McLean Select Basketball wants all players interested in getting better at basketball to try out for our select program.  Our tryouts should provide players with a positive and competitive experience so that our McLean basketball players want to play hoops more as well as better understand where they need to improve their game to have the opportunity to play in high school. 

We also hope to create a community of basketball players who want to play hoops with their friends.  There are a significant number of players trying out each year for our 20 select positions, but your player will know many of the other players trying out and could make other friends in the process. 

Please encourage your son or daughter to try out for select basketball this season.

An important thing for parents and players to know is that the select teams are not static from year to year.  If you do not make a team the first year, please keep trying. 

The players grow and mature at different rates, and the skills that are important in the 5th grade are not necessarily the same ones that the coaches are looking for in the 7th and 8th grades.  As you can see from the chart below, most age groups have at least 6 players new to the McLean select program each year. 

Again, your player will have a great chance to demonstrate his or her improvement each season – the coaches are all rooting for the kids who try hard and can demonstrate a big change in their basketball game.

If you have made a select team last year and are trying out again this year, your player may not play on the same team.  There is substantial movement up from the B team to the A team or house to the B team and down from the A team to the B team or from the B team to house.  Some coaches are new to the age group, or “old” coaches may bring new perspective from the competition the prior year. 

Returning players and parents should not assume that they will make the same team (or even any team) if they have not continued to play a lot of basketball since the end of the prior season.  While coaches may have strong bonds with players and parents from the prior year, everyone tries out on equal footing, and history has shown a great deal of change in the players chosen in the McLean select program.

Last Updated:  September 27, 2011.