The press and girls basketball

[ironmen1987]

Where did i say anything was unfair? I simply stated the obvious. When you have 50 point blowouts happening all over the place then something has changed. AAU and other "like" programs are great for raising the bar of talent and level of competition but at the same time it has led to a huge difference within the confines of our school leagues.

[mykids#1fan]

I have one of those kids that stands in the rain, snow, whatever shooting shot after shot. I understand both sides to that coin. I believe that in todays life as we know it, kids learn early that they have to work super hard to get where they're going. I also believe that kids want to succeed and to do that you have to have goals, and dreams and never take your eye off the prize. It is an awful truth, but oh well that is what it is to be successful in present times. Back to pressing. I do think girls are very capable of understanding good press and strong passing. They just need to learn it earlier in basketball.

Enjoyed reading this thread. It is great to know so many people love and support the kids, and their many sports,

[sitting in the stands]

Basketball sure has changed. The high school program that I grew up playing in, had NO summer program. If we went to a camp it was on our own at our own expense. ( I did go). Anyway, we still had one of the best teams to come through the 4 years that I was blessed with the chance to play. In fact the fans started coming out to watch our games and hung around for the boys. Is it possible to build a strong team without all of the extra stuff in the summer? Yes it is. Where in all of this do our children get to be kids? Have time to breathe, to explore, to just enjoy growing up? I have watched kids year after year go..go...go... and some of them that I have talked to and with are just tired before they graduate. Not to mention the ones who are involved in academic pursuits as well. Didn't have one of the best runners out for track at our hs last year due to just being tired. School and sports for 4 years, trying to keep up and it was her grades in the end that got her the money to attend college, not her sports. SO why do we push so hard? Just a question.

[sprinter14]

The two biggest problems I have personally witnessed are individual programs lacking a good biddy ball program which puts the kids very very far behind in fundamentals as they go through 7-12th grades.

The other problem is AAU ball. When I was in school, you didn't hardly know the other kids and teams. Now through the miracle of AAU, all the kids get to know each other and play together all summer. Then the kids with some talent who are not on a real good high school team transfer to play with their "buddies" who are also good. So the strong high school teams get stronger while the weak teams lose their best players and get weaker.

Personally, I hate AAU ball for this very reason.

[mhs95_06]

The two biggest problems I have personally witnessed are individual programs lacking a good biddy ball program which puts the kids very very far behind in fundamentals as they go through 7-12th grades.

The other problem is AAU ball. When I was in school, you didn't hardly know the other kids and teams. Now through the miracle of AAU, all the kids get to know each other and play together all summer. Then the kids with some talent who are not on a real good high school team transfer to play with their "buddies" who are also good. So the strong high school teams get stronger while the weak teams lose their best players and get weaker.

Personally, I hate AAU ball for this very reason.

So, in the end, both types of girls get what they want. The ones who want to excel, put in the work to do so. The ones who just want to play during the season and have the fun of playing together, and give every effort during the games to win, they get to have a chance to win when they play a team of similar attitude, and when they do that is when they have the most satisfaction. Both should be happy when they play teams of the opposing philosophy, and the score is 70-15!

You hear complaints when the end of year tourney comes around and one of the top seeded teams starts out deciding top not take a bye and play a lesser team and pound them just to try to stay sharp. Oft times this does not work out well for the better team as they may get into bad habits and be complacent. And it robs many of the teams of the other attitude of getting to play a competitive game in the tourney. That is why I think teams should be seeded and the top seeded teams mandated to take their byes so long as they are available. If there are an even 16 teams, then tough luck, #16 has to play #1, but if there are 10 teams, then #8 gets to play #9 and #7 gets to play #10.

When teams of the opposing philosophy are in the same league, then it makes for a lot of uncompetitive games, but that can be mitigated by scheduling teams of like attitude in the non-league games.

[md2020]

The two biggest problems I have personally witnessed are individual programs lacking a good biddy ball program which puts the kids very very far behind in fundamentals as they go through 7-12th grades.

The other problem is AAU ball. When I was in school, you didn't hardly know the other kids and teams. Now through the miracle of AAU, all the kids get to know each other and play together all summer. Then the kids with some talent who are not on a real good high school team transfer to play with their "buddies" who are also good. So the strong high school teams get stronger while the weak teams lose their best players and get weaker.

Personally, I hate AAU ball for this very reason.

In the past 8 years there have been at least 20 girls playing AAU ball from the Logan High School. I do not know of even one HS player that has gone to play at another school or coach.

[ironmen1987]

I don't have issues with the AAU. I think it has been great for the girls that want bball as their primary sport. The presses and overall "d" that they face in most cases will be much stronger than they play in leagues. Alot of parents watch these lopsided games and blame the coach not realizing that a team with 3 or 4 girls that play AAU are going to come out with more intensity and solid fundamentals than a team that plays 3 months out of the year. It's not unfair, just a part of today's game.

[Falconburger]

bball mom, not saying that "just wanting to be on the team" is a bad thing, what I am saying from a coaches standpoint and a player that works hard is that sometime parents feel that cause you are on the team, means you must get alot of minutes. I see alot of parents talk how their kid gets "shafted" cause they are not playing, but when that player gets on the floor and does not compete or can do what they are expected then at the high school level you dont deserve playing time. I never like losing,but if my kids give full effort and we lose to a better team or a team that just out hustled us it is easier to accept. Alot of times you go and there will be kids who dont' have a skill to stay up with better players and you hear their parents complain about playing time and berating the players that work at it. Those are the players I was talking about, also too many players just wanting to "be on the team" means you school probably wont be competitve and then a coaches job is on the line, or they are being "debating on this site". All a coach asks is that if you play, compete and try your best, and work hard....

