You Made A Believer Out Of Me...

While this isn't my first AAU season, it is my first season being involved with the older players.  The difference is tremendous.  The difference in focus, understanding, and drive that the players had compared to my normal age group had my impressed with the teams the minute I walked into their first practices.  Not that my normal 12U teams weren't decent basketball players, but when you see people who've made the transition from multi-sport (3-4 sports) athletes to more focused (1-2 sport) athletes, it's like night and day.  That feeling has only been compounded by the trust these guys have put into their coach's schemes and strategies against top notch competition.  We've done a lot of traveling, many times departing before 7 am, and it's been an absolute pleasure for me because I'm just waiting to see what these guys will do next (if only I was that excited to be on the road that early for my real job).

To be completely honest, when I heard from one of the coaches during a tryout that we were going to be aiming for bids to the AAU National tournament, a part of me laughed and said, "No way."  Nothing against the players, but could we keep it together against faster stronger teams and not get embarrassed?  Could we endure runs that would threaten a victory during the last few minutes of a game without panicking and making it worse?  Could we keep our cool when physical teams "got in our grill?"  Shame on me for doubting...  But when the coaches told the players what the goal was that first week of practice, it made a believer out of me.   I was waiting to see the look of doubt when the coaches said "Nationals" to their teams.  Not even a blink.  Just a general consensus of "Okay coach.  What do we need to do?"  If you can look a 14 year old kid in the eyes, tell him/her a goal like that, and see no signs of doubt - it makes you rethink a lot of things, and I was a believer from then on.

To prepare for the Super Regional Tournament where bids would be awarded, the program was put into a lot of tournaments that pitted the teams against big time power houses in AAU basketball.  Nothing tests your will like playing the #1 ranked team in the country during your first tournament (14U faced DC Assault their second game of the season).  But the guys were not phased at all.  All the teams stepped up to the challenge very well, in most cases even frustrating these elite teams and playing them close for most of the game.  That was not enough to shake the boys.  They learned from it; those losses fueled them and explained what coaches were trying to teach that just had yet to sink in, and most importantly, brought them together.  They took it all in stride; the players grew, adjusted, and corrected several of the issues exposed in those games.

Last weekend was the first view of payoff from the tough schedule we put in front of our players.   Leaning on games where we played good basketball against teams like Maryland 3D, Cecil Kirk Basketball, and tournament wins against some stiff competition in the other tournaments we've been in, I watched out guys dominate early, endure runs that would make other teams panic and fold, and claw out of deficits to secure wins.    The confidence the boys had through it all wasn't even close to cocky - but you just felt like they understood and believed every word coming from their teammates and coaches without a shade of doubt that they could get the win.  It was an amazing feeling - and one heck of a birthday present for me.   While not every team was able to come away champions, I am sure I can speak for all the coaches when I say that we're proud of and impressed by what has taken place this season throughout the program.  While the job's not done just yet, there may just be a bad moon rising for anyone who doesn't come ready to play against the Wolfpack.

 

 

 

14U Lehigh Valley Super Regional Champions

15U Lehigh Valley Super Regional Champions