Category: News

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Major changes with AAU Basketball

The AAU & its major tournaments have been under high scrutiny recently. The current FBI investigation into shoe company kickbacks to college coaches means big changes may be coming. Changes which will change the AAU landscape for a long time. Hopefully for the better.

“[The NABC ad hoc committee] is going to recommend four regional camps, potentially one in June and one in July, involving somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 kids,” Goodman

Jeff Goodman posted his thoughts on the CelticsBlog.com – check it out.

“The big thing here, according to sources, that’s likely to happen is that AAU basketball is no more,” said Goodman. “That coaches wouldn’t be able to go out in July to these shoe-sponsored events anymore.”

 

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How to navigate the confusing world of athletic scholarships

I’ve appreciated being subscribed to the NCSA website. They have regular insightful articles. Today’s email from them talked about navigating the confusing world of athletic scholarships. With the cost of college and the prestige of the “full-ride”, more than ever, parents are asking questions.

Bottom line, fewer than 2% of high school student athletes will be offered athletic scholarships. In NCAA Division 1 and 2 that is $3.1 billion annually!

Check out the road map at http://www.ncsasports.org/recruiting/how-to-get-recruited/scholarship-facts

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Making Failure Your Fuel to Succeed

The comments from Abby Wambach in the commencement at Barnard College in New York City are a great reminder. She refers to the “gift of failure” and it is the right reminder about how to react to losses. It applies to losing a game or failing to meet your goals. You can learn more from your game film in a losing game than a winning game. Don’t hide your failure. Learn from it or you end up wasting it. 

“Here’s something the best athletes understand, but seems like a harder concept for non-athletes to grasp. Non-athletes don’t know what to do with the gift of failure. So they hide it, pretend it never happened, reject it outright, and they end up wasting it. Listen: Failure is not something to be ashamed of, it’s something to be powered by. Failure is the highest octane fuel your life can run on. You gotta learn to make failure your fuel.
Abby Wambach

Read the full article at: http://changingthegameproject.com/make-failure-your-fuel

 

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North Korea tweaks basketball

It is fascinating to see North Korea tweak the scoring rules of basketball. And why not? It sure would create some interest & new strategies. Not sure if these rules will trickle back to North America, but maybe it will catch on!

NORTH KOREA’S BASKETBALL SCORING RULES:

  • Dunks are worth three points (up from two)
  • Field goals in the final three minutes of the game are worth eight points (up from two)
  • Three-pointers are worth four if the ball doesn’t touch the rim
  • A point is deducted for missed free throws
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We Can’t Have Long Term Athlete Development without Short Term Athlete Engagement

Dr. Jean Cote said this:

“If sport was only about skill development…and was not practiced by people who have emotion, and care and are human beings, if they were robots, then you would say yes, just do skill, just do deliberate practice…but the problem is that sport is not only about skill development…and sport specific skill. Sport is about motivation, interest, drive, grit, persistence, and resilience, and those types of subjective skills are very important aspects of elite athletes and long-term sport participation and that is the problem… these thing are harder to measure… so we default to skill, and practicing repetition of backhands…But people are not robots, we have to teach the other qualities that combine motivation and interest. That is what play and diversity of sport will do.”

Did you catch that? All sports are human endeavors. And development is not just about skills. Development of our young athletes MUST include “soft” skills of persistence, performance under pressure, drive, motivation, etc. And without these core abilities, athletes won’t be ultimately successful on the court or field.

The best part of this entire discussion is most parents initially want their kids to do sports to develop the skills of team-work, discipline, persistence, etc.

Read the full article from John O’Sullivan on ChangingtheGameProject.com

 

Check out the book on Amazon:

 

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Play too many games? Is it possible?

I found an article today from Changing the Game Project and felt it highlighted an important reminder for everyone involved in youth sports. 5 warnings that your child may be in a program that focuses on short term success and not long term excellence development.

  1. Your team emphasis games over practice.
  2. Coaches select & focus on “talent” for short term gain rather than developing all athletes.
  3. Coaches make cuts & create all-star teams make youth sports elitist.
  4. Your team requires year round participation.
  5. Your coach implements strategies for short term success rather than long term skill development.

“Our obsession with winning is the enemy of excellence in youth sports!”

Take a look at the full article at http://changingthegameproject.com/the-enemy-of-excellence-in-youth-sports – sometimes a few tweaks in a program and being involved as parents can go a long way!

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Player Cards on TourneyBuddy

Now you can Create Player Cards for all the players on your Team Roster. Its quick and simple. And a great way to promote your club program and teams.

These Team Rosters and Player Cards help provide greater exposure for your players. Coaches use Google to search on player names. These simple cards help improve your player’s searchability.

And TourneyBuddy also has full PlayerSites to extend your player’s exposure. See CamStordahl.com or Andrew DeVries as examples. Contact us to get your custom site up and running.