Play in a stronger B team or weaker A team?

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My daughter has tried out for a strong A team (basically D1 AAU team) - there ended up only 1 opening and they wanted a tall post person - she is a short point guard so she ended up not getting the 1 position. The coach said she should be playing this level of play, but seeing all but individual was returning, they did not have a spot for her.

Alot of this is new - politics and so forth in these leagues. So she has been playing a winter league with a very strong inner city league. Their tryouts were months earlier than what is normal so she didn't get the opportunity to tryout. They may have one spot open - and they said they would love to have her, but it is on the B team.

She is also going to tryout this weekend for an A team - but it is not as strong an organization (at least on the surface) as the B team mentioned above. I also just received an email from her prior team saying she made the team (without even trying out). This team is falling apart as some kids are moving to other teams and they weren't as strong any way.

So which is better - to play in a higher division (which doesn't travel out of state) - or a lower division on a stronger organization? In either case, she could tryout next year for the A team within this stronger organization.

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[+3] - DrewDad - 01/25/2012If what she wants to do is play ball, then probably the B team. The A team is going to be filled with strife and conflict.

@Linkat,

This goes on all the way up into the college ranks. My alma mater, UVM, does a winter tour that pits them against strong east coast teams that are a sure bet to one loss after another. They do it as a recruiting mechanism saying, "Hey, you bench sitters... you'd be getting significant minutes on our team!" They made it to the NCAA one year based on that kind of recruiting.

Would she be sitting more or playing more on the A team? What about the B team? What are her goals in playing? Is she looking to watch a winning team or help a struggling team improve and perhaps get some notice herself?

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@Linkat,

If what she wants to do is play ball, then probably the B team. The A team is going to be filled with strife and conflict.

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@Linkat,

I was gonna say lower division even before reading.

Last year sozlet was one of the two best on her team -- then the other one got hurt and she had to carry the team and it was pressssuuuuuure.

This year she's probably tied for fourth-best (on a team of six) and she's having SO much more fun!

Her skills don't seem to be suffering at all, she's improving at the same (or faster) rate that she did last year. (Very good coaches get credit there too.)

But especially she's loving basketball this year.

With all your other stuff, sounds like the B team -- with the stronger organization -- is the way to go.

One question as I re-read, as we don't really have A and B teams -- will she get the same amount of playing time either way?

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@JPB,

She has always been the starting point guard where ever she has played. She is small in height, but has lots of talent - she is a great ball handler that is her biggest strength and not a bad shooter. The teams she would play on would most likely have no more than 10 players so even if she were on a strong team she would get some good playing time.

If she were on a B team even a strong one - she most likely would start. Even on an A team she could start - she has the talent, but it could depend who else is a point guard - and sometimes there are politics ie - daughter of the coach is a point guard.

Her goals are very high she wants to play on UConn and play in WNBA. Now I am realistic and know that this would be extremely difficult. A realistic goal and one she is definately working towards is playing in college - ideally D1 (although really a stretch goal), but D2 is a definate obtainable goal if she keeps working the way she does. She is in the 7th grade.

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@Linkat,

B team!

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@sozobe,

I think is this weaker A team she would get as much playing time. She also needs to play with a stronger team than last year. Her playing suffered in the fall because her team was so weak. I think she will benefit from playing with stronger kids.

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@sozobe,

Well she is going to try out for this A team this weekend. I won't be there, but my husband will - he can judge from there how strong of a team it is - and how strong the coach is. She needs a coach that will push her some are too laid back. Some of the teams within this organization have come in the top 3 D1 for states in the past so in general the organization isn't that weak.

Also, we need confirmation from the B team's coaches that there is still a spot open. There was one spot, but it is possible they have filled it and the director is not aware of it yet. He is checking with them for us.

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@Linkat,

I do think I will leave it up to my husband and daughter to decide. They both will know best what is the best fit for them after going to this tryout (and also there may be no choice if there isn't a spot on the other team). I feel bad because she could have tried out for this team (the one that turned her down) last year - and because they had not fully developed their team, she would have made it. We decided against it because there was so much travel out of state and we thought she was too young for that intense of a program.

