What happened to Martin Brothers Basketball

[cyfanatic13]

I’ll disagree- my son had three DII offers and chose a school that was full ride, $40,000 per year for 4 years. Free education, chance to play a sport he loved, and a ton of great memories from the AAU years. Now, he put a ton of work in- he is a gym rat- but he would have never had that opportunity without his AAU program (not Martin Bros or Barnstormers). He also understood those were the bulk of his vacation trips for 3 years of HS- but Vegas, Dallas, KC, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, etc with guys he still stays in touch with was what he wanted. Played WITH and competed AGAINST guys you watch on tv every night- NBA and DI. School he signed with is in one of the two best DII leagues in the country- former DI guys throughout the league. So the less than $12,000 we spent in three years were a value considering a $160,000 scholly that came from it.

Granted, some AAU programs are a money grab- his program only had one team per age level so that was not the case for us. When you see three and four teams per level, that’s what you get. And there are plenty of parents who live the false dream of scholarships. But to blanket all kids who aren’t at the DI level as wasting their $$ is inaccurate- there are a lot of kids that fall in a category of some DI interest, DII offers, and high level DIII (Platteville’s, Augustana’s)- for every Tyrese Hunter that is a Top 100 kid, there are 8-10 kids that could land in any one of those levels.

BTW, Martin Bros does not charge kids a penny- no fee, no hotel costs, team takes a bus to all tournaments- only cost is their food/spending money. That is the exception rather than the rule among AAU programs but it is a fact.

And I would argue, without being able to back it up but just based off my limited experience, for every 8-10 kids that land in those levels, there's 16-20 that don't sniff a full ride offer.

I absolutely do not fault a kid for wanting to have fun and play with their friends. But I also think there's a strong possibility that is not usually what is happening. I also think kids focusing on one sport at younger and younger ages is beyond stupid.

 

[Rabbuk]

I have no dog in the fight but I feel like that tweet is just a heads up to potential college coaches who might be trying to see him play and also not draw attention to the fact that he may not be fully committed to basketball which may be a red flag to college coaches recruiting him. I get why people don't love the tweet though definitely could be read as dragging the kid.

 

[Mick Mars]

And I would argue, without being able to back it up but just based off my limited experience, for every 8-10 kids that land in those levels, there's 16-20 that don't sniff a full ride offer.

I absolutely do not fault a kid for wanting to have fun and play with their friends. But I also think there's a strong possibility that is not usually what is happening. I also think kids focusing on one sport at younger and younger ages is beyond stupid.

The post I responded to said, “ unless you’re DI, AAU is just something to throw money at…” and “all you have to do is fill out the Recruit Me form”. I can promise you, DII’s aren’t signing kids off their recruit me forms.
And who said anything about kids focusing on one sport at younger ages- even so, mine focused on basketball after 7th grade, with no regrets to this day- it was his choice. It’s also the reality at many 4A schools, unless you are just an elite level athlete.

 

[ISUTex]

We had a family in the district that I teach in, they open enrolled their two oldest into our district, and took the two girls up to Ankeny for years playing AAU basketball, 80 miles each way for years. They traveled all over the Midwest going to tournaments for years, once the girls got old enough to drive they drove it themselves through out high school. I am sure their two younger kids still do it.
Thousands of dollars spent, and what did they get out of it, the oldest daughter last time I heard was playing at Grandview, the middle daughter will not get a scholarship, everyone I talked too says the younger two kids a boy and girl are the best athletes, so maybe one of them will, but its a lot of time and money spent really for nothing.

'

Some families just enjoy it, and their kids enjoy playing. No different than spending thousands of dollars on show calves every year. Or spending how much on hunting and fishing ever year? A lot of parents have delusional fantasies about their kid's future, sure, but many just love watching their kids play, and enjoy the company of other parents.

 

[Gunnerclone]

'

Some families just enjoy it, and their kids enjoy playing. No different than spending thousands of dollars on show calves every year. Or spending how much on hunting and fishing ever year? A lot of parents have delusional fantasies about their kid's future, sure, but many just love watching their kids play, and enjoy the company of other parents.

Seriously???

 

[Clonefan32]

Just a thought to ponder….

There might be some kids that play AAU ball for programs that don’t cost nearly as much as the top tier programs and have really no plans to play college basketball. Could be that it’s a really fun experience to travel around the country with a group of guys they really enjoy hanging out with and playing a game that’s a lot of fun. They might say the memories are pretty awesome and they’d do it again.

Is there awful components of AAU. Absolutely. Throwing every program out because they aren’t churning out D1 players is ignorant of why a lot of the kids are there.

Speaking of which anyone know what Martin Brothers charges a kid?

I do think there's a tipping point where parents become delusional, but I completely agree. You can be willing to pay for your kid to have a chance to play a sport, make friends from another community, stay active, travel to some cool places, etc. without having some grandiose dreams about their future at the next level. People spend their money on way dumber **** than an activity for your kid.

 

[ruflosn]

Seriously???

MILF's

 

[cyclonespiker33]

Seriously???

Some of the parents of players I coach are fun as heck. Others, not so much.

 

[TexCyted]

Both of my daughters play on AAU teams, one plays basketball and the other volleyball. They also both play 4 sports for their school. We make sure that the club does not get in the way of their school sports. Both of them recognize that they are probably not D1 athletes. They love to play, comptete and meet new people. Learning to network is huge for kids. We started sending them as middle school students mainly to get in extra work and some solid coaching. MS coaching and most HS coaching is subpar at best. Not to mention practicing an hour or so per day during a 10 week season is just not enough for most athletes to get better. Learning the game came much quicker at the AAU level. We budget about $3k per year for their sports. It is definately more than just the sport to us. It is just too bad that so many adults ruin the experience for the kids. We have conidered pulling them after several tourneys due to parents on our team and opposing teams. We always talk ourselves out of it because the kids love it so much and they learn an awful lot about things that are not sports related.

