Do Ohio and Indiana have high school summer leagues?
High Schools play very aggressive summer ball the entire month of June. Most "AAU" teams shut down the month of June while HS ball teams play week night leagues at local colleges and weekend tourneys at team camps promoted by Universities like Purdue, Ball St, X, tO$U and Ohio (which was full by April and referred overflow teams to X)
Considering how the Universities use these team camps to expose athletes to their programs and cater to HS and Club programs almost shut down in June for HS activity ....and with the continued support for HS sports by communities here in the Flyover States I hardly see "AAU" making a dent....maybe moreso out east or on the west coast but out here in the heartland HS sports are still very much alive and well...well there is the conglomeration of talent and Club program teamies tend to follow each other in states where open enrollment is allowed. North COllege Hill had most of D1 Greyhounds playing together for example.
Spot on in terms of what happens in June here in Ohio -- 10 coaching days are taken up by one day shootouts at universities large and small, team camps and even the old school Eastern Ohio Camp with outdoor courts which is run by the Huggins family. Some coaches will do their own four-team sessions or use a day or two with just their own players to install offensive sets/defenses. In addition, players can form their own school-based teams without a coach present and play in leagues. Kids also know the open gym schedules and will often go play as a unit in each other's gyms.
Where I have seen the impact of spring basketball teams in Ohio is with school enrollment. Players use open enrollment or their families take an apartment in a district in order to play school basketball with spring teammates.
This happened often enough and there was inconsistent application among school districts of their own guidelines that OHSAA members put in a by-law that states once a student has started 9th grade in a school she/he will forfeit 50% of the maximum allowable scheduled contests in the next season. I think this applies to any sport that the student/athlete played at the previous school, but I don't know for sure.
A few in this area have moved multiple times. One by-product of the new approach is that parents will shop athletic programs during their child's 8th grade school year or before summer workouts begin.
Student/athlete movement happens across sports -- I've seen it in wrestling, volleyball, baseball, tennis and softball. But, it seems to happen most often in football and both girls/boys basketball.
Last Edited: 8/11/2017 4:18:17 PM by Joe McKinley