Who here actually played school ball?

[Richesly]

Pretty much this.

No bull shit either.


I played ball in middle school and high school.

In middle school, I played the point but hardly ever got any playing time because I honestly wasn't good at anything. I don't even wanna talk about it haha.

The summer after 8th we had summer conditioning at the high school, so we got to lift weights. This is when my game started changing and I was becoming pretty athletic and fast. I also grew a couple inches and was 5'8 by freshmen year.

Freshmen year I was coming off the bench but grew a close relationship with the defensive coach.

Our practice was set up like this. You had a coach for footwork, defense, shooting drills, and dribbling.

You had to go to each coach for atleast 30 minutes, then if we didn't waste time and fool around you could spend rest of practice at the set of your choice.

I spent most of my time in footwork and defense. Although, I wasnt starting, I can say no one worked as hard as me at practice. I had some very good foot work and was probably the best defender on the team.

Main struggle my coaches wanted me to correct was my shooting. I never actually had my own form, I always shot differently. Mostly because I had trouble focusing when I had the ball in my hands and didn't focus on my shooting form.

Annoyed the coaches, so they forced me to spend the extra time at shooting drills. Nothing was working though, I never was able to mimic my form.

Turns out I had some performance anxiety, and whenever I was taking jumpers I would focus on hoping I don't miss, rather than focusing on the rim and my shot.

10th grade I finally started because how hard I worked on and off the court. Started on J.V and was always on call for varsity but they never needed me.

No one could drive by me. But I only ran a 4.8 in the 40 yd dash. So it was definitely me having amazing footwork and positioning.

11th grade was my best year. Got involved on the offense more and grew another 3 inches and was about 6 foot. Still had a terrible jumper, so I was always being set up on slashing plays.

I don't remember what the averages I had that season when I saw the post season stat sheet, but I believe it was some where around 7-9 ppg and 11 rebs. They only kept up with assists if you played the 1.

Senior year I didn't really get any better. I improved my 40 to a 4.55. Was able to start dunking, but it always took me a couple trys.

Point is, I worked hard as **** but never actually got the skill to play college ball at a D1 level. I was a one trick pony, only good for defense and rebounding. However, I did get a athletic scholarship from a D3 school which is crazy because D3 schools never give them away.

Wish I had been stronger mentally, because I coulda been a good player.

What about you guys? Anyone here that was any good and maybe got media recognition?

[Rondooooooooooo]

I did not. The politics at my school were bullshit. Literally every football player was on the basketball team, even the ones who sucked made it over players who were pretty good. I never tried out, and got heavy into rec ball after graduation.

My brother in law though was #1 recruit out of high school for az back in 02 I believe. He went on to play at Boston College and transferred to Fordham the next season.

[PerfectCell]

Played in middle school and freshman year but probably not gonna play varsity ball. My school's one of the best teams in Cali though and If i went to a public school in my area I could confidently be a starter or a key rotation player on most of their squads.

I could maybe have a slim chance of riding the pine senior year by going to all the workouts summer lifting saturday morning conditioning open gyms etc for the next two years but the return wouldn't be worth the effort.

Gonna concentrate my time on schoolwork and volleyball which I'm hoping to play at a high d3 level in college, hopefully nyu.

[GetBuckets]

Played Middle School and High School ball....
Played with Sean May and Jared Jeffries :)

[Richesly]

Played in middle school and freshman year but probably not gonna play varsity ball. My school's one of the best teams in Cali though and If i went to a public school in my area I could confidently be a starter or a key rotation player on most of their squads.

I could maybe have a slim chance of riding the pine senior year by going to all the workouts summer lifting saturday morning conditioning open gyms etc for the next two years but the return wouldn't be worth the effort.

Gonna concentrate my time on schoolwork and volleyball which I'm hoping to play at a high d3 level in college, hopefully nyu.

What position did you play in freshmen year? I'm interested in hearing the full details like I posted of mine.

[Jailblazers7]

Played organized ball from like 3rd grade through 12th. Started 2 years in HS and was the 6th man my soph year (3 year letterman). I played in a fairly competitive area/level (AAA in PA) but not compared to the national level so it's not really impressive to letter 3-4 times in high school. I did get to play against some really good players in the area like TJ Mconnell, Terrelle Pryor, DeAndre Kane, etc.

