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Congratulations and thanks to all 36 teams from 7 states that participated in this past weekend's FCA Rumble on the River. A fun time was had by all on Friday as the jamboree was played on the FedEx Forum floor and at the NBA Grizzlies versus Nuggets game on Friday night. The Sunday morning worship service was quite entertaining as we watched our speaker involve the crowd in a variety of magic acts, rope tricks and juggling exhibitions. The competition this weekend was fierce with several of the top teams in the nation competing to make it to the Championship games. Following are the winners and runners-up in each age division: 9U Champion-Memphis Elite Runner Up-Pontotoc Lady Warriors 10U Champion-Memphis Elite Runner Up-Edwards Lady Braves 11U Champion-AL Twisters (black) Runner Up-GA Hawks 12U Champion-Memphis Elite-Daniels Runner Up-MO Valley Magic 13U Champion-Ark Mustangs Runner Up-St. Louis Crusaders 14U Champion-Memphis Elite-Miles Runner Up-Memphis Elite-James 15U Champion-Memphis Elite-Pruitt Runner Up-AL Southern Starz

Still need at least one more 9U team and could use some more 10U teams. Contact us immediately if you have a 9U thru 15U team that wants to enter and you must overnight Section A. of the entry form and your entry fee. Following is a list of the 11U thru 15U commitments so far: 11 MEM Elite 11 Edwards Bravettes 11 Alabama Twisters Black 11 MEM Elite D II 11 St Louis Hoops (Mystics) 11 FCA Lady Eagles 11 Southern Starz 11 Michigan Elite (Motor City Suns) 11 Georgia Hawks (NE Atlanta Hawks) 11 MEM Select Tigers 11 MO Valley Magic 12 MEM Elite 12 MEM Elite DII 12 MEM Elite (W TN Tigers) 12 Franklin GT Lady Falcons 12 Alabama Ballers 12 TN Lady Shox 12 Alabama Twisters 12 Southern Starz 12 Bowling Green Blast 12 North Little Rock Comets 12 MO Valley Magic 13 MEM Elite 13 MEM Elite DII 13 Alabama Ballers 13 St. Louis Crusaders 13 Georgia Hawks Red (NE Atlanta) 13 Arkansas Mustangs (Blue Bombers) 13 Mississippi Fire 13 Hoopstars Midwest 13 Corinth Storm 14 MEM Elite 14 MEM Elite 14 Hoopstars Midwest 14 Mississippi Fire 14 Memphis Blues 15 Southern Starz 15 Memphis Trotters 15 MEM Elite 15 Tupelo Storm 15 W TN Swish-Pruitt

Currently at 38 teams with many national caliber teams including several state champions from last year. We would like to grow the 9u and 10u bracket so please contact us with your interest if you are a 9u and/or 10u coach. These younger age groups had a ball last year playing in the jamboree and being chased around by Super Grizz (the Memphis Grizzlies mascot). This is truly a unique tournament and the favorite tourney of the year for most of the teams based on the great feedback.

Doc6, i would love to read the article you refer to but cannot find it under the link you list. Please research and give us all a correct link so we can read the article. Thanks!

Currently at 36 teams and plan to close at 50 teams. Please get Section A. of the roster forms and your entry fee mailed in asap.

