I agree, it is about time that an organization take control. I think this is really what club basketball need. I hope this will help young people get to the next level. In our organization, we don't worry about winning, ore so preparing these young men and women to be positive people in the community. I hope this will help some of those small organization that do not have the shoe company backing to get their players some academic help, and some athletic exposure.
From what I hear, they are going to try and help everyone. My man know some of the board members and I'm told for the 1st year they want to concentrate on improving academic awareness and making sure all the teams follow the rules.
There is a definite need for some form of governance for youth basketball in America. We cannot leave it up to the self serving organizations that are making several million dollars a year to govern themselves. For all those coaches who are trying to do the right thing for their players, I hope this new organization will address the shortcoming of player development and academic achievement. I have been involved in youth sports for over 20 years and I have seen a big change in the attitude of summer and travel programs to reward kids for not playing according to their age.
Collectively, we need to clean-up this abusive act of "Grade Exceptions" and force players and teams to play by a different...age and not grade. If thie organization's main purpose is too create another financial venture with little substance, then I think we need to proceed with caution before joining with membership. There isn't enough information to warrant the upfront cost of membership without knowing the benefits or efficacy of this new organization.
This comes from a perspective of one who has been involved for many years at the grassroots level and have seen fads come and go! Let's do the right thing by the youth.
I have been bringing players to exposure tournaments for the last two seasons from CANADA and it has been very exciting for all of the players and staff involved. I think this is a great way to get everybody on the same page and hopefully this will benefit all organizations looking to take their players to the next level. As for the teams with the major sponsorships we also need to help the smaller organizations the resources to be able to give their players the exposure that will benefit them.
