Front Office Football Central - View Single Post

hoopsguy · 04-06-2021, 08:26 PM

First spring tournament is coming up in Chicago-land area on 4/17 - 4/18. More to come in that in later posts

Most of the girls on AP's team were starters on varsity programs during their freshman year, with the most accomplished ones showing up as 2nd team / honorable mention on conference teams. I believe all of them have Twitter accounts at this point, which is where I've gathered some of the information. So, in a vacuum, that could be a little daunting for an 8th grader.

AP played a couple of winter tournaments with what I'll call a representative group of these girls. I'm using that phrase because those were more or less "games of opportunity" out of state while the high school season was on hold in Illinois. So when we travelled to Iowa and Indiana for games, it was literally 80%+ Illinois teams because the local kids were playing high school games. Also, given that there were no deposits to secure the spots on the team, the kids were more or less free agents. So some families got a chance to assess our roster, look around at other programs, and potential choose other options. While there is only one IL team in the EYBL, there are other highly competitive leagues. Historically the very high profile EYBL teams are the 16U and 17U teams ... 15U is not exactly an after-thought, but the perceived gaps between EYBL teams and other high-level traveling squads are not as great. Point is, I'm guessing we'll see mostly the same group, but maybe 2-3 new faces as a by-product of that unusual off-season.

Anyway, tangent aside, AP was able to hold her own playing with older girls at a higher level in the winter tournaments. Considering that she had only played at her age group with her old club team, this was a concern. Before making the move, we had discussions about playing time and about long-term goals ... we did not want her to be miserable if her playing time was a fraction of what she had become accustomed to. And while the first weekend of games felt more like an "even playing time" approach up and down the roster, the next two tournaments were more serious and roles started to emerge.

AP is about 5'6", pretty muscular and uncommonly athletic. She has real short-term burst and a good vertical. At age twelve she measured nearly 20" for her vertical and had the top score on broad jump. She makes the "oooh" plays and I do not think that is just my dad goggles kicking in for that observation. On her junior high school team and other travel teams, she played wherever she was most needed - press-breaker, post-up player, drive-and-kick, eraser near the basket. On this team, that role had shifted to defensive swiss army knife, taking on individual assignments and help roles with aplomb. As her dad, I would love to see her get more point guard reps because she is a good passer and normally an excellent ball-handler, particularly in open court. But on this team, she is often playing more of a 3D forward role, running good pick-and-roll actions and letting teammates who need shots to get going have their chances. She was getting good minutes and part of the closing lineups in tight games. The coaches love her effort level and work ethic. So that is the initial scouting report and the EYBL winter recap, which takes us through January 2021.

04-06-2021, 08:26 PM	#3
hoopsguy General Manager Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Chicago	First spring tournament is coming up in Chicago-land area on 4/17 - 4/18. More to come in that in later posts Most of the girls on AP's team were starters on varsity programs during their freshman year, with the most accomplished ones showing up as 2nd team / honorable mention on conference teams. I believe all of them have Twitter accounts at this point, which is where I've gathered some of the information. So, in a vacuum, that could be a little daunting for an 8th grader. AP played a couple of winter tournaments with what I'll call a representative group of these girls. I'm using that phrase because those were more or less "games of opportunity" out of state while the high school season was on hold in Illinois. So when we travelled to Iowa and Indiana for games, it was literally 80%+ Illinois teams because the local kids were playing high school games. Also, given that there were no deposits to secure the spots on the team, the kids were more or less free agents. So some families got a chance to assess our roster, look around at other programs, and potential choose other options. While there is only one IL team in the EYBL, there are other highly competitive leagues. Historically the very high profile EYBL teams are the 16U and 17U teams ... 15U is not exactly an after-thought, but the perceived gaps between EYBL teams and other high-level traveling squads are not as great. Point is, I'm guessing we'll see mostly the same group, but maybe 2-3 new faces as a by-product of that unusual off-season. Anyway, tangent aside, AP was able to hold her own playing with older girls at a higher level in the winter tournaments. Considering that she had only played at her age group with her old club team, this was a concern. Before making the move, we had discussions about playing time and about long-term goals ... we did not want her to be miserable if her playing time was a fraction of what she had become accustomed to. And while the first weekend of games felt more like an "even playing time" approach up and down the roster, the next two tournaments were more serious and roles started to emerge. AP is about 5'6", pretty muscular and uncommonly athletic. She has real short-term burst and a good vertical. At age twelve she measured nearly 20" for her vertical and had the top score on broad jump. She makes the "oooh" plays and I do not think that is just my dad goggles kicking in for that observation. On her junior high school team and other travel teams, she played wherever she was most needed - press-breaker, post-up player, drive-and-kick, eraser near the basket. On this team, that role had shifted to defensive swiss army knife, taking on individual assignments and help roles with aplomb. As her dad, I would love to see her get more point guard reps because she is a good passer and normally an excellent ball-handler, particularly in open court. But on this team, she is often playing more of a 3D forward role, running good pick-and-roll actions and letting teammates who need shots to get going have their chances. She was getting good minutes and part of the closing lineups in tight games. The coaches love her effort level and work ethic. So that is the initial scouting report and the EYBL winter recap, which takes us through January 2021.