*whew*.

long story short (c) black milk, i got 6 seeds. youngest 5 were homeschooled. oldest graduated last may. next two in the queue are in college (both played sports in h.s., but had no intention of doing so in college).

my youngest three all hoop, although for my youngest (13 y.o. daughter) it's more of just something to do, although she is very good. 16 (bout to be 17 y.o.) son is a re-classified sophomore. he's nice. 5'11" combo guard w/ very good handles, stupid bounce (i taught him how to go off two feet earlier this year and he had multiple, in-game 2 handed dunks this year), great vision and passing. from my eyes, as well as other coaches, he should be at least a D2 and maybe lower D1 prospect if he continues his very steep improvement curve. plays PG and SG for his homeschool team, which finished 3rd in the state tournament, and did very well in the east coast home school tournament. he also did very well during the season against local private and charter schools, including shutting down kids who were seniors and who were getting d1 and d2 looks and offers, and beating them off the dribble or elevating over them at will.

my middle daughter is a 9th grader, recently turned 15, and a PG. her team (i head coached her team and assisted on my son's team) won the state jv title, and then came in 2nd in the 4A bracket while competing as a varsity team in the post season tourney. they played varsity teams, non-conference, and she more than held her own, also against girls getting college looks. (we lost on the road in double OT to a team that had a senior who had scouts from clemson in attendance). my daughter was slicing through their defense like it was nothing.

we went from having regional tournaments to state tournaments, and then to the post season tournament (with 100 teams from as far away as iowa, nj, ny, nc, sc, va, tn, ga, md, wv, etc), which was the week before last. both kids played in 5 games over 3 days. hten last week they practiced w/ their AAU teams (my son made the 'b' team for an on the rise local squad, my daughter is on an elite girls team of 9th graders).

so they had their first aau tournaments this past weekend in two different places and we got one car, and i was coaching my daughter's team and my wife was doing scorebook for my son's team. we. are. worn. the. hell. out.

and it's just starting.

anyway, my son has been actively working the recruiting process, and has several coaches (a couple D1, several d2 and d3) who've seen his previous highlights and who will check him out during some of his aau tournaments during live periods this year).

i just got an email from an assistant coach at a d3 school about my daughter and 2 other girls from her team.

so this roller coaster is starting.

any of you already been there, as a player, parent or coach? any tips and pointers?

we got the ncaa certification done for my son. (special process for homeschoolers). he'll be taking his SATs later this spring. but between his gpa and what he did on the PSATs he should have no problem as an academic qualifier.

his legs are dead right now (shin splints) from several weeks of non-stop balling (he was having AAU tryouts while in his state tournament. and he is very muscular (looks like he could be a college safety) and gets beat to death in games. he's going to sit out practice and this week's tournament to try to recover. in my realistic estimation, he'd be one of the top 3-5 guards on the A team, but his stamina in tryouts was holding him back. his best versus everyone else's best and it's a wrap. he shut down the best guards there, as well as more than held his own manned up against a 6'8" dude in the post.

on the B team, he's playing a 4 b/c the other guards are shorter than him. i told him not to worry about that. the ability to play from a 1 to a 5 is rare and will keep him on the court in more situations.





peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

basketball is a whole different animal man. Not to mention everything has changed so much since then. Just wanted to say good luck. It is a process.

November 8th, 2005 The greatest night in the history of GD!

all these rules and whatnot. live period. dead period. evaluation period.

i played d1 a long ass time ago. but i walked on, b/c i was going to that school on academic scholly, anyway. bball and football for me i had offers from d2 and d3 that i wasn't trying to fool w/.

but yeah, like you said, it was so long ago, like leather helmet days, wouldn't be useful to a present day discussion.

this aau shit is something else.


peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

I played aau baseball. That was the main reason I got recruited. But then there still werent many teams. Elite players made these teams. Now you can throw a rock in any direction and hit an aau team. Every kid who is halfway decent is on a team. Every team puts together several tournaments a year. They were hitting me up last spring to get my son to try out for their travel team this summer. I said he's 4 and walked away. Shit is crazy and baseball is probably way more calm than basketball.

November 8th, 2005 The greatest night in the history of GD!

>I played aau baseball. That was the main reason I got
>recruited. But then there still werent many teams. Elite
>players made these teams. Now you can throw a rock in any
>direction and hit an aau team. Every kid who is halfway decent
>is on a team.

^^^ THIS.

the tournament my son was in this week, one of the opposing teams had a kid who was a teammate of my son on our homeschool varsity team. no bullshit, this kid was like 12th man on a 9 man team. we saw that and was like, waaaow.

when i'm talking to other parents i be trying to explain so they (or their kids) don't get gassed. there is a whole 'casm separating some of these teams. and then even with the best kids, there's a level of that called EYBL (elite youth bball league) that's where ky and duke recruit type cats be playing.

we were sure to do our research and make sure his team was going to sanctioned tourneys w/ top competition in and out of state in order for it to be worthwhile.

