Articles & Resources

by Brian McCormick

Josh Waitzkin wrote a great book titled The Art of Learning in which he chronicles his experience as a chess prodigy and push-Judo World Champion. He attributes his success to his ability to learn.

In the lead-up to UFC 124, Kevin Iole wrote about the transformation of Josh Koscheck and Georges St. Pierre since their first fight. About GSP, he writes:

“He literally traveled the world seeking knowledge. While he’s one of the greatest athletes in the sport, his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach, John Danaher, said it’s St. Pierre’s ability to absorb coaching that makes him so unique.

‘He’s mastered the art of learning,’ said Danaher... ‘His ability to learn is what has helped him to continue to make progress over time. Most professional mixed martial artists have a certain skill set that is associated with them, and they use that and sustain themselves throughout their careers with that. But he’s one of the few who continues to change, modify and adapt and bring in new techniques over time.’

He’s meticulous when it comes to doing things correctly. And so, even though he had routed the hard-punching Dan Hardy at UFC 111, the first thing he did when he returned to the locker room was get onto the floor and question Danaher about mistakes he made when going for an arm bar submission in the first round.”

I wrote an article recently about automaticity (http://learntocoachbasketball.com/automaticity-skill-development-and-expert-performance) and cited a study titled “Inside the brain of an elite athlete: the neural processes that support high achievement in sports.” Yarrow, Brown and Krakauer (2009) wrote:

It is not automaticity per se that is indicative of high proficiency but rather the level of skill at which automaticity is attained.

Learning is a relatively permanent change in performance that occurs through practice. To continue improving, one must acquire a new skill, as is often indicative of mixed martial artists who start in one discipline (wrestling) and learn new disciplines (boxing) as a way to improve. Another way to improve is to push past one’s current level in terms of the speed-accuracy trade-off. For GSP, that might mean improving the speed of his punches or the speed with which he reads his opponent to decide when, where and how to punch without sacrificing accuracy; or, he could become a more accurate puncher without sacrificing speed, maybe by throwing more straight punches as opposed to looping punches.

In basketball, young players often improve by acquiring new skills. As players gain experience, many automate these skills at an early age and their improvement plateaus. I have noticed that many female players essentially peak around their junior year of high school. Rather than settle into a performance level when one reaches automaticity, to improve, one must continue learning. If the player has learned all the basic skills, improvement requires pushing past her current threshold in terms of speed or accuracy. This is why many coaches push players to practice at the edge of their performance level. This is also why improvement often starts with a dip in performance.

To continue learning, the player must learn to make her moves quicker with the same level of accuracy. Imagine a player learning to dribble. Initially, the player improves by eliminating gross mistakes - essentially, the players learns to control the ball with her fingers. As her control improves, she furthers her learning by adding new moves: in-n-out, crossover, behind-the-back, etc. When she learns a new move, her performance declines because learning is an error-filled process. When she learns a crossover for the first time, she makes more mistakes than she had been making when dribbling the ball in straight lines. As she reduces errors and automates her crossover dribble, she automates the skill at a certain speed of execution. At that speed, she rarely makes a mistake - she has has supreme ball control at that speed or great accuracy with her dribbling.

To continue learning, she has to make the move faster. Learning the crossover dribble at a faster speed requires concentration, a specific goal and numerous repetitions - deliberate practice. The player must move outside of her comfort zone (the speed at which she controls the ball with great accuracy) and practice at a faster speed. At this faster speed - the edge of her performance level - she is likely to make more mistakes. However, as her learning continues, she makes fewer and fewer errors at this speed, which signifies her learning which we see as improvement. At that point, she must push to a new performance edge and make more mistakes in an effort to learn and improve.

This is an exhaustive task, especially as players gain experience and reach higher and higher levels of performance. It is easy to improve when learning a new skill. It is very hard to continue one’s learning on an automated skill.

The elite performers manage to push through their comfort zone and practice on the edges to continue learning and improving. GSP’s post-fight behavior is indicative of the dedication and concentration needed for learning to continue. In essence, his mistake in the fight set the conditions for deliberate practice, as he sought an expert for immediate feedback, and one imagines that he trained to improve that specific skill with numerous repetitions over the next few weeks. In that way, he learned something new, either because it was a new skill or because he was able to perform an old skill faster, more accurately or in different situations.

