MoKan telling kids not to play Jr High?

[mowesten]

This should get people wound up: MoKan is apparently telling its junior high players they can't play for MoKan and play for their school team.

I'm a big fan of what MoKan does in general, and I agree that some junior high programs are about half worthless, but I'm not sure I agree with this. This is a topic that is worthy of debate. Interested to hear what others have to say.

 

[oldroundballer]

If so it's just the start of clubs telling them to not play high school ball either. I fully expect that to happen before too long. The elite players will stick to all club ball year round. I hope it doesn't come to that but I won't be surprised.

 

[thegoldenboy55]

This is troubling. It's going to get worse before it gets better. The main reason is that my Little Johnny Superstar is going to play D1, and AAU is the only way to get him there.

In my opinion, high school athletics is the purest form of the sport (all sports). It has the most teaching opportunities, and is the greatest chance to actually change/impact a kid's life.

I'm not saying AAU doesn't have a place or a value. It certainly does. But I have not seen an AAU coach that is nearly invested in their kids' development as a high school coach.

The priorities are just much different. AAU coaches are trying to get kids recruited and win games. High school coaches (the best ones anyways) get kids to have a burning passion to win/compete AND improve character traits. I think we can agree that we live in a world that could use a few more positive character traits.

Just my observation.

 

[msubearssuperfan1]

Troubling, but understandable given how HORRID some middle school programs are (especially in urban areas). There's one in Springfield that I've complained about for years, but nothing changes because the "teachers" involved have tenure. They don't have warm-up drills before games and barely practice from what I've been told. Just collecting a pay check.

 

[thegoldenboy55]

Troubling, but understandable given how HORRID some middle school programs are (especially in urban areas). There's one in Springfield that I've complained about for years, but nothing changes because the "teachers" involved have tenure. They don't have warm-up drills before games and barely practice from what I've been told. Just collecting a pay check.

When I was at Mo State a number of years ago, I was lucky enough to work with Coach Baker at Pershing Middle School there in Springfield. That guy is phenomenal.

But I could see your point that some middle school programs could be pretty horrible. I guess my question is, where does it stop? This is going to trickle into high school before we know it. At least that's what I'm afraid of.

 

[3ptplay]

When I was at Mo State a number of years ago, I was lucky enough to work with Coach Baker at Pershing Middle School there in Springfield. That guy is phenomenal.

But I could see your point that some middle school programs could be pretty horrible. I guess my question is, where does it stop? This is going to trickle into high school before we know it. At least that's what I'm afraid of.

I was lucky enough to work with Coach Baker at Pershing in the mid 90's. I couldn't agree more on how he conducted his program!

 

[BONE62]

I was lucky enough to work with Coach Baker at Pershing in the mid 90's. I couldn't agree more on how he conducted his program!

I have coached in Jr. High/Middle schools for close to 20 years so I am partial to Middle School programs if they are done correctly. To me the Middle School is very important because that is where kids learn their fundamentals and their work ethic. I hear on this board that the lack of fundamentals whether on defense or offense is lacking in today's basketball and I agree. It is my opinion that only practicing one or two times a week and then playing games is not good for the overall game of basketball. I think that practicing 5 days a week under a good coach is much better. Of course, I said a competent coach and I realize that does not always happen in Jr. High. In St. Louis and St Charles county most the schools do not have school run Middle School programs. They have teams but a parent/volunteer coaches them. I live in Troy and they still have Middle School teams. I have talked to several head coaches from the St. Louis area and they have indicated to me the wish they had what Troy has. I have watched over the years many non-school tournaments and in most cases the kids are not getting the coaching they need. So it is my opinion that kids should play Middle school basketball to teach fundamentals and to prepare them for high school. and how many players in Missouri will ever play college ball.

 

[thegoldenboy55]

I have coached in Jr. High/Middle schools for close to 20 years so I am partial to Middle School programs if they are done correctly. To me the Middle School is very important because that is where kids learn their fundamentals and their work ethic. I hear on this board that the lack of fundamentals whether on defense or offense is lacking in today's basketball and I agree. It is my opinion that only practicing one or two times a week and then playing games is not good for the overall game of basketball. I think that practicing 5 days a week under a good coach is much better. Of course, I said a competent coach and I realize that does not always happen in Jr. High. In St. Louis and St Charles county most the schools do not have school run Middle School programs. They have teams but a parent/volunteer coaches them. I live in Troy and they still have Middle School teams. I have talked to several head coaches from the St. Louis area and they have indicated to me the wish they had what Troy has. I have watched over the years many non-school tournaments and in most cases the kids are not getting the coaching they need. So it is my opinion that kids should play Middle school basketball to teach fundamentals and to prepare them for high school. and how many players in Missouri will ever play college ball.

A good youth coach (at any level, especially middle school) is worth their weight in gold. No doubt about it.

 

[Northlandfootball]

This should get people wound up: MoKan is apparently telling its junior high players they can't play for MoKan and play for their school team.

I'm a big fan of what MoKan does in general, and I agree that some junior high programs are about half worthless, but I'm not sure I agree with this. This is a topic that is worthy of debate. Interested to hear what others have to say.

From a big picture standpoint it makes sense for the high level D1 kids to get that competition all year. No way they get it from dominating lessor talented kids at the high school level.
The problem is the fringe kids that will populate the D2, D3, and NAIA rosters missing out on the high school experience. Those kids are the ones that I worry about in this circumstance.

 

[mowesten]

I think it's important to keep in mind that the issue at hand is junior high kids. No one --that I know of anyway -- is suggesting that high school kids play AAU only. Their seasons are during different times.

 

[msubearssuperfan1]

Yes, Coach Baker at John J. Pershing MS does a great job! My brothers played for him in seventh grade and I had a class with him in eighth grade. I wasn't talking about him.

 

[thegoldenboy55]

I think it's important to keep in mind that the issue at hand is junior high kids. No one --that I know of anyway -- is suggesting that high school kids play AAU only. Their seasons are during different times.

Jr. High programs that I've seen play in the winter, just like high school. Or am I way off base on this?

 

[msubearssuperfan1]

Springfield Middle Schools switched to a fall schedule about three-four years ago. They play October through early December. It had been a more traditional December through early February campaign for as long as I can remember.

 

[3Rfan]

Springfield Middle Schools switched to a fall schedule about three-four years ago. They play October through early December. It had been a more traditional December through early February campaign for as long as I can remember.

7th and 8th grade basketball in Poplar Bluff is played in the fall. When the JH girls play Farmington it's usually their last game and Farmington's 1st game.

 

[thegoldenboy55]

Springfield Middle Schools switched to a fall schedule about three-four years ago. They play October through early December. It had been a more traditional December through early February campaign for as long as I can remember.

Interesting. I was not aware of that. Hopefully the high school coaches can go watch their kids play a few times now. I guess that is one perk.

 

[3Rfan]

P.B. had their girls's varsity assistant also be the JH coach. The Chronister's did that for years with Cindy coaching JH and JV. It sure gets them into the system the varsity coach will run.