FCA/Memphis Grizzlies “Rumble on the River” March 17-19, 2006 Join many of the top 9U thru 14U Girls teams in the country for BBQ, Blues & Basketball Hosted by the FCA Lady Eagles and the Memphis Lady Elite Come join us for a unique tournament experience! Play will begin Friday night, March 17th for those teams who are not going to the NBA game (see below) and on Saturday for everyone else. Registration will be limited to no more than 16 teams per age group. Interested teams should register quickly (registration closed by March 1, 2006). • Entry fee $300. AAU Sanction #06SEBWTYT7. • Guaranteed 3+ games. • Will be using TSSAA and many collegiate officials. Top notch gyms—all wood floors and all air conditioned. AAU format and rules will apply (with the exception of no shot clocks/ will have 10 second backcourt rule). • Trophy for Championship team and medals for all players on the runner-up team in each age group. • Last year’s participants included teams from AAU Clubs such as: AL Twisters, AL Ballers, IN Finest, AR Fireballs, FCA Lady Eagles, St. Louis Crusaders, MO Valley Magic, Memphis Lady Elite, W TN Lady Tigers (now part of Memphis Lady Elite), AL Southern Starz, AR Blue Bombers, Hoopstars Midwest, St. Louis Hoops, etc. Additional Clubs expressing interest in sending teams this year include: Northeast Atlanta Hawks, OK Select, Kansas Belles, AR Mavericks, OK Air Stars, Kenner Angels, Dayton Lady Hoopstars, etc. • A worship service for teams will be provided on Sunday morning at the host hotel (Hilton East Memphis) and will feature a special guest provided by the FCA, who will share God’s word from an athlete’s perspective. The NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies are offering a special invitation to girls’ competitive basketball teams participating in the “Rumble on the River” to join them on Friday March 17th for FCA Night. • Participating Rumble teams who can arrive in Memphis by 1 PM Friday can play in a jamboree vs. other competitive teams on the floor of the FedExForum, one of the premier arenas in the NBA. “Mini games” will be played in the FedExForum from 1:00 to 4:00 PM on Friday (these games will not count towards the tourney results). Grizz, the team mascot, will be on hand to meet the girls during the jamboree and cause havoc! The jamboree will be limited to the first 18 Rumble on the River teams that register for the jamboree by purchasing tickets to the NBA game that same night. • After the jamboree, teams and parents can visit downtown Memphis and perhaps have dinner on Memphis’ famous Beale Street adjacent to the FedExForum!! • At 7:00 PM on Friday, it’s time for basketball – NBA Style, as the Grizzlies take on Carmelo Anthony and the Denver Nuggets at the FedExForum. Teams and their families can purchase advance tickets at a special discount of $20 each versus the normal gate price of $24.75. For each ticket sold, the Grizzlies will donate $5 to the Memphis FCA. Each team will be recognized during the Grizzlies’ game on the giant Jumbo-tron scoreboard. A ticket to the game Friday night will be required to be admitted into the FedExForum for the jamboree Friday afternoon from 1 to 4 PM. Call Sharon Armour at 901-419-8179 or email at sharon.armour@ipaper.com for additional information. The entire registration packet can be downloaded from: http://eteamz.active.com/FCALadyEagles/fil...heRiver2006.pdf

I've heard this before. The only thing weak is that old wive's tale that it makes ankles weaker. Try an experiment. Play with great braces and after your first ankle roll, assess how badly you were hurt and how quickly you came back to play and how long until there was no discomfort whatsoever. Then go without the braces and that same ankle roll will probably be characterized by you as a sprain. See how long it bothers you and an injury like that stays with you and impacts your lateral speed and cutting. You'll immediately start wearing braces during live action on not only your injured ankle, but your uninjured one as well. It will make you a believer. Their are girls who are so obsessed with the negative fashion consequenses of not wearing them and there are some that are just too plain lazy to put them on and lace them up before a game or the types of practices where you should want them on.

There is no doubt that there is a significant reduction in the number of ankle injuries, and the severity of ankle injuries, in players who wear quality ankle braces when they play or scrimmage. The ASO brace is what orthopaedics will recommend and we have had great success with them (they are a little expensive but all ankle braces are NOT created equal). When our players condition and drill, they are not required to wear them. But, when we are going live in a scrimmage or game where the likelihood of stepping on someone's ankle, etc. goes way up, they wear them on both ankles. Our kids can move just fine and still have plenty of support given the ASO's corset plus figure 8 strapped design. Waiting until you have an ankle injury to get ankle braces makes no sense when you could prevent or reduce an injury that could nag the athlete for years or even life. Just let the athlete go without them during practices where you know you will just be doing conditioning (particularly speed and agility work in the offseason) and drills and that will take care of any theoretical issues that one might assert about strengthening the ankles.

While we are on the topic of uniforms, does anyone know the rules (or in the absence of rules, how a ref would react) regarding the length of shorts. I see that there is a rule that the uniform must be worn in the way it was made to be worn. In other words, over the hips and not pulled down. That part I've got. What I can't find a ruling on is a situation where a kid has gotten shorts (or wants to get shorts) that are a size or two too big and is wearing them below the knee. Are there any refs out there who can comment on their interpretation of uniform rules as it relates to the length of shorts so that I've got a higher authority to refer to in addition to "I'm just not gonna let you do it"?

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Congratulations to Frank Harris and the entire coaching staff, players and parents of the FCA/Bellvue War Eagles on their 2nd place finish. This is their 3rd time in a row to make it to the Championship versus (I believe) a different opponent each time. While I know the kids wanted a gold ball rather than another silver, the fact that this coaching staff got these kids in this position 3 times in a row while none of the other teams that had won in past year's could get there, speaks volumes about the coaching ability and the desire of these kids.

We are looking for athletic girls with 1994 or 1995 birth dates and competitive basketball experience is a definite plus. We tend to play all of our girls a lot with a platooning substitution pattern so we can pretty much work in a real talented kid at a couple of positions. We do need to add some depth and beef up our post presence (needs to currently be at least 5'6" with more growth left to come) so that would be the only specific need. Feel free to email me or call me at the number listed above with any questions.

