Is it even possible these days to have successful H.S. careers in basketball, volleyball, wrestling, and baseball without spending $$?

[Axl_sued_me]

Not sure if this is the right section since this is not really football related. But we know for a H.S. athlete to even get to sniff any kind of athletic scholarship, they have to have success at their H.S. career. I have noticed all of these AAU, and traveling programs that really were not so abundant when I was a kid. And H.S. teams are recruiting from these programs. In fact, there is one school that comes to mind in Omaha who's assistant coach coaches one of these AAU teams and then tries hard to bring that entire 8th grade team to the H.S. that he coaches. A friend of mine paid literally thousands during her daughter's 7th and 8th grade year to play on a travelling volleyball team. It did pay off for her because her freshman year, she lettered on Varsity.

I understand that the more you play at a high competition level, the more you set yourself up for success at the next level. But is there any way around spending thousands to play at a high level or to get noticed by H.S. coaches?

 

[SouthLincoln Husker]

Not sure if this is the right section since this is not really football related. But we know for a H.S. athlete to even get to sniff any kind of athletic scholarship, they have to have success at their H.S. career. I have noticed all of these AAU, and traveling programs that really were not so abundant when I was a kid. And H.S. teams are recruiting from these programs. In fact, there is one school that comes to mind in Omaha who's assistant coach coaches one of these AAU teams and then tries hard to bring that entire 8th grade team to the H.S. that he coaches. A friend of mine paid literally thousands during her daughter's 7th and 8th grade year to play on a travelling volleyball team. It did pay off for her because her freshman year, she lettered on Varsity.

I understand that the more you play at a high competition level, the more you set yourself up for success at the next level. But is there any way around spending thousands to play at a high level or to get noticed by H.S. coaches? The only sport that I could see would be track! My son got a track scholarship. He put the time in himself and we paid for off season entry fees (min. expense).

Due to HS politics, you will see more coaches following AAU more than HS. A friend of mine's daughter was sitting the bench on the HS team, but because AAU she got a DII scholarship. It was higher offer than the other Sr. who started on varsity.

 

[Axl_sued_me]

Not sure if this is the right section since this is not really football related. But we know for a H.S. athlete to even get to sniff any kind of athletic scholarship, they have to have success at their H.S. career. I have noticed all of these AAU, and traveling programs that really were not so abundant when I was a kid. And H.S. teams are recruiting from these programs. In fact, there is one school that comes to mind in Omaha who's assistant coach coaches one of these AAU teams and then tries hard to bring that entire 8th grade team to the H.S. that he coaches. A friend of mine paid literally thousands during her daughter's 7th and 8th grade year to play on a travelling volleyball team. It did pay off for her because her freshman year, she lettered on Varsity.

I understand that the more you play at a high competition level, the more you set yourself up for success at the next level. But is there any way around spending thousands to play at a high level or to get noticed by H.S. coaches? The only sport that I could see would be track! My son got a track scholarship. He put the time in himself and we paid for off season entry fees (min. expense).

Due to HS politics, you will see more coaches following AAU more than HS. A friend of mine's daughter was sitting the bench on the HS team, but because AAU she got a DII scholarship. It was higher offer than the other Sr. who started on varsity.

Basketball?

 

[Landlord]

I would guess football is probably the easiest sport for that to be possible in. There's not much that exists for 'club' football out of season like there is for basketball/volleyball/etc.

There's 7 on 7 teams and camps, but that's about it afaik.

 

[BigRedBuster]

My son tried out for an AAU basketball team. I found the entire thing slimy.

They didn't know my kid not had they even seen him play and they were guaranteeing us that they could get him a scholarship. We would have been traveling to Minneapolis, Chicago, Denver, Nashville....etc.

He hadn't even played one minute of HS ball.

I talked to one player after later and he said they got very little actual coaching.

I'm not a fan of most club sports. To me,there's when it goes way over the top and out of hand.

And, yes, some HS (parochial) use them for recruiting which is a crock. I've seen that first hand in volleyball.

 

[In the Deed the Glory]

I am beginning my second season the head girls basketball coach at Burke. Before that I coached on the boys side for years.

Making without AAU to college isn't Unheard of. It is possible, but difficult. Really good players will find offers and the best players find themselves with many opportunities. Too many AAU programs don't emphasize fundamentals. We have to reteach all of this every season. There are some really good programs around, you just have to know where to go.

 

[HuskerInLostWages]

Just like anything else, you have to make yourself seen. These traveling teams get around and make names for themselves and when they come to town coaches know which teams normally have and what coaches are good at bringing in talent to their traveling teams. I played soccer and made a couple weeks into ODP (Olympic Development training) and then my parents couldn't afford to go any further as it started being around 4-5k a month. I finally just stopped doing those programs and moved strictly to traveling teams that played in CA, UT, AZ and CO and we'd have a tournament every other month or so and all within driving distance. During the time off, we'd play regular league together and do car washes and such to help team and parental expenses. It definitely was not easy to earn a scholarship playing HS and league sports but it paid out in the long run. Find a good semi traveling team that go to outside tourneys every so often and it wont cost as much, but it does add up over time. Another good thing to have in your corner is a HS coach who knows how to video games and does send out film to colleges.

 

[Stumpy1]

We go through AAU for wrestling. It is about the only route you can go when it comes to wrestling in national and high profile meets as you need to be an AAU member.

My middle son has been asked to join a couple "elite" wrestling clubs, which is exciting because they normally go to those meets as a team.