Could have played at the D3 level and maybe a couple D2 schools but I never had a strong work ethic so I decided to go to a D1 school with a partial academic scholarship and just be a student.

[Burgz V2]

played school and select ball from grade 5 until senior year. Only got JUCO offers, all in Michigan. Chose to go the academic route. Weren't a lot of opportunities for Toronto ballers back then without doing a couple of years of HS in the U.S. which was a financial commitment my parents couldn't make at the time.

spent a year in Qatar after my undergrad and played with a FIBA team there while on a work visa. was an awesome experience.

[Shade8780]

In Ireland, there's no varsity teams, there's teams and tournaments for every age group.

I'm in 3rd year of secondary school (high school freshman in US) and since the system we have here is stupid af, I'm not on the team. We had one tryout at the start of 1st year, and they basically judged our talent off a layup drill, which I ****ed up a few times in because back then, my left-handed layups weren't as good as my right hand. They seperated us into groups and despite me scoring a few times in the matches on our side of the court, the coaches never watched us and they let us go early, so I didn't make the team.

Then there was a B-team tournament that was coming up, and I got on the team. At the tournament, I dominated and the coach kept telling me to shoot more, despite me scoring the majority of the points for us. A guy on the main team told me that a guy I played against that he was friends with, told him I was really good. What makes this even more annoying was that a player who I played with on the team, who was much worse, got on the main team later because he asked the coach.

I got the courage to ask the coach in 2nd year after class if I could go to a training and he let me. I was feeling good and hit about 10-15 mid-range shots in a row before practice, which most of the team watched, but the coach didn't see. During practice, for some reason I felt nervous and I was messing up a lot, and not playing as good as I usually do. I was playing so bad and was so unconfident that I skipped the next few practices. And of course, that's when the coach decided to cut some players from the team, and I was cut. I'm still pissed off at how shitty the system is and how a guy who was much worse than me, made the team over me. The funny thing is, with all my complaining about the system, is that my school is one of the basketball schools in Ireland and has one National Championships in different age groups the last few years.

I'm not too mad though, because after all, in Europe, people focus more on their teams outside of school and that's who the scouts watch.

[Maga_1]

In Ireland, there's no varsity teams, there's teams and tournaments for every age group.

I'm in 3rd year of secondary school (high school freshman in US) and since the system we have here is stupid af, I'm not on the team. We had one tryout at the start of 1st year, and they basically judged our talent off a layup drill, which I ****ed up a few times in because back then, my left-handed layups weren't as good as my right hand. They seperated us into groups and despite me scoring a few times in the matches on our side of the court, the coaches never watched us and they let us go early, so I didn't make the team.

Then there was a B-team tournament that was coming up, and I got on the team. At the tournament, I dominated and the coach kept telling me to shoot more, despite me scoring the majority of the points for us. A guy on the main team told me that a guy I played against that he was friends with, told him I was really good. What makes this even more annoying was that a player who I played with on the team, who was much worse, got on the main team later because he asked the coach.

I got the courage to ask the coach in 2nd year after class if I could go to a training and he let me. I was feeling good and hit about 10-15 mid-range shots in a row before practice, which most of the team watched, but the coach didn't see. During practice, for some reason I felt nervous and I was messing up a lot, and not playing as good as I usually do. I was playing so bad and was so unconfident that I skipped the next few practices. And of course, that's when the coach decided to cut some players from the team, and I was cut. I'm still pissed off at how shitty the system is and how a guy who was much worse than me, made the team over me. The funny thing is, with all my complaining about the system, is that my school is one of the basketball schools in Ireland and has one National Championships in different age groups the last few years.

I'm not too mad though, because after all, in Europe, people focus more on their teams outside of school and that's who the scouts watch.

Ireland and UK system is really messed up in terms of basketball.
I know some kids that went to play UK ball after getting "signed" from an international tryout and they say it sucks a lot because there's no real "championship" there.

They still work hard as hell, because their academy as connection with a BBL team so they are trying to practice in the pro team.

[Rake2204]

I had a pretty standard high school career. Played three years of varsity at a class B school in Michigan (class B being 2nd largest division out of four). I made our region's All-County and All-Conference Team my junior and senior years.

