re: When did Camps, Travel Ball, AAU bc more important than High School??

I've got three kids: one graduated from college, one in college, and one in middle school.

In my location, one problem is that parents have their kids playing one sport, year round, by the time they are in middle school.

My oldest played basketball. AAU was required just to stay competitive with her middle school and high school peers. If she wanted high school team minutes, she had to play year round. Her peers also got private coaching, and that meant that I had to pay for private coaching. She was all-county and got some college offers, but she wanted to go to UGA, and they didn't offer.

At no point was I under the illusion that AAU was a method to fund college. I have relatives who played college ball at schools they would not have chosen to attend otherwise. It doesn't make sense to me to attend a college you wouldn't want to attend except that you get to play ball.

My oldest just wanted to develop and get better, so that's why she played AAU. She wanted to be a team leader, and she didn't want her peers to pass her up.

I do think that AAU got her the college offers. Every one of her recruiters had seen her play AAU, but they never said a word about watching her play high school ball.