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The WV Thunder has openings for several spots on their 2008 spring/summer AAU girls' basketball team. With the second consecutive year of the AAU National Committee changing the Age Determining Date (ADD), some girls off of last years 10u WV Thunder team got bumped up to the 12u age for this year and are not eligible at the 11u age division. Thus, the need to pick up some new players for this year.

As of right now, there are only three definite players on this years 11u/6th grade team. These girls include two very talented guards/wings: one from Peebles and the other from Oak Hill who both played on this team last year and also one 6'0" post player from Portsmouth. There have been several other inquiries but no other definites at this time. We are looking for a roster of 8-9 very talented and dedicated young ladies who can compete at a state and national level of AAU basketball and whose families are willing to travel.

Last year's group of seven girls from the 10u age level won the Ohio AAU State Championship and finished 5th in the nation at the Division I level in the AAU Nationals at Orlando, FL. This year's Thunder team will either play out of Ohio or West Virginia depending on where the majority of our players come from.

If you know of any girls from Ohio, Kentucky, or West Virginia who would possibly be interested in trying out for the 11u/6th grade WV Thunder for this AAU season, there will be Sunday afternoon workouts at Huntington St. Joe High School in Huntington, WV starting in January.
The coaches of this team are: Head Coach Shannon Lewis who has been involved in AAU for many years with the WV Thunder. He is currently the head girls coach at Huntington St. Joe High School which was the WV State Runner-up the last two years in the WV State Tournament and is currently ranked # 1 in WV in the "A" division. The Assistant Coach is Stan Doddridge who coached boys basketball for many years and was a Boys Varsity High School Head Coach for eight years and has also been involved with AAU basketball for the last four years. Lewis can be reached at (304)638-4165 or [email protected] . Doddridge can be reached at (937)587-1776 or [email protected] .

Last year's 10u team played in over 50 games and participted in tournaments in Cincinnati (four), Dayton, Rio Grande, Ashland (KY), Indianapolis (IN), and Johnson City (TN) in addition to the National Tournament in Orlando (FL).

This is a great opportunity for girls to compete against the very best players in the surrounding states and the nation at this age level. The team will practice once or twice a week mostly in Huntington. Last year there were also practices held in Oak Hill and South Webster. Tournament play will begin at the end of March and the Nationals are held in early July this year in Kenner, Louisiana which is just outside of New Orleans.

To be eligible for the 11u/6th grade division she has to be born January 1, 1997 or after or can be in the 6th grade and born January 1, 1996 or after. One of those two requirements must be met and this was taken straight from the AAU girls web-site.

The WV Thunder 11u/6th grade has added a point guard from Huntington, WV who is a very quick player and good defender. She played on a different AAU team last year but is coming to the Thunder this year. That gives us four very good players so far. There have been several inquiries and there will be an open gym/try-out on a Sunday in early January at Huntington St. Joe High School. The exact time and date will be announced soon.

The first workout/tryout for the WV Thunder 11u/6th grade girls' AAU team for this upcoming season will be held Sunday, January 11 at 2:00. This will be held at Huntington St. Joe High School in Huntington, WV. Workouts will be held every Sunday through the month of January and February to finalize a roster.

Please read the previous posts for additional information or contacts.

We've had several inquiries about the the open gym/try-out for this upcoming Sunday from some families of very talented 6th grade/11u girls. It looks like the quality of players will be very good once again this year for the WV Thunder.

Again, this is scheduled for 2:00 - 4:00 this coming Sunday, 1/11/09 at Huntington St. Joseph High School in Huntington, WV and will continue on Sundays throughout January and February. Coming from Ohio, go all the way to the Chesapeake bridge and cross over into Huntington. Go straight once you get off the bridge for two blocks until you get to 5th Ave. Make a left there and go about a mile/mile 1/2 until you come to 13th Street. Turn right at that intersection and the school is up one block on your left.

Hope to see some outstanding young basketball players on Sunday.

