Carter clan benefiting from AAU participation

Jul 03, 2010

By: Oakland Press Sports

By PAULA PASCHE
Of The Oakland Press
Paying for your four daughters to be involved in club sports can get a little pricey.
“What better way to spend money than on your kids,’’ said Kevin Carter of Bloomfield Hills.
The Carters are not alone. Club sports are a growing factor in Oakland County and elsewhere. Perhaps you hear more about AAU basketball, but that is not the only game in town, and parents know it.
Carter played college football at Western Michigan and his love of sports seems to have found its way into the blood of his four daughters — 6-year-old Katheryn, 12-year-old Karmyn, 15-year-old Kristyn and his oldest, Tierra, who is a college student in North Carolina.
The schedule at the Carter household can get a little harried, but Carter said they just work it in. His wife, Cassandra, is key to the picture too.
“We call her the warden,’’ Carter said of his wife, who makes sure her daughters also achieve academically.
Currently their daughter Kristyn, who is coming off a back injury, is training at Playmakers U in Pontiac to run high school track at Farmington Hills Mercy. It’s track for her now, but previously she was involved in competitive cheer at Trilogy in Shelby Township.
His two younger daughters play soccer for the Wazay football club in Rochester. Karmyn also has run track.
Their eventual goal is to play for the U.S. development team and/or earn a full-ride athletic scholarship.
Carter said most soccer players are good students and they have a chance at Division II schools such as Kalamazoo, Albion and Butler.
“My girls are all good students. They love the competition and the sports,’’ Carter said.
Carter said the club sports are where it’s at.
“That’s where the kids go who are serious,’’ Carter said.
Darryl Woods of Auburn Hills would agree with that.
He’s not shuttling four daughters, he has one son — Damaris — who is serious about football and basketball.
Damaris just wrapped up his AAU basketball season. In the past he’s also played on travel football teams.
In the fall he’ll be on the freshman football team at Brother Rice. He also aims to play basketball there, too. They chose Brother Rice because of academics and sports, in that order.
His dad said it’s tough to make a decision between the two sports.
“Until we know which sport college will pay for, he’ll play both,’’ said Woods who played high school football at Pontiac Central.
Damaris found confidence in his training at Playmakers U for the past two years.
“It was speed and agility training, they also worked with him at his position (wide receiver),’’ Woods said.
On the basketball court, he’s a shooting guard. Damaris has his goals listed and the top is to play in the NBA. But his dad tries to keep reality in play. “I tell him, ‘If you make it to college, whatever happens after that is a bonus,’’ Woods said.
His wife, Sheleda, is actively involved in Damaris’ activities, too.
Their 11-year-old daughter, Dalis, plays basketball at the Auburn Hills Boys and Girls Club, but her dad calls her a “no-sweat kind of person.” She plays basketball because her friends do. She’s not being pushed to go anywhere she doesn’t want to go.
Neither is his son.
Darryl Woods likes the life lessons that his son is learning through athletics.
“In life you have to deny yourself things,’’ Woods said.
His son is busy enough that he doesn’t have time to sit around the house and spend hours playing video games.
When Darryl Woods was a kid in Pontiac, he used to go outside and play with neighbor kids. That doesn’t happen so much any more. With club sports, young athletes get a chance to learn life lessons while breaking a sweat.

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