Our program was typically mediocre and underwhelming but I was part of a crew that came through and changed things for a few years. We had a moment where we rampaged my junior year and didn't lose for two or three months. We slowly began gaining media coverage and eventually earned a big regional feature about being road warriors, since the construction of our new gym meant we had to spend all season playing home games in our middle school, essentially not having any true home games (though playing in the middle school was unique enough to be an advantage at times).

We lost in our district finals my junior year to the eventual state semi-finalist, a club we defeated by 13 earlier in the season (in a game in which I recorded my first 20-point game and first double-double). I planned on being a mediocre bit player over the course of my career so doing neat things and being a top ten scorer in my league was pretty cool and not something I took for granted. It all came together pretty quick, and it was neat. We had three unanimous choice All-Conference players and the Coach of the Year my junior year. Fun stuff.

I did not opt to play beyond high school. My senior year was actually not as successful as my junior year (our team's record suffered) and most schools interested were smaller NAIA or private institutions. And even then, I had no idea how college basketball worked and figured I wouldn't be able to amount to much, thus figuring playing would not being worth the effort.

Sometimes by not playing college ball I felt I missed an opportunity to further prove myself. I later had a tryout with a small minor league team (the Holland Blast, formerly of the IBL) and while I didn't make the squad, I took solace in knowing I held my own (one of the final cuts). Further, after playing power forward in high school (almost like a fourth guard), I tried out for the IBL squad as a point guard as a means of proving my ability to myself, so that was kind of therapeutic as well.

[Richesly]

I had a pretty standard high school career. Played three years of varsity at a class B school in Michigan (class B being 2nd largest division out of four). I made our region's All-County and All-Conference Team my junior and senior years.

Our program was typically mediocre and underwhelming but I was part of a crew that came through and changed things for a few years. We had a moment where we rampaged my junior year and didn't lose for two or three months. We slowly began gaining media coverage and eventually earned a big regional feature about being road warriors, since the construction of our new gym meant we had to spend all season playing home games in our middle school, essentially not having any true home games (though playing in the middle school was unique enough to be an advantage at times).

We lost in our district finals my junior year to the eventual state semi-finalist, a club we defeated by 13 earlier in the season (in a game in which I recorded my first 20-point game and first double-double). I planned on being a mediocre bit player over the course of my career so doing neat things and being a top ten scorer in my league was pretty cool and not something I took for granted. It all came together pretty quick, and it was neat. We had three unanimous choice All-Conference players and the Coach of the Year my junior year. Fun stuff.

I did not opt to play beyond high school. My senior year was actually not as successful as my junior year (our team's record suffered) and most schools interested were smaller NAIA or private institutions. And even then, I had no idea how college basketball worked and figured I wouldn't be able to amount to much, thus figuring playing would not being worth the effort.

Sometimes by not playing college ball I felt I missed an opportunity to further prove myself. I later had a tryout with a small minor league team (the Holland Blast, formerly of the IBL) and while I didn't make the squad, I took solace in knowing I held my own (one of the final cuts). Further, after playing power forward in high school (almost like a fourth guard), I tried out for the IBL squad as a point guard as a means of proving my ability to myself, so that was kind of therapeutic as well.

I feel the same way. I got a partial scholarship to a local college around where I live. It's not a big school, but I just decided to not go to college. Coaches told me I had potential I needed to fulfilled I just needed to get my head in the game and stop thinking about messing up too much.

[Sakkreth]

Played in Sabonis basketball academy from age of 8 to age of 16. Been injured 6 times, injured as if I have to stop playing for atleast a month. So yeah even if we take out injuries I wasn't the most talented player. Still made main team and my age group had over 100 players, there was 5 teams in my age group. Once won lithuanian cup of our age group, but I barely played. Out of that team 3 players turned out to be pros in europe.

[NBAplayoffs2001]

Only middle school team, averaged about 14 points a game. Forgot the rest of my stats. Only reason I didn't play in high school was because our high school team was near impossible to make. Too many "college scholarship" potential type of players.

[PerfectCell]

What position did you play in freshmen year? I'm interested in hearing the full details like I posted of mine.

