How to Approach 2024 for the Modern Player
How to Approach 2024 for the Modern Player
It is hard to believe but the scholastic/feeder season will be over with before we know it. So what is next and how do we approach it? This post is geared towards making sure your player is progressing and taking steps forward with their basketball careers by staying ahead of the curve.
The immediate thing to focus on currently is winning each game one at a time, and getting better as a player and student one day at a time. Players even in this busy season need to find time to practice and get in the gym to make sure they are staying on top of their skills and continuing their development. This includes finding time to do in season lifts and get stronger for players ages 14 and older. This is a season of sacrifice for student athletes as school work, community service, and extra curricular activities are all thrown into the mix. Unfortunately time with friends, birthday parties and vacations take a backseat for players in the winter once they reach a certain level of basketball.
In Season Lifts: High Frequency (12-15 reps), light weight reps consisting of 1-3 sets. Important for injury preventing and helping a player maintain both strength and performance during the season.
High school players should be gathering up as much film as possible. Players want to collect film to have ready for college coaches and AAU Programs. Film should be easily accessible or distributable using one of the following methods; recruiting profile service such as hudl/NCSA, google drive folder, creating a recruiting youtube account, or X (twitter)/threads account with only media of player film and post of athletic accomplishments/schedules, etc.
Middle school players should also be gathering film of school/feeder games to send to Tier 1 AAU programs, they hope to join this upcoming spring/summer. Middle school players should also seriously start considering their high school options and figuring out what is best for them and their long term goals as a basketball player.
Tier 1 AAU Program: Select programs that provides the best opportunities for players to play at the next level. Players that are a part of these select programs normally have a path to play in college at the highest level and can even lead to a professional playing career projection.
All players should be prepping for the upcoming spring/summer AAU season, while also positioning themselves to create opportunities to help increase the chances of their recruitment and basketball prospect status.The opportunities that players are hoping to create and position themselves for are represented by these following examples; an invite to play for a Tier 1 AAU program, playing varsity as an underclassman, recruited to attend a competitive prep school that competes at the national level, college scholarship, invitation to play for Overtime Elite/G League Ignite or even prepping to be selected in the WNBA/NBA Draft.
Basketball is one of the most difficult sports in terms of recruiting, in order for players to be successful they have to decide if this is something they truly want to pursue, commit and dedicate their time to. If it is, their path is not as traditional as normal high school players, especially with new experiences and opportunities being offered by NIKE, USA Basketball and the NBA/WNBA for youth basketball, creating more opportunities for players to separate themselves from other players in the eyes of coaches and scouting services.
Players and families should be researching what players who have accomplished receiving a scholarship to play basketball or even been fortunate enough to get drafted or playing at high level professionally whether domestic or internationally have done to get to where they are at. It will also help to look at what peers a class or two older are doing in order to get recruited and gain early interest.
Once families gain the knowledge needed, we can move forward. If you missed our College Recruiting Tips and Timeline post, make sure to check it out to see what other things your family should be doing to stay ahead of the curve.
I can not stress enough how different everyones path is and how what many of us already know, not every recruit can play Power 5 basketball, or even NCAA DI basketball at all no matter how hard they try. A lot of players have found success playing at other collegiate levels such as NCAA DIII, NCAA DII, NAIA, even junior college has done wonders for a lot of players. What ever level that a player receives opportunities to continue their career is the right level for them at that time.
The best thing to do regardless of level, is for a player to develop and get better, while capitalizing on any opportunity given to them when presented. Players should be jumping at the chance to impact a middle school/ high school game no matter if they are a bench player, starter, or star player. They should be the hardest worker on the floor and play with boat loads of confidence. Players should be playing in MEANINGFUL GAMES, every school game is meaningful, now that is not to say the same about travel/aau.
