Good attitude, skill and talent. It always helps if you know someone which is deplorable.

Gotta play defense. If you can't play D then coaches can't have you on the floor.

Be tall, that helps a lot too

As a former multiple time div 1 coach, most of the squad is really picked before tryouts. For the final spots I would look at some kids with potential, especially 1st years. Also would look a kids who may have a standout skill, like shooting or shot blocking. Finally, depending on the depth of group, might look at an aggressive player, but knowing they may have limited minutes and if they won't be whinging, or worst of all parents whinging.
Tryouts normally are a bit of a waste of time. Isn't till after trainings and a few games do you get to know where a kids level is. Always seem to bring up a div 3 or 4 kid that was an unknown factor and they improve in leaps and bounds.
I would suggest not putting eggs in one basket, go to a few tryouts and see where the kid fits in. One clubs 3/4 squad could be another's 1/2.

Coaches have already rang players up before tryouts
If you haven't received a call, seriously don’t bother, the whole thing is an endless cycle of nepotism.

Just being honest what tryouts are. You think a great training from a kid is going to get them picked in a couple hour session? They might be looked at, but inevitably they don't make it. Tryouts are just a show for kids and especially parents that their kid have a chance.

^^ sounds like a few of you need to move to an association/club that you can have a bit of faith in

^conversely the African kids mature later and most of the time don't come out until under 16s. Look at a couple of Machar brothers in nbl1, never played a div1 junior game. Div1 coach at Norwood said Akok would never be good enough to ever play ones.

Unless they're 4 years older than the Age Group they're allocated to. Happened more than once before. Dominate younger kids. Totally fair.

European background, lol,

Most of the population has a euro or British background, yes some children grow faster but if they have small parents it most likely means they won't be tall, not all the time though. Smaller children quite often have much better coordination at a young age but by late teams the taller children catch up.

Coach A
Give me a smart skilled basketballer over a robot athlete that runs up and down the floor any day.
That's the problem with most sports these days, been hijacked by dumbass athletes.
Nothing beats IQ, timing, skill, feel for the contest, vision, temperament....
These are the things a coach should be looking for

The African kids ages years ago were certainly a problem, wasn't their fault. Don't think immigration were thinking about their sporting prowess when processing. Now the second generation coming through, ages are legit.

Knowall spot on. Easiest thing to do with unknown kids is ask them to do something with their weak hand. Reassure them that you're looking for willingness to try, not ability to execute. Those who refuse to try are not going to learn, easy to cross off a list.

To all those whinging about coaches largely having teams selected prior to trials, what do you propose? That a kid who is known to be a fantastic teammate, coachable and hard-working, gets left out because your kid rocked up to trials and made a few shots? There are always a few kids who come in and light up a trial setting, especially those with good skill sets and decent physical tools. Plenty of those kids get into game situations and have no IQ, no willingness to be coached or play with their teammates. I would be seriously concerned if I encountered a coach at D1 level picking kids purely on the basis of best performers at trials.

"been hijacked by dumbass athletes." Being coached by coaches that insist on using the Ass word rather than the true aussie word ARSE.

fitness can be developed reletavely easily and quickly.

^This guy hit the nail on the spot here

Was cut from squad 1 trials a couple years back in 23s, trained by myself instead of playing div 3 then asked if I could train with the 1/2s 5 weeks later. They said yes and I ended up playing div 1 by the middle of the season

If youre not a physical specimen but still can play, do that

Coach A, no disrespect intended, but what level do you coach at?
As a long term coach I can not think of a single coach at D1. HP or rep level that would agree with you.

^
1. kinda strange you called it metro 1 considering theyre abolishing that dumb concept next season

2. you sound like a salty parent, not the way to go tbh

what do you mean metro is abolished?
Then what is it going to be?

699 people like you are exactly the problem.
You're looking out for your daughter only.
The coaches and JDO are looking at the bigger picture.
That doesn't mean there's favouritism. It means you're biased.

You are the sort of parent that clubs don't need.

To use a quote of the great Charles Barkley.

