The Details

Senior night is a great time to be in a gym. To watch the fans honor their favorite players who have in turn honored the fans by playing their hearts out for the previous four years it is somewhat bittersweet moment. Tonight, I sat in such a game and thought to myself, Man, this season is almost over. What am I going to do with my life? Well, after the playoff season and traditional trip to the Barre Auditorium comes the infamous AAU season. I want to qualify my statement by saying that I am a firm supporter of AAU basketball; however, being around it for the past few years, I have realized that it's definitely not for everyone. What do I mean by this? AAU basketball is not for the casual or social basketball player. AAU technically begins as early as eight years old, but a younger child is always allowed to play above his or her age group. Therefore, you may have a seven year old on the floor. In theory, AAU basketball season is a season that allows selective clubs to bring together the best players from various schools and form an area all-star team. As I have previously written in my blog, the theory behind this is allowing the best players the opportunity to enhance each other's skills and therefore improve each individual player as well as the entire team. I have also stated that, for the most part, many teams in Vermont do not do this. I still believe this, but I realized that my proposed solution was just like anybody else's. I can talk the talk and theorize just like anyone else and say that my idea would work. I hope to now develop a miniseries if you will that will emphasize more specific details behind what I think would help this program improve. I don't want to go on and on tonight, so I will now give you the rough outline I intend to follow.

1. Geography: How would my system be geographically distributed around Vermont?
2. Coaching: How would my system decide who would be the best coach for various ages?
3. Player Selection: How would my system ensure that the best talent is enriched through AAU?
4. Financing: How would my system be funded in the current economy?
5. Development: How would my system be any more effective at developing athletes?
6. Competition: Who would my system compete against?
7. Success: Why would the system be better than what we have now?

I hope that you will return to see where my thoughts lie. I may be totally wrong, but you'll never know unless you check it out!