I was contacted by a coach in a neighboring town who is trying to put together an AAU team for 4th grade girls. He wanted to know if I have any players that are aau caliber, as he is looking to fill a couple more roster spots.

My biggest question is: what does "aau caliber" mean for girls this age? Can anybody shed some light into this?

We have 8 girls on the team. I'd say 5 of them have pretty good basketball IQ's, as they can pick up most new ideas and schemes very quickly. They also have the best overall skill sets on the team. Yes, they each have weaknesses that hold them back still, but they have other talents that can compensate for those.

Examples:
Player A - Tallest girl on team, very strong, aggressive, tough, good rebounder, needs work on ballhandling....very good low-post presence for us. Not a good shooter at all.

Player B - Next tallest girl, but very skinny, doesn't play with any power compared to girl A. Best ballhandler on the team, very pure shot from about 15 feet, maybe a step further. Can play very long with her wingspan and her first step on the dribble usually creates an advantage for her.

Player C - good size, tenacious defender on the ball (our best). Ballhandling and shooting is shaky, but has improved a bunch. With the amount of steals she gets, she could score 20 points a game if she could dribble and layup better.

Player D - Smallest girl on the team. Totally understands team defense concepts, plays tougher than most girls. Fearless. Ballhandling can be tough against pressure but I think that's mostly because of her size. Fundamentally sound. Size is really the only thing holding her back.

Player E - Sort of a do-it-all player. Rebounds, defends, passes like nobody's business. But she struggles to score. Can't really create her own shot like A and B can. But she stuffs the stat sheet with everything else and she is another one that totally understands the team concept of basketball. In fact, all 5 of these examples do that.

Given the age level (4th grade, 9-10 years old), would you think any of these girls would be of a caliber to compete at the AAU level?

Thanks for the imput.

I am not an AAU fan.... unless you know this coach and his program. Do they teach fundamentals? Do they work on team play? At this age is everyone going to play?

Some of these programs are glorified ALL STAR teams and yet I have seen some that do some good things.,....... m2m defense on/up the line..... motion offense .... a secondary fast break etc. So, do some homework on this program and ask yourself.... do you want your girls playing in this type of program??

I hope I didn't insult any AAU coaches here.... remember, good and bad in all walks of life ... but IF you are going to have your kids playing for a program, make sure its a good one... one that fits your philosophy.

JMO

Whether it's AAU, club team, travel team, or school youth team.... it all depends on...

- where you live
- who the coach is
- the program and their philosophy, etc

A school youth team could be way better than AAU and vice verse. It all depends.

Like Coach Sar suggested, check into their coach, their philosophy, their program, etc. Some are great and some are not so great.

Good points by Jeff and Coach SAR. I think Jeff hit the nail on the head, it depends upon where you live and what the basketball culture is in that area. Where I live, club basketball is the top level. I ran across 4th and even 3rd grade teams that played club basketball which surprised me.

The club/AAU scene usually consists of a lot of basketball against really good teams. It can get pretty intense. I'm guessing this guy is asking if you have players that stand out from the rest in an obvious way. They can handle pressure and bring a certain intensity when playing.

You could probably pick a few and have them try out or just have the coach come by and watch a practice. Even though I coached Club / AAU ball (6th-8th) I'm with SAR in the sense that the kids have to be ready for it. Personally, I think 4th grade is a bit young to be playing highly competitive travel basketball. There are definitely some kids out there who can handle it and seem to be fine playing more competitive ball at a younger age. Those kids are few and far between in my opinion though. Hate to see kids skip some of the important fundamentals and miss out on just having fun at the early ages for the sake of competition.