There is obsession to play as many games over the course of a weekend as possible, but this actually can do more damage to athletes rather than help them. When your child is in between seasons or has weekends off the last thing they should do is a find a random team to play some additional games that weekend. It is important for players off from team activities to find other uses for that time based off their needs, rather than to pack it with games that do not matter.
Players should have ONE aau/travel team, I know its hard but make a choice and stay with it. You will notice the benefits right away and avoid conflicts as it will be easier to manage that players time. Playing on one AAU team helps prevent a player from experiencing athlete burnout . This will also allow for the athlete to find time to work on their individual game, play pickup basketball, and commit to family activities and have a healthy life balance.
The only exception to the one team suggestion is if you have a middle school player and they decide to do feeder and school basketball. However, I recommend players do not participate in school basketball in middle school if it is not a competitive environment as it can be disadvantageous. It would benefit players more to do training in that time and to only participate in the more competitive feeder environment.
Families should reflect back on this past middle school season and see if it was beneficial for their athlete and if it is something that makes sense doing for next year if they are still in middle school. High School players should always play for their school programs, be proactive on sending your athlete to the right school before hand, as transferring once in high school can be tricky.
As we enter the heart of winter and begin a new calendar year this is the best time to research now and plan ahead. All Players regardless of age should aim to have their AAU plan by the end of January. Players should know exactly what team they committed to if it is a Tier 1 Program as those tryouts most likely occurred this past fall. For players without an invite to play for a Tier 1 program this would be the time to figure out three Tier 2-3 programs to tryout for later in February. Remember for Tier 1's if you have film together now would be a great time to reach out and gage interest from directors from those select programs.
Once AAU is figured out, players should move forward and figure out which basketball camps and showcases they plan on attending for the upcoming calendar year. All middle school players should target their potential high schools youth camps in order to get exposed to the coaches early. High School players should be planning to attend college individual elite/I.D. camps that begin in the spring and filter down to the fall. For high school players attend a camp that suits your level, if you are a 5'8" point guard, and you are not a varsity starter, you don't shoot above 44% from three, you aren't a top level athlete with a 30+ inch vertical, you probably should not attend Duke's basketball camp. Instead consider attending an Elmhurst or similar schools camp in order to field better results from your time and money.
Plan accordingly, understand 14u - 17u is a crucial time for AAU basketball. With that being said for Tier 2 and up programs AAU is a spring (March) - summer (end of July) commitment. Plan vacations on off weekends if there are no practices, or right before the season begins and/or right after the summer season ends. Please do not plan on weekends where the schedule has tournaments listed, especially on NCAA live period weekends for 14u-17u as these are the most competitive and meaningful weekends of the year for youth basketball.
Understand teams at this level need to win and players who are missing practice and tournaments will end up losing playing time and may not play at all in the larger tournaments/events. Programs expect players to be fully committed, as they need every opportunity to develop players and provide the exposure needed in their programs. Teams can not help their players if they are not there!
This post was for the serious player with long term aspirations and goals for the game of basketball that goes beyond playing high school basketball. Players wanting to play basketball have to understand the process and know what is important and what is not. Development is key, meaningful games are what matter, once at the 14u level, playing extra games is overrated. Be prepared to attack 2024, and trust the process that is best for the individual player. There are consistencies in basketball recruiting, but a fair amount of alternating factors as well. Everyones process will look different, some players may need to go away to a prep school, while others may have the luxury of staying at their local public school. The opportunities will present themselves sometimes, but it may be necessary for a family to be more aggressive in creating opportunities to avoid later issues.
For any player that wants to become a high level D1 player then they will need to act accordingly. The Dukes, Kentuckys, LSUs, and South Carolinas of the world, those programs just do not hand out scholarships. They reward them to players with a great work ethic, players who understand how to compete to win, players who are ready to perform at that level, players that have an elite skill set ideal for that level of play. It takes more than just being 1,000 point scorer and all area player, it takes a special type of player to draw interest from those schools and that requires true dedication, planning, and sacrifice.
Below are additional research and material links relating to the info above
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