Anywhere from 2-5 actually. We did have a set offense with positions and set plays and also a offensive system liek motion or dribble drive where we had positions but hsd to create based on the defense. However a lot of times we went without true positions and were just "5 basketball players" as my coach liked to say. He wanted 5 guys on the court who could all handle the rock, rebound, play hard and scrap, and shoot and make shots within the system(we had shots scaled 1-4 based on how good of a look it was and how selfish a shot it was).

Funny thing is in preseason we went 3-1 playing against public school jv teams and the 1 loss was real early in the season and shouldn't have happened. Once our catholic league play was much tougher even though we were only playing against other freshmen. We went 7-7 although and finished 4th out of 8th. There was two teams tied for 1st with 12-2 records although honestly one of them was clearly better in my opinion. The other 12-2 team and the teams in 3rd-6th could all beat each other on any given day.

[Derka]

I played for three years. I sprouted up to 5'10" after my freshman year and that is where I have remained. I played on the freshman team my first year and started at the power forward. Sophomore year I played for the JV team and was the sixth man, usually at the forward spot. Junior year I was brought on to the varsity team and played maybe 6-10 minutes a night to spell the starter at the power forward and use up my fouls rebounding and playing generally rough defense. Didn't play senior year, spent the winter in baseball training.

In MA, I played at what was at the time a Division III school (total student body: 380 students). The catch for us was we played all but a few games of our schedule against Division I and II schools, so we competed against the biggest and best high schools in the Eastern half of the state. Life gets a lot more interesting when you're a tiny private school going up against New Bedford, Durfee and the like.

[millwad]

Didn't play school ball, we don't have school ball in Sweden. We have clubs and then we have regional teams for teens and then youth national teams.

Wasn't that tall when being a kid, grew one year from 12-13 or 13-14, and suddenly I became the tallest kid around. Was really serious about basketball and practiced 5 times a week from the age of 12.

Played in our regional team and played fairly well, grew even more and we had a really good coach so our team became one of the top 3 teams in Scandinavia. We won Scania Cup which is the unoffical club tournament for the best teams in Scandinavia.

3 kids from my team played for the youth national team and I was one of them, played from u-15 til' u-17 and it was the best basketball memory for me. My knee problems started at age 15, being 6'7 and practicing that hard really took it's toll on me.

At age 16 I got the opportunity to play DIV 1 basketball in Sweden which is the second highest league, played well for 1 year and I had the teams 2nd highest ppg average and then at age 17, almost 18, I got a contract to play in the Swedish basketball league.

Played for 3.5 seasons before I quit, couldn't handle practicing and playing that much while studying. And the pay was shit, could only pay rent basically with that money and sometimes not even that. Went down to DIV 1 basketball and then I studied at Texas A&M for a semester and while moving I basically ended my basketball "career". Now I play in the 2nd division and the competition is pretty bad but it was a long time ago basketball was this much fun.

[millwad]

And for the kids in this thread, don't waste so much time on playing basketball. I regret all the hours I spent in the gym, sure, through basketball I got friends for life and I had a blast playing at high competition level but in the end I wish I spent more time being a kid.

Becoming a pro is basically impossible, if you're not crazy good, then spend your time more wisely.

[Cocaine80s]

6ft tall and averaged 11 rebs per game...

you live in asia or something?

[dubeta]

playing D1 next year

[Le Shaqtus]

playing D1 next year
:roll:

[tgan3]

Didn't play school ball, we don't have school ball in Sweden. We have clubs and then we have regional teams for teens and then youth national teams.

Wasn't that tall when being a kid, grew one year from 12-13 or 13-14, and suddenly I became the tallest kid around. Was really serious about basketball and practiced 5 times a week from the age of 12.

Played in our regional team and played fairly well, grew even more and we had a really good coach so our team became one of the top 3 teams in Scandinavia. We won Scania Cup which is the unoffical club tournament for the best teams in Scandinavia.

3 kids from my team played for the youth national team and I was one of them, played from u-15 til' u-17 and it was the best basketball memory for me. My knee problems started at age 15, being 6'7 and practicing that hard really took it's toll on me.

At age 16 I got the opportunity to play DIV 1 basketball in Sweden which is the second highest league, played well for 1 year and I had the teams 2nd highest ppg average and then at age 17, almost 18, I got a contract to play in the Swedish basketball league.