"If you go out with a girl and they say she has a great personality, she's ugly. If they tell you a guy works hard, he can't play a lick. Same thing."

Any idiot can work hard and run up and back during trials. Then when they don't make the Div 1 squad, mum in the stands will say, but little Jimmy led everyone running suicides.
They running suicides coz little Jimmy can't make a layup.
Tell them to tryout for little athletics!

735, again, you are part of the problem.
Parents with little or no understanding about the bigger picture, pretending they know everything.

The irony of 761 calling anyone else negative, after the three posts you've posted just having a whinge about your kid being overlooked. Give it a rest.

#761 - Have you raised your concerns with the JDO? Or have you gone straight to Hoops to bitch and moan?

You've probably got the most dedicated approachable JDO going around at that club.

843 (and all your other posts)
Now you've started agreeing with yourself?
For your own sake, please stop.

860 - basketball is a height biased sport. Sorry.

Length matters in basketball, you have 10 players per team, and the big kids generally take longer to develop. There should always be a spot for one or two of them in your higher teams

I noticed you still haven't answered the question. Have you raised your concerns with the JDO or div 1 coach?

867 - what happens if the decision to put the kid into division 1 becomes a great one in time.

Will you apologise to the coach/JDO as publicly as you are complaining?

Can we actually answer OP's question 'what do coaches look for' instead of whining

#728

BSA will go back to the chronlogical div 1/2/3/4/5/6/7 etc

so no more of this confusing div ABC crap

sometimes it's crazy what these feeds lead on to.

The last few selections in a squad sometimes comes down to a gut feeling. Or unfortunately not wanting to deal with a bothersome parent if they are around the mark. Sometimes it works out, sometimes not. During the season there can be moved made if there's an obvious error. So many parents will complain that their kid is as good as another in a higher grade. That might be true, but there's only a finite number of spots. Either go elsewhere and prove them wrong, or stay and prove them wrong. Quite simple. And if you go elsewhere and they put the kid in same group as previous club, the problem wasn't the club.

Just thought of a good one, being an orphan! But seriously, so many parents have screwed it up for their kids. Either overbearing, filling the kids head of how good they are, coaching on sidelines, bad mouthing other kids and just being a pain in the arse. Alarm bells always go off when a fringe kids parent volunteers immediately before teams are set to be manager, like it's a devious scheme that their kid won't be dropped because mum's the manager.
Majority are good, but there's always a Karen in every group!

To answer the OP coaches look for many different things.

For new players they are often looking for someone to fill a gap in the Age Group. They may be top heavy or guard heavy so need someone good to balance out their teams. Top age and Bottom age in a similar way.

There is no one thing. Just play to your strengths, do what you're told. Be vocal and seen as a positive leader and you'll be noticed.

#910 BSA may not actually go back to Div 1,2,3,4,5,6 etc.

All they've said is the Metro/District split is gone. Pro/Rel will exist. How they split pools this time will be interesting. They screwed it up last year.

#931

I think you will find these plain words in the new competition post:

'the competition will be known as District League with chronological numbering from Division 1 onwards'

As mentioned in this thread, it's all about the FEES...the dollars…10 per team equals more money
Doesn’t matter if you can’t play or you’re 4ft tall, keep paying your 10 a side FEES for 5mins game time…they will dangle a carrot in front of you for 5 years, be patient, your time is coming…tell you your kid is gonna be a STAR! But you have to keep paying and be patient….once you work out it’s all bullshit….TOO LATE! They’ve cashed in and already moved onto the next bunch of suckers
And that’s how the cycle goes
If you kids height projection is under 6ft 6" dont waste your money.

so what youre saying is everybody under 6'6 should just give up?

get a grip

Not necessarily "give up"
Just be prepared for your fees to be used on developing kids that are going to be 6ft 6”+

That doesn't sound ridiculous tbh. You can't teach height

If you're under 6'3 6'4 (much less 6'6) you have to work that much harder than the taller guys to succeed

That doesn't sound ridiculous tbh. You can't teach height

If you're under 6'3 6'4 (much less 6'6) you have to work that much harder than the taller guys to succeed