For Parents: AAU Basketball

Our newsletter is going to cover all things basketball from the NBA all the way down to your son or daughters basketball experience in their town recreational league. This weeks newsletter is going to focus on the wild wild west of the basketball landscape, the Amateur Athletic Union, otherwise known as AAU. Most people don’t know that most teams or tournament operators do NOT register with the Amateur Athletic Union. So technically, we need to take all of this with a grain of salt. Here, take it right from the horses mouth. The term AAU has been taken so far out of context in recent years that not even the actual non-profit organization cares enough to control all that goes on in youth basketball.

This week you are going to read about red flags within “AAU” and how to possibly avoid spending a ton of money for a bad experience. We all want our kids to be great basketball players and most parents are not patient enough to let the process play out. In addition, many coaches out there are spreading false information just to get a certain kid to play for their program. It is a mad world that we all get caught up in and rather than taking the time to fix the issues, we just bounce around until we find another coach that tells us exactly what we want to hear.

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Top Ten Red Flags: AAU Style

1. Limited Practice Time: Whether people want to believe it or not, AAU basketball in the Spring and Fall is all about player development. Quite simply, this means spending time with athletes in the gym working on specific skills and IQ outside of the Winter season. Choosing your AAU team based off of how much time you will get in the gym is crucial! Teams that will only “practice” once per week for an hour is not the way to go! Choose a coach/program that will be in the gym at least twice for practice and playing in tournaments on the weekends. This should equate to 6-7 hours per week MINIMUM!

2. “Back when I played”: We have all seen that one coach, who had a great career playing high school or college basketball, trying to explain to the younger generation what it was like for them back in the day. Yes, we’re so happy for your success. But what many coaches struggle to do is TEACH what they have learned effectively. If you constantly here this from your kids AAU coach, it could be time to move on.

3. Adding Players Throughout the Season: This right here deserves the utmost of technical fouls. I cannot fathom a coach that decides to add a player to his roster in the middle of the season just to start churning out t-shirts, or belts, or rings…What’s even worse is the coach or program director that allows players from their 12u “National” team to go play with their 12u “Local” team. This is a slap in the face to the committed players and their parents who are spending quite a lot of money for their son or daughter to improve. Major red flag!

4. Coaches Having Athletes Play Down in Age: If #3 deserves a technical foul, then this one is an automatic ejection. Maybe a fine as well. I cannot tell you how many conversations I have had in the last month about kids playing down in age by a year or TWO! Coaches please tell me…what satisfaction do you get in playing a 16 year old in 14u! Is the reward really worth it?? I get that we all want to win but skipping steps is not going to cut it in the long run. We need to teach our younger athletes to work through the pain in order to get what we are looking for. If we allow this to continue, then we are failing our kids and failing the game of basketball. Youth basketball needs to follow the lead of hockey and set the levels in birth years. Someone please make it stop. Parents, major major red flag!

5. Is your AAU coach organized? Being organized as a coach is something to take pride in. This is your team, your program, your responsibility. For AAU purposes, it really is not that hard. Set up a quick practice plan with 3-4 keys that you want to accomplish in 90 minutes. Take 10 minutes to create different lineups to ensure all of your kids see time on the floor. Unfortunately, most AAU coaches will role the ball out at the beginning of practice and just play 5 v. 5. If I am a parent, I would ask the coach if I could sit in and watch practice. This could go a long way in understanding if your child plays for the right program or not.

Reely Good Advice:

Top Ten Red Flags: AAU Style

6. Only Playing Zone Defense: As a younger coach, I always told everyone that I would never coach AAU. It was something I found to be chaotic and I just enjoyed the Winter/School season much more. Now, I actually do enjoy coaching during the Spring and Fall but for different reasons than everyone thinks…I LOVE beating teams on the weekend that play zone for the entire game when we are in man to man. Let me repeat, I LOVE it! Playing zone defense all season long is a cop out. An excuse. The only reason why I say this is because there are literally zero colleges that play zone defense. It does not matter what level in college, if your child does not know how to play man to man defense, they will not see the court! I have worked with hundred’s of college basketball coaches during the recruiting process, from Kentucky to Keene State. The very first basketball related question they ask is “Can he/she guard?” which is then followed up with “What position does he/she guard?” We have to do right by these younger hoopers and playing zone defense ain’t it!

7. Bobby Knight: If you don’t know who Bobby Knight is, well here you go. If your AAU coach acts like Bob Knight, just move on. It’s youth basketball. End of story.

8. Your Coach is Preaching Exposure! If you didn’t watch the video above, shame on you. Here it is again. Let’s do some math. According to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, 28.1 million Americans play basketball ages 6 and up. Even further, the only age range that has reached double digits (10+ million) in boys & girls basketball is ages 6-12 (elementary and middle school). There are 355 Division 1 basketball teams in the country and each team has 4 traveling coaches. 355 × 4 = 1,420 traveling D1 coaches. 10 million compared to 1,420. I’ll let you make your conclusion.

9. Are You a Sponsored Program? Most people have no idea what this even means so let me explain. The Spring/Summer season for AAU has a few traveling circuits as we call them. Three of these circuits are sponsored by sneaker companies. Nike, Adidas and Under Armour (sorry New Balance). These three circuits provide the ultimate basketball experience. Traveling across the country, exclusive gear that is not sold anywhere, hanging with celebrities and NBA players. I have seen it numerous times in person. Hands down, it is awesome. Outside of those circuits, no other teams are sponsored nor do they get even half of the stuff that sneaker circuits provide. AAU coaches will tell prospective players and parents that their team is “sponsored” and on one of those circuits without any context or even gear to show for it. Parents, do your homework! Stop paying thousands to have your 12 year old travel to Atlanta for a long weekend. Oh, and he missed school on Friday.

10. Daddy Ball! Last but certainly not least. This is as cringy as it gets and we’ve all seen it. The coaches son or daughter dominates the basketball and never comes out. They’re taking at least 15 shots per game without showing any effort on the defensive end. When will it end? For many parents, this is noticeable for even a novice to basketball. Prior to committing to a team, ask who the coach is. Ask if they have a son or daughter on the team. I am not suggesting you run immediately, however, be very careful on how you proceed. These things get ugly quick and that deposit is non-refundable. Do your homework early, find out who the coach will be and then ask your questions. If the program director cannot tell you who the coach is…well there’s your answer.

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