Why are you training?
April 6th, 2009 by Brian McCormick
One of the first questions that I ask players, and one which is usually followed by blank stares, is: why are you training? I think it is important for a player to know why he trains, especially when he decides to use a trainer, who is often expensive.
Today, I saw a blog titled, “I’m going to make you sore!” that captures the idea behind many trainers, err maintainers:
I was watching a ‘boot camp workout’ video from a local gym the other day and in it, the trainer yelled these words at one of his clients. The trainer was going to make his client sore. Really? Is that what the client is paying this trainer to do?
Most basketball trainers advertise intensity. They run hard workouts. I have met “trainers” who brag about making kids throw up during a workout. How does that improve a player’s performance?
For most people, it is not hard to make them sore. Just have them do something they haven’t done before and make them keep doing it. You could do crunches, lunges, or even just mulch the yard and you will get sore. But, are you really accomplishing anything?
I met a trainer once who told me that parents sent him their kids because they left tired. What a waste of time and money? It is not hard to make someone tired or sore. But, being tired does not mean improvement. As John Wooden said, “Do not mistake activity with achievement.”
The goal of your training should be to stimulate your body to improve, not annihilate it . Muscle soreness is just a sign that the training stress was more than the body was used to experiencing (which may be necessary to overload your muscles). It may be a by-product of a good training program, but should not be the goal.
I imagine that kids are tired at the end of some of my sessions. But, that is a by-product, not the goal. If a player gets tired from going hard and getting better, great. But the goal is to improve performance, not to make the player tired. The improved conditioning come through training for improved skill performance, and not vice versa.
So, why do you train? When you choose a trainer, do you evaluate him on his ability to achieve your goals? Do you structure your own workouts to meet your goals or do you follow someone else’s plan?
Before spending the time, energy and money, know why you train. Write out your goals and work to achieve them. Find a trainer who works with you to meet these goals rather than someone focused on making you tired before you leave the gym.
Coaches and Summer Circuit Basketball
Top coaches about their perceptions of the youth development system.
Holy Cross High School (Flushing, N.Y.) Head Coach Paul Gilvary:
“It’s a lot different now than it used to be,” he said prior to his team winning the City of Palms’ third-place game, 74-56, over Helen Cox High of New Orleans. “I think the NCAA has caused the whole situation because of the different times of the year they allow the recruiting. The NCAA has really made the summer very, very important to the kids.”
Montverde Academy (Montverde, FL) Head Coach and Athletic Director Kevin Sutton:
“We have our players in summer school and we try to look at everything as to how they do at the collegiate level academically and athletically,” Sutton said. “I feel that 85 to 90 percent of a player’s improvement takes place during the summer. We try to structure our summer around our team’s improvement. If our players continue to improve, that will attract the attention of the college coaches.
“We have 18 to 20 players on Division I or Division II scholarships,” he added. “Exposure, to me, is sometimes often overrated and overstated. As a former college coach, I think it’s better to go see a kid when he is in his more natural environment. That way, I can get a more accurate evaluation of him.”
Head Coach Matt Herting of Bishop Verot in Fort Myers, FL:
“A lot of people say, ‘Well, you get to play against great competition in the summer.’ I think you get to play against some great competition, but a lot of times you play against bad basketball, which is a problem. AAU coaches are at a disadvantage. A lot of the time, they don’t get much time for practice. And it’s so liquid. If a kid gets mad at me, he can’t just leave Bishop Verot and go play somewhere. In AAU, you can do that.”
Tom Tietze, publisher of Kansas City Basketball Abstract:
“One of the problems we’ve got in this country as far as basketball goes is that kids are playing too many games. They don’t do enough practicing. I’m not sure if that’s gonna change.”
Agility Drills for April
Box Drills
10x10 yard Box with cones. Perform various movements up, across, back and across. Movements include shuffles, sprints, carioca, backpedal
T-Drill
4 Cones in a T formation. Sprint up 10 yards slide to the left 5 yards, slide across to the right 10 yards, back to the middle and backpedal to the starting point
Pro Agility 5-10-5
2 cones 10 yards, 1 cone at 5 yards in the middle. Start in the middle and sprint right or left, touch the outside cone, sprint to the opposite cone touch and finish through center cone
Slide and Jump Drill
Cones 10 yards apart. Shuffle side to side 4 times return to the middle and jump as high as you can. Sprint to the next row of cones and repeat.
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