Played for 3.5 seasons before I quit, couldn't handle practicing and playing that much while studying. And the pay was shit, could only pay rent basically with that money and sometimes not even that. Went down to DIV 1 basketball and then I studied at Texas A&M for a semester and while moving I basically ended my basketball "career". Now I play in the 2nd division and the competition is pretty bad but it was a long time ago basketball was this much fun.

Maybe you should try playing in some Asian league if you're good (and really want to go pro). I think they pay higher over there.

[Lebron23]

Played in our intramurals during Hs to college, But regularly played in a basketball tournament during the summer. I played against some former PBA players and current PBA D-league players.

[k0kakw0rld]

Played in middle school and high school as a guard.

At that time soccer was my first love. i played for my city and represented it at the state championships Then i played wide receiver for my high school football team. I am very athletic and versatile.

[Cold soul]

I played in both middle school and high school ball. I averaged about 12 points a game which ain't that good I rebounded well and was a team player. I only played my freshman and sophomore years though wasn't a big fan of my coach.

[Thorpesaurous]

I was a good to very good HS player. Varsity Lettered three seasons, which doesn't really mean anything anymore, but getting that letter as a sophomore back then was a merit. And then I managed as a freshmen in college before walking on for three seasons.

[PerfectCell]

I was a good to very good HS player. Varsity Lettered three seasons, which doesn't really mean anything anymore, but getting that letter as a sophomore back then was a merit. And then I managed as a freshmen in college before walking on for three seasons.

Could you give a brief rundown on how walking on for a lower tier D1 team works as a freshman straight out of highschool? Obviously every situation is different.

Thanks

[Thorpesaurous]

Could you give a brief rundown on how walking on for a lower tier D1 team works as a freshman straight out of highschool? Obviously every situation is different.

Thanks


For me, I walked into the coach's office probably the second week of classes, introduced myself, and said I would like to try to walk on. We talked and I gave him a brief rundown of my resume. Then I was invited to start working out with the team at weight training and the like.

That first season there were six of us trying to walk on (at least for real, there were a couple other guys who were technically walk ins during my time there, but had academic scholarships, and had been given roster spots ahead of time). We would go to practice early, where we'd be worked out super hard for an hour to an hour and a half by a couple assistants. A shitload of running. And a ton of skills drills, usually also involving running. Almost no direct competition with each other.

After that we'd go through the regular practice too, which since it was early in the season, also had a lot of running. I was in rediculously good shape by that point, so that helped. The other thing that helped was that I did, and still do really, have a knack, or gift, for seeing basketball plays. I was a PG in HS, but played all five positions. I'm not huge, 6', 190-200 lbs at the time, and a good athlete, I could occasionally dunk, but the reason I got time at all five spots was mostly because I could run all of our action at every spot. I had two coaches in HS too. My first was an old school guy. He was super creative defensively. We ran all types of interesting stuff on that end. Run and jumps type bait traps. We had a good center and we ran a match up 1-3-1 which was like a man to man where he didn't guard anybody. It was all really high minded stuff. Offensively he did a lot of read and react stuff. There were a lot of cuts and movements that depended on where the ball was on the court vs. a particular defensive alignment. A lot of continuity.
My senior year I got a new coach. He had played at George Washington, played professionally in France and Isreal. He's among the best guys I've ever played with. A 6-6 left PG who was strong as an ox and could shoot it from seemingly anywhere. But he brought an entirely different approach. We were running pro style sets. We had maybe a half dozen continuity offenses, then probably a half dozen set plays out of each look (actually they were all pretty much the same, a PnR, a cross screen, but they each came out of the different base set). Another probably 15 set out of bounds. Probably ten defenses. It was a lot. But I excelled because I could run everything from anywhere.

Anyway ... I was digressing there ... during tryouts, after the initial workout, the team would get into game action stuff. Us 6 walk ons were rarely used. I think it was a test of our focus. But one of the things I could do was follow the actions we were running, and whenever I was put in, I may have been overmatched at times, but I was always in the right spot at the right time.

I didn't make the team that year. They kept one walk on. A kid who was much bigger than me. About 6-6, and he played down low and was physical. He was a senior and it was his second year trying out. They did ask if I'd be interested in managing, and I spent the season tracking what we ran, who ran it, and how it worked. I remember walking into the coach's office before practice one day with my chart and suggesting we run a particularly play to a particular guy backwards, because he was left handed and he did much better from the other side when ran other stuff. They made fun of me, but they installed the flipped version the next day.

