15u

[BBallExtreme]

My daughter has been playing AAU since she was 9yrs old. She's now 16. We've had great experiences & she received plenty of letters from colleges the past 2 years who say they saw her playing @ the AAU nationals. However, this last nationals I was very frustrated with the fact that they spread the games over so many days. There was 1 game a day, when they could have had 2 & shortened the length of the tournament. Spending almost $1,000 on hotels alone for just 1 tournament is not feasible in these economic times. Sad to say, but I can get my daughter to 2-3 exposure events for the price of 1 AAU nationals (& I wont have to drive to Kansas to do it). AAU has not kept up with economic times & it's hurting them.

 

No doubt about it, Bri. And now it's even hard on the college programs. Colleges don't have unlimited funds to spend on recruiting these days. Coaches are now trying to coordinate their scouting schedules with exposure coaches to find out which teams are playing where so they can get more bang for their buck! After speaking with several other AAU coaches from around the region that we have competed against over the years, our coach informed us that many highly competetive teams won't be at AAU nationals in our age group because of conflicts with recruiting windows and exposure events. So we won't be either. Does anyone honestly think that a bunch of college coaches are going to be watching sub par competition at AAU nationals when they already know players with D1 aspirations won't be there?

[robpride]

Thats right xtreme Lets let AAU die because it does not benefit just the elite 12 layers in each age group.

 

Want to solve all the problems Let AAU and the Ncaa team up to control fewer weekends of exposure events.

 

Then lets see who yells the loudest then. My bet it is the exposure event people who are counting there cash...Getting rich by preying on the parents of the kids not in the top 12.

 

A shame

[BBallExtreme]

Thats right xtreme Lets let AAU die because it does not benefit just the elite 12 layers in each age group.

 

Want to solve all the problems Let AAU and the Ncaa team up to control fewer weekends of exposure events.

 

Then lets see who yells the loudest then. My bet it is the exposure event people who are counting there cash...Getting rich by preying on the parents of the kids not in the top 12.

 

A shame

 

 

Whoa there, Rob. AAU was a great experience for us and continues to be for thousands of other families, especially at the younger age groups. All I'm saying is that it may no longer meet the needs of SOME players and/or teams. For the vast majority of players AAU provides enough competition and exposure to make for meaningful participation. I'm just saying don't blame parents for wanting to put their daughter in the best possible situation. Our team's assistant coach who was head coach for an older team can boast of having ten of his eleven players signed to play college ball. He now feels that he could have benefited his players by having them play exposure tournaments earlier rather than later. Although his girls have signed, several missed opportunities to play for more desirable teams. Parents have to be savvy and realistic about their daughter's goals and abilities and trust people with experience. Hopefully AAU will evolve to meet the needs of more players and their families, if it doesn't, does it even deserve to survive?