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.

I'm up in DFW, but both my kids are tall and hoop. I would suggest using Instagram to search for anything that is related to youth, boys, AAU, basketball specifically in Austin. I was in the same boat several years ago and I made an Instagram account to follow every youth basketball program in DFW. These organizations can be very bad, and you should ALWAYS be prepared to move. Obviously, moving around a lot isn't ideal, but if you go down this journey you will understand what I mean. Looking at their socials can assist you in making your decision.

I just did a quick insta search for 'boys basketball in austin texas" and "ATX Elite" a few came up like;

Austin Select
Centex Attack
Spartan Elite
Magic Basketball
TWE Basketball
4700 Basketball
Texas Conquerors
Proskills
Drive Nation
Nike Pro skills
Be Elite
Hoop Generation
AYS Pheonix
ATX Future
ATX Lockdown
ATX Phenoms
The Connect ATX Elite
ATX Pressure Elite


I also saw Austin trainers that will be knowledgeable. They were, "Texas Pro Academy" and "B.T.Y. Basketball". Sign him up for a training session, and go chop it up with the trainer regarding organizations.

My oldest is starting 11th & my youngest 7th. If you haven't already, try to get him on a team at a local fieldhouse/YMCA/City Sports Association where they have youth bball leagues. If you don't have a team, there should be a free agent option. At least this way you will see the teams that you play against, plus just being in the gym will allow you to see all of the organizations playing at every age group that might work for you. As you begin to meet others who hoop, you'll begin to get to know the organizations as well.

You can also get a team together with your son, and enter them to play a local tournament to see all the organizations in the area.

IMO you can't get started early enough and be very proactive in looking for tryouts. At his age, a lot of talent is already only playing in AAU type tournaments.

Good luck!

The above is GREAT advice, but also makes me a bit sick to my stomach. The amount of grifters willing to take advantage of people in youth sports is insane.

My boy can hate me later in life if he wants to, but after testing the waters with select/travel baseball we stepped away from it. Sports is supposed to be fun, and some of these teams think they need to work the kids like it's a job.

Good luck to you OP in finding a good organization for your son to hoop in. My two cents would be to prioritize finding a team that focuses on development and building the boys up and NOT looking for teams focused on winning. Also, one last piece of advice, if you're just looking to challenge your son a bit more, look into having him play a grade level/age group up in the local city/rec leagues. Being able to hang in a game with older and more experienced players is one of the best indicators of actual talent level.

National Youth Sports all players are guaranteed to play. Its mandatory. In AAU, sometimes only the best players play. AAU is more competitive, but with NYS you get plenty of competition also.

There is also the CYO, Catholic Youth Organization.

I don't know that I would go to AAU tbh.

The above organizations are in San Antonio, but I would think Austin they would have those too.

I would think there are club teams like what San Antonio has with the Factory of Champions also, which has a lot of training and games.

As warned above get prepared for disappointment and to jump around until you find a decent human being that has any decency or basketball IQ at all. Most club coaches out there are either grifters or in it only for their kid or some kid they're related to at the expense of everyone else.

My kids had several mostly miserable years of us finding that out the hard way until I finally decided to do it myself and be the example of someone who is in it to both teach basketball on a meaningful level and be in it for all the kids, not just mine.

Good luck to you and I hope you find a decent spot, the club world is pretty harsh most places.