forums

OT - AAU Basketball

GojiraCane

GojiraCane

All ACC
Joined
Dec 31, 2018
Messages
7,690
I'm curious if any of you have kids who play AAU ball, and if so if you've encountered this. I've seen this happen now (confirmed) twice now.

2015 - My older son is playing on 16U team in a tournament in Central Texas. Their opponents in the semifinals are a team that had their victory nullified after winning their first round game when it was discovered that they had a 19 year old and a 21 year old on their team. The tournament inexplicably did not disqualify this team after we found out that there were adults competing; they just did not allow the adults to play

Last weekend - My younger son is playing in a 14U tournament and goes up against a team with a couple of enormous individuals. These guys looked like full grown men, or at the very least a varsity high school team. Not kids entering high school. My son's got a very athletic team, but they were ultimately overwhelmed and lost by 25. As it turns out, we found out a day after the tournament ended that this team was actually made up of 10th and 11th graders from people who recognized them

I usually am suspicious when I see 8th graders with full beards playing, but I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. My own younger son played with a kid who was 6 feet tall in 12U ball, and was legitimately 12 years old (it was like having Shaq on our team). That said, when you actually have kids who are far older playing down, or even adults playing down...my question is this...

Why? What is the point? Is it an ego boost to beat up on younger kids? Or is it to drive up the profile of the AAU team that's using older athletes to win sponsorships? (although in the case of last weekend, the team is already sponsored).
 
Advertisement
GojiraCane said:
I'm curious if any of you have kids who play AAU ball, and if so if you've encountered this. I've seen this happen now (confirmed) twice now.

2015 - My older son is playing on 16U team in a tournament in Central Texas. Their opponents in the semifinals are a team that had their victory nullified after winning their first round game when it was discovered that they had a 19 year old and a 21 year old on their team. The tournament inexplicably did not disqualify this team after we found out that there were adults competing; they just did not allow the adults to play

Last weekend - My younger son is playing in a 14U tournament and goes up against a team with a couple of enormous individuals. These guys looked like full grown men, or at the very least a varsity high school team. Not kids entering high school. My son's got a very athletic team, but they were ultimately overwhelmed and lost by 25. As it turns out, we found out a day after the tournament ended that this team was actually made up of 10th and 11th graders from people who recognized them

I usually am suspicious when I see 8th graders with full beards playing, but I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. My own younger son played with a kid who was 6 feet tall in 12U ball, and was legitimately 12 years old (it was like having Shaq on our team). That said, when you actually have kids who are far older playing down, or even adults playing down...my question is this...

Why? What is the point? Is it an ego boost to beat up on younger kids? Or is it to drive up the profile of the AAU team that's using older athletes to win sponsorships? (although in the case of last weekend, the team is already sponsored).
Click to expand...
https://www.supersummary.com/play-their-hearts-out/summary/
 
gogeta4 said:
BALL DONT LIE
Click to expand...
But "coaches" do. LOL

My son played. The bigger tournaments are better policed, but the smaller ones any thing goes. Everyone knows this. It's part of the program. And my son played "down" a couple of times and it's a simple matter of trying to get the players in as many tourneys as possible. And I suppose a way for the coach to get a little more money. Just roll with it.
 
Advertisement
miamicanephins said:
But "coaches" do. LOL

My son played. The bigger tournaments are better policed, but the smaller ones any thing goes. Everyone knows this. It's part of the program. And my son played "down" a couple of times and it's a simple matter of trying to get the players in as many tourneys as possible. And I suppose a way for the coach to get a little more money. Just roll with it.
Click to expand...
We are - just frustrating.

It would have been hilarious if we'd actually been able to beat them. I could imagine their "coach" on the side of the court after the game, screaming at them, "You all lost to a bunch of eighth graders!". And then a parent with an Iphone asks, "But coach, what are you complaining about? This is an eighth grade tournament." Queue up ashamed look, nervous stare, and utter silence.
 
GojiraCane said:
We are - just frustrating.

It would have been hilarious if we'd actually been able to beat them. I could imagine their "coach" on the side of the court after the game, screaming at them, "You all lost to a bunch of eighth graders!". And then a parent with an Iphone asks, "But coach, what are you complaining about? This is an eighth grade tournament." Queue up ashamed look, nervous stare, and utter silence.
Click to expand...
We've played in a tourney once where the team that won on Sunday and had the trophy snatched from them because an opposing coach brought in the birth cert. and report card of a kid that shouldn't have been playing. Parents were ready to fight, especially the moms,lol.
 
miamicanephins said:
We've played in a tourney once where the team that won on Sunday and had the trophy snatched from them because an opposing coach brought in the birth cert. and report card of a kid that shouldn't have been playing. Parents were ready to fight, especially the moms,lol.
Click to expand...
In 2015 in a tournament in Arlington there was a 17U coach that took a chair and threw it at a parent!
 
