Please Help Me Navigate This

Athletic Recruits
1

<p>Hi Folks-</p>

<p>Background: My son is a sophomore at a college-prep catholic school. He has a 4.0 unweighted GPA, taking the most challenging classes offered, and hopefully will continue to do well academically, as he is a hard worker. His passion is basketball, he is a point guard, and he has gotten pretty good at it. He practices every day, plays as much pickup as he can with high school and college players in the area. He played some varsity for summer league, and may play a little this year. He is stuck with JV this year because the other really good point guard is a junior, and two others not quite at his level are seniors, and there are no freshman or sophomores who play point guard. Last year he had to play every minute of every freshman and JV game. His coach has told him he will try to have him play 4/1 or 3/2 for JV/Varsity games. He is very good, but is not that Freshman phenom who is starring on the varsity. He hasn't played much AAU, as it seems really difficult to get on a team. We live in a town about 2 hours from the nearest city. There are a few AAU teams here, but they all seem to be run by dads who have point guard sons. It seems pretty cliquey. Traveling regularly to the faraway city would be difficult for me, but may be an option next year if we can find something. He does attend quite a few bb camps, and was told by 2 coaches at Snow Valley this summer that he has the potential to play in college.</p>

<p>So, my son is a great student, loves basketball, and seems to be fairly good at it. I know nothing about the sport, and am in no way a well-informed parent of an athlete; I am kind of surprised he is so athletic, must be a recessive gene. I don't know if he will be good enough to compete at the D3 level, but that is his hope. Being only a sophomore, he doesn't know where he wants to go to school, but is really not that interested in the Northeast, or anywhere with a cold climate. Being only 15, he might change his mind. I see him going to a school like Pomona, Claremont McKenna, Whitman, or Occidental, as academics is most important. </p>

<p>My question is, what do we need to keep in mind for the upcoming years if he wants to play basketball at schools like this? What year should he contact the coach? Should we begin making a video junior year? Does he really need to get on an AAU team to make this happen? How do you get on an AAU team, if this is needed? Do you have to apply ED if you want to play at a school? Financial aid will be very important to us. How are the Elite Academic Showcases? I have seen they have them in the East, but not out here in the West? Can you walk on at a D3 school? Who to ask next year to honestly rate his skills?</p>

<p>Sorry for the long post. Any input on how to navigate all of this would be so greatly appreciated. Its an area I have tried to study here on CC, but can't get a handle on.</p>

2

<p>wrldtravelr,</p>

<p>I know nothing about basketball, hopefully someone who does will come along. But if I were in your shoes, I would go ahead and contact the coaches of the schools he is interested in and ask them. From what little I <em>do</em> know of basketball, I believe that D1 schools generally give a free ride. I could be way off with this, but that would make me think that the most competitive bball players would go to the schools where they wouldn’t have to pay, leaving D3 more open for walk-ons. </p>

<p>That said, I know that in other sports, D3 can often get very competitive as well. The coaches will be your best resource. As I am sure you know, D3 schools can’t give athletic scholarships anyway. So if your son’s grades are so good and his courseload is so challenging, he should be able to get some merit aid based on that. So I would think all you really want to know from the coaches is: do you take walk-ons, and how good does he have to be?</p>

<p>But again - I could be wrong, just wanted to try to give you an answer! Good luck :slight_smile: My son is at one of those Catholic prep schools too. Athletics are brutal. He’s not on a team, but he tried out for tennis last year. He’s average as a player and got a late start. He’ll probably try out for the next three years, too, and who knows if he even has a chance. Similarly in all the other sports, the kids have to be super good to even make JV. So a lot of coaches probably understand that, coming from schools like these. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>What you need is plan. To make your plan, you first need answer the following questions.</p>

<p>Where does your son stand now?</p>

<p>There are three things that determine a player’s ability to play at the next level – physical profile and abilities; intelligence (actual and basketball I.Q.); training, skill development and basketball ability; and, last, but highly important, a combination of a school and travel team environment where one can develop, be exposed, and sponsored into the college recruiting process. </p>

<p>Where does your son stand physically – height, weight, speed, agility? Does he have the physical profile to play collegiately?
From your description, he is bright. If he is having success at the PG position, he is working on his basketball IQ.</p>

<p>What is his skill level?</p>

<p>You need to get him assessed by someone knowledgeable who is not a current school coach. The coach probably wants the best for him, but also has other considerations relating to maximizing his team’s success and managing the other kids on the team that your kid is competing with.</p>

<p>It sounds like you are in Southern California. Search out an individual that played at the collegiate level and coaches or trains athletes that are successful in getting recruited collegiately. Don’t use the first person you find. Many folks that do this have financial interest in training your son and this can cloud the assessment they give you. Search out a half dozen options, speak with them, measure the success of the athlete’s they have coached, get references and call them. Make sure the common thread is concern for the athlete.</p>

