What an elusive community the basketball world is where I live. That is probably why it is called a 'Club Sport,' and sadly they don't freely give out membership cards to belong. However, there have been clues dropped to help the regular Joe gain membership to one of the most exclusive clubs around. Perhaps, at this point, you are wondering why belonging is so important. From what I understand if your kid wants to play college basketball they are mostly recruited from a club team (aka travel team). Here is what I have figured out to be admitted to ThE cLUb...
1... Be wealthy, look rich and/or have an affluent sounding last name.
Be wealthy. This is a must! These club teams can drain a parent's pockets dry. I have no idea how all these NBA players can claim they came from a poor household with all the fees and dues that must be paid to play. This is a breakdown of the cost for one team:
$100 Monthly coaching fee
$ 80 Coach traveling fee per tournament (you can have as many as 3 tournaments in a month)
$ 50 Tournament fee for each tournament
$ 10 Daily entrance fee to watch your kid play, this is a per person charge
Maybe that doesn't sound too bad to you until you also add in the traveling expenses for your player and you, if you decide to tag along with your kid. Last summer during the NCAA open time we were on the road going to tournaments for the last three weeks of July. Being that I have three kiddos it ended up being our summer vacation; Anaheim to Vegas, back to Anaheim. That meant three weeks of hotels, eating out, and gas to all the games; thank goodness for the free breakfasts hotels offer. I know of a club team that charges a flat fee of approx $2800 each season per player. The flat charge covers the costs associated with the player and coaches, but not any cheering tag alongs. Once again, if you wanna cheer on your kid you will be paying a hefty cost.
Look rich and/or have an affluent name. Pretty obvious, the club (coach) knows what the expenses are and they don't want to have to be bill collectors. I have not heard of club/team/coach running credit reports, even though I wouldn't be surprised. So how else can they figure out who can truly cover all those expenses other than by superficial means? At the end of the day the coach has to be a bit of sleuth too.
2... Don't look or actually be black.
Yep, you read that one right. I cannot tell you how many coaches, trainers and parents have said to me, "Your kid is black, he has it easy." This statement is usually said with a shrug of the shoulder. Therefore to level the playing field they begrudge them an equal opportunity, at least that has been my experience. Also, the power holders where I live are white and in most instances power=money and money=being able to afford to play. By the way, I never claimed to be politically correct and I won't start now.
3... Be connected.
Where I reside being connected means belonging to the predominant religion. Again, the power holders out here are of a certain religion and power=money, and you get where this is going. Another way of being connected is to actually know someone who is part of the team. If you don't know someone your kid is more than likely not even going to get a real chance to tryout. Once a team posted in a blog that they were having an open gym (open gym means tryout in basketball talk). My friend and I took our boys hoping that they might actually get a chance to tryout. Instead we were met with weird looks and at the end of the session the coach told us to talk to his dad, but his dad wasn't there. We emailed the team and never got a response. I now realize we were TrYoUT CrAsHerS.
4... Have a mutantly TALL kid.
I cannot tell you how many times I have heard, "You can't teach tall." and luckily for my boys they are tall; my sophomore stands at 6'5" and my freshman is 6'2". This is what got one of my sons a chance to play on a club team last summer because we definitely don't fit into the top three. Sadly, there is usually a rich connected white kid who is just as tall or taller. That's what happened to my kid and we lost or probationary card.
5... Don't burn any bridges.
Well, this blog is sure to burn a few bridges and hopefully those burnt bridges will lead our way. Seriously, I have no idea what this means. Maybe I have already burnt a major bridge and because I am not part of the club I didn't even see the bridge I burned.
There are probably many more hoops that have to jumped through in order to make the club, but that is all my wee lil brain has noticed. This afternoon I spoke to a college coach who recounted some of the downfalls to club teams; they make the sport "political," it opens up the arena to unscrupulous coaches, and they make playing the sport very expensive. I guess that is a warning and clue all wrapped up in one.
Now, is there someone out there who can help me find and get the card, cloak and/or key?
No comments:
Post a Comment