Advertisement
Other notables:

- I've seen one of our parents doing the scorecard almost get into a fight with an opposing assistant coach who was running the scoreboard. It turns out, the coach was constantly ripping one of our kids for his play. The parent was the father of that kid
- When we had our 6' 12 year old playing with us, one time we had an opposing coach try to quit in the middle of a game! He gathered his players and walked off the court, saying that our player was throwing his elbows
 
When i was 14 i was playing against grown men at parks in south florida and at broward college.

I wasnt even a hgh school basketball player...was a football player that just like to hoop and had friends that were div 1 level basketball players.

These kids are getting softer and softer on the court lol. 14 u getting routed against 10th and 11th graders?. .....BALL DONT LIE
 
gogeta4 said:
When i was 14 i was playing against grown men at parks in south florida and at broward college.

I wasnt even a hgh school basketball player...was a football player that just like to hoop and had friends that were div 1 level basketball players.

These kids are getting softer and softer on the court lol. 14 u getting routed against 10th and 11th graders?. .....BALL DONT LIE
Click to expand...
LOL...our core was just as fast as them and we kept in the game into the second half. They just had a much deeper bench and in one case, a 6'5" player who was about 280. Wore our guys out.

That said, I don't think it's unreasonable to keep a hybrid 17U/16U team from playing in a 14U tournament. And what I didn't mention is the same team also played in the 7th grade tournament as well. Ridiculous.

It's one thing to be playing against older players at a rec center or park. Both of my sons have done so. I think it's another for a team that is comprised of kids 2 or 4 years older to be playing as a group in a competitive tournament. It's like my son's team playing in a fourth grade tournament. At some point....BALL DOES LIE.
 
Last edited:
yea i dont get what the **** that team was tryng to do though. Guess ego pull for coaches and players.
 
Advertisement
Some kids are late growers. I sat on my team the entire year at 14 but grew 14 inches and gained 85 lbs in 2 years to be all state my senior year. The other kids, nah. It's hard to pick out ballers at 13-14. I can't imagine picking on younger kids as an ego lift. But playing against older kids definitely makes you better.
 
Clwtrdan said:
Some kids are late growers. I sat on my team the entire year at 14 but grew 14 inches and gained 85 lbs in 2 years to be all state my senior year. The other kids, nah. It's hard to pick out ballers at 13-14. I can't imagine picking on younger kids as an ego lift. But playing against older kids definitely makes you better.
Click to expand...

Yup.

Watching The Last Dance documentary, I was surprised to see Pippen & Rodman experience growth spurts in College, most kids go through growth spurts in HS.

Like I always said, sports at highest levels are for late bloomers.
 
Advertisement
GojiraCane said:
I'm curious if any of you have kids who play AAU ball, and if so if you've encountered this. I've seen this happen now (confirmed) twice now.

2015 - My older son is playing on 16U team in a tournament in Central Texas. Their opponents in the semifinals are a team that had their victory nullified after winning their first round game when it was discovered that they had a 19 year old and a 21 year old on their team. The tournament inexplicably did not disqualify this team after we found out that there were adults competing; they just did not allow the adults to play

Last weekend - My younger son is playing in a 14U tournament and goes up against a team with a couple of enormous individuals. These guys looked like full grown men, or at the very least a varsity high school team. Not kids entering high school. My son's got a very athletic team, but they were ultimately overwhelmed and lost by 25. As it turns out, we found out a day after the tournament ended that this team was actually made up of 10th and 11th graders from people who recognized them

I usually am suspicious when I see 8th graders with full beards playing, but I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. My own younger son played with a kid who was 6 feet tall in 12U ball, and was legitimately 12 years old (it was like having Shaq on our team). That said, when you actually have kids who are far older playing down, or even adults playing down...my question is this...

Why? What is the point? Is it an ego boost to beat up on younger kids? Or is it to drive up the profile of the AAU team that's using older athletes to win sponsorships? (although in the case of last weekend, the team is already sponsored).
Click to expand...
Same thing experienced in the higher levels of youth soccer. Many times in soccer, it's been with players born in other countries that have been adopted by US families. The paperwork is shady from the birth countries. You'll see these kids dominate until about U16. Then they become average usually. Problem for most of them is they overpower the other kids when they're younger, but they don't learn the technical side of the game very well. Great documentary about this called Soccer's Lost Boys or something like that. Been a while.
I've only come across two teams that have flat out cheated. They do this by manipulating the Player Cards. It's a **** shame for the kids in the long run.
 
Certain tournaments do not have very effective directors that ensure players are within the age group or grade level.

Beginning in 9th grade, we started playing only the GASO circuit or traveled out of state for Adidas tourneys. They both did a great job of making sure kids were legit.
 
SA Cane said:
Certain tournaments do not have very effective directors that ensure players are within the age group or grade level.

Beginning in 9th grade, we started playing only the GASO circuit or traveled out of state for Adidas tourneys. They both did a great job of making sure kids were legit.
Click to expand...
This.

AAU is close to extinction with all of these elite leagues popping up. AAU, USSSA, and YBOA were the real deal before all of these leagues with heavy sponsorship money came into play
 
Advertisement
Back
Top