Howdy, y'all!

My son is entering 5th grade and is getting pretty good at basketball. He's also tall and big for his age.

We aren't planning to do fall AAU basketball, but we will likely participate in spring or summer as he enters 6th grade.

Does anyone have recommendations for well-run teams in the Austin area or teams to avoid? I don't need him to be on the best team, but I want a team with coaches who genuinely care about the kids.

Any insights would be appreciated. Information on coaches, practices, pricing, player culture, etc.

Where are you located?

You might want to check out Ball Hard. It's in North Central Austin your Wells branch and 35. . Sean's trained a ton of kids. Lots of his kids went on to play in college. He's a tough, tough tough coach. But I'll have your kid ready to play. He also knows a ton of people and can probably get you on the right AAU squad.

texag06ish said:

---

Where are you located?

---

pretty central just south of the domain and Q2

BTHOB-98 said:

---

You might want to check out Ball Hard. It's in North Central Austin your Wells branch and 35. . Sean's trained a ton of kids. Lots of his kids went on to play in college. He's a tough, tough tough coach. But I'll have your kid ready to play. He also knows a ton of people and can probably get you on the right AAU squad.

---

I will check him out! We currently drive up to Cedar Park for training at Court Vision and it's great but Ball Hard is a little closer and I like have 1 on 1 and group training.

Ball Hard is a good suggestion. Lots of top talent go there. It's not cheap, but good training. A lot of the training I see is just extra practice....ball hard will get you better.

My son played on ATX Just Hoop, and they were tough (multiple kids playing in college now)...but kids graduated and it's not around anymore.

It's hard to find a good AAU program in this area, which is surprising for a city/metro area this large. Lots of top talent go to San Antonio, or even Dallas to play ASAK or EYBL. Just get him on a team asap....then start paying attention to other teams in your area he'd be interested in. Switch in the middle of the season if you need to. It's hard to get on a good program/team around here, because there are teams, but not a lot of programs like you find in Dallas/Houston.

The UA Defenders were good at one time. Drive Nation was another. They each had teams of all ages, different levels, etc...but Drive Nation took them over and then kind of fell apart.

The Centex group is an ok starting point. Centex Attack has their moments, but usually struggles to hold onto talent (the north group). CTX Knights, and Next Level are typically a step up: https://www.centexattack.com/
Impact ATX is meh. Lonnie runs it. They have some decent teams, but he's a little scattered and disorganized.
Warriors were ok: https://www.austinwarriorbasketball.com/
TWE was a decent program: https://twebasketball.com/
ATX Future is a good program: https://www.atxfuture.org/
Pro Skills is pretty good: https://proskillsbasketball.com/austin/teams/
Hoop Generation: https://www.hoopgeneration.org/summer-2025-tryouts/register-jd795-9ka76
Prep Hoops has a few clubs under their umbrella: https://prephoops.com/texas/club-programs/?program_name=&program_city=austin

J Uno is great (lead by Jamal Shead). Dont know if they have younger groups, but I'd check it out. They're good.

Dont know much about these guys, but they look promising:
https://austinselectclub.com/
https://ygc-ctx.com/austin-aau-select-basketball-team-tryouts/#

My #1 advice to you...

If your kid is big/tall already, every.single.team will try to put him at the 5. Dont let them play him here (or not exclusively). Make them play him at the 2,3, 4...He needs to develop ball handling, passing and shooting skills.

That way, when everyone else catches up to him, or passes his size in HS...it wont matter...he can play ball. He won't become that kid who's too small to play the only position he's ever played.

Force him into the 3 now, and if he's a big who can move/shoot in the future, he'll rise to the top.

AgGrad99 said:

---

My #1 advice to you...

If your kid is big/tall already, every.single.team will try to put him at the 5. Dont let them play him here (or not exclusively). Make them play him at the 2,3, 4...He needs to develop ball handling, passing and shooting skills.

That way, when everyone else catches up to him, or passes his size in HS...it wont matter...he can play ball. He won't become that kid who's too small to play the only position he's ever played.

Force him into the 3 now, and if he's a big who can move/shoot in the future, he'll rise to the top.

---

I agree with this. His trainer says the same and basically trains him as a guard. His trainer, Logan Blow, who owns court vision in cedar park is amazing and has helped him so much. He has given advice on AAU teams but I also wanted to come here to see what others had to say.

I appreciate this! I will say I don't trust Hoop Generation.

Ball Hard has a camp the last week before school starts and has drop-ins for their regular elementary age classes. We will try it out

Gotcha. I dont know much about them at all. Just seen them at tourneys in the past.

I wasnt aware of Court Vision...but I recognize Logan. If he trains him well, stick with him.

My son has had a great experience at LT elite. The coaches have been great and the attitude towards playing time and sportsmanship is a good fit for us. I hear good things about 1891 out of Westlake.

I had a friend ask about similar question to me and our commissioner suggested ATX Impact or AYS Phoenix although he didn't vouch for either specifically.