It was a good turn-out at the open gym/try-out on Sunday for the 11u/6th grade group. The girls worked hard through almost 90 minutes of drills before scrimmaging the last 30 minutes. There were several very talented girls who were able to make it and hope everyone comes back next Sunday at the same time. The WV Thunder will once again field a very strong team at this age group.

Bucknut,How many local girls came ? What schools they from ?

Local Ohio schools represented were: Peebles, Lucasville Valley, Portsmouth, Coal Grove, and then also Greenup County in KY. Also, there were girls from Huntington, WV but according to WV High School Athletic Association rules they were unable to scrimmage since at the 6th grade level they are in Middle School. Those two girls are coming back to the Thunder after being with another AAU organization the previous year. There is also a very good player from Oak Hill who has been with the Thunder for several years but wasn't able to be there yesterday in addition to a couple of girls from East Carter, KY who have been with the Thunder but had school team practice.

How many girls do you plan on having on your 11u?

There will probably be around 10 girls on the 11u/6th grade team this year. Last year on the 10u WV Thunder team that finished 5th in the AAU Nationals in Orlando there were only 7 girls. We were very fortunate as we only had a couple of games all year where we got into serious foul trouble and we also stayed injury free. You don't want to be too short-handed but at the same time you don't want too many because that cuts in on playing time and as most people know AAU basketball is expensive to play. With last year's team there was never a problem with playing time, that's for sure !!!

Will this team be playing out of ohio again this year? I was curious because it looks like about half of your team will be from ohio and the other half from WV and KY. I wondered about the rule about only three kids per team being allowed to be out of district. Or did that rule get changed this year?

I would say once all is said and done, that the WV Thunder 11u/6th grade team will be out of Ohio again this year. There are going to be two 12u/7th grade Thunder teams this year. One will be coached by Larry Lambert who coached the team that finished 5th in the nation last year and that team will be out of Ohio again this year. The other team will be coached by Shannon Lewis and will include some girls who had to move up two age levels to the 12u for this year. That team will also probably be out of Ohio.

ole chief wrote:Will this team be playing out of ohio again this year? I was curious because it looks like about half of your team will be from ohio and the other half from WV and KY. I wondered about the rule about only three kids per team being allowed to be out of district. Or did that rule get changed this year?

Is the the 3 player rule correct ?
How many do you have out of District trying out for the team ?

The three player out of district rule does still apply and we'll make certain to follow it.

There is another open gym/try-out this Sunday from 2:00 - 4:00 at Huntington St. Joe High School. Looking forward to another good turn-out this weekend.

When is your final try-out and you finalize your team?

We'll keep practicing on Sundays and see who keeps attending and has a definite interest in the Thunder, as last Sunday 1/11 was our first practice. In AAU it really needs to be a mutual fit for both the families and the organization to make it work and we don't do the high pressure recruiting bit as some organizations do. The Thunder has a pretty good name in AAU basketball in all age groups and in many cases the better players/families inquire about the Thunder.

There were some very good ladies there last week and I know there are a few more coming out this weekend. If there is an interest by others, they do need to get there as soon as possible. As far as an exact date for the roster to be completed, I really can't give you one but I would anticipate it being completed within the next month. The season will probably start sometime in the middle of March.

Another good turn out today and some very good quality of players for both the 10u/5th grade and 11u/6th grade ages. The girls worked really hard during the drills before getting a chance to scrimmage the last 30 minutes.

Next Sunday's time is changed to 1:00 to 3:00 for this age group.

This is just a reminder that this Sunday 1/25 the practice/try-out will be held from 1:00 - 3:00 at Huntington St. Joe High School in Huntington, WV. This is an hour earlier than the previous Sunday workouts.

There's been some very talented young ladies for the 11u/6th grade the last two weeks and we hope all the girls are able to make it back this weekend. They've had an opportunity to go hard through a lot of various drills and get in some good quality time on the court.

Are there tryouts for 5th grade/10u teams also?

Try-outs for the 5th grade/10u are at the same time as both ages go together.