When did dudes that werent freaks get these opportunities? The two that instantly come to mind for me (I know there are more) are KG and Bron...both certified freaks of nature.
Is basketball now a sport for the rich? Half players have a pro athlete parent
- Thread starter jilla82
- Start date
If you played a sport at a high level, you are ahead of a lot of other parents because you can work with your kids and pass down instruction and skills that you are familiar with.
Now, imagine a father or mother who never played a lick of anything trying to get their kid into something? They don't know where to even start besides the entry level leagues at the park district/elementary school
Then they're only getting practice time in like once a week and then playing a game. Nothing outside of that. If you've played, you can just get to it at the crib at any time. You can take them to the park or court and pour into them. This is why I believe sport can be utilized as a career even if you don't make it pro.
Coaching and instruction is valuable and good instruction is something that people will willingly pay for access to.
Now, imagine a father or mother who never played a lick of anything trying to get their kid into something? They don't know where to even start besides the entry level leagues at the park district/elementary school
Then they're only getting practice time in like once a week and then playing a game. Nothing outside of that. If you've played, you can just get to it at the crib at any time. You can take them to the park or court and pour into them. This is why I believe sport can be utilized as a career even if you don't make it pro.
Coaching and instruction is valuable and good instruction is something that people will willingly pay for access to.
HandyWithTheSteel
Superstar
Be surprised that pro athletes give birth to athletic children brehs.
That's what I'm saying, those dudes always got opportunities and will continue to, Its the not so physically gifted dudes that will now miss out on getting the skills they need to compete at that age.
MajesticLion
Veteran
One thing money will always do is find ways to secure itself via consistency of product + gatekeeping.
- a steady rise in ever-higher entry costs to training expertise and facilities
- a steady decline in public facilities(pick any city you can think of, how many public ball courts were there in the 80s-90s versus today?)
- A disturbingly steady rise in hack coaches who put together training camps just to make money...leaving kids poorly trained in fundamentals, or not enhance their natural talents in any way
- the steady rise in brain drain, where talented coaches are lured away from poorer communities to go train the children of rich people...who have little if any natural talent
At best you end up with a soulless machine churning out physically fit, nutritionally coddled, technically aware players who have been mostly stripped of all joy in playing because it's become all by rote. And worse, those children go on to become coaches themselves or sport administrators. The entire setup is now a career/lifestyle maintenance scheme and very little to do with sport.
- a steady rise in ever-higher entry costs to training expertise and facilities
- a steady decline in public facilities(pick any city you can think of, how many public ball courts were there in the 80s-90s versus today?)
- A disturbingly steady rise in hack coaches who put together training camps just to make money...leaving kids poorly trained in fundamentals, or not enhance their natural talents in any way
- the steady rise in brain drain, where talented coaches are lured away from poorer communities to go train the children of rich people...who have little if any natural talent
At best you end up with a soulless machine churning out physically fit, nutritionally coddled, technically aware players who have been mostly stripped of all joy in playing because it's become all by rote. And worse, those children go on to become coaches themselves or sport administrators. The entire setup is now a career/lifestyle maintenance scheme and very little to do with sport.
This besides genetics it’s the most important factor imo. It just so happens that financial resources often correlate with the above. But if you’re good, someone is going to invite you to a team. It happened to me. (Well it’s not that I was crazy savant-like, I was just tall and very athletic with a natural feel and crazy motor/competitiveness/defence). The issue was I had nobody taking me under their wing. My family was a mess (absent father, very sick mother, no extended family or family friends) and was very isolated from any community supports.Giannis, Jokic and Embiid. MVP level is still for the people
But yea having people very involved in your life with the determination, knowledge and or contacts to give you all that’s needed is an obvious advantage. Doesn’t even need to be your parents, can be an uncle, family friend or as in Embiid a case an nba player putting on for his community
And now that I’m dating someone who was/is an elite athlete, and who grew up with the resources (time, financial, parents who were athletes and knew how to navigate the system, supportive/functional family, etc.) I’m realizing just how much of making it comes down to privilege. Granted, she’s also a beast of an athlete. Still, what’s hard to swallow is she sees me play men’s league ball as an older breh who is more athletic than 95% of the brehs 20 years younger than me and lets me know I could have made it too had my upbringing accommodated for it. She is also comfortable acknowledging that a large reason she made it is privilege, especially since she saw so many elite players have to drop out in high school and college because of lack of resources or fukked up upbringings.
Of course there are outliers, but privilege is one of if not the biggest factors in making it as an athlete or in any skilled profession. Otherwise you need a lot of luck (right people, right time) and to be wildly gifted. Both. And that combo is rare.
After genetics, it’s mostly having the privilege to afford training and the privilege of having adults around who are invested in you, have the time to drive you around, and won’t fukk up your future with bad decisions.
YakSpiller
Veteran
How much is it to get your kid into AAU basketball?
Just curious.
Is there other options when it comes to youth basketball? or is AAU the only way for them to play team basketball outside of school.
Bingo
My son plays 16U in Jersey. Team fees were like 1500. They also travel so travel costs are incurred, plus they're gonna tax you going to the games, it's like $50 for a two day pass.
For higher level play, it's kinda the only game in town. Open runs in the town can only take you so far; iron sharpens iron and all that
Having a two parent household that generates a high income is going to give you the best chance to succeed in literally anything. Not even sure how it would be news or even need to be spoken about.
2 parents households have been mentioned several times over...
yes... an intact family is paramount..
but within these networks of legacies of stability and success they have single parent households as well....and those classic single parent tropes dont apply in those environments ... a household ran by a white woman and none of the children have any college debt type shyt
these processes extend well beyond the so called nuclear family...
yes... an intact family is paramount..
but within these networks of legacies of stability and success they have single parent households as well....and those classic single parent tropes dont apply in those environments ... a household ran by a white woman and none of the children have any college debt type shyt
these processes extend well beyond the so called nuclear family...
Of course.
But I think the point being made is that basketball used to be filled with players that honed their game by playing a ton of pickup ball in the hood or at regular high schools. This made it possible for kids with less privilege to participate and rise up the ranks. This structure just doesn’t exist anymore.
I was just looking at some local collegiate rosters in my region, schools that are far from high level college hoops, and yet everyone on these rosters played AAU, prep school, or at an international academy… and none of these guys are sniffing the NBA.
Now imagine a kid below 6’6 who doesn’t have the resources. There’s almost no avenue for them to make it whereas before if you were good enough at your local high school you’d at least get a look at a scholarship.
I can tell you’re plugged in and been around it breh. You get it. Me too. I have multiple family members who never made it to D1 or beyond despite having the talent. People who actually were selected to programs based on that talent but had crash out or plain dumb ass parents who didn’t know how to support them properly to get to the next level. I have so many stories.
Trojan 24
Veteran
Ant gotta get this one for the trenches 