EVERYONE TALKS A GOOD GAME UNTIL IT’S DELIVERY TIME!

If there is anything I discovered over the years, it’s this! Everyone talks about good game but when it comes to doing the right thing and delivering for kids. most come up short. That includes players and coaches and it looks the same every year. Just the names and the faces change. But the heart break stays the same. The same mistakes are made over and over. In 95% of the cases it’s do to selfish behavior and control by others. But parents must take some responsibility for their child not making the right moves as well. In the end, the truth is few deliver for kids, when it comes to their hopes and dreams. Settling and saving face rules the day.

A talented player may be attending a high school, one with few college level players. That player may even be a possible D1 player. But their high school coach monopolies that players time in the off season. That coach understands that that player is different than the other players on their team. But yet organizes practices and get togethers in the spring and demands that talented player join their group of teammates that don’t work hard or who are committed. That coach doesn’t require that talented player teammates elevate their work ethic or commitment. They ask that talented player to lower their standards. It’s an old story and in most cases that talented player scores lots of points and is a star at that school. But never reaches their potential or fulfills their dreams and hopes. It’s a simple case of try as you may but.. “YOU WILL NEVER OUT PERFORM YOUR INNER CIRCLE” . In most cases it means settling on a college experience. It’s. means hopefully getting a great education and attending a top school while playing college basketball somewhere one day. Maybe not where they wanted but somewhere. The player and parents get to spin it and pretend it’s what they hoped for long ago when that player first touched a ball for the first time. But truth is, it’s all so sad because it never had to end this way. If the coach had the same concern for his talented player as he did for his kids who lacked the drive and commitment to go that extra yard. The story could have ended so much better for everyone. Instead a new story of what could have been becomes folklore like so many before them.

There is no larger graveyard where hopes and dreams reside than AAU. It’s a place where so much is promised or insinuated. It’s a place where only a few get to to shine and others are props for those who shine. AAU is a place where delivering for kids means bragging about star players, where daddy ball is king. Where bragging about kids who have offers on social media is mandatory and manipulation. Where training in the right environment becomes a game of cat and mouse, not encouraged. It’s about those kids who are crowned long before the games start. AAU Is where kids and parents brag about playing for a certain organization or shoe teams. This makes them feel important or better than others. It’s all part of a sad story that plays itself out EVERY YEAR. That’s because AAU doesn’t warn you. that when their coaches start talking about how a college has a great education, offers a great experience, has a beautiful campus, have amazing alumni or great people. That the schools community service at a college builds character. When they start saying D1 is “not the only thing”. When they start talking about the stuff they never discussed when you were considering joining the organization. you know… THAT YOUR DREAMS ARE DYING AND THEY WON’T BE DELIVERING. You see when kids and AAU coaches start talking about everything except that scholarship or level of basketball program they dreamed of playing at one day. You know the dream has ended. You’re part of those 7-10 kids on most 99% (real number) AAU team’s whose dreams and hopes have gone up in smoke. Thats because AAU is about perception not reality.

AAU is about making kids believe they deliver on their promises for kids. There truth is AAU delivers for stars not everyone. Stars get the tweets, the love, the free gear and shoes, they don’t pay to play and most get most of the attention.Why? Because there is always the next group of kids to steal from another organization or family to impress. It’s about making everyone believe their kid is the next star. It’s a competition. The fastest way to a kids or their parent’s heart is telling them “YOUR KID WILL BE THE FACE OF THE ORGANIZATION”. These are the sweetest words a parents have ever heard. You see most parents in AAU know the consequences of such words but don’t believe it’s their kid that will be on the outside, looking in. They don’t understand that AAU will not save them them. Why you ask? Because they know no other way to help make their child’s dreams come true.so they must believe AAU is the answer. Not getting in the gym and making sacrifices. Standing up to coaches and those not thinking about their child’s long term future and dreams. So their child’s dreams suffer a slow death over 5-6 years as those AAU folks who promised to deliver, move on to the next family and blame the bad news on the kids lack of talent, their parents and that kid’s lack of development for that kids dreams dying. They forget the promises made or insinuated before that player ever joined the organization. The promises the parents knew where not truth but convinced themselves, they were long ago. The EGO is a dangerous thing!

This time of year is about control. Not what’s right for a kid. This time of year is about not giving kids freedom out of fear they may find a better road. That they may find truth in someone else’s loving arms. This time of year it’s about ego and fighting not about what is best for a kid. This time of year is about whats cool and what’s free!! It’s’s about the “LIES”, that parents want to believe and kids bathe in. This is when so much is said and how so little is done. This time of year everyone talks about PLAYER DEVELOPMENT and so few understand it or know how to implement a program. This is when all the old stories repeat themselves, year after year as parents watch it take place and then blame others. It can’t be their fault, despite that they knew what was best and yet still took the easy road, the sure thing, the short cut. They decided politics was more important than trust. Then when that kid is a rising junior or senior the reality hits, the truth comes knocking and everyone wants answers… well the answers were there long before… YOU JUST DIDN’T WANT TO LISTEN OR SEE THEM!

NOT EVERYONE DELIVERS IN THE END… you knew this long ago and continued your path… NOW YOU HAVE THEM TO SHOW UP THE WAY!

WEEKLY TRAINING STARTS THIS WEEK