Class A girls basketball.....wow
- Thread starter Claud-Henry Smoot
- Start date
I actually think my school started girl’s basketball in 1976. Even then, there weren’t blowouts like that on the boy’s side.
I'll add to #2, baseball specifically. I'm guessing "Select" used to actually mean a select few kids / teams playing higher level ball. Now it's "who wants to fork over $2,200 - $3,000 to be on a select team" and you're in.
I believe for 2026 there are 65 "select" 10u baseball teams in Nebraska. That includes AA, AAA and Majors level play (not including "A" level).
So, many of youth are on a "select team" now, but most won't play once they get into HS. Which is fine, but then what's the point of dropping that kind of coin every year from ages 9-14?
This is SOOOO true!
Once there is more than one select team, it is not select anymore. Parents just throw money at those teams.
People are like "Oh my gosh, how will timmy play HS ball if he isnt on a select team"
One of the coaches at my school, who has tons of state championships, has parents come up all the time asking "when should my kid start with your sport full time" or "when should my kid join select"
The coach tells them "They don't need to, just have them play lots of sports and when they get here we will work with them"
The parents act shocked.
It certainly is in softball. You ever watched a rec softball game? Pitchers are throwing 30 miles an hour. They're two completely different games. Other than someone with extremely high natural ability (I can think of one girl who only played rec who could probably have done it), expecting to go from rec to playing high school ball is extremely unlikely.
I think the point is that average kids are now playing select ball and those parents think their kid now has a chance to play HS ball. They don't.
Now, playing select ball has made those kids better than if they stayed at rec ball, but they're still average.
And the only reason why they're better is because they're practicing & playing way more through the select route than rec. The coaching isn't any better, its still a bunch of dad's coaching, getting their drills off of YouTube.
Practicing & playing more in one sport, while it does make them better in that sport, can have it's drawbacks. Playing fewer other sports, not spending time with friends away from practice/games. Means fewer sleepovers, swimming, family time, additional costs, etc.
As the great Don Nelson would say: if you want your son to play select baseball, there is a coach/team out there somewhere that will be happy to take your money. Whether your kid plays or not is another story.
There are definitely two types of select teams. Actual select teams that have tryouts and pick the players they think will make the best team. Or the wannabe teams where a coach will put together a team of his son and his friends sons and try to recruit a few of the better players they can find from in-house teams.
There are definitely two types of select teams. Actual select teams that have tryouts and pick the players they think will make the best team. Or the wannabe teams where a coach will put together a team of his son and his friends sons and try to recruit a few of the better players they can find from in-house teams.
But it isn't. Softball was around forever before select softball was around and kids made the HS team and things were just fine.
The only difference is the acceleration of it. Before you played rec softball, you went on to play HS softball and it was all fine. Now instead of getting "cut" junior year, you get "cut" before freshmen year.
I agree with you here regardless of what the local "experts" will tell you.
Kids are way better now than when we were kids. I don't think it's even close. There are also way more kids playing a sport like softball. Sure, it was easy to make the high school team then. They probably didn't even need to cut anyone as a freshman because they had 15 girls try out total. Now they probably have at least double that. And your point about now they cut you before freshman year, basically affirms my point. If you want to play high school softball, you're going to have to play select growing up.
They are not better. I have been coaching for 30 years. Football, baseball, wrestling, basketball, There is not a difference, especially not by junior and senior year.
You don't need to play select growing up, that is the point, parents think you do but by the time you get to junior year, everyone is pretty much the same again.
All the girls that get cut now, guess what, they all played select softball. The only difference is that they wasted a ton of time and money. The softball team still only keeps 15 players. If they all just played rec ball, it would still be the same people making the team WITHOUT that huge waste of time and money.
Remember THE EXACT SAME AMOUNT OF GIRLS MAKE THE SOFTBALL TEAM TODAY AS BACK 30 YEARS AGO.
So all those girls are still getting cut.
Kids definitely are better. The best 12u team from today would beat the hell out of the best 12u team from 30 years ago.
Let's say you played select and now you're the 10th best player at a Class A high school. What do you think the chances of you being in the top 15 would be if you had played rec? The answer is 0.
Let's say you played select and now you're the 10th best player at a Class A high school. What do you think the chances of you being in the top 15 would be if you had played rec? The answer is 0.
In the town I live in the kids play in select tournaments all over but they play as the school team no outsiders just the boys and girls that are on the team. Some tournaments go better than others obviously but they get better because they are playing against good players but they also improve as a TEAM because they are playing with the kids they will play with during the season.
Sure, that makes sense.
One thing I find sad is when a kid has played 90 baseball games a summer since he was 9 years old and then ends up hating baseball by the time he is 16.
Yep or the kids that could go on and play in college but are completely burned out because of all the games they have played since they were 8-9 years old.
As usual, even though adults love to say "Kids these days" just never seem to understand that they, they adults, are the ones that ruin this ****.
I used to really see when I coached FB. There would always be 2-3 freshmen kids that just kicked ***, why? Not because they "practiced more", but because they hit puberty first and they were 5'8. Then senior year those kids were no longer playing because they were still 5'8 and 135 pounds.
I tell my players (and all my students) to play as many sports as they possibly can. I tell them you have 4 years to do high school and that there is not a "go back" button, so try everything the school has to offer, even if you are not sure if you will like it. Go out for a play, for the musical, try new stuff.