Every team puts together several tournaments a
>year. They were hitting me up last spring to get my son to try
>out for their travel team this summer. I said he's 4 and
>walked away. Shit is crazy and baseball is probably way more
>calm than basketball.

basketball been ridic but increasingly moreso. i was watching some 3rd and 4th graders (boys and girls) over the weekend, in between our games and what they are capable of now is jaw dropping.

and i remember coaching rec ball ten years ago and had a 10 yr old kid who had an entourage following him around on his games. his ppls and his ppls' ppls really thought this kid was going to the nba. shit was sad. he was a really nice kid, but the folks around him was crazy and i saw then that it was gonna be mad hard for him to escape that pull. last i seen him was when i was coaching my oldest son's middle school football team, in 7th and 8th grade. in 7th he came out for the team. i argued for him to make it but the h.c. cut him. next year, he was thoroughly on some cool / thug shit. *sigh*.



peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

>the tournament my son was in this week, one of the opposing
>teams had a kid who was a teammate of my son on our homeschool
>varsity team. no bullshit, this kid was like 12th man on a 9
>man team. we saw that and was like, waaaow.


^^^ When I played in HS the team I was on was insane. We had like 6 kids go to play in the MLB. Not the minors but actual MLB rosters. There were 4-6 teams that covered 20-30 sq miles. Every tournament had out of state teams because it wasnt watered down. It also didnt really start until Jr High age. Now they are recruiting so young. All those games is definitely not good on a growing body. I know with baseball these kids are getting arm injuries younger and younger.

November 8th, 2005 The greatest night in the history of GD!

D1 - but track is SO different than hoop. The only advice I could give is twofold: TAKE ALL YOUR TRIPS. Seriously, memory making moments.

Two: Make WHATEVER decision, based on the merit of the school - education. Most don't make it through, what you'll be left with is the school, and the memories, for the most part.

Oh, oh, oh! One more thing. Encourage your child to pull athletes aside and ask THEM about their experience at the school. That's how you learn how a school is REALLY. I learned A LOT doing that.

Good luck, fam!

********************************

Get Out The Room!
http://getouttheroom.podomatic.com
@fakewilliamkatt

"You probably wouldn't worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do!" - Olin Miller

on this path.

in particular, i was telling them this is why they got to maximize everything (academics, skill, preparation, networking, character) in order to maximize their choices.

was talking w/ another coach while at our regionals who coached one of the kids at one of the private schools we played. their best player (my son strapped him up on defense, and was crossing him up at will on offense) had only 2 d1 looks. but he ain't do shit in the classroom (and this ain't a school that is really academically strong to start with, mind you) or on his SATs, and both of those schools offered other local cats we knew.

so since he ain't do what he needed to do (as well a not being proactive about his recruiting), he is gonna either have to go prep OR play at a lower level than his bball talent would justify).

>D1 - but track is SO different than hoop. The only advice I
>could give is twofold: TAKE ALL YOUR TRIPS. Seriously, memory
>making moments.

yeah. he gotta get them invites though, first. but an active aau season (with certified events) + working emails and phones + targeted attendance of camps, etc., should help a lot. we've done unofficials before by tacking a day on the beginning or end of different tournaments. hopefully we're talking official visits by this time next year.
>
>Two: Make WHATEVER decision, based on the merit of the school
>- education. Most don't make it through, what you'll be left
>with is the school, and the memories, for the most part.

word. w/ my son, he wants to be a coach, eventually. so just about all paths lead to that, as opposed to if he was wanting to major in engineering or something. but still, there are a bunch of parameters. a friend of mine's son (also a friend of my older sons) was a 4 star football recruit who, after an extended decision period, committed recently to stanford.

i explained to my kids all the stuff that was in play:

- style of system run by that school in football
- academics of the university
- their roster and who else they were recruiting
- proximity
- quality / reputation of the university
- quality / reputation and demeanor of coach and staff
- stability of the program

this kid is both an exceptional athlete and student, and could have gone ivy, on straight academics. he had several high profile football schools from which to choose, but ultimately he went to one that is super respected as a football power, but even moreso as an academic institution.

(in his process, proximity had to lose out to academics, etc).

i used that to illustrate how they have to maximize all of their attributes in order to create the widest amount of choice for themselves.

otherwise, they could end up with offers from say, only 3 schools, where:

- school a - coach is a notorious asshole whom all his players hate, and who cares nothing about development of a student beyond wins and losses

- school b - nice coach, but the academics are a joke and no one graduating from there is getting a serious job offer

- school c - nice coach, decent school, but way the hell out in bumfuck, 4 hrs away by plane where you'll be one of 5 black ppl in the whole state.

so we having these convos now while they have 2 or 3 yrs to affect the outcomes

peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

the leave "gifts" in a recruits hotel room era
you cant do that shit no more lol
got recruited by sec big12 big10 acc big east and everything
in between
my tip...dont get excited abt the mail
its real when the head coach of the program shows up at his games

_______________________________________
touched like midas these bitch ass niggas they study and bite us.