thunder

[3shot]

Crossville Thunder is a stong team ,but with coaching changes and not having 3 of their players from their 12u team from last year their not as strong, but their doing good. plus one of their top players wasnt with them in shelbyville Hopefully she will be back. Does anyone know where their 3 from last year is playing now and how are they doing,they all had talent

[hotshot]

I assume you are referring to the 13U Thunder team. I strongly disagree with your assessment....this year's team is STRONGER than last year on all counts. Their scoring average is up 18 points per game over last year. They did have a weak showing at one tournament in Lebanon, but did quite well at the Cleveland Blitz (making the semi-finals, where last year they were eliminated in the first round of bracket play) and made the championship game of the sub-state tournament, before losing to the Tennessee Express. Last year's 12U team played 2 games in the substate and lost them both. Just like any team at the beginning of the season with new players, there is some inconsistency in their play which explains the tournament with the less than ideal showing. Last year, the team was not able to win enough games in the big tournaments to have the privilege of playing teams like the Express, TN Elite, and Xtreme. Before you start apologizing for one of their best players being absent at the sub-state, consider that Thunder did make it to the Championship game before losing to Elite and Express (2 GREAT teams).

 

The new AAU age rule has made competition stiffer this year than ever before. Large programs (which Thunder is not) can move people around in age groups to make their teams "older." Everyone knows that until you reach the age of 16/17, one or two years makes a huge difference in skill level. You can actually be 15 years old in July and be legally play 13U in AAU.

 

The COACH that is no longer with the team IS sorely missed. Anyone who has an opportunity to work with Grant Shanks, will know that he has a knack for bringing out the best in his players. With that said, the coaching is very good again this year and is not a reason for concern.

 

With regards to last year's players that aren't with Thunder this year, 2 of them were invited to play for Thunder again this year. Crossville Thunder did not have open tryouts, as is the norm, but held tryouts by invitation only. Unfortunately for Thunder those 2 chose to play for another team. Those 2 were very good and shared the point guard position last year.

 

But, as in life, when one door closes another one opens. The loss of a couple of players created opportunities for new players to join the team. This year's point guard is a step up at handling floor pressure and is very skilled at seeing the floor and finding open players. She is extremely unselfish with the ball and relishes in putting her teammates in scoring position. The other 2 new wings added a much needed perimeter shooting threat. Thunder also added another post player that is providing size and depth in that position.

 

Time will tell if this team can gel like they should, but the base talent is definitely there.

 

I see lots of people on here refering to large area schools and the new age rule when discussing there teams. I just wanted to set the record straight about the Tn Express. These girls are from the Lawrenceburg Tn area which is a small town. There starters are 3 eighth graders and 2 seventh graders and every girl on the team can play under last years age rule. Where they do have an advantage over most teams is 4 of the starters have played together since they were 7 and benefited from very good coaching in Coach Flatt and Coach Hollman. As for the Thunder I agree they are a well balanced team and will only get stronger with time.

[ballfan9]

Thunder is a team that has some of the best basketball talent in Cumberland County for 13U. There are only a few in Cumberland County that could contribute to their cause in this age group and they are not really accepted in the click or they are not going to the new high school. The age rule change did help them pick up one player that is above average in most counties. They are all fortunate to have an opportunity to play with an organization at home, but I don't see them competing on a state level in DI AAU with current situation. Most of these girls have had some good fundamental coaching and have worked hard on their own. They would be hard to handle in DII or YBOA no matter who is coaching.

 

/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

[BlueAngels]

I see lots of people on here refering to large area schools and the new age rule when discussing there teams. I just wanted to set the record straight about the Tn Express. These girls are from the Lawrenceburg Tn area which is a small town. There starters are 3 eighth graders and 2 seventh graders and every girl on the team can play under last years age rule. Where they do have an advantage over most teams is 4 of the starters have played together since they were 7 and benefited from very good coaching in Coach Flatt and Coach Hollman. As for the Thunder I agree they are a well balanced team and will only get stronger with time.

