The Business of Basketball – 5 Truthful Things Serious Players and Parents Should Know!

1)Team Blending – Brevard County is not a very large demographical market when comparing much bigger ones such as; Miami/Ft Lauderdale, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville in Florida alone and huge markets from Atlanta to New York to Chicago to LA to Dallas, etc. Therefore, the amount of TRUE Division I and Division II players in Brevard County is limited. The math is simple…you can either play ALL the best players together in Divisions I & II which will get them exposure by college recruiters at showcase events or you can team blend and NO ONE is happy or given true recruiting opportunity. Team blending helps the “organization” raise money not help your child get opportunity. Team Blending will put 5 good, 5 average and 5 below average players on the same team to raise enough money so the organization can say they have a team in that age group. However the truth is: The 5 players on top are not challenged enough, the 5 players in the middle are not really committed to playing at a higher level and the bottom 5 have parents who complain that their child is never getting enough playing time. All parents are usually upset because everyone has paid something and this is an unbalanced approach to aiding only the organization’s financial survival… not player growth/opportunities.

2)High School is where my child will get recruited – Very unlikely. Showcase Events are scheduled tournaments held in the U.S. starting with 8th graders (legal NCAA recruiting age) where the college recruiters/coaches come to see the top talent. Additional big tournaments and the National Championships is where the recruiters and college coaches will go to see the nation’s top basketball talent. If you are not going to these events, you are not being seen by anybody. Very few High School coaches (especially in Florida, primarily a football state) have direct contacts with NCAA college recruiters and coaches. Some do, most don’t and even the ones that do; it takes a very special individual to draw them to any gym in Florida to see a player. There are no scouts sitting in those gyms, you must play in AAU Super Showcase events. So ask yourself, how many out of state events did our team attend and how many showcase events are we planning to go to this year? Is our organization sending us to the Boo Williams Classic in VA, Las Vegas Super Showcase, Nike Peach Classic, Big Shots in MD, Indiana, Detroit, Kentucky, Adidas Phenom in CA, etc., etc. Can’t be recruited if you are not being seen…..period!

3)Commitment is just showing up for practice 3 times a week – Wrong again. Commitment is 1000 shots a day, skills and drills for 1 hour a day….all before practice 5 times a week. A keen nutritional understanding about foods and fluids, such as it takes 37 glasses of water to neutralize the acid in 1 diet coke (by the way, acid is what breaks down muscle), chicken nuggets are not really protein, and a bag of skittles and a red bull is not the best way to energy up for a game. Every college recruiter out there wants a player who has an established routine and good work habit already. They don’t have time to teach basics, these coaches are paid to win games and need players who take care of their own business, and show up ready for coaching hours being taught plays, schemes, and improving on shot selections, defense planning, etc. against upcoming opponents. Point is, they don’t teach Commitment in college, you must be completely disciplined BEFORE you are recruited.

4)My 2.5 GPA is enough since I am a super athlete – Once again, a lie! Scholarships have never been more competitive than they are today. Most Div1 schools will not even consider you academically without a 3.8+ GPA. Yes… sports scholarships do have some give, but not much. In most cases it works like this; if you are a super athlete; 3.5+ GPA you can expect 100-50 recruiting letters, 3.4-3.0 GPA 20 letters, and 2.9-2.5 maybe 5 letters and they will be lackluster schools or only a percentage based scholarship. It’s all about having choices.

5)Nobody understands my baby like I do – Likely very true in some ways, but not when it comes to basketball! Every college coach I have ever met says that parents are the biggest reason they shy away from certain kids. NCAA coaches are paid professionals; they are paid to win games, know basketball as a profession and are completely insulted when a parent (doctor, cook, pilot, city worker) begins to tell them “how to teach, coach or most importantly “understand” their child/player!” They surely don’t tell the parents how to heal a sick patient, run a restaurant, fly a plane, nor operate a heavy road repair vehicle. So why a parent thinks they have the right to counsel them on professional basketball is pretty unsettling and they will write you and your child/player off instantly. Our playgrounds in Brevard are filled with many great players who “could” have made it!