The FCA Lady Eagles (defending 10U AAU State Champions) will be conducting tryouts for their Fall/Winter season on August 26th from 6 to 9pm and August 27th from 9am to 12pm, if necessary. Experienced players from West TN, North MS and Eastern AR are invited to this 2 day tryout at no charge. Only girls born in 1994/1995 or later are eligible. Location is Hope Presbyterian Church at 8500 Walnut Grove Rd , Cordova, TN 38018 . For more information, visit FCA Lady Eagles '94 Girls Basketball. Call Coach Jeff Little at 901-277-1444 with any questions. Please note that anyone playing on a TSSAA Middle School team would be prohibited by TSSAA from playing on two teams during the school season.

The FCA Lady Eagles (defending 10U AAU State Champions) will be conducting tryouts for their Fall/Winter season on August 26th from 6 to 9pm and August 27th from 9am to 12pm, if necessary. Experienced players from West TN, North MS and Eastern AR are invited to this 2 day tryout at no charge. Only girls born in 1994/1995 or later are eligible. Location is Hope Presbyterian Church at 8500 Walnut Grove Rd , Cordova, TN 38018 . For more information, visit FCA Lady Eagles '94 Girls Basketball. Call Coach Jeff Little at 901-277-1444 with any questions. Please note that anyone playing on a TSSAA Middle School team would be prohibited by TSSAA from playing on two teams during the school season.

Wrong Pitino. College scouts come mostly to pool play and most are gone by the time teams get very deep into bracket play. Their reason is that during pool play, they can more easily follow the schedule to get around and see a bunch of kids that they have been tracking and corresponding with for a few minutes each. A prospect does not have to be on the best team, she just needs to be on a team that is good enough to qualify to be at D1 Nationals. Also, it obviously raises the prospects chances to be seen if she is on a team that has several other prospects so that a scout can see several at once or come to see one and get surprised by another. But, if she is good enough, she will certainly be scouted even if her team is one that would fall into the Classic bracket after pool play. Once the prospect is a rising high school Junior, she really starts to get on the radar screen. If her game supports it, she certainly could sign a major D1 scholarship and not even play AAU her 16yr old yr as many teams opt to only do exposure tourneys. We've got several girls here in West TN that have already been offered by SEC and other D1 schools that are not playing AAU as 16 yr olds but instead have been going to exposure tourneys. However, all those girls played AAU and made it to D1 nationals in past years and are able to tout that on their athletic resume. Bottom line is that if you are good enough, they will come to see you. You can help your chances some by making sure you are on a team that makes it to D1 nationals in the years leading up to your Junior year in high school.

Perhaps we can talk Eddie Clinton into having two AAU Nationals-one for the Southern Pacific region (bottom half of California) and another for the rest of the United States. If that were the case, the results for the past several years would look dramatically different in the younger age groups. Now that Southern Cal has caught on to the girls' AAU thing, it will only make the rest of us better as we strive to compete. No reason to get too twisted up in the result, just enjoy the journey!!

Congratulations to the 10U FCA Lady Eagles on their tie for 17th in the nation this past week at the 10U AAU Nationals in Orlando. Facing the National Champions in your first game of the winner's bracket and the #3 finisher two games into the loser's bracket was too tall an order. Nonetheless, it was a great experience to get to actually play the top teams in the nation and now know first hand what it takes to get there. We are so proud of all of the girls on such a successful season that included winning the TN State Championship, Branson AAU Super Regional Runner-Up, Shelbyville AAU Super Regional Champions, Atlanta AAU Super Regional Champions, FCA/Memphis Grizzlies Rumble on the River Champions, and Shelbyville Showtime Elite Champions. For those following this age group for next year, following is our coaching staff's humble opinion of the true top four (in order) for this age group: 1>SGV--ran out of gas after one bad game got em in the loser's bracket--great team offensively and defensively and truly a pleasure to watch. This team finished #3. 2>GBL Lady Rebels--Dallas Mavericks' style of play and when they are hitting their outside shots in transition, you better slow the tempo down. This team finished #1. 3>OK Lil Ballers--has 3 beasts that will pummel you if the refs allow. This team finished tied for 7th. 4>BTR Hurricanes--big post, agile power forward and a talented point. This team finished #2.

From the coaches, players and parents of the FCA Lady Eagles, congratulations to Michael Hollman and the 10U TN Express on their tie for 13th at the 10U AAU Nationals in Orlando this past week!! Also, congrats to TX Xtreme for their tie for 25th. That made three TN teams in the D1 winner's bracket!! That made a total of 5 TN teams competing at the D1 level (kudos to the TN Raiders and Team Pride). In D2, the West TN Lady Tigers finished tied for 7th and the Lady Trotters finished tied for 9th. Congratulations to their coaches, players and parents.

