How To Prepare

Greetings,

It's Friday and hopefully everyone is in good spirits. As superstitious as I am, I know 13 is actually a good number because according to the Ancient Egyptians 13 it represents the start of a new cycle or time period. 12 + 1 = 13. I wish I was blogging from Phoenix, but I'm not so despite the fact that it has been warmer this week on the East Coast it's still not 80 degrees like it is out there. Big weekend for me basketball wise I will be at the Nike Super 6 Tournament tonight @ Fordham University if you're in the building come by and say hello. Saturday night I will be down in Trenton, NJ at the Prime Time Shootout. For those not familiar with the Prime Time Shootout and its significance I offer the following:

LeBron vs Carmelo


A Who's Who of Talent


10 Reasons You Won't Make it To The Next Level

1. Attitude, if it's bad nobody wants you no matter how talented you think you are
2. Work Ethic...what did you do harder or better than someone else today without being asked?
3. Attention to Details...Very small differences, consistently practiced, produce superior results.
4. Playing is not working, if you spend more of your time playing than working how do you get better?
5. Practice Doesn't Make Perfect...Perfect Practice gets you closer to perfection. If you practice poorly you will continue with the same bad results.
6. There are others out there who are just better than you, don't envy them..emulate their formula for success. This applies to you too Coach! 
7. A failure to plan is a plan that fails. I want to be a D-1 player but haven't completed my clearinghouse papers. I'm telling everyone I want to be a pro but I don't even know how to enter my name in the NBA Draft. You're just talking.....
8. You take your body for granted. You have no sound training program or plan, your idea of nutrition comes from a vending machine. Treat your body like a Sports Car and it will perform like one, treat your body like a "Hoopty" and it will perform like one.
9. You focus on your strengths rather than your weaknesses. If you can jump out of the gym don't dunk after practice, work on your jumper. If you're a great shooter work on your ball-handling or your athleticism. Too many players focus only on their strengths and when someone takes that away their game starts to look real suspect.
10. You just don't want it bad enough. "A goal is a dream with a deadline." Refuse to lose and don't take no for an answer. It's not how many times you get knocked down, it's how many times you get up.

How To Prepare

So you want to be a baller, eh? Take a look at my comprehensive approach on how to best prepare yourself for the next level.

Step#1

Give yourself a thorough and honest assessment that includes the following:

Physical Attributes utilizing a Standardized Basketball Testing Protocol. Record your height, weight, speed, agility and conditioning. This should also include a review of your nutritional intake as it affects your body and your performance. This is where you ask me about providing a SPARQ Testing Assessment for your team!

Step #2 

Utilize Video Analysis to identify weaknesses in your game. If you can actually watch your mistakes and see them for yourself, you will probably be less likely to repeat your mistakes.

Step #3

Based on your physical assessment and video analysis what is your plan? What do you need to do to get better and how will you do that? If I asked to see what you were doing would you feel uncomfortable? 

I'm not going to tell you what to do unless you ask me, if you do ask me be prepared to follow...or don't bother asking. If you were to ask me I would approach things like this:

In the Off-Season increase strengh and work load, minimize conditioning and focus on teaching and improving movement skills including lateral movement, change of direction and linear acceleration. Really focus on developing weak parts of your game through repetition. Shooting, ball-handling with weak hand, etc.

In the Pre-Season decrease strength training, focus on power 2x per week with Olympic Lifts, Kettlebells, Med Balls, etc. Increase conditioning through high intensity drill work and interval running. Stay away from long distance running to build endurance because it engages the catabolic process which breaks down the muscle you have worked so hard to attain in the weight room. During the Pre-Season all skills and drills must be performed at game speed in order to be effective. 

Let me show you what I mean:

Then again you could always use this technique....but remember Hoosiers was a movie and not real life!!