What to look for in an AAU team?

[juslearnin]

From reading these boards, it seems like there is a lot of mess with the Houston AAU organizations, but it seems that being involved in AAU is necessary to get exposure. My daughter plays on a HS team, and her coach is encouraging us to find an AAU team so that she can play during the summer exposure periods. Basketball is new to us, we were involved in volleyball and recently my daughter became more interested in basketball, so I am trying to learn more. I see that some of the AAU teams are having tryouts in January, but I do not know what to look for in a team. I am nervous about getting involved with those "punks" you all seem to talk alot about. So how do you pick a good team? Someone told us about these boards, so I have been doing research...but I am even more confused. Please help.:confused:

[HAC_Daddy]

There are a lot of good teams, but finding the right fit will be hard. I have a daughter of my own and it was a struggle for my wife and I to have finaly found her a home. She played for a very good organization, but it was not a good fit for her to grow and we just have to make a decision on moving her to a team that will help her develop. What I would suggest is for you is to start looking for teams at her age that are having tryouts and bring her out there and let her see what it's like. Don't settle for one team tryout. Try about 3 or more and make comparison (Coach, Players & Parents) start asking questions:confused: . Good Luck to you and your daughter.

[sim111]

It is a lot of mess in Houston AAU and I don't have a problemtalking about it because either it's for the kids or it isn't and believe me everyone is not for the kids. There are several programs out there who try and do the right thing but there are also a few who are interested in making money at any cost. I have heard all types of stories but the funniiest one was a team charging parents $200 to buy a uniform, EACH YEAR, the same uniform. Parents get hung up on winning and I like winning as much as the next person however I have seen many kids who were on teams that won but rarely played and the poor parents didn't realize this was causing more harm than good. Then you have many of the folks who are sponsored by shoe companies, well sponsoring to me means you don't pay ANYTHING. You even have a new player, as far as shoes, in the game but trust me, many kids will fall though the cracks when it's scholarship time. The ironic part about this is that an Adidas team that came in 2nd in Showtime last year had nothing for their kids on the table as far as scholarships however the head of our organization assisted two of their players and they will be playing D1 next year. In fact a kid who rarely played on this same team left and played with us and had more offers on the table than any of the kids who were playing in front of her. Think about it and do your research folks and remember that there is more than one way to win.