IT’S SAD… AND NO JOKE!
It’s sad, no let me take that back. It’s not a joke what is going on with the development of kids these days. I watched an entire season of high school basketball and all I can ask is what in the world is going no? I am shocked by the lack of skills by players this past season. It was shoching to see at times. And if you really want to know why I am going to explain why.
Now these days the fashionable thing is to blame AAU for every problem with basketball. But the one thing that AAU is not responsible for is developing the skills of a player. It you want to say AAU doesn’t hold kids accountable or make them play the game the right way. I agree. But AAU is not reason kids lack skill sets. That is on the kids, there trainers, parents and to a lesser degree there high school coaches who have them for 3 months, 7 days a week. This past season was the worst example of skills I have seen in all my years
These days the high school coaches only have two weeks to get a team ready for their first game in New Jersey. The season is compacted into less than 3 months. It’s hard to spend time on skills and drills. So kids need to work on skills often on their own or with a trainer in the off season. AAU teams claim to develop kids but we all know 2-3 days of week of practice is not enough to develop a recipe for success or build real habits. A kid must have a game plan and develop many skill sets outside of the high school AND AAU SEASON. The problem is few are doing it.
I have seen bad shooting in the past. I have seen inconsistent shooting over the years. But this past season, I can honestly say was the worst shooting I have seen period. I have never seen so many kids who I thought can shoot the ball go backwards in so many cases. I watched more turnovers by kids in all my years watching games. I saw more players out of control. Do you know why? Because kids do not watch film, there trainers teach one hand passes and going off one foot(I personally have seen it). They do more different shooting drills than anyone can kept up with. The kids don’t go to camp in the summer and nobody gives them the hard facts… the numbers. You see the numbers don’t lie.
I watched kids this year have as many as 10 turnovers in a game.. fact! I watched kids shoot multiple threes game after game, when I personally have charted them where there shooting under 17%… fact! But guess what? They keep shooting and nobody says a word. I watched kids talented players totally out control, game in and game out during the season. Why because this is what they are being taught. Yes I said being taught, why? Because many of their trainers are young and inexperienced . They don’t watch tape with there kids and rarely set up long term goals. But it’s great because kids love to go fast and have creativity. They never see the bad habits becoming part of their basketball DNA. That is until they’re one of the 900 kids in the portal.
We now have kids totally lacking in skill sets these days. They don’t know how to jump stop because there trainers and parents think it’s not important. They never work on sliding and defensive footwork because their trainers and the kids think it’s boring. But give them a few cones and cutting edge drills and they’re in heaven. Ask them to spend 30 mins on there left hand or passing day in and day out and there off to a new trainer. Ask them to work on their shooting mechanics and to go backwards to go forward and there out the door. Tell a 5th and 6th grader no threes until you prove you can shoot properly and the parents say you are holding there kids back.
There is a problem going on. But as less and less kids get scholarships offers. Folks will begin to wake up. Soon kids and parents are going to realize coaches want kids who have real skill sets and proper work ethics. Soon kids are going to realize the bar has been raised. The days of kids having weak skills set and being in bad training environments are going to be over.
JUST WATCH …
NEXT WEEK