The following season I tried out again. They asked if I wouldn't just want to manage again. I told them no. I went through the ringer again. I wasn't in quite as good a shape as the year before, as college will do that to you. But I made it through, and was just more comfortable physically even though I wasn't in as good a shape. The extra strength just from aging had made me a better shooter than I was in HS too. I made it that year. And the third year they didn't even put me through the walk on tryouts. We did get a new manager, and I helped her track stuff through both of those seasons.

[PerfectCell]

That was a great read. There's a lot guys in hs now who say shit like "ballislife" and that they would do anything to make a D1 roster but really ain't about that life like you.

Like to practice your ass off in 5 am summer workouts just for an outside chance of making a roster would break most of these guys. Than they realize that a lot of the smaller D1 schools have smaller crowds than many high school games and as a bench player they have almost no prospect of playing pro even in some obscure country it's really easy to be broken.

I feel like guys like you who had to make it by having next level bball iq and working your tail off rather than being 6'8 and blessed with ridiculous gifts make the best coaches which is evidenced everywhere from hs to nba from what ive seen. i remember you had a small coaching endeavour with a youth catholic league in your area, you still coaching?

cheers

[Thorpesaurous]

That was a great read. There's a lot guys in hs now who say shit like "ballislife" and that they would do anything to make a D1 roster but really ain't about that life like you.

Like to practice your ass off in 5 am summer workouts just for an outside chance of making a roster would break most of these guys. Than they realize that a lot of the smaller D1 schools have smaller crowds than many high school games and as a bench player they have almost no prospect of playing pro even in some obscure country it's really easy to be broken.

I feel like guys like you who had to make it by having next level bball iq and working your tail off rather than being 6'8 and blessed with ridiculous gifts make the best coaches which is evidenced everywhere from hs to nba from what ive seen. i remember you had a small coaching endeavour with a youth catholic league in your area, you still coaching?

cheers


My friend's kids are now 6 and 9, and for the last couple years I've been coaching with him in our local youth league. It is really not much. A couple games a week, and two practices, an hour each, on half a gym, each week. It can be a little frustrating. But we've been really good. My friend is 6-6, and in HS was probably 225. And his kids have some of those genes. They're both really good. Frankly they've been good at most of the sports they've tried so far. The 6 year old plays with us in the older division and legitimately starts. Even in our limited time, we're running some decent stuff. We run a Man, a 2/3, and 1/3/1 defensively, that we switch on the fly. And we legitimately fast break, and run through some secondary stuff. But getting any semblence of offense has been really tough. A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link, and we've got a few. So we're teaching basic movement and positioning concepts. "One player needs to be behind the ball". "If you're away from the ball come towards it. If you're on the same side of the court as the ball go screen on someone coming toward it."

We've already started talking about trying to find a travel program, a catholic program, something where we can get them more time in the gym. Better competition, and better teammates (which is underrated in my view). But of late, that's as much as I've done. I had sort of made up for it by getting back into a men's league the last few years, where I have been horrible, but both years have yielded a torn achilles.

[kingsleymore]

I played on my eighth grade team, but was cut from the team in ninth grade. From tenth grade onwards, I played on my volleyball team. I didn't play much basketball until I played for my rec. team in university.

[PerfectCell]

I played on my eighth grade team, but was cut from the team in ninth grade. From tenth grade onwards, I played on my volleyball team. I didn't play much basketball until I played for my rec. team in university.
Another volleyball player nice, what position(s) have you played and at what levels?

[HurricaneKid]

All Conference in HS. Won a State Championship as a Soph (well, was on a state champ team anyways). Set to play college (D3) but got in an accident. I actually got recruited to play at a few D2 programs but I spent time playing with the Badgers the prior summer and no longer held a lot of hope of playing past college and decided to play at a school a lot of my friends were going to. Then the accident. Couldn't play for two years. Could have played my last year in school and was plenty good to do so but took an internship that would have made life impossible with BB.

[Real14]

My grades and cutting class kept me off my high school team.

[Fallguy20]

I played college ball, was captain on an undefeated state championship HS team, but it all began in 7th grade when I made the C team.

They didn't have the heart to cut us back then, so I made the second C team.