Most players are somewhere on the spectrum between boredom and overwhelm.

If they are too bored, they are barely motivated to practice because they are already skilled enough to be successful.

If they become too overwhelmed, they stop attempting even the skills they were good at in lower-level competition. Instead, they freeze up, hesitate, and generally play hot potato with the ball by deferring to teammates.

So, how can you tell if your player is ready for AAU basketball?

AAU is about A) winning tournaments and B) getting recruited to play college basketball.

Here are five questions I have come up with after talking to 200 parents in 5th-10th grade over the last 2 years:



1. is your player's skill level so high that they are an obvious asset to helping a team win right now?

AAU is focused on winning, and despite what you may be told, the most skilled players will play more, and if you're player ain't it, they are probably riding the bench. Coaches' focus is on triaging to get the best players functional enough to win games - so don't count on receiving any coaching to improve their skill.


2. Are they athletically advanced compared to their peers?

Even with a lack of skill, if they are either tall for their age, fast for their age, or exceedingly aggressive on defense and absolute hustle, they may be able to make it on a team and still have a good time playing even with a lack of skill.


3. Are they very experienced, or does their basketball IQ outweigh the lack of #1 and #2 above?

In other words, are they so good at handling the ball, making passes, setting up teammates, and creating opportunities for their team that even lacking size, athleticism, and skill, they are still an asset on the court?


4. Are they a junior in high school?

Coaches and recruiters may look, but they don't care what you can do until you do it against the best talent in 10th-11th grade. If your player isn’t there yet, they probably would be better off improving their skill set instead of playing more games.


5. Are they a college prospect?

What is missing that they would need to get there if they're not? Then start working on that!


If your player does not check at least one of these boxes, what are you achieving with your time?

What is the point of putting them on an AAU team, traveling all over God's green earth for tournaments, traveling back and forth to practice twice a week, and three months later, having nothing but maybe a t-shirt (they earned by riding the bench) to show for it?

Usually, I find 1 of 2 thought pathways have led you here:

1. Your player wants to play to have fun in the short term
Great! In that case, any AAU program will do. The lottery is that you may end up with a pro-level coach and have a fantastic experience or with a volunteer dad coaching on the program’s B or C-level teams. Maybe your player will play a good number of minutes based on merit, or maybe not.


2. You want your player to get better by playing against the best competition.
The problem here is the intensity level. One parent described it as “not 1 or 2 levels, but 6 levels higher intensity than the rec program,” your player may be overwhelmed and unable to perform even skills that they are very good at in practice.


There is a balance to be struck between boredom and overwhelm - your player may be bored at the rec level, AND overwhelmed at the AAU level.

In my experience, about 20% of players can make the jump and have a good time playing AAU, for the rest - they need a bridge to get them ready.

Start building a bridge here:
https://confidenceindex.scoreapp.com

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