2007 AAU Summer Circuit

I will be away coaching basketball for the next few weeks.  My AAU team achieved their goal from the spring of qualifying for the Division 1 AAU National Championship in Clarksville, TN (Austin Peay State University).  After TN, we will fly to MASS to play in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame National Invitational (at Univ of Mass).  Then we head to Morgantown, WV where we will finish out our summer tour at the Hoop Group Harley Davidson Jam Fest (WVU).

The boys are in the U16 age division (mostly rising juniors in HS) and hungry to compete and gain "exposure" to college programs. They are also juggling summer jobs, commitments to their HS teams, and in some cases also working to get ready for football season which starts in August. I also have several boys who maintain 3.9 or higher GPAs in HS.  These are great kids most of whom I have been coaching for 2 years, some 3 years and others for the first time.

I personally have a love/hate relationship with the summer AAU basketball circuit.  I love working with kids on their games and being in the gym --- especially with the best players from their respective HS teams.  And AAU provides that opportunity.  But the evolution of summer basketball and these showcase events is the unintended by-product of NCAA recruiting rules which moved the coaches and scouts out of the HS gyms and on to the summer circuit.  Elite athletes are also the target for the sneaker companies, and the sponsorship of summer teams is one way to invest in the development of these athletes.  There is also an issue of simple economics --- a college scout can go see 100 kids over one weekend, as opposed to watching 1 or 2 players per game and thus having to attend 50 HS games to see the same number of prospects.  But in the old days competing for your HS team and striving with your teammates to win a state championship was by far more important than summer basketball.  In minds of many coaches and unfortunately (in my opinion) many players, the summer circuit of AAU tournaments and exposure events and camps is more important for their playing careers.

However, there is nothing like the excitement of a competitive cross town rivarly in HS basketball.  AAU games with the best players from the area competing does not generate that sort of energy.  And there are other issues going on.  Often at these tournaments the games are played with a running clock, and the referees get paid by the game not the hour so they are not going to blow their whistle (I tell my kids that all the time and hopefully they will start to learn basic economics in the process).  As a result of the running clock and the lack of calls, the games are quick and physical.  Many teams just run up and down the floor with little to no real coaching.  But the athletes are phenomenal --- big, strong, great shooters, great leapers, etc.  We have played a 6'7" wing from Wisc., a 6'5" shooting guard from Chicago, and 7'0" center from Detroit, and a team of 6'5" players from Philadephia so far this season.  We have have seen amazing dunks, great displays of 3 point shooting, and aggressive trapping defenses.  During our 2007 season to date we have played teams from Alabama, DC, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland,  Michigan,  New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin.  At the AAU Nationals in our pool play we will face teams from CT, GA, and TN.  So the kids have gotten to  see a variety of styles of play and a range of players with great abilities.

I coach to help provide an opportunity for kids to work hard on their games during the off-season and get better for their HS teams.  My primary goal is not exposure for my players, but an opportunity to work on their fundamentals, learn to play team basketball on both sides of the ball, and to test themselves against the best competition.  If they get college exposure as a by-product of that, that is great, but it is not my goal.  Playing college level athletics is a great experience (one that I am extremely thankful for), but it is also very demanding on your time, and you have to be a very good athlete to achieve that goal let alone experience any degree of success.  You have to have genetics, sport specific aptitude, mental attitude, and athletic opportunity all cut the right way for you to make the most of being a student/athlete in college.  To be a major college athlete (scholarship athlete in a major conference, say the ACC) you have to be in the top 1% of the human population of athletes, to be a professional athlete we are talking about something like the top 1% of that 1%.  The quickness of a Wade, the sheer size and agility of Shaq, the footwork fundamentals and timing of Duncan, etc., these can be cultivated, but not really taught.  There is an old phrase in athletics --- a coach cannot put in what God didn't give you.  These elite athletes are rare human beings --- they are built differently than us, and they process information differently than us (at least when it comes to athletic information and the communication between brain and body).  Just to give you some examples from around sports: Ian Thorpe has size 17 feet (basically a set of flippers); Lance Armstrong possesses amazing lung capacity and a heart that is 30% larger than the average heart; Michael Jordan in addition to his amazing jumping ability possesses huge hands and an unusual wing span; Bjorn Borg had a resting heart beat 29 and reportedly could run a 100 yard dash in under 10 seconds, etc.  There is a reason these athletes succeed at the highest levels of competition.  Combine their physical attributes with their amazing desire to excel in their sport and you get the special athletic performances associated with the individuals I just named.  I think it is a thing of beauty and genius.

So what do you do when you compete against these sort of athletes?  Well you need to follow the sage advice of Pete Carill -- "the strong take from the weak, but the smart take from the strong."  Play as a team, focus on fundamentals, and pay attention to the details.

I will be out of the office for the next 2 weeks --- wish me luck!

BTW, in order to help finance our trips the boys have sold Papa John Pizza, Golf vouchers to No VA golf courses, worked the Fairfax Co. Fair as ground crew, worked with a power washer, mowed lawns, and baked cookies.  We are still seeking donations --- and we are a tax exempt organization.  So besides wishing us luck, we could also use your help to off set expenses for these boys :).