 

 

There was no intent to knock the TN Express. I am aware that they are from Lawrenceburg and represent a small market. That is why I'll be pulling for them at the state tourney. They are talented and extremely well-coached.

[BlueAngels]

Thunder is a team that has some of the best basketball talent in Cumberland County for 13U. There are only a few in Cumberland County that could contribute to their cause in this age group and they are not really accepted in the click or they are not going to the new high school. The age rule change did help them pick up one player that is above average in most counties. They are all fortunate to have an opportunity to play with an organization at home, but I don't see them competing on a state level in DI AAU with current situation. Most of these girls have had some good fundamental coaching and have worked hard on their own. They would be hard to handle in DII or YBOA no matter who is coaching.

 

/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

 

 

Good point ballfan9. Yes, thankfully we did pick up that player from the rule change or we wouldn't have a true point guard. We also have 3 girls that could play 12U. I don't understand your point about the clique or the new high school. Yes, all these girls are going to Stone Memorial next year. I guarantee you that no one has ever discouraged girls that are zoned for CCHS from playing for Thunder. Quite the opposite.

 

You are also correct that THUNDER does not match up with the Top teams in D1 AAU (in my opinion - Express, Elite, Trotters, Xtreme, a couple of Memphis teams, etc), meaning they probably would not finish in the Top 4 in the state. In reading Thunder's creed, you will never see anything about winning AAU State in Division 1. The goal of the team is to help players in Cumberland County get better by playing a lot of basketball against strong competition.

[3shot]

Good point ballfan9. Yes, thankfully they did pick up that player from the rule change or they wouldn't have a true point guard. They also have 3 girls that could play 12U. I don't understand your point about the click or the new high school. Yes, all these girls are going to Stone Memorial next year. I guarantee you that no one has ever discouraged girls that are zoned for CCHS from playing for Thunder. Quite the opposite.

 

You are also correct that THUNDER does not match up with the Top teams in D1 AAU (in my opinion - Express, Elite, Trotters, Xtreme, a couple of Memphis teams, etc), meaning they probably would not finish in the Top 4 in the state. In reading Thunders creed, you will never see anything about winning AAU State in Division 1. The goal of the team is to help players in Cumberland County get better by playing a lot of basketball against strong competition. With that said, I doubt there is any question that they would finish in the Top 10 in the state, which isn't bad considering they represent half of a rural county.

[3shot]

IT is true thunder has some real talent , several of these girls must have had some good fundemental the coaches in earlier years . It would be great to see them able to become a top contender in D1 aau . but if this is to help the girls of the county then why is tryouts invitation only ? Still curious about the three from last year are they still playing, if where.

[BlueAngels]

IT is true thunder has some real talent , several of these girls must have had some good fundemental the coaches in earlier years . It would be great to see them able to become a top contender in D1 aau . but if this is to help the girls of the county then why is tryouts invitation only ? Still curious about the three from last year are they still playing, if where.

 

 

To answer your question about the 3 from last year, my understanding is that one of them (who is 12U) plays for Tennessee Team Pride on the 12U Maroon team and the other 2 play for the CCHS team (I believe it has the same name as my screen name...Blue Angels).

 

One reason for limiting invites is to limit the number of players to a maximum of 10. The other is to save time. We often get a late start after elementary and high school ball ends.

 

If you have more questions, you should contact the team's director. I'm sure he would be happy to answer your questions. Send me an email and I'll give you his phone number.

 

You know, one really nice thing about travel teams is not having to justify your team's philosophy. Just play ball.

[jetfan2]

What tournaments is the 13U Thunder going to play in for the rest of the season. I would like to get out and watch these girls play sometime.

 

Will they be playing close to Crossville anytime soon?

