<p>My D will be an incoming HS freshman in a few weeks. Though not 100 percent sure, but it's looking like she will make the varsity basketball team (point guard). She plays year round (AAU, summer/fall leagues, clinics, etc.). She's also a good student (96 GPA; honors/AP classes). My question is, what should we/she be doing right now? She wants to play college ball. Should we tape her games? Any feedback would be most welcome.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I think as a freshman, she can start unofficially visiting various schools just to get a feel as to what she might/might not like. There are so many schools to see, and it can be quite time-consuming. With both my daughter (DI gymnast) and my son (aspiring DI soccer player), we started visiting campuses as early as 7/8 grade…we didn’t plan special trips for this, but whenver we traveled for their sport, we checked out schools in the area. Other than that, I think it is kind of early to do game tape (I know basketball is insanely early, but I don’t think a coach really wants a tape of freshman high school games).</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback.</p>
<p>She’ll get a taste of a Big 10 school in a month. Her older sister will be a freshman at The Ohio State University. </p>
<p>Though a freshman, she’ll most likely be playing at the varsity level. A coach wouldn’t want want to see that?</p>
<p>From experience the coaches really put little emphasis on high school games. They are more interested in Club team film as the opposing players are stronger. They know there is so much growth between freshman and junior year that they don’t really have time to deal with the younger group. Of course they “hear” about phenoms but for the most part they are dealing with older players.</p>
<p>I don’t know about basketball, but in soccer, coaches don’t care much about high school. Club is more important. My son played three varsity sports as a freshman and, while it looks nice on his resume, we know that the schools he is interested in don’t care so much about that. Again, I don’t know the strength of your school’s conference and I don’t know as much about basketball.</p>
<p>The best thing to do is take her to DI womens games and try to sit as close to the floor as possible. This will give her an idea of the athleticism and intensity of the game at that level which may be motivating for her. Another thing is to seek out basketball coaches who have either coached at the college level or coached girls in high school who were scholarship players. Ask them what your daughter needs to do to play at that level. If she isn’t already get her on a weightlifting program devised by someone familiar with training females of her age.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>csdad: For the past year she’s been working out weekly with someone whose coached and trained high school boys who have be recruited to top schools. Her current coach also coaches for a recognized AAU organization whose players have been recruited to good college programs. He has just started her on a weightlifting program.</p>
<p>It seems that she’s doing what she should be at this point.</p>
<p>Yes I think the moral of the story is to focus on being as good as she can (or wants to be) and everything else will take care of itself.</p>
<p>She’s taking AP classes as a freshman?</p>
<p>If she wants to be a better player, then have her playing w/ guys as much as possible. Street ball, pick up games, boys team practices.</p>
<p>If she’s playing AAU and she’s good, coaches already know about her. Schools start tracking athletes as early as 7th grade.</p>
<p>Wiggle: Yes. She will be taking one AP class freshman year. The rest are all honors.</p>
<p>DukeAlumnus2003: Once a week she attends a fabulous clinic. Boys mostly attend. Actually, this past clinic she was the only girl. It was great because the boys really push her. She prefers to play with the boys. They really up her game. </p>
<p>This past AAU season men (who we assume were coaches of other AAU teams) approached her after her games and complimented her. Some asked her where she was from.</p>
<p>Keep records of her stats, save any local publicity she receives, encourage her to become a leader on the team with hopes of being named a captain. Become familiar with the NCAA recruiting rules and deadlines. Send out publicity pieces and pictures to coaches to get on their radar screens.</p>
<p>Check out this Wall Street Journal article for more tips:<br>
The Do-It-Yourself Athletic Scholarship </p>
<p>[The</a> Do-It-Yourself Athletic Scholarship - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB122955741002616195-lMyQjAxMDI5MjI5MzUyNTM3Wj.html]The”>http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB122955741002616195-lMyQjAxMDI5MjI5MzUyNTM3Wj.html)</p>