AAU PROGRAM
A local legacy with a national reputation.
MEET OUR ELITE:
E40 DFS NATIONAL TEAMS
NOW PLAYING IN THE ELITE40 CIRCUIT!
If you’re a college coach looking for high-level talent to build your program, look no further than our 2025 / 2026 /2027 elite travel teams. We’ve got length, we’ve got quickness, we’ve got shooters and slashers and dogged defenders. Chances are, we’ve got EXACTLY what you need to take your team to the next level!
AAU TRYOUTS
The Drill for Skill 2024 season tryouts have been completed.
Tryouts for our Elite 40 and Regional High School teams are usually completed in October. Local team tryouts are usually held in January. If you have additional questions about our AAU program or need more information please contact our AAU Directors:
DFS SOUTH/PITTSBURGH
Rob Shazer
AAU Director, DFS South
rshazer28@gmail.com
412.628.7591
DFS NORTH/BEAVER
Ryan Brown
AAU Director, DFS North/Beaver
drillforskillaau@gmail.com
724.622.1881
AAU Directors
John Miller
Beaver Valley
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“A legend.” Few coaches are worthy of that reference, yet DFS founder John Miller has earned that reputation from his peers, his players, and opponents through the years. During his 33-year high school coaching career, Coach Miller led his Blackhawk High teams to nearly 650 wins, eight WPIAL titles, and four state championships. Dozens of his players went on to major college careers, including his own three children: Sean, at the University of Pittsburgh; Archie, at North Carolina State; and Lisa, at Toledo and Elon. He’s also influenced countless coaches and former professional standouts such as Kobe Bryant, Danny Fortson, Dante Calabria, and the WNBA’s Shatori-Walker Kimbrough. Today, he’s regarded as one of the nation’s greatest teachers of the game, and his DFS AAU program has become a pipeline for dozens of players to compete collegiately at the highest levels.
Rob Shazer
South Hills, Girls & Boys
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Coach Shazer has earned a national reputation in the AAU world. His DFS 2025 girls team has compiled a record of 184-9 while competing in high-level tournaments over the past few years, including a mark of 41-3 in 2021. Coach Shazer founded the MRIE Basketball Club in 2008, and led the team to multiple AAU titles over the next eight years. The USA Basketball gold-licensed coach now serves as a key assistant in the Chartiers Valley boys program, which reached the WPIAL 5-A championship game in 2021. Coach Shazer joined the DFS family in 2018 and oversees several of our teams in the South Hills region. He is the program coordinator for the Collier Township Recreation Center, and lives in that community with his wife, Shawney, and their three children: Joey, Nick and Ava.
Jeff Ackermann
South Hills, Boys
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Coach Ackermann is one of Pennsylvania’s finest high school coaches. During his tenure at Moon, Pine-Richland, and now at Baldwin, he’s accumulated more than 350 career victories, including five WPIAL titles and a PIAA championship. He joined the DFS family in 2020 and now oversees several teams in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. Coach Ackermann is a technology education teacher at Chartiers Valley High, and lives in South Fayette with is wife, Jill, and children Bryson, Kendall and Colton.
DFS boasts a rich local legacy that’s acquired a national reputation through our unmatched training system and top-tier staff. Legendary Blackhawk Coach John Miller started our AAU program in 2008 and since that time many of the most recognizable college coaches across America have us on speed dial when they’re looking for an outstanding player.
And it makes perfect sense why. Not many AAU organizations feature a coaching staff that has earned 15 PIAA championships, more than 20 WPIAL titles, and thousands of victories.
While those numbers are quite impressive, the one we’re most proud of can’t be counted. Our players have received millions of dollars in scholarship money, fielding offers from the highest level of Division I to some of the top programs in NAIA, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III.
College coaches understand that our kids develop the character traits it takes to perform at a high level. They know our kids learn how to fall in love with the process of building their skill, bodies and minds. They see that our kids are taught how to become a great teammate, share the basketball, and play with discipline and passion from the opening tip to the final buzzer.
In short, our kids get better. Every day. In many different ways that translate to whatever career path they choose.
More than 40 boys and girls teams compete under the DFS banner each spring and summer, based in four locations — one in Beaver Valley, and three in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. Our teams start in the fourth grade with local tournaments, and extend to national travel schedules at the high school level.
Developing outstanding young people. Mentoring high-level coaches. Growing the game.
That’s not just a dream at DFS. It’s why we can’t wait to get to the gym each day.
We hope you’ll take the floor with us.
How it Works
Petite to elite. Boys to men.
That’s the vision behind our regional and national AAU program. It’s all about developing strong teams and individuals from within our family. DFS has nearly 40 boys and girls squads teams at all levels — from recreation to high-level travel.
The majority of our players enter our system as beginners in elementary school. When they leave DFS eight years later, they are seasoned and skilled young men and women ready to compete in college.
**Grades 1-2** — We build a Fun Foundation through guided discovery, active games, and the introduction of proper skill and movement.
**Grade 3** — This is the AAU development stage. We assemble boys and girls of comparable ability and introduce our time-tested training system.
**Grades 4-5** — Heavy on individual skill development and basketball IQ. We typically offer eight practice sessions for every tournament our teams enter.
**Grades 6-8** — Continues with heavy skill development and the introduction of team tactics and strategy. We also begin to play in more regional tournaments.
**Grades 9-12** — Our focus is on continued growth and exposure for our athletes. We travel to many of the top tournaments around the nation where college coaches flock to see the best talent. This is the dream, and this is what our students work so hard to attain.