AAU - The Good

I've been around AAU (it's still travel team because everyone isn't AAU sanctioned) for the better part of 16 years. That includes playing in it, reffing it, recruiting it, and coaching it. I think everyone at some point has a great experience and has had an absolutely terrifying experience. I'll try to lump everything together to get some points across.

THE GOOD

For any player AAU can be a good thing. Whether you want to get a scholarship, play college ball, start for your high school team, get minutes for your high school team, or even be on your high school team, practicing and playing more can be really good for your game. No matter what anyone says, the more you play, the chances of you becoming better increase (although practicing is better). Also, if you play consistently against better players, you will be forced to adjust your game to keep up. Again, making you better.

For me, playing AAU was a great experience. I got to play with the area's better players and get a chance to play against some very good players. Twice a week, at least five other guys would pile into my parent's minivan and head to practice. The drive for practice could be ten minutes or it could be an hour and a half. We wanted to make sure at some point during the spring the guys and their families didn't have to drive crazy amounts to get to practice. I think the least amount of guys we EVER had for practice was seven.

We got to travel all over the Northeast to tournaments and the group of guys became very close. We were all seen by a lot of college coaches and more importantly for our own games, we were exposed. Other players and other teams found our weaknesses and we were forced to adjust. We played against some of the best players and teams in the country.  I even got a double technical with Chevy Troutman  (former Pitt Panther) at our home tournament.

Now, onto what I've seen as a coach. There are many AAU coaches that do an unbelievable job of communicating with college coaches in regards to recruiting. Many coaches send out emails about their team to colleges throughout the area to order for coaches to have information going forward. Every college coach appreciates that.

AAU is also a place where college coaches can see a ton of college prospects in one setting. The coaches will see how their recruits match up with each other and/or against better players. They'll also see them get exposed and then how they handle it. You'll usually see this more during AAU than during the high school season.  Coaches will also see new prospects on a consistent basis that are potentially matched up with some they came to see.

As a former AAU coach I learned a lot over the four months I coached. I learned all about making adjustments.  I learned how to use timeouts correctly.  I learned that April stinks for you and July can be awesome.  I saw another side of parents.

There are plenty more positives to AAU that I and others have experienced. Next up, AAU - The Bad