Announcement

7th Grade Elite Earns Top 20 Ranking After Huge Effort at The AAU Division 1 National Championships

Posted by Bill Mobley on Jul 10 2011 at 06:48PM PDT
image

89 of the Nations Absolute Best 7th Grade “Division 1” Basketball Teams including all State & Regional Champions descended upon the AAU National Championships in Memphis Tennessee last Sunday June 26th and played all week thru to late Sunday July 3rd. Although having won many Regional Championships in Miami/Ft Laud, Tampa, Jax/So. Georgia, and a second place in the State Championships…our first year Brevard Elite team entered seated 79th behind the nations best.

This very special group of young men were placed in the hardest pool (measured by the other 3 teams finishing in the top 14 in nation, no other pool shared such caliber of teams), they took some early losses and yet fought back to win 5 straight to earn a final four berth in the Classic Bracket. They didn’t go home Thursday, Friday, Saturday like the many others…they played all the way until Sunday, something every coach teaches and looks forward too.

At the end…this team ranked 79th in the nation going in, came out ranked number 20th! This achievement is both impressive and honorable to themselves as young men, their families, the organization, and especially Brevard County.

It was one of the hardest decisions I had ever made to direct, push, and promote these boys into the Division 1 AAU arena, as that is the pinnacle of youth basketball. They believed in Coach Fuzz, Ms Mobley’s very hard training methods, and me, thus worked very hard to accomplish something very important, and today they walk a little taller as they are true Division 1 Champions. On the ride home they talked about what they need to do to get better next year, and now know what it takes to compete at the highest level both on and off the court. Lessons run deep under the big show spotlight and with 6.5-6.8ft 13-14 year olds slamming down on you, you must learn and adjust as you go!

Sorry for the long story, but the smallest team, from the smallest demographic to pull players from compared to these big city/state teams…showed many teams, coaches, recruiters, scouts, AAU directors, etc… that you can achieve big goals with big hearts and even stronger will. We all wanted more, felt we could have come in top 10, but that’s just our hearts wanting for more than their bodies and skill levels today, could handle.

When you see these boys, show them a little love, as they left “who is Brevard County” tattooed in the minds of the many big team players/orgs out there who tattooed them back with bruises as a reminder of the war they fought this past week. The decision was hard, but the right one…..We start preparing TODAY for next years 8th Grade AAU Division 1 National Championships.