"Play Their Hearts Out" My Review of George Dohrmann's Book on Travel Team Basketball
What can be gained by reading "Play Their Hearts Out," George Dohrmann's exceptional book that chronicles the basketball journey of talented youth basketball players from middle school to high school? If you're a parent of a talented basketball player, it's a must read. You'll learn a lot about the pitfalls of youth basketball and the importance of shepherding your child through this maze of deceit, corruption and confusion.
Hopefully, readers will understand the folly that is grassroots basketball and how it's not necessary in the middle or early high school years to expose your child to the endless stream of games that are a part of travel team basketball. Sonny Vaccaro's advice to Roberto Nelson's dad about being selective about the camps/tournaments a child attends and making certain that young players are mentally and psychologically ready to handle the stress of these events sounds the strongest chord with me. I also appreciate the comments of Ryan Smith, Demetrius Walker's High School coach in his sophomore year at Fontana High: "Going to tournaments all over the country isn't going to help you. What you need is to spend every hour in the gym, working on individual skills. I don't think you should play grassroots basketball at all."
There's no substitute for skill development in basketball. You can play all of the basketball you want, but if you don't master the fundamentals of the game, your game will be exposed at higher levels of competition. Best to strike a balance between skill development and playing the game. Don't rush the process parents! Find a trustworthy coach who knows the game of basketball. Watch various practices before committing your child to a program. If you watch a variety of practices conducted by different coaches,you'll eventually be able to tell if a coach is organized and has a sound philosophy and teaching style.
Don't sell your son to the highest bidder. So many stories in this book about parents who abrogated their duties as a parent. Chasing the celebrity of basketball is a powerful elixir for both parent and child. Don't fall for the hype!
The amount of rules violations conducted at the college level is to be expected. I'm not naive, but the rules violations and payoffs that are detailed in this book at the high school and travel team level is very disconcerting. How the hell do you garner the respect of a kid when you're paying his mother's rent or putting him up in an apartment by himself in an affluent area at the age of 16. Talk about growing up too fast!
Athletes often talk about the plantation mentality that schools, teams and people have towards them because of their unique talents. Joe Keller, the antagonist in this book, devised a sophisticated form of slavery to build his fortune, his American dream. The fact that he did it, and is still doing it, off the backs of middle school athletes with the blessing of their parents, is the tragic component of this tale.
Parents, please let your children be children! This book is a wake-up call to parents of young athletes to slow the process down. Don't let your child be "The Hurried Child." If you don't understand the ramifications of "The Hurried Child," read David Elkind's fine book on the consequences of putting children in harms way by exposing them to too much too soon. I hope parents heed my message, but I'm not counting on it.
cg
NOTE TO BASKETBALL PARENTS - I'm a former NBA scout. Rankings at the highest level never mattered to me. All I cared about was a player's game, not a number on a piece of paper. That Demetrius Walker's mind was programmed at such an early age by Joe Keller to fixate on a number is the highest form of psychological child abuse. Demetrius' growth as a basketball player and a human being was stunted as a result of adults prioritizing an "agenda" instead of a long range "objective." It's a testimony to him and the positive adults that he encountered post Keller that he is as well adjusted today as is represented in the Epilogue.
My hero in this book is Ryan Smith, Demetrius' High School Coach in his sophomore year. A young coach with old school values who turned the tide for Demetrius by stressing fundamentals and discipline. That Ryan was Demetrius' accidental coach is just one more example that there is a God. When Demetrius needed a positive mentor at a crossroads moment in his life, out of nowhere came Ryan Smith. Parents, always go for substance and character, over style and flash when choosing a coach/program for your child.
So true but how do we break the cycle? It's gotten crazy not just with boys but the girls's side as well. A friend and I have decided to start a program as soon as the season ends that focusses on conditioning physically and mentally, development and re-inforcing fundamentals. We do plan on putting together teams out of the bunch but the philosophy will remain the same. We will travel a lil if we can compete but for the experience, bonding, and fun of it. Always our focus is the player's development, especially socially and mentally. The sad part is we probably wont' get the elite players. They will be swallowed up by the programs that are promising everything. Those programs will compete but mostly because of what the players are bringing to the table and their experience but I know the teaching is not always there. The coaches are riding the backs of these players as if they produced them. Then when players sign their NLI, they brag about it as part of their recruiting tactic.
ReplyDeleteIt's a hard sell to parents but I figured it's worth the try and if we can help the ones we can have a good healthy high school career it will be worth it. Finally, the most interesting thing to me is the development of character and person as a whole. The true reward is when these players, whether college bound or not, learn life skills.