We’ve seen a trend in recent years where parents are getting their children involved in sports at a much younger age than when we were growing up.
As a child, I remember most school districts didn’t begin organized basketball until at least middle school, 7th or 8th grade to be exact.
But today we are seeing some schools offering tryouts for elementary school teams as well as travel AAU squads in the offseason as young as 2nd grade.
In the past, THD has brought you some amazing stories of adolescent ballers like Seth Wilson, deemed the “Best 2nd Grade Baller On the Planet” , who has already won MVP honors at an Ohio Futures Tournament.
Another interesting case was 5 year old hoops prodigy Reese Woodbury, who was on the roster of the U19 AAU Championship team in the state of Maine just last season, all before beginning kindergarten.
Then of course, we’ve all heard of the well publicized case of Jaylen Fleming, who as a 6th grader back in 2011, schooled Reggie Miller on the George Lopez Show.
Fast forward to modern day and hoops videos of superstar kids are now coming in an International flavor, as 4th grade Philpino sensation RJ Merluza is lighting up scoreboards and breaking ankles, Kyrie Irving style in California.
Rarely have we seen such handles and a mastery of the Eurostep from a 4th grader..
RJ Merluza Is the Philipino Kyrie Irving:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen has also provided content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, Cleveland.com, CSN Philly.com, Buckets Magazine, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