This is the first time she has not made a team she has tried out for and it wasn't due to her abilities - I think that is what makes it tough for me, personally - I feel I let her down due the timing. Their current point guard my daughter runs circles around - I know because they have played travel against each other and I've seen it.

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@Linkat,

I think your instincts are right re: out of state travel though.

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@sozobe,

Yes that is huge - I will need to see if the B team travels out of state - I am not sure. I know some programs once they are in 8th grade (for some reason 8th grade seems when this changes) that out of state travel changes. Some teams travel out of state almost from the beginning. It must be the timing around when colleges start to look at the kids.

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Are the leagues in any way divided by age and/or grade?

Here the better athletes usually try to play on the lower leagues for an extra year if they can make it work in any possible way. They get an extra year of coaching and practice so they take the upper leagues by storm and get a lot of attention. For kids that really have their sight set on playing college ball this can make a lot of sense.

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@boomerang,

Yes it is by age and grade - so she is in U12/7th grade.

The problem I've just discovered is to move up to a higher division - it seems the earlier you do it the better in that some teams keep the kids on the team from year to year (without having to tryout again) - so in other words even if you have a kid that is significantly better than everyone else on the team and did as you say - if a team is established and all the kids stay for the next year/season - your kid even if better does not even have the opportunity to tryout.

Other teams though have tryouts each year and pick whoever they feel is best - but even in those cases, I wouldn't doubt there is preference for those that have already been on the team.

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Well I found another team - a little further to drive to. Another strong A team. They came in fourth last year in D1. We played them once in the fall with her prior team. I actually know the coach's sister although I would not tell the coach that until after (if she were to tryout and make the team).

At least on the website, it states that even if a player has played for them previously, it does not guarantee that they will stay on the team from year to year - each year, they need to tryout. So my husband is going to look it over and send an email to the coach just to get a little insight. Because who knows how solidified he really is with his team. And with many of the stronger teams - you actually have to pay a fee to tryout. My guess so they don't get 100 kids to tryout when they are not qualified.

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I don't believe we know enough either team to make any recommendation. The coach, the team, and how they stand in their league.

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@cicerone imposter,

I agree - that is in part why you have to attend the tryouts - I think as much to tryout the potential team and the coach.

The one problem with the B team is I am not 100% sure who is on the team. We played them last year - and beat them - my daughter was on fire and alone got 21 points in the game. It was a damn close game. We've seen their coaches so we do know how they coach and they would definately push my daughter - my concern is you would be playing on B team - not that colleges would yet be looking at her - but you almost need to be on the A teams for that level of notice.

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@Linkat,

Well we ultimately let my daughter decide which team she wanted to be on - she choose the Division I team - she was accepted to both. A former teammate of hers also made the team and will be playing on it. She also liked the girls alot as they were friendly at the tryouts - encouraging each other.

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@Linkat,

Congrats Linkat! Keep us up to date on her cometing journey to success which is wherever her orbit takes her.

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I will opt for the weaker team because there you can show your game and can be highlighted from all of them.

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@tsarstepan,

well I don't love this coaches style - she says she plays kids according to ability/those the regularly attend practice, etc more as you would expect in a highly competitive team - but she doesn't she tends to play them equally - and they don't play where the players skill is - for example, they have girls bringing up the ball that are not ball handlers.

But in any case they are starting to come together as a team - the won their first game last night in the states competition - well they actually killed them. In the first tournament the team played in they actually lost to this team. So yeah you can definately see improvement.

This afternoon we play a team my daugher has been dying to beat - they were number 2 in states last year. Will be tough - later on we play against another team - not sure about them, but their ranking is pretty low so they do have a good chance of beating them - if they win 2 out of the 3 games between yesterday and today - they go on further tomorrow.

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Play in a stronger B team or weaker A team?

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