Blog Why do 6th graders need exposure?
October 21st, 2007I understand the purpose behind the big recruiting events and tournaments during the NCAA recruiting windows for high school players. I think changes can and should be made to the process, but I understand the motivation for players and college coaches. Basically, these are like giant try-outs for college teams.
Today, I saw this posted online:
ADIDAS Explosion Camp
Presented by First Step Basketball Academy and All West Hoop Report
Sunday November 11, 2007
11 am to 8 pm
Participation Fee: $85
Limited to 120 top Middle School players
6th to 8th grade
The #1 fall individual exposure event provides all participating players the opportunity to demonstrate their skills to all media expected to attend.
** Play Top Southern California Competition
** Get Evaluated by the West Coast’s and the Nation’s Top Scouts
** Each Player receives ADIDAS Explosion Jersey shirt
** Special All West Hoop Report Youth Rankings
**Special Hoopmasters Report
** Special ADIDAS Giveaways for contest winners
So, ADIDAS is offering Southern California middle schoolers the opportunity to pay more money to play pick-up games against the same players they play against every weekend in AAU Tournaments. And, the apparent reason is “to demonstrate their skills to all media expected to attend.” Why do sixth graders need to demonstrate anything? Sixth grade is developmental basketball, not performance. These kids should be learning the game, not trying to impress scouts.
I had a 6th grader a couple weeks ago ask how he could be rated in the top 100 players. I told him to practice, get better and worry about it five years from now when college recruiting begins to be important.
ADIDAS is now taking these camps to other countries and starting their PHENOM brand in other sports. Nobody talks anymore about Demetrius Walker, the “best” player on the “best AAU team ever.” His AAU coach started the phenom camps with ADIDAS and used Walker as the example. He was in SI, rated #1 in his class and the next, next LeBron. The message was clear: if you wanted to be next, next, next, the phenom camps were the way.
Walker is now entering his junior year and he is no longer in the top 250 players in the country. So, how important are those 6th grade rankings? What does it say about an organization that used a kid like a paid endorser and obviously has done little to help the player expand his game, as evidenced by his free fall from the rankings? Walker is no longer considered the “next, next LeBron;” instead, he can be the “next Schea Cotton,” a cautionary tale for those who get too invested in the early hype these premature exposure events create.
These are sixth graders. Why not use the resources to provide a training camp, an opportunity for the best players to train together and learn and develop skills from top coaches? That is what a sixth grader needs, not the opportunity to play in front of the media.
October 24th, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Coach, exposure events can be a useful tool for benchmarking and evaluation purposes.
If I were going to put a kid in a program that was rich in developmental content and light on competition, exposure events would be one way to measure progress.
October 24th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
This is just silly. I can’t imagine what good “exposure” does at that age. I saw an article one time where a 7th grader said he had to play all these events to maintain his ranking. So what if you’re the top ranked 7th grader? What does that do for you?
Every top ranked grade-schooler or middle-schooler I’ve ever heard of was 1) held back in school and thus older (you can be almost 14 and play in “12 and under” in AAU tourneys if you’ve been held back), and 2) physically mature for their age. You can’t tell anything until it all shakes out in a few years when everyone’s gone through puberty.
As my friend Bob Bigelow says, you can’t tell anything until after puberty. And I’ll add that you can’t tell anything until everyone else has gone through puberty too. Bob says he was just an average kid in 6th grade, yet after puberty he developed into a 6′7″ NBA player.
Can’t blame the folks that put on the event, they’re just making a living. Kinda like the modeling schools that sign up chubby 12 year old girls by telling them the school will launch them into a modeling career. No harm done.
Here’s a great article on the topic written a couple years ago:
http://scouthoops.scout.com/2/365369.html
It says it better than I could.
October 24th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
I could also point out that Dirk Nowitzki, Hakeem Olajuan, Allen Iverson, and Larry Bird didn’t even start playing basketball until they were in 8th grade or later and they turned out to be decent prospects.
October 25th, 2007 at 4:28 am
I don’t see why a 6th grader needs to compare himself against others. I like Jerome Green’s interview in the second edition about contrasting versus comparison.
At the hs level, I see the value of using an exposure event to supplement training, but not with middle schoolers.
I tell players and parents: “Use basketball, don’t let basketball use you.” If you go in with your eyes wide open, then more power to you if you want to spend the money for some pick-up games. However, the problem is the marketing makes people believe in the necessity of these events, which I do not see.
I would think a well-done competition camp with actual teaching and coaching could serve as a benchmark and evaluation. Unfortunately, few of these exist anymore because there is not the demand and the easy buck is to join with a scouting service and do an exposure showcase.
October 28th, 2007 at 8:45 am
The best suggestions and feedback my kid ever received were from a director of an exposure camp. After the camp, I solicited his comments regarding areas to improve, and to my surprise, he responded with a couple of paragraphs of praise and constructive criticism. He could’ve just as easily hit the “delete” key and my e-mail would have disappeared from his screen. A critique from the director of an exposure camp affiliated with one of those evil shoe companies. Who would have thought it? Got a little more than a few pickup games out of that camp…
In fact, let’s contrast THAT response with the comments and advice of an individual who represents himself as an advocate for youth sports. I was shocked hearing this individual’s low opinion of middle school girls basketball, saying it’s nothing more than a game of “hoist and shoot.” The advice he offered was that junior high girls might as well just focus on rebounding since so many shots are missed. With such a low opinion of the girls game, I got the feeling that if this individual had his way, girls would still be playing half-court, wearing skirts and shooting at a peach basket…