As spring arrives so does AAU basketball. I have coached AAU basketball, and had two kids that played AAU basketball. AAU can create some great friendships and some great memories for kids. It can provide a great opportunity for competition. The
problem is many parents and players in the United States have used AAU basketball as their primary vehicle for youth development. That is definitely not what AAU does, but because people think it should it gets a bad rap. While participating in AAU most kids will spend far more money, travel time, and playing 5v5 games than they will practicing. This is in stark contrast to the European model where practice is more frequent than games, and development is prioritized over winning. Stan Van Gundy gave an impassioned plea to coaches 10 years ago here. Kobe Bryant often gave credit for his development to the fact that he grew up overseas in that system. "AAU basketball is just killing us" Kobe said, "Ther's so many games being played without any concept on how to play them." The influx of high level talent in the NBA from Europe is validating this as well. It started with Dirk, Gasol, Petrovic and Kukoc, and has continued to today's stars of Luka, Jokic, Sabonis, Giannis and Wembanyama. It is now occurring in college basketball. So what can we learn from the European development model that we can incorporate in to summer basketball training in the US? Here are some ideas that I utilize in my training programs and you can use to:
Youth players should develop all skills regardless of size. In the US, too often early maturing/big kids are relegating to being inside players that don't handle the ball in the open floor. At the same time smaller kids are not taught post footwork and how to use their body to create contact. Some of the greatest college and pro "bigs" are those who grew late so they have "guard skills" from when they were small. I'll say it again........ all youth players should develop all skills regardless of size.
Decision making is one of the most important skills in basketball, yet it is the most undertrained and underdeveloped. Training should continually create situations where players are required to make decisions based on "reading" that situation ----- teammate position and movement, defenders position and movement, advantages, etc. This can be done with a constraints approach to training. The coach creates circumstance and situations that players must decide how to navigate, as opposed to the coach giving them a specific script for them to replicate exactly.
Train in small groups with small sided games. When training in a 1-on-0 setting, a player has no defender and no teammates, removing many of the opportunities for action that will occur within competition. Thus players don't learn how to react and create when they are playing real games. Conversely in 5v5 games there are less opportunities because there are 10 players on the court and several more on the bench. Small sided games such as 2v2 and 3v3 provide more "touches", more decisions, more actions.
Movement and spacing is as important as basketball skill. Train with games and competitions that stress creativity of movement, movement problem solving, and movement discovery while requiring spacing and spatial awareness. For young players this may be dribble line tag, soccer basketball, construction site basketball and more. For middle school and high school players this may be offense defense disadvantage games, shrinking or expanding your playing space, or 1-2-3-4 scoring game.
I actually do recommend playing AAU basketball for most kids............. but be reasonable. Avoid showcase games and tournaments with no practice or team concept. Find a coach that believes in development. Play locally and regionally, most regional tournaments provide the same things that national tournaments do, for far less cost and travel time. Don't be fooled in to believing that you need to travel across 40 states for "exposure", if you are good enough the coaches will find you. So spend more time on becoming "good enough" by utilizing the training strategies discussed above.