I have not been around Iowa in several years to know much about how MB has changed. I do know that several very respectable people in my life have children still playing for that organization. I doubt that any of them would send there kids into an ugly situation.

 

[Tre4ISU]

I highly, highly doubt this had to do simply with baseball.

 

[GrindingAway]

Seriously???

While I generally am aligned with you on this I did have one basketball tournament my kid played in the same bracket as Ving Rhames son and I talked to him several times through the day which was kind of cool

 

[CapnCy]

I’ll disagree- my son had three DII offers and chose a school that was full ride, $40,000 per year for 4 years. Free education, chance to play a sport he loved, and a ton of great memories from the AAU years. Now, he put a ton of work in- he is a gym rat- but he would have never had that opportunity without his AAU program (not Martin Bros or Barnstormers). He also understood those were the bulk of his vacation trips for 3 years of HS- but Vegas, Dallas, KC, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, etc with guys he still stays in touch with was what he wanted. Played WITH and competed AGAINST guys you watch on tv every night- NBA and DI. School he signed with is in one of the two best DII leagues in the country- former DI guys throughout the league. So the less than $12,000 we spent in three years were a value considering a $160,000 scholly that came from it.

Granted, some AAU programs are a money grab- his program only had one team per age level so that was not the case for us. When you see three and four teams per level, that’s what you get. And there are plenty of parents who live the false dream of scholarships. But to blanket all kids who aren’t at the DI level as wasting their $$ is inaccurate- there are a lot of kids that fall in a category of some DI interest, DII offers, and high level DIII (Platteville’s, Augustana’s)- for every Tyrese Hunter that is a Top 100 kid, there are 8-10 kids that could land in any one of those levels.

BTW, Martin Bros does not charge kids a penny- no fee, no hotel costs, team takes a bus to all tournaments- only cost is their food/spending money. That is the exception rather than the rule among AAU programs but it is a fact.

Appreciate your perspective on this......i have had coworkers with kids that played AAU ball and got college schollys and i think you nailed it....for some it is to get the scholly and the math sometimes adds up, sometimes doesn't..but the family embraced the travel, time with other families, etc. and it was their social group for several years. There are many youth activities that we pay lots for (band lessons, dance lessons, etc) that never "gain" anything in terms of scholarships or even skillsets that are used later.

I think what is tricky is what you shared...the parents that truly think this is how their kid becomes the next Fred Hoiberg and enrolls them in AAU stuff when they are super young and they kid is burnt out by 8th grade (granted, skills may be better than not doing that route, could have also played city league, school, etc and if they get to 8th grade and do good, then consider more intense options)

 

[Drew0311]

AAU and club sports get a bad rap. However, my daughter plays club soccer and it’s the best. No high school politics. If you don’t like a coach you can move programs. She don’t even play high school sports because the coaches all think they are awesome and small town politics ruin it. I love club soccer. Sure it costs money but if
You are good you play. If you are not as good there is a team and a level for that also. It’s not always about playing college sports

 

[BryceC]

I don’t have a problem with club sports except it seems to just hollow out the middle. For example, my kids play club basketball through a very chill club and it only costs 250.00 for the whole season. But we’ve played teams that are spending like 2,500.00 for the season (for second graders!) that are only marginally better than ours. It’s basically sucked the life out of Little league and other youth leagues in a lot of places. It just seems like we are only producing hard core leagues or super casual leagues where kids are running the wrong way and DGAF.

I wish there was some middle ground of people that want to go out and be competitive and play hard without having 4 practices a week and want you to specialize.

 

[CyTwins]

 

[isufbcurt]

tweet is gone

 

[CyTwins]

tweet is gone

It said “IOWA is here to watch us today. THANKS FRAN!”

 

[qwerty]

Some families just enjoy it, and their kids enjoy playing. No different than spending thousands of dollars on show calves every year. Or spending how much on hunting and fishing ever year? A lot of parents have delusional fantasies about their kid's future, sure, but many just love watching their kids play, and enjoy the company of other parents.

MILF's

 

[Rabbuk]

I don’t have a problem with club sports except it seems to just hollow out the middle. For example, my kids play club basketball through a very chill club and it only costs 250.00 for the whole season. But we’ve played teams that are spending like 2,500.00 for the season (for second graders!) that are only marginally better than ours. It’s basically sucked the life out of Little league and other youth leagues in a lot of places. It just seems like we are only producing hard core leagues or super casual leagues where kids are running the wrong way and DGAF.

I wish there was some middle ground of people that want to go out and be competitive and play hard without having 4 practices a week and want you to specialize.

Growing up in both Chicago and cedar rapids we had church leagues that kind of fit this middle ground description. I wasn't even a church goer post leaving Chicago but still played on a team here. Not sure if they still exist or if that's a rare type of league.

 

[BCClone]

Growing up in both Chicago and cedar rapids we had church leagues that kind of fit this middle ground description. I wasn't even a church goer post leaving Chicago but still played on a team here. Not sure if they still exist or if that's a rare type of league.

The clubs now are basically a recruiting arm. We want skills training for our kids but it’s hard to do since so much or their skills is as a group and most of it turns into working in plays and other things team related. The politics of those clubs is crazy also. Know a guy who spent tens of thousands on his kids and they are now playing NAIA and D2 ball. They got scholarships that probably pay back most of what was spent, but are schools I know they wouldn’t be at if it wasn’t for playing basketball.