U-16 FIBA Americas Championships - Canada to Worlds in 2010!

AMEN

coach clement, you mentioned that you have at least 12 guys from the gta that you would've sent as well. Would you care to name a few of these players. I would also like to know how much it cost the few players that went to Argentina. Money as usual may have been a limiting factor to those selected...

youngmoola the players didnt pay any money to go to Argentina
you just brought money if you wanted like some snacks or souvenirs

There are all kinds of reasons why the team was selected the way it was. It doesn't matter what level of basketball you end up playing, politics will always play a part in it. I'm sure every last one of us would have picked a completely different team than the one that went. The point is that these were the boys that were available, showed interest, and played well enough to make the team. Next year will be another story.

Everyone thinks that they know the kid that should have made it instead of someone that did. Don't you find it strange that its the same group of names that keep on making these teams year after year after year? Can all of these coaches continuously be wrong? If you or someone you know is so good and your interested and you'r available, then your talent will be recongnized. If you continuously get cut, then maybe this is a sign that you need to work harder!

The thing about this team is that it is invite so some of the top talent doesnt get a chance to play

I thought there was an AMEN! Coach Paul as per Basketball Canada's May 22nd release states: "The training camp roster for CMNT consists of 16 players, with 10 athletes that have been pre-selected to the final team. The remaining six athletes will vie for the two remaining spots on the final roster." A few of the "pre-selected players, like the 1 from NS, 1 from SK. and the 1 from AB were all guards, which made the team guard heavy with 8 of 12 players being guards, so up against Arg and USA when Wagner and Bennett got in foul trouble the team had difficulty against the taller teams. One example is Brin Taylor 6-4 G from AB played all 5 games, 29 minutes, 2 pts total, 5 rbs, 1 A, 4 PF, 3 TO, 1 St. All the details are at FIBAAmericas.com web-site when you hit on teams, then Canada. The data would inidicate there might have been a better way, not as many guaranteed positions at the try-out.

The 10 pre-selected players all were part of Nike Centers for Performance and/or PEP throughout the year. You get invited to participate in these organizations because of your past performance/accomplishments.This is where the coaches saw these guys play for months. There were lots of kids in these programs and it was the top ten kids (though months and months of training and practice) that got "pre-selected". The point is, these kids qualified for the team by showing their skills over a very long period of time. You have to be pretty good to make it into these programs, so when the coaches pick the top 10, you know that they're pretty darned good. These are the "pre-selected" guys. The other spots (although few) were the only ones open for anybody to try out for. The best players that the coaches knew about were invited to try out.

Having said all of that, I think we all can pick out a couple of the guys on the team and say "why is he on the team, he's not that good"? Some guys will get picked just because they're tall, some will get picked for political reasons. This sort of thing will never change. As a basketball player your job is to become so damn good that its impossible not to pick you, no matter how much other BS goes on in the system.

[quote="CoachPaul"]As a basketball player your job is to become so damn good that its impossible not to pick you, no matter how much other BS goes on in the system.[/quote]

I rarely comment on this board, but definately have to on this one. Great post. Keep workin on your ish and then the rest should take care of itself. No matter the circumstances.