Power Struggle

AAU leadership is a lot like a child. They want to be in control, told they are being good, and don't like to admit they are doing bad. They like having power and if you're not a top tier player, you better not question. They hide behind the guise of running their program like a high school or college team so they can push players around. The truth is, unless the club has a huge program with lots of players trying to get, the mid tier player does have a limited amount of power and influence when it comes time for state or nationals and they need to ensure a full bench is present. It makes me laugh when the mid and lower tier players are strong armed to play nationals. Yea, I'm going to drop $1,000 and use vacation time so we can travel out of state and my daughter can sit on the bench while the top tier players can all the big-game exposure. Sorry Ben, you gotta do more for us now for me to commit to that.

The girls are in a Winter league right now. The league is made of 3 teams with a combination of 10U-12U players on each team. Each girl is supposedly guaranteed 10 minutes of playing time. This is to attract younger players so the rosters can be filled out. But don't be fooled: It's still the top tier players and coaches pets that get the most playing time.

My daughter told me she didn't get her full 10 minutes yesterday. I'm not entirely sure so I mentioned it to the program director and possibly something to remind his coaches of. He got defensive and stated the coach subbed girls out 11 times. Hate to break it to you Ben, multi substitutions doesn't mean each girl is getting 10 minutes. Not even indirectly. My daughter didn't play the last 11 minutes of the second 16 minute half. She got about 5 minutes the first half and about 2 minutes at the start of the second. Easy math. While I can understand him wanting to protect his coach, fact is his argument was incredibly unintelligent. Instead of simply saying, "I'll remind the coaches", he had to unsuccessfully go for a position of power.

If you're not a top tier player and you have an issue, you'll get squashed. We even had an incident where a top tier player (who was a coaches pet) shoved my daughter during the game because my daughter scored the first 4 points of the game. My daughter looked to the coach, coach just shrugged her shoulders because the top tier players family and coached family are close. I brought it up to the coach and program director. Anything get done? Was the top tier player told to stop acting like a spoiled baby? Nope. Ben and the coach twisted it so my daughter was wrong.

It's funny when you read the team web site: It's a random collection of Ben's thoughts. Very unorganized and hard to follow. It has sections criticizing type of girls. Princesses, drama queens, etc. He uses it as his own personal blog. Then it goes onto to say you shouldn't write/blog anything bad about the program.

Give us break Ben. We know the mid tier girls won't get as much time and attention. They can't glorify you and provide the ego stroke that fuels you. But at least pretend to care about the mid and low tier girls in the program. Let them and their parents get an even shake every now and again. It'll teach your top tier players and parents some humility, team work, and sportsmanship.It something Ben preaches but does not practice.

I'll be writing down the times my daughter goes in and out of the game. If there's a problem, I'll present it. Maybe you could critique my handwriting to find a way for me to be partially at fault.