Great at practice/tryouts, but just ok in games?

Well, there you have it. THERE is her real talent.

Please step back and let her do her own thing. It sounds like you are putting more pressure on her than the game is. She will step up when she feels she needs to. You cannot make her have ambition or motivation. That is her coach's job. You be the supportive mother, not her coach.

Yeah I agree - I just want to know when or if it is time to back out - before I spend a thousand bucks or more next spring.

Right, I get that.

Also, free throws don't really work as a sole talent in basketball -- you have to be a real presence in the game, too.

The nice thing is that she can play basketball -- just in a different league -- so she can stop doing the extra-fancy extra-expensive extra-time-consuming stuff but still play basketball if she wants to.

Where is she physically? You can make it if you're on the short side and amazing, but if she's shaping up to be a really tall one that makes a difference, too.

She must be about ready for high school b-ball? Next year maybe?

Yes next year would be high school basketball - they stop travel and go onto high school - usually Jr. Varsity or Varsity depending on how strong the older girls are.

I know for softball - she would likely play Jr. Varsity this year because they usually don't have enough girls in the lower grades to play Jr. Varsity. Too many competing spring sports.

So we talked about it - my husband and me. Seems my daughter actually brought up to my husband (and she usually talks to me about stuff - guess sports is daddy's world) - any way she mentioned she may want to play more competitive softball.

We talked and kinda decided on some stuff you all mentioned - yes sometimes people actually listen to others advice. We thought (and he told her) - just to go out and have fun playing the basketball games. Don't worry about how you play - just have fun. Maybe the pressure of trying to be the best is hurting her as well (thinking too much) and if she concentrates on just playing she may do better or at the very least enjoy herself as she should.

We figure the new travel team and coach will be good for her as well. She likes alot of the girls -eats lunch with them at school - so this comfort level of playing with friends I think will be good for her. We will kinda just see how it goes and in the mean time find through softball coaches we know in the area - suggestions on club teams. The good thing is club softball is in the summer although I believe they may begin practicing in the spring so she could play both.

That all sounds good!

I could not agree more.

I think I know what has happened and it is a mental/puberty thing.

She just starting playing travel (AAU and travel overlap for a month). As we just moved this is her first time playing on this town's travel team. She has been to several practices, but they are just starting to play.

She is great on this team. I am like, what the h*ll? She is playing like she used to - it looks like she is loving it again. As she began practicing with this new team - these girls also go to school with her - she has begun sitting with them at lunch more often, making friends with them. She really likes these girls.

So I asked her - you looked great out there (and she mentions how much she looks forward to practices and playing with these girls - her favortie day of the week is their practice night). - And I asked her - do you play better and try harder with this team because you like the girls so much - answer - yes.

Bingo - she doesn't "like" the other girls on her AAU team. Not that she doesn't like them - she doesn't know them so much. There are only 3 girls she has played with before on this team - they have had some girls she used to play with on the team that left; and some that didn't make the A team and moved down to the B team. So they have better talented players, but ones that don't know each other as well.

So now the question - how to get these girls to know each other; "like" each other; you know chemistry.

That makes a lot of sense.

Can you do some sort of group meal before or after games?

so she's playing for two new-to-her teams? and one has people she likes and one has people she doesn't like/doesn't like yet?

Have you talked to the coach/es of the AAU team about how they'll be building the team dynamic?

I don't think you can force chemistry in sports anymore than you can in real life, but exposure to the AAU team might make her more comfortable with that group.

~~~

So, I've had a question since this thread started. I think the answer is probably something U.S.-specific.

Why does it matter if she plays on a higher level team? is there money in that in the U.S? are there professional leagues with a lot of teams?

University sports don't really mean anything up here so I've been puzzled by the interest in preparing a non-high school age student for post-secondary sports.

Scholarship, maybe full ride. For what other reason did you think it was for?

I was trying to think of something like that - no meals though before the games. Sometimes though when games in the same day are spaced a part, we do meet up for a lunch or snack or the girls hang out together.

But this past season so far the games are spaced about an hour apart - good and bad - your not stuck at a tournament all day, but then the girls don't get to "bond."

I haven't talked to the coach because just last night I figured out and actually my husband did yesterday too in talking with her. I brought her to practice with her "travel" team. As she goes to school with these girls even though it is a new team for her, she has gotten to know the girls as she engages with them outside of basketball.

This is a town team that plays against other town teams in their league - basically to prepare you for high school basketball. You need to try out and to make the "A" team you need to be the best players in your school year. They usually play one game a week and some depending on the town will play tournaments as well. There is a champion at the end of the season.

AAU is a regional team - plays out of state and in state - you can be from any where as long as you can commit to where they practice and when and make the tournaments. They strictly play tournaments. In the spring there are state champions and you can go on to play national champions. This level of play is for girls who want to play in college. And if they are good enough this is where colleges recruit for them - there is potential for scholorships.

And for most if not all that is how you get into college basketball by playing AAU.

And there is a professional women's basketball league in the US.

Peers are definitely huge. Sozlet likes sports (she can go back to soccer now with her short cast! ER doc that put on the first long cast said no, orthopedist who gave her the short cast said yes), but really the main attraction for her is her peers.

She had the choice this year of playing on a fairly cheap, lower-level soccer team made up entirely of her friends, or playing on an expensive, higher-level team (with stellar coaching) that MIGHT have a friend or two on it but probably wouldn't. She chose the lower one because of the lesser time commitment but also because of her friends.

I obviously had no idea why someone would be so interested in what teams their kid played for at this age - which was why I asked.

I just googled athletic scholarships in Canada. Apparently we don't offer "full ride" and won't for the foreseeable future. I don't think I'd ever heard that phrase before you just posted it.

http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2010/06/04/full-ride-athletic-scholarships-still-on-hold/




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletic_scholarship

Is the potential for sports scholarships better than for academic scholarships?

Again, I'm asking because this is a phenomenon outside of our experience here. I've heard of people who went to the U.S. to play college golf, I guess I didn't realize their education was subsidized through that process.

Do they have to maintain a high academic standard to keep their sports scholarships?

Do they have to maintain a high academic standard to keep their sports scholarships?

this is a question worthy of it's own thread...

it depends.

I think they are similar - but in both cases you need to be top - top academically and top athletically to get a full ride. You can also get partial. You do need to have a certain gpa to maintain your athletic scholorship, but I wouldn't be worried about that as my daughter has good grades.

She is playing because she loves to play and wants to play college basketball - why she is part of AAU and she likes the higher level of competition.

The problem with her current team is - at tryouts this year, they had alot more girls - better girls that tried out. You would think that wouldn't be the problem but that pushed many of her friends to the "B" team. She's known most of these girls for maybe a month since they started playing all together beginning of Sept. and only sees them at practices and tournaments.

So part is getting the comfort level with each other. I told her she should play a little prank on some one - to break the ice.

There's usually a minimum standard but it depends on a lot of things.

It's an absolute scandal with football players for example -- those who are outstanding athletes are given scholarships to a university like OSU and then just aren't required to do that much academically.

They get a free "education" but it's mostly about being cogs in the money-maker that is Buckeye football.

And then they get sanctions when they sell OSU memorabilia for pocket money.

A school mate of mine had gotten a full scholorship for football - he flunked out and was kicked off the team.

I think sometimes it depends on the school. Many students get a great education that way and some screw around. (probably same as many students). It seems though that girls tend to do well - at least all the ones I've noticed - perhaps because they don't make the millions the boys do if they go professional. They need to get a good education to get a job later.