[BlueAngels]

All4Them,

You have truly misunderstood the comments about the former three players. The player you say I am singling out was not invited because she had already committed to another AAU team, so we felt there was no reason to invite her. You can only be on one sanctioned AAU team. You may not know who she is and it really doesn't matter, but she will probably end up being one of the better players in the area and she would have been welcomed to this year's team. The other 2 players had not yet committed to other teams, so they WERE invited. It is as simple as that. 5 of the 15 girls we planned to invite (1 to Pride and 4 to local teams) had already committed to teams prior to us setting tryout dates, so they self-excluded. We don't and would never talk poorly about a former or current player. That would just be wrong. No one is pitting parents against parents or kids against kids. It is just a silly accusation.

 

I'm not sure what set you off, but you obviously have some feelings of hostility toward someone in our program or the program in general. I'm sorry if your experience with us was less than you hoped for.

 

I'll just correct a few of your mis-statements and then I am done posting about this:

 

1. The coaches for the 10U and 13U teams are females and former college basketball players. I am NOT the coach.

2. Closed tryouts are very common and necessary for us as it saves time. We start late every year because of elementary and high school ball. We simply don't have time nor the numbers to have 2 or 3 tryouts before choosing a team and going through cuts. I'm sorry that some people get left out and get angry, but all teams have limits on numbers. The girls from last year had first "dibs" on their spots, however, 3 chose not to return.

3. There is absolutely NO bias against kids regardless of their school affiliation. Our 13U coach is the softball coach at CCHS. As I mentioned, we TRIED to add players that are going to another high school (who, by the way, had played for us for 3 years), but they told us they had to play for their school's travel team. The other high school's coach would not allow them to play for us. Our head coach spoke directly with him and confirmed it. We were surprised, but in a way it does make sense for girls who will be freshman next year to begin playing with each other. This is just fact.

4. We are a small organization by choice. There are no aspirations to be a huge organization with A, B, and C teams in each age group. It may seem like a "clique" to you and yes, if you as a player have been with us for 3-4 years they are shown the same loyalty when they come back the next year. But given that over half of this year's team is new, you can't accuse us of locking people out. We just use a different method to build our team, right or wrong.

5. It takes a lot of time and effort to have one AAU team, let alone 3. Having someone flame your program on Coach T without just cause is just not right. When you have a team and understand all that goes in to preparation, paperwork, practice time, dealing with parents and players, scheduling tournaments, raising money, and all the things involved, you may start to figure it out. I'm sure there are organizer out there who would agree.

6. Coach Shanks did not leave coaching for any other reason than to pursue his education and career in Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine. I speak with him regularly and he was the first person I spoke to after returning from AAU substate (one of his favorite events). He is, and always will be, my friend and colleague. He will be visiting the girls at an upcoming tournament to show his support for them.

7. I will not allow anyone to throw daggers at our coaching (as in the above posts "they must have good coaches in their EARLY years" implying they don't now), current players ("they aren't as good as they were last year"), accusations of a "click" (clique), etc. I am very loyal to our team members and coaches and we all fight for each other.

8. All travel teams have to be somewhat exclusive, as there is only so much room on a team. This isn't school ball where you can have 17-18 players on a team financially. If you were to have that kind of numbers on a travel team, playing time for some players would be zero. Travel teams exist (or ours does) because players need to be on the floor getting playing experience. I don't want a parent paying $200 in player fees, paying to travel to tournaments, and then watching their daughter sit on the bench. It isn't right...that is why we limit to 8-10 players.

 

No Mas

[BlueAngels]

What tournaments is the 13U Thunder going to play in for the rest of the season. I would like to get out and watch these girls play sometime.

 

Will they be playing close to Crossville anytime soon?

 

Jetfan,

 

We will be in Lenoir City at the Wendy's Elite Tourney April 25 - 27. We are also working on a double-header scrimmage with the Blue Angels at either SMHS or CCHS sometime in May.

 

Our other tourneys are further out of town.

 

Thanks for asking.

[jetfan2]

Jetfan,

 

We will be in Lenoir City at the Wendy's Elite Tourney April 25 - 27. We are also working on a double-header scrimmage with the Blue Angels at either SMHS or CCHS sometime in May.

 

Our other tourneys are further out of town.

 

Thanks for asking.

 

 

Will Thunder be going to any SRT tourney's to try and qualify for Nationals?