<p>Are you in the right school?</p>

<p>Basketball in high school is played at many levels. At each level, most coaches are good and dedicated men trying to help the kids develop into fine adults. As to developing their high school athletes into adults, they fall into a couple of categories:</p>

<ul>
<li> Not interested in developing college athletes – not their interest or goal.</li>
<li> Will help a high potential athlete pursue college opportunities, but not a primary focus and effectiveness is/can be limited</li>
<li> Periodically develops D1/2/3 athletes and has had some success in getting them placed.</li>
<li> Regularly develops D1/2/3 athletes and places them at name programs; this is a focus of their program</li>
</ul>

<p>What level program is your current school? Unless your school is one of the last two, it is unlikely your son will develop and play collegiately. Not impossible, but unlikely.</p>

<p>Should you play AAU/Travel Team ball?</p>

<p>You don’t have to. On the other hand, 99.5% of recruited athletes participate in AAU/Travel Team ball to gain access to better competition, improve their skills, get exposure to colleges that are recruiting, and gain the assistance of the AAU in the recruiting process. In other words, yes.</p>

<p>Once you have an assessment, before you make your plan, you and your son have to decide how important this basketball goal is.</p>

<p>Can you achieve your goal in your current school? </p>

<p>Are you willing to play AAU and keep searching to find the best platform? Yes, you’re right. An abnormally high percentage of AAU coaches have point guard sons. Search out a situation where this in not the case or get him started on one of these teams while you search out a better team.</p>

<p>At the heart of this is the question, “Is your interest in developing an extracurricular pursuit to its highest level in your current school/life structure?” or “Do you have both the physical attributes, ability, and passion to make your sport a major focus of your life?”</p>

<p>Size and athletic ability is usually a major determinant in whether a kid plays D1/2/3. A constant, regardless of the level you play, is the passion and willingness on the part of the kid and their family to invest in and sacrifice for their passion.</p>

<p>PM me and I’ll be happy answer more of your questions. On one hand, its late as he’s a sophomore. On the other hand, it’s the Fall of his sophomore year. He is where he is for this year. He can begin to get training assistance and he won’t do anything about AAU until February… I wouldn’t worry about the recruiting concerns you have until you get your assessment, decide on your goals, and are ready to make your plan.</p>

4

<p>List your child’s profile on BeRecruited.com We found it to be excellent and had dozens of coaches calling our daughter. You can check every day to see what coaches are looking at your child’s information and you can send information directly to coaches with letters on their database! The site is free and we found it gave her exposure that she never would have gotten by contacting coaches on her own. The site if free and most sports are listed You can post videos, photos, scores, etc. They also have a blog which had some interesting discussions between the kids and coaches. I have no affiliation whatsoever with BeRecruited…just wanted to let parents know what tools are out there!</p>

5

<p>Thanks so much for taking the time to reply to my question. I got some wonderful information from the replies.</p>

6

<p>Great advice from bballdad ^^. One key question he asked–“How tall is your son?” </p>

<p>Is he still growing?</p>

7

<p>I think he just started growing! (At least he hopes!!) He is almost 5’9", and just turned 15. He still has that ‘kid’ look, and isn’t shaving at all yet, unlike some in his class, who already look like fully developed men. He is hoping to reach 6’0’', so we will see.</p>

8

<p>wrldtravlr,</p>

<p>My two cents…Bballdad is exactly right. You need a plan. In addition to the excellent advice and questions to ask yourself/son, in my opinion you also need to identify a GOAL. You stated that you think he wants to play D3 basketball. Let’s make that assumption, and take it a bit farther for the sake of conversation. I’m thinking a little bit beyond that…your son’s example GOAL could be : </p>

<p>“I want to leverage my basketball skills to get the best possible education studying pre-law”.</p>

<p>This “GOAL-storming” session will open up the conversation between son/parent to really get a feel for where he thinks he may want to take his life. Recruited athletes learn very quickly that they need to take ownership of their situation. This is part of that process, and your son will quickly realize he has to be a part of this. There are various tools out there to help you determine D3 law schools in your region (collegeboard.com). If you decide in Liberal Arts or more general studies, have that reflected in your son’s goal statement.</p>

<p>I would then implement the plan that Bballdad suggests once you’ve settled on a GOAL. But you have to identify a goal, otherwise you will spend needless cycles researching the wrong things. I also have a sophomore in HS. We will be having a similiar conversation soon as he is starting to casually look at colleges. We had similiar conversations with my oldest who is a college freshman playing baseball. </p>

<p>So, set your GOALS, and then develop a plan as suggested by Bballdad would be my advice. Good luck and keep the questions coming if you have some.</p>