I was told by one coach he was to hard on his team cause it was the girls senior year and they just wanted to have fun and the parents wanted everyone to have minutes, and just enjoy their last years in school. At the high school level if your program is looking at this way, then don't hire a bball coach, just assign a teacher/coach and worry only about minutes. But I will guarantee it wont be a fun season, cause no matter how you feel about winning isnt everything, struggle through a 0-20 or 2-18 season with your kid..not fun.

[Falconburger]

The two biggest problems I have personally witnessed are individual programs lacking a good biddy ball program which puts the kids very very far behind in fundamentals as they go through 7-12th grades.

The other problem is AAU ball. When I was in school, you didn't hardly know the other kids and teams. Now through the miracle of AAU, all the kids get to know each other and play together all summer. Then the kids with some talent who are not on a real good high school team transfer to play with their "buddies" who are also good. So the strong high school teams get stronger while the weak teams lose their best players and get weaker.

Personally, I hate AAU ball for this very reason.

In the past 8 years there have been at least 20 girls playing AAU ball from the Logan High School. I do not know of even one HS player that has gone to play at another school or coach.

I dont beleive this is true, if a girl transfer who is playing AAU it is for further her career, but I know of a couple of girls in Scioto county that I havent transferred to play at better schools. And there has always been coaches, parents, and friends trying to get players to come to their schools, way before they had AAU in our area. Also, if you are smart player and parent you realize that transferring to a loaded school may not be in the best interst of the player, if you transfer are you guaranteed minutes? Can you accept the role that you may be given? It even happens in AAU, players move teams and realize the grass wasn't greener, so totally disagree with this comment. What has hurt high school sports is open enrollment, not AAU.

[bballermom]

Falconburger~ I understand what you're saying about not having the skill to play..

I guess the question is " When is the all practicing and travelling considered too much???

[Falconburger]

Falconburger~ I understand what you're saying about not having the skill to play..

I guess the question is " When is the all practicing and travelling considered too much???

There is nothing wrong with not wanting to travel or practice during the offseason, but as parents we must reinforce to our kids that if you want to be good at something? Music? School? Math? whatever you must work hard at and not wait for someone to come along and say lets even the playing field and make everybody good at it. When I was in high school, I went every where to play bball in the summer that I could. Traveled as far as Peebles for open gym, so I traveled to get better. Granted you don't force your kid to practice, but like I tell my player, dont' complain when someone is better than you at something, or your not selected to paricipate (this includes academics also). My player has the option not to travel if she wants, it will be alot easier on me if she doesnt' (lol). Thats the difference, I do it cause SHE wants to, not cause I want to, you know? But I also accept the decisions made by coaches in other sports where she doesnt work as hard.

The bottom line is I want my kid to be successful in whatever she wants to do, I will do whatever it takes to help her be successful in her decisions. But I will not accept her sitting and complaining about not be successful cause she doesnt work at it. The key word is WORK, later in life when she looks back at it she will be grateful for the work ethic she has developed, thru sports or whatever, I know that I was. So enough said, hope no feelings are hurt, everyone here has good opinions and what is also good is that no one resorted to name calling and argumentative comments..lol.. Merry xmas

[sprinter14]

Hey, I wasn't saying anyone was "wrong" for doing what they do. My point is just this:

A) Some communities have better programs in place than others

B) Some kids have better natural ability and/or work ethic than others

C) Some people will do anything (including transferring) to win

End Result - The stronger teams (programs) get the benefit of kids transferring while the weaker teams lose any kid who DID HAVE some natural ability.

Just ask Chillicothe about this

Those of you who say you have all these girls who play AAU and they never transfer, my guess is you have a good program in place.

The REAL PROBLEM for the lopsided games is the lack of schools having a good program in place from grades 4-6, then the above I stated just compounds as time goes on. Then you have high school games at 70-15.

[Falconburger]

Hey, I wasn't saying anyone was "wrong" for doing what they do. My point is just this:

A) Some communities have better programs in place than others

B) Some kids have better natural ability and/or work ethic than others

C) Some people will do anything (including transferring) to win

End Result - The stronger teams (programs) get the benefit of kids transferring while the weaker teams lose any kid who DID HAVE some natural ability.

Just ask Chillicothe about this

Those of you who say you have all these girls who play AAU and they never transfer, my guess is you have a good program in place.

The REAL PROBLEM for the lopsided games is the lack of schools having a good program in place from grades 4-6, then the above I stated just compounds as time goes on. Then you have high school games at 70-15.

U cannot be upset cause some communities have better programs at the youth level, that falls on the community, and yes some kids do have better ability and work ethic, but once again not a problem that can be fixed by no AAU. And to transfer is not easy, alot of things and bases to cover, but if you look back it has always happend, just not so obvious as now days. And in scioto county there are alot of girls who stay put to be with their friends and play on weaker teams, I see it..

[sprinter14]

Oh trust me, I'm not upset. The question was asked why some teams struggle so much against the press and get beat by 50 points. I just gave you all a good answer.

The only people I could possibly be upset with is our "program" for not being able to see where the problem is.

And before anyone suggests it, YES, I did volunteer and coached 5th and 6th grades for 2 seasons. After a while, you get tired of banging your head against the wall. If the program was run properly, I'd gladly coach again.

[Falconburger]

I understand your pain on that subject, all you can do is teach the kids you have the right way, and not worry how the other coaches run their practices..beating the press starts at the pee wee level, teaching kids to move the ball, be productive with the dribble and use teamwork, too many times one kids runs the whole team and others stand around..but I do understand where you are coming from.

[footballfanatic1]

SPRINTER 87 Have you every been involved with AAU. If not how can you say you hate AAU ball???? And not all AAU players change schools....