There is nothing like a good rant and today I’m going to rant a bit. You MAY think my rant is about nothing or you may disagree. That’s all good, but a rant is about making yourself feel good and getting something off your chest. So I’m going to rant today about the NCAA, AAU coaches and Camps.
This past weekend the NCAA allowed college coaches out for 3 days. In the words of Derrick Coleman “woopie damm doda day”. So the organization that claims to care so much about kids gives kids 3 days of exposure all spring. But what really makes me nuts about these 3 days is this. A kid who plays great Sunday after getting a few days under their belt is in most cases is a wasted performance. Because most college coaches have moved on to other events by that time. The most common thing you hear in April is.. I played well but no coaches were watching at that point. The 3 day period all you get is coaches trying to watch as many games as possible and not getting a full evaluation of kids. This is why for example a Jess Louro who would’ve have been a ALL CONFERNCE PLAYER in the MACC, NEC, PATRIOT AND IVY LEAGUE for example gets missed and ends up in the south at a BCS school. Now what would be the problem to allow coaches out in the spring for 30 days for example? What is the downside of coaches getting to really get to know a kid and vice versa? There is no downside. But what we do get is a lot of stressed out kids being pressured to play well in a small window. College coaches should be allowed out as often as they want in the spring. The NCAA says kids will miss school and not study as much…really! So games are the only place to see kids? So coaches only want to see kids in horrible meaningless games and not practice? They don’t want to see how a kid works in the gym or accepts coaching? Folks I can name ten kids off the top of my head right now if coaches knew they work ethic would run for the hills. I also can name ten kids who if coaches understood how hard they work ..would be all over them. The NCAA says AAU coaches are the worst people on planet earth and this is a way to strip some of their control over kids…this is a bigger JOKE…with less recruiting days, there is less chance for a kid to be seen. The players need the AAU teams in order to get the exposure. The bottom line is that 3 days in April does not exactly give a kid who has worked hard much margin for error in performance… because if you happen not to play well the one day the coaches are watching…you out of luck!
Now let me get to AAU coaches, first let me say this, not all AAU coaches are control freaks. There are plenty of coaches who do it the right way, but the problem is there are also some that don’t. Here are a few things parents and kids told me in the past 2 weeks alone. A parent was asked if her daughter wanted to guess with a team because his daughter was not playing that weekend. Her AAU coach told she could not, why? Who the hell knows, it just about control. Her AAU team wasn’t practicing or playing, but why should that matter. So the parent and the kid sat in the stands watching games all weekend…CRAZINESS!
I had a player tell me her AAU coach told her if she attends a college elite camp and misses practice or a game in May or June. She would lose time, her starting spot or worst be benched. Now why would a coach try to stop a kid from getting as much exposure as possible to help her get a scholarship? Because many AAU coaches are not experienced when it comes to recruiting. Many love to coach but yet don’t understand its about exposure and nobody really cares if you win the AAU national title in high school….by the way sweetie FIND A NEW AAU TEAM.
I had a parent tell me YESTERDAY a school was interested in her daughter, I asked her, WHO told her that? She said her daughter’s AAU coach, I told her that it was a lie, I have a personally relationship with the staff and they have never brought her daughters name up once. Why would a AAU coach tell her daughter this? Because he wants her to think he has connections to college coaches.
I tell kids get out of your comfort zone, come to NBS or Core Skills for example. What is there answer? My AAU coach trains me or we have practice every night. Think this could be the reason some very talented kids don’t develop. In Europe coaches must attend a certain amount of clinics to coach at any grade level. Now how many clinics do you think most AAU coaches attend a year. Newflash just because somebody played or watched a few games doesn’t make them qualified to make important decisions on where your son or daughter should train.
Finally I thought I had heard it all until a Parent told me an AAU coach was taking a mid level AAU team to Kentucky this July. I asked why in the world would the coach do this? The answer, NOBODY KNOWS…Folks you can’t make this stuff up and until parents start standing up for their kids it won’t stop.
I want to talk about camps. Remember when kids went to camp? Remember when high school players went to camp? Well why don’t they go to camp anymore? It’s simple because everyone is afraid the college coaches won’t be watching on the girls side. The boys still go to camp, but why don’t the girls? Because getting better is no longer a good enough reason to go to camp. You see kids use to go to camp to learn skills sets, meet friends from different parts of the country. Kids got a chance to learn what its like to get away from home and be on there own a little bit. Camps were big years ago, but not anymore because now its about one think and one thing only ..college COACHES. Last year at camp Tori Hyduke and Christina Antonakakis stayed the entire day of camp, then would stay after camp to shoot. What did most of the other 9th graders and 10th graders do…go home at lunch time. Now why did they do that? They were saving there legs…LMAO off I thought to myself wouldn’t college coaches love to hear those words out of a kids mouth. This why I tell every college coach that these two are going to be mega stars in college, because they GET IT….this culture of kids feeling they can only play when a college coach is in the stands is a real problem for many kids….”I don’t want to be tired” Gee WIZ
I do have another rant and that’s about the summer. The NCAA thinks it great for kids to play totally exhausted all summer. Giving the players and coaches 3o days like in the good ole days makes to much sense. Letting kids and coaches know they don’t have to be at every event would kill the game for sure. Having rested coaches and kids is horrible. Letting kids pick and choose what is the best place to play is a bad Idea, having them run from event to event in 12 days is brilliant. How can a kid be fresh in July? What skip event and take days off, when the recruiting period is basically 3 weekends? A kid would be nuts to skip anything…..but hey the NCAA is all about helping kids…..A JOKE
HOPE TO SEE EVERYONE AT NBS TONIGHT..THAT IS IF YOUR NOT SAVING YOUR LEGS