You get 4 years to make memories, to have fun, you will remember the bus rides to a game more than you will anything else. Before you know it, you will be an old person typing away on a message board talking about the good times and bragging about fake stuff and trying to change peoples minds on politics.
I have never once made lifting mandatory and I never would. But the weight room is (almost) always open. I have never once made a summer camp mandatory.
All I ask is that during the season, you don't miss practice unless something comes up.
What they do in the off season is up to them. Work, play other sports, hit the pool, take a summer class, workout, chill, be a freaking kid. It is all gone after high school.
I have so many really good players at my school that say "Yeah, I got an offer to play at (insert name of some small lame college here) but I just want to be a regular college student so I am going to UNL or CU or whatever"
Now, let me say this. If the kid wants to do one sport and select/club, that is awesome. Good for them!
I think it can be a mistake for them but that is okay.
If it is the parent that is pushing it, well, like I said, parents ruin stuff all the time. And if your select/club coach tells your kid they have to choose between the select team or their HS team and you keep that kid on the select team, you are a huge problem too. And so is that select coach.
I think it can be a mistake for them but that is okay.
If it is the parent that is pushing it, well, like I said, parents ruin stuff all the time. And if your select/club coach tells your kid they have to choose between the select team or their HS team and you keep that kid on the select team, you are a huge problem too. And so is that select coach.
That is good!
Most are pretty normal people. There are some, like in anything else, that ruin it for everyone though.
When there was no select ball, all those talented kids played rec. Therefore, in rec, you were playing against and with much better players. Rec ball now is terrible because all average players and above are all in select. It really isn't hard to understand.
EXACTLY! Thank you!
This is what (some crazy) parents don't understand.
The only difference now is you pay 3,000 dollars instead of 30 dollars...and you get 3 different uniforms instead of one.
And really, rec ball isn't even terrible.
Sure, if you take the 2 best players from five HS basketball teams, that team will probably beat those 5 teams that you just took the two best players from.
But is that really "competitive" now? No.
It is like back in gym class when you would pick teams. The first captain would pick the best player, the next captain would pick the next best players and so on...so that the teams were competitive.
This isn't the agreement you think it is. Yes, if all select/showcase ball was banned, everyone would play rec and therefore rec play would be better by default, sure. However, top players would not progess as they are today. It is downright dangerous to put a top player on the field with kids that can't catch. This affects their play as well as what you can coach and practice.
You pay select prices for better coaching, more time commitment, and higher competition. If you don't get that you chose the wrong organization.
That is why select teams focus on select tournaments, to avoid playing school teams when they can.
It is an agreement.
You don't get "better coaching", to be honest, most people would have no clue what good coaching looks like, you just know wins/losses and so you think that makes good coaching.
I have coached for 30 years. The players today are not progressing better. They are the same and they are all exactly the same by about junior year.
The fact that you are calling it showcase is good stuff though. Those "college showcase" tournaments are really a big deal...
I am a coach, and a damn good one. I do know what I am talking about. I don't chase wins. If my teams go 5-0 with 4 run rules in a weekend, I am upset because that was a bad tournament and we likely didn't get better. I chase and teach individual skill development and team fundamentals. In rec, I couldn't teach 75% of the things I teach my teams because it is above most rec kids heads and abilities. Frankly, rec kids would get hurt because they can't catch or field, so I have to dumb down what I coach and teach. Your top 25-50% ability kids would absolutely suffer by playing with the bottom 50%.It is an agreement.
You don't get "better coaching", to be honest, most people would have no clue what good coaching looks like, you just know wins/losses and so you think that makes good coaching.
I have coached for 30 years. The players today are not progressing better. They are the same and they are all exactly the same by about junior year.
The fact that you are calling it showcase is good stuff though. Those "college showcase" tournaments are really a big deal...
BTW, "showcase" is the generally accepted term for organized, non-legion, baseball/softball after they age out of USSSA. You should probably know that, given your experience. I have not mentioned nor am I talking about the positives and negatives of "college showcase tournaments".
There you have it folks...
Nothing like a "damn good coach" that can't coach kids because those kids aren't "good enough" when they get to him.
Hey coach, that is coaching.
Nothing like a "damn good coach" that can't coach kids because those kids aren't "good enough" when they get to him.
Hey coach, that is coaching.
I'm sorry, but if weighlifting isn't part of your program and development, you are absolutely not doing your job as a coach.
Don't be sorry.
I just don't make it mandatory. I would rather have more kids out for my teams instead of trying to punish kids for doing other things. Nothing like "Well, you missed 2 days of lifting so you are off the team"
I don't care that you work a part time job, that you help at home, and that your grandma just died, rules are rules!
Good try. I didn't say I couldn't/wouldn't coach them...I coached hundreds of kids of all levels and abilities, elite to kids that bought their first glove from Wal Mart on the way to the first practice. What I I said was that I would change what I coach and how I coach it, based upon their abilities (THAT is what good coaches do). I wouldn't coach how to dunk to unathletic kids that are 5'5".
What does it matter where they got their glove from?
And who spends time in practice teaching how to dunk?
Seriously...what the hell are you talking about? When did I say anything about any of those situations? Please focus on my words and don't make stuff up...conversations go better when you do so.
You are right, I'm not sorry for what I said. If weights are not a significant part of your program, organized, planned, and tailored to each kid, you are letting your players down. "Weightroom is open if you want to come" isn't a plan.