As we now approach the month of June, I have to say it's been a cool spring season thus far, covering my first season of AAU basketball. I'm sure most will agree that there's always a lot occurring once the spring season unfolds; it's pretty much a decision made weekly by myself and other scouts to determine which event we feel is best to attend. This past weekend (5/25 – 5/26) brought a different type of outing, as I made my way out of Virginia to head down South and join my Phenom Hoops co-workers for coverage/hosting of our annual ‘David Rose Memorial Day Classic' tournament. I hadn't seen most of the crew since this past winter, so it provided opportunities for both reunion and my own personal first experience in working a Phenom Hoops AAU tournament. Likewise to our company's past events of fall exposure camps, preseason ‘high school jamborees,' and regular-season high school showcases, I saw the Memorial Day Classic as yet another successful two days of hoops. It brought great talent from around the surrounding states of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Comparing this particular tournament to others I've covered throughout the last two months, I also deemed this: our Phenom Hoops' travel tournaments bring a unique type of approach, especially in terms of exposure. Yes, I know that I obviously might sound biased to say that but maybe some specific pointers may help clarify what I'm exactly getting at.
Right now, I feel like there's two specific tactics that truly exemplify what I mean by Phenom Hoops' ‘unique approach to exposure.' For starters, teams receive forms of recognition even before they officially play in our tournaments. In a similar fashion to Fall 2018 during the high school preseason, our scouting crew recently embarked on an ‘AAU open gym tour' to get a good grasp of this year's different travel programs in respective regions. With the states of North Carolina and Virginia remaining as primary areas of focus, several eyes within the Phenom Hoops team had a chance to see teams' makeup months ago, before the first travel tournaments even tipped off. Two of our guys, Jamie Shaw and Jeff Bendel, especially do a stellar job when it comes to analyzing teams/players early on, to give next-level coaches an idea of what they can expect. For example, in the weeks leading up to the Memorial Day Classic, Jamie and Jeff conducted previews of various teams that would play in the event; highlighting players to watch out for and notable team accomplishments attained. One can note the same type of previewing currently happening on our website (www.phenomhoopreport.com ), in preparation for this weekend's (6/1 – 6/2) ‘Phenom JMAC Showcase,' held in Rock Hill, SC.
Secondly, our goal of giving players maximum exposure appears evident by how we attempt to place a scout on every court during tournaments. Personally, I see this as the most important and intriguing facet of Phenom events. This past weekend at the Memorial Day Classic, we had games taking place at four different facilities with nine total courts being used. Regardless of how things spread out, there was a different scout providing coverage for EVERY court during the two days. It didn't matter the time, location, or which bracket they played in; all players who participated shared an equal chance to receive exposure. Like most members in the field, we too acknowledge how important and useful social media plays a part in today's culture. As I've stated in the past, there's obviously a balance between pros and cons associated with those such platforms but there's no denying that 'out of sight, out of mind' rings true. I think it's great that these young prospects have a chance to be seen by multiple members on our staff.
Producing tweets, videos, and daily articles about players/teams serves as just a few of the main objectives at these Phenom Hoops tournaments. Followers of our tournament coverage likely have already noticed that we tend to write about game standouts at different times of the day. Around noon of the tournament's first day, one may see an article about who stood out on Court 1's morning games. Later that day, another article of the afternoon's standouts has a good chance of appearing. We all hold a goal to stay on the same page with this approach; not limiting individual top performers to a relatively small number. There's a lot of basketball that's played in these tournaments so, as one can imagine, basically anyone has a chance to make a statement game. Our social media work goes beyond just that of Twitter also. Other apps of Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube all contain Phenom Hoops content. I'm sure the players have a liking for highlight mixtapes just as much as I do, so they should soon realize our YouTube channel's on the come up with Jamie mainly behind it. The camera stayed rolling this past weekend to capture all sorts of action.
By the way, the exposure doesn't just solely occur for the weekend…it continues well after everyone has played their games and traveled back home. It's been a few days since the Memorial Day Classic finished this past Sunday and our workers still have plenty to say. Teams that win their division can expect to see themselves posted on our website not long afterwards. Time's spent to determine familiar faces who we felt raised their stock by having strong performances. There's even podcast episodes recorded (titled ‘Amateur Hour – Phenom Hoop Report' and hosted by Miles Masercola) to center on thoughts from tournaments. My point is, if players do their part in playing hard and the right way, no issues should emerge in receiving desired recognition. Make sure you maintain that same type of smart play for any tournament because you never know when you might come across a full row of college coaches like the picture shown below.
There's undoubtedly plenty of tournaments out there all over the country and I truly feel teams/parents will have an enjoyable experience whenever coming across one of our own. Professionalism continues to act as one of our strongest values; not just in how we, as scouts, behave but to also instill it in the players who attend as well. An instance of this occurred last Saturday, when Phenom Hoops head honcho, Rick Lewis, took time after a game to speak to a team about the importance of showing positive behavior. It's those type of small details that go way beyond just basketball; something I especially appreciate about working for Phenom. Rick will tell it best and, if you're lucky, he might even share his legendary ‘5 Golden Rules.' I hope to soon have the chance to partake in more Phenom tournaments and also see YOU at them down the road.
To reiterate one of our main mottos, just make sure you 'play in the right events.'
