas or 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 as 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 they have 1/1000th of a better shot at playing college ball? What's the benefit then? The NBA? Not really.
I love college sports. I played baseball in college. It's a different commitment than you learn outside of the school year. The only out-of-school league I played in growing up was Legion ball, in which whoever from our team wanted to keep playing played some more during the summer. We didn't play fall ball. We didn't travel to Florida in December.
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 just play 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. Kids 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, 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 allowed to play only one sport. Why? Because otherwise no college will call on them. Because 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. So why not get your kid involved in AAU?
My daughter is 18 1/2 months old. Does anyone know if there is a local 2-year-old AAU basketball team in the area?
I started "traveling team" when I was in 5th grade. 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 ball... This is just wrong. Kids don't develop their bodies until their are in their teens.
I had a kid on my team who was 6' tall in 6th grade. Guess what? He was 6'1" as a senior in high school. He went from a dominant post player into a 2/3 guard player with a 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!
Until we start to ease back on this whole "Let's find the next great star at age 7," it's only going to get worse.
I am a fan of the NBA drafting players out of high school. Many great players have come from there -(Kobe, KG, LeBron, Amare Stoudamire, T-Mac). But I am not a fan of recruiting and offering scholarships to players who are 14 (coughUSCcough).
Until we as a social group (or even the athletics commissions from around the states) 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 plays basketball, one plays baseball, one does gymnastics, and the one who can't do either works either in a rice paddy, toy factory, or jeans factory.
I was originally a fan of the AAU world. But since I've developed my brain and developed how to think, I can see that the AAU cause in general is slowly taking away America's truest sports hero -- the all-around athlete.
posted by Brew City Legend @ 2:10 PM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
you bring up some valid points, but your letting your frustrations paint everyone with a very broad brush. I doubt anything I would say would influence your opinions. But I often hear how so and so, gets burnt out. Funny, I recall getting burnt out on homework, and school, and college prep classes, and the various extra-carricular activities I needed to participate in to make myself more attractive to potential colleges. Yet, being burnt out on school was never accepted as a valid response. I know that my grandparents weren't allowed to get burnt out on getting up at 5:00 a.m. to do their chores on the farm, or in the summer. Somehow, telling your dad that you were burnt out on the plowing and it wasn't fun anymore, wasn't going to fly. The point is not to compare a chore with a sport that is voluntary and supposed to be something you enjoy. there are many things in life that you can get burnt out on after doing too much of it. but thats'a personal choice. the question of being burnt out, shouldn't be an something that AAU is the cause of. Multiple sport athletes are a choice. And with choice come consequences and opportunities. It's just what you do with them. Most colleges actually prefer the athleste participate in more than one sport. But that isn't the case for every coach.
You made my point for me. People get burnt out of playing ball, but not nearly as much as doing chores.
Chores need to be done. Playing ball doesn't. You can choose not to participate in something in your free-time if you dislike or do not enjoy the activity. However, chores, like work and schooling, are a necessity.
I use schooling with a grain of salt, though. Our educational system has numerous flaws, and I am a firm believe that not every NEEDS to go to college. It took me until my 3rd year in college to figure out how to do well in school. I am not a guy who loves education. I do not need to be fed facts or logirythms or to be told how to structure a speech properly. While education does provide us with a chance to go, it also provides us a chance to not take the time to make our own choices -- kind of like AAU.
Thank you for your input, I appreciate it. However, I still think AAU will slowly kill off multi-sport athletes and will ruin the enjoyment of sports for future generations.
AAU is not the culprit. It's the media and big business. If college sports were not so hyped and covered. then aau wouldn't have the impact. My son plays football and basketball. Baseball was his best sport, but he gave it up, because it was boring. I mention it ever year, but he has no desire to play. He gets pressure from folks in town as he is a good athlete. I myself have encouraged him to try track in high school as he is one of the fastest kids around, and would experience a lot of success. And as it's running, I can't see another reason to do track. I hate running. My son plays AAU, and football. and as a parent, it's a great carrot to use to encourage him to succeed in school. Grades fall, no AAU. I don't like to travel out of state, but it does happen. On the positive side, he has met a lot of people from different backgrounds. he has gotten to meet several pro athletes who are heros' of his, including michael Jordan, and gotten some great advice. He pushes himself. he may be the exception and there for, not the best example, because I am sure there are a lot of kids and situations that are as you describe and it is a shame. But, it's different for everyone I hate the negative association being applied to everyone and every parent.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home