By: CONNOR CLARK
Editor & Chief
Elite Club basketball is no walk in
the park. Nor is it just a bunch of pickup games in sweltering gyms either. For
parents and kids the game has become serious business. With high school and in some cases college scholarships
the stakes get higher and the bruises bigger.
The most viable and visible route
once outside of the middle school ranks is to play on one of the major circuit. There it is “war” – sneaker war! Adidas vs. NIKE vs. Under Amour; how do tell
the winners? Follow the footprints to find out.
The shoe company’s idea is to get their
shoes on as many established and rising stars as possible. All three shoe
brands run and visit camps, peruse player rankings at all levels, bankroll
age-group traveling teams for select middle school teams and provide free shoes
to top high school teams.
Think elite level basketball doesn’t
have a following? You only need to know that corporate giant Walt Disney is a
primary corporate sponsor for specific high level youth basketball events. If
the players supply where is the demand coming from? The demand is created by those watching the
games – the college coaches. The shoe
circuits provide the ability to play in front of a large number of high level college
institutions in a singular venue due to the consistent elite talent pools. The only guarantee is opportunity, and any
advantage that can be gained in assisting with the rising cost of college
tuition is life changing for many families and children.
Some of the major programs with each
brand/circuit:
NIKE
![]() |
Isaiah Briscoe |
·
Oakland
Soldiers
·
Mac
Irving Fire
·
NJ
Playaz
·
CP3
·
Texas
Titans
·
Boo
Williams
·
CIA
Bounce
·
All
Ohio
·
Team
United
·
Team
Penny
Adidas
![]() |
Carlton Bragg |
·
Team
Derick Rose
·
Ohio
Basketball Club
·
Team
Loaded
·
Atlanta
Celtics
·
New
York Rens
·
Texas
Select
·
Oakland
Rebels
·
Florida
Elite
·
Compton
Magic
·
Stackhouse
Elite
Under Amour
![]() |
Marquez Letcher-Ellis |
·
Houston Defenders
·
Juice All-Stars
·
DC Premier
·
Team Thad
·
Baltimore Finest
·
Ray Allen Select
·
Iowa Barnstormers
·
Chicago Lockdown
·
Atlanta Express
Team Detroit
The names listed above are your usual
suspects so to speak and are well known commodities in the youth basketball
world to the highest level. Conversations
of this nature are typically reserved for 9th and 10th
grade teams – until today. Mark this date on your calendar as a possible turning
point in youth hoops.
Many across the nation to this point
have heard of the infamous Slam City “Terror Squad”; some have questioned the team’s
construction but none have questioned their talents, the coaching, or the
strength of the organization in bring this type of talent together. But who
would have ever guessed that a group of 7th graders (class of 2020) would
be sought after for one of the highest competitive basketball circuits in America; the Adidas
Gauntlet. Slam City and the "Terror Squad" an anonymous source states "...is a basketball stock you want to buy low because their value is increasing every time they step onto the court"
With nationally ranked players
filling the roster at the 2019 level; the program has sustained initial player
movement and boast a skillful set of players that have impressed many. The 2021 group has landed the #1 player in
the country and their local market in Zion Harmon and looks ready to acquire #2
Trey Patterson as well as other top ten commodities.
This type of player acquisition in
what was a clearly defined market on the east coast IS unheard of; but lead by
a 2020 group where 10 out 10 players are found on every national ranking board,
with size to compete 3 years up now, and with 60% of said roster appearing as
top 5, top, 10, or top 25 players today announcement makes sense in many
ways.
Slam City Elite has become the first
ever 7th grade team, along with their other middle school teams at
the 6th and 8th grade level to be given a sneaker
deal. Announced (pictured above) today,
Adidas’s Andrew Wiggins Team Loaded announced via their Twitter account and
confirmed what has been rumored for several weeks to be true – Slam City Elite
is part of the Adidas family - officially known as Slam City/Team Loaded .
For all their detractors Slam City
has the last laugh on this one - two old, doesn’t matter in middle school, this
group of players won’t translate to high school, wasted time reclassing. This group and organization who some thought
were the poster boys for something wrong in the game; may have just changed the
game for every young kid in the country as the players wearing uniform for this
organization like many listed above will have the OPPORTUNITY to showcase their
skills and talents on the circuit in front of the top college coaches in the
country and maybe even on ESPN as Adidas is contracted with them for various
games and showcases.
Could this be a new
trend for middle school or is this team just that good? Only time will tell. At
the end of the day as previously stated these kids have a better chance of obtaining
that college scholarship and for that we should all be thankful.
No comments:
Post a Comment