UPDATE - FRAUD WARNING
When we were researching basketball…read moreteams for our son, joining an AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) affiliated team was a top priority. The head coach fraudulently misrepresented that his was an AAU program. He enticed us and took our money, charging us for a full season up-front, then immediately dropped our son's team from participating in any games, when we started to question the "league games" that consisted of primarily playing against the same one or two teams. There are plenty of legit teams around. AVOID THIS FRAUDULENT ONE AT ALL COSTS, and spread the word. (See attached email pics)
---
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
BUYER BEWARE
A short while after our kid had joined the Warriors team and played some games and scrimmages, we realized they had played multiple times against the same, much more advanced team, losing by 20-30 points each game. Other AAU teams make it a point not to play the same team twice, we have since learned. It is a big league, after all.
After hearing numerous parent and child complaints about this one day, I emailed the coach, asking if the Warriors had plans to play against more evenly matched teams--or ANY other teams, stating also, "I agree winning shouldn't be the main focus, but I also know our child is not the only player who is disheartened, losing by so many points every game. It's just not an even match with that particular team."
The head coach, Conrad, responded by canceling all our child's games "until further notice", and refused us even a partial refund. Then he claimed that all we cared about was winning (not true at all). He also falsely claimed that we had major concerns about our son's playing time, when we had never remotely raised any such concern. Despite being given multiple chances to do the right thing, clearly head coach Conrad was reaching for excuses to justify his operating in bad faith.
What child would want to practice on a summer team that doesn't play any games--especially after having previously participated in the games? When I suggested the coach should take accountability for putting our child in a position to want to search for another team to join, he instead deflected and completely distorted the facts of the situation, and hid behind a "no refunds" policy. So be it, but the community should be warned.
We did not press the coach for a refund for the team jersey once he stated his policy; however we felt that it was ethically questionable to discontinue our child's games shortly after charging us $100 for a uniform--and not to offer any partial refund for unused future practice time in good faith, despite HIS decision to cancel the games on our child. We did share what the consequences would be, if our request for a partial refund was denied, for unused practice time starting after Conrad canceled our child's team. When Conrad failed to respond, we eventually had to put a deadline on the response before taking this public. As stated above, there were multiple chances for this coach to do the right thing.
We have been involved in many sports with different coaches, and this is the first time our child has ever reported feeling that the coach's style was abusive--specifically the head coach. There were times during practice when our child asked what he had gotten wrong during a drill, and, instead of teaching or correcting our child--the coach just screamed at our child to go to the back of the line. We also witnessed another child fall and slam his head against the concrete block wall of the gymnasium one time, crying afterwards--with very little, if any, concern shown by the coach.
Avoid this basketball club. It is not well organized and the communication with parents is poor. The head coach does not embody the values he claims to impart on young, impressionable students of the game. He'll gladly take your money when the team is clearly maxed out beyond reasonable capacity, and won't think twice about kicking your kid to the curb, if you raise a simple concern.