Thanks! It appears that we'll have to earn anything we get which is the way it should be. I fly out first thing in the morning. Thanks again for your help!

ptguard12 have you got any info.??

ptguard12, I appreciate the vote of confidence. We (the FCA Lady Eagles) face a very talented, big and athletic Motor City Suns team (#1 seed out of Michigan-yes, that's two #1's in the same pool) in our very first game. Looking past pool play, we will have our work cut out for us as winning our pool gives us a likely match up versus the San Gabriel Valley (SGV) team that finished #1 in the Southern Pacific region while a second place finish out of our pool gives us a likely match up versus the GBL Lady Rebels who finished 3rd in the Southern Pacific region. That region produced three of the top four 10U teams in the nation in 2003 and two of the top six last year. Nonetheless, we welcome the challenge and will do our best to represent the state of TN by playing hard and to play the right way always for an Audience of One. We picked up no players after the state tournament and never will. The information I've gathered so far indicates that these are some of the strongest teams (in no particular order): All 4 of the Southern Pacific teams-history says so (BTR, GBL, SGV, SouthBay) Top 2 Potomoc Valley teams-again, history says so (MD Flames, Fairfax Stars) MO Valley Eclipse-great team IN Finest OK Select Motor City Suns TN Xtreme Any additional info. you might be able to gather on the Motor City Suns or the two Southern Pacific teams (SGV and GBL) would be most helpful. I think you would do a great job on a newsletter that could cover AAU and possibly girls high school, as well.

Matt, Given that the last two days post are the first time I've discussed this issue on CoachT, I hardly think that constitutes years??? Also, I can tell from the fella from Brentwood Academy's post above that evidently you guys in Middle Tn (and I guess specifically at your Nashville Catholic schools) don't have the same frequency or severity we have seen over here that began within a few years of the creation of D2. While I'm not aware of any of it happening at my kids school, it is a frequent topic of conversation and source of frustration for parents at schools we compete against--and yes, they constantly complain about it. From our standpoint, the only sour grapes would be in losing to a school that does it. However, there seems to be a consensus among all the rest of the "clean" schools that games against such an opponent really don't count. As far as reporting someone to TSSAA, they require conclusive proof. In other words, someone has to tell the truth that was at the table. Heresay and circumstantial evidence doesn't get it. They don't just go digging in someone's checking a/c (although one would think cash would be the safer way to operate).

Believe it--it has been happening for years. All you have to do is ask someone involved in athletics in the Southwest corner of the state. I can't speak for Middle TN (or Brentwood since it appears that is where you are from), but in West TN, this type of activity is common knowledge. What apparently isn't common knowledge is that it is illegal when the kid is a varsity athlete. Again, there are upset parents but they are hushed in the interest of winning or being accused as a racist. We don't need any more info. to corroborate that it is happening. What I would like to know is how the "work study" and "loans" work. Would somebody who knows something about these two recruiting tools enlighten us as to how they can be legitimately used to pay $4 to $5m (half of tuition that can't be covered by a needs based scholarship per most private schools bylaws) in tuition each and every year?

Welcome to the discussion! My observation is that it occurs for a couple of athletes in the major sports like football and basketball-both boys and girls. In high school, one stud can make a huge difference, much less two. Once success comes, several other great athletes follow--many who need some partial financial aid that they get legitimately. As long as one or two studs are kept every year, a dynasty can be built! This is not necessarily funded by one person, but more likely by a person for football, a person for boys basketball and another person or two for girls basketball. People who can afford this understand that the penalty for getting caught far outways an itemized deduction for less than 35% of your charitable contributions given the phase out at high income levels so I really don't think they're too worried about not getting the deduction. Generous wealthy people bail out friends and family all the time and can't take a deduction for it. You're right that a lot of parents do get upset but nothing is ever done about it as long as winning means everything. More need to get upset and rock the boat even if they are considered traitors for not supporting what it takes to win at any cost. All of this is old news. What I'm really curious about and don't understand is how the "work study" and "loans" work and how those are not considered illegal. Someone in the know please enlighten us on how this works and why it is legal???

Agreed! A more zealous effort on the part of TSSAA would help as well. I think if more parents understood and knew the rules, they would do a better job of revolting against the coaches and ADs that turn their backs and demand that the obvious situations be investigated. It's easy to find case after case of star athletes that could not possibly afford to pay any tuition but are still attending and playing varsity athletics at private schools who have a policy of only allowing 50 to 60% of the tuition to come from bonafied financial aid (from the scholarship funds of the school) as determined by Princeton. I think most parents just assume that it is legal to pay a full ride for an underprivileged athlete.