Love The Game, Play the Game!

Love the Game...

Amazing how young ball players and their parents under value seeking out greater competition at all times. We know skill training is essential, its a must but getting on the gun and doing a billion drills alone isn't going to get it done!!! You have to compete against the best talent possible. You can't duplicate that temp better than the real thing.....anticipation, pace, momentum, communication, court vision, poise on and on....then they wonder why their child or school can't compete against the upper echelon.... You don't actually PLAY enough basketball against REAL competition. What's sad is that they really feel like they are getting somewhere with that concept but yet they aren't putting out a whole lot of talent...I mean real talent!!! I think that's why it's a lot of kids who can't pass the rock very well. They are just "drilling" themselves crazy (mostly 1 on 1 offensive stuff with the ball) and that's it (do to some dude that wants to over sell himself as the only element the player needs to be successful at the game.... Let these kids play!!! A player has to be able to play in situations where in the court has exceptional talent on the floor. People can cry about all the things that they don't like about AAU, which there are probably valid reasons, but when it comes down to it, AAU is 1 of the greatest ways for a young player to play against the best talent and be comfortable in that setting.  When you hear Magic, Bird, Michael, Kobe and tons of other greats, they talk about the battles at the bball court up the street against the older brother or the taller older kids or, in Reggie Miller's case, the older better sister!!! That's what helps turn those corners and apply what is addressed in those workouts. I saw some kids in a gym shooting on the gun while I was getting ready to play with a group of adults who were about to come in. When the group came in to play, the teenaged kids who were shooting, put on their slides, took the gun down and left, though toughness, and the ability to play and compete strong were these kids very weaknesses!!!! Shout out to the coaches, teams and organizations that promote real competition and encourage players to play basketball.