Welcome to East Coast All American
December 26, 2007:
Happy Holidays! Here we are again at ECAA bringing to you the finest reporting and outlooks on the basketball hardwood.
In this editorial, (Part One of a Three Part Series), we are going to bring to you the topic of players and their significance and insignificance within their middle schools, and the positive and negative impact that it might have further down the line within their development as basketball players and their regional and national rankings.
Recently, the HoopScoop 8th grade rankings were completed and we here at ECAA received a lot of feedback concerning this; some positive and some negative, but we are going to shed light on the different perspectives concerning the current rankings.
As most of you may know, even though we are involved with these rankings on a regional and national level, our opinion here at ECAA is that these rankings are not necessarily worth the paper they are written on.
Let's say, for argument sake, when a player at the middle school level is ranked in the top 50, his talents are measured against those who have been fielded along with him in that particular circle. When the field widens and the exposure level increases, the talent level also increases and the child who has been ranked according to his circle might not have the same success at this level. Statistically it has been shown that a lot of these kids now start to drop in the rankings and might not have the confidence or the talent to keep them in the running when compared to other players who might not have had the opportunity to be seen within the various exposure events, that allow these talents to be placed under the microscope from scouting services. Now the kids face the dilemma of having their personal rankings drop significantly or not even be ranked at all. Now, understand this scenario, there will be cases where a team will have great success, and we put an emphasis on the word "team", because they have the opportunity to be coached well within the system. This does not always translate into having nationally ranked players on that team. It means just that, TEAM!
On the flip side of the coin is the fact that although a team has great success, players are being looked at by the scouts and being evaluated based on individual talent and there are instances where there are very talented players on a team that might not fair well and unfortunately the reality is that their individual talent is what's being looked at. This is because any given particular talent that a player possesses can be shaped and molded into a factoring piece of a potentially winning puzzle on a larger scale (High School, College, and even a Professional level).
We feel that these points should be noted by the various programs, and filtered down to the players through their mentors, coaches, parents, etc. Although when exposed to the larger field and coming to the realization that the individual talent might not be as effective as it might have been in their origin of play, let's say, "on the block", the player has at this time the opportunity to enhance their talents to become more of an overall player, the chance to use the experience to learn a different perspective of the game and to take it a step further, to recognize values such as hard work, teamwork and unity. We must have them realize that the opinion of one is not necessarily written in stone to others. Everyone will have an opinion according to the general makeup of their program and that an individual should not take it to heart that because they did not have success at one thing, does not constitute them as being a failure. The fact of the matter is that one individual might feel that a particular player's talent should be recognized as being very beneficial on an overall scale, whereas another individual's outlook might be quite the contrary. Again, we are going to emphasize that it comes down to a matter of perspective and how a piece fits into a puzzle. (End of Part One.)
As you already know, we at ECAA bring to you editorials that are not only opinions but include you, the reader, from a moral standpoint so that you, too, have the opportunity to grow right along with us. We will see you on the rebound with parts two and three of our current editorial. We hope you enjoy this just as much as we enjoy bringing it to you!
In closing we are going to wish each and every one of you Happy Holidays and a very prosperous and joyful New Year! Be Blessed!
Email us with your response, and don't forget to join our email list.
ECAA - Scoop Smoot
In collaboration with Clark Francis of HoopScoop, you can view his national ranking for the class of 2011 here.
For past editorials posted on ECAA, click here.
For Fab Five, click here.
For our Interview Series, click here.