Many players lack this ability or desire to further their learning once they reach an acceptable level of performance. Their skill automaticity does not signify their expertise, but places a ceiling on their performance. Those who continue their learning and push past their comfort zone tend to be the ones who excel at higher and higher levels of competition.

I picked up the following on another web site that covers primarily southern California prep players and teams. However, it closely mirrors many points made on this site previously (I deleted the player’s name and school):

As the negative stories started filtering out of the HAX tourney, perhaps the most significant was the oft-repeated observation that [D1] recruit K.S. has no desire.  She’s a player with all the gifts to be a collegiate AA, yet, she plays as if she’d rather be anywhere other than the basketball court.  If this were a reality show, a judge would have already put the question to her, “Do you really want to be here?”  My belief is that she wants to come to [college] and if she has to play basketball in order to do it, so be it.  During the tournament, numerous observers felt that she was content to let others do the dirty work and if the ball got in her hands, then the magic happened.  Unfortunately, she was not the only player at the tournament who had that attitude.
Have we burned out these girls?  Playing every day, every month of the year.  Even though this is the first big high school tournament in the Southland [technically it is before the official start date of high school basketball practice], scores and scores of concerned fans were noticing that the girls were disinterested and unenthusiastic.  Also, the girls were better athletes, but not better basketball players.  Playing all those games hasn’t translated into higher skills because there’s no teaching or coaching. Watching player after player incorrectly perform a basic skill like a bounce pass or totally ignoring others like a close out,  and you can only start wondering what these parents are paying the big bucks for.  Oh, I know, it’s for the college scholie, and a lot of girls at the tournament have gotten that.  Good for them.  But have we lost a generation of players because of that single-minded goal?  Watching some of the ghastly games that WBB put on during their first week, I’d say the prognosis is not encouraging.

by Brian McCormick

I generally refuse to train 8-year-olds. When parents call about a young player, I encourage the parents to invest in gymnastics or martial arts because of the benefits in terms of general strength and coordination as well as kinesthetic awareness.

The one 8-year-old who I agreed to train participated in a summer camp that I directed. Incidentally, teaching him how to shoot was easier than with any other player with whom I have worked. While he may not have developed many bad habits by that point, I attributed the ease of development to his weightlifting. At 8-years-old, he was working out with weights and doing cleans, snatches, squats and other lifts that conventional wisdom suggests are dangerous for children. At 8, he specialized in basketball. I encouraged him to play other sports because I am not a fan of early specialization. As he reached middle school, he played different sports and excelled in wrestling and football. Again, I attribute at least some of his success to his early weightlifting.

The New York Times ran an article this week featuring Dr. Avery Faigenbaum about the myths of youth weight lifting. The article highlighted research showing the safety of resistance training, despite the pervasive myths of stunting a child’s growth.

The article made two interesting points:

First, Dr. Faigenbaum said that children do not benefit in terms of hypertrophy like adults, but in terms of neurological changes. This makes sense, as the first adaptation that anyone makes when beginning a weight lifting program is neuromuscular. When you lift for the first time and see rapid gains immediately, those gains are not muscular strength; instead, it is the neuromuscular system firing more rapidly and efficiently which allows you to lift more weights.

When the eight-year-old did cleans, the improvements in terms of shooting were not due to muscular strength (at least initially). The resistance training did not make adaptations to shooting easier because he was stronger and therefore could shoot with better form from further distance. Instead, the ease was due to the neuromuscular improvements: he adapted to basketball-specific movements more quickly and easily. He understood the full-body coordination of a jump shot, while most 8-10-year-olds learn through segments and therefore do not exhibit the same full-body coordination.

Most players learn to shoot with a set shot. When they transition to a jump shot, the complexity is learning to coordinate the upper-body movement with the lower-body movement: the full-body coordination affects the transition as the body learns to turn these two movements into one (this is why I spend less and less time on form shooting drills). For the eight-year-old, he already had this movement pattern from the cleans, so his transition was easier.

The second interesting point was the lack of movement in today’s youth. Many people, including me, have written about the perils of overtraining in youth athletes. The important point is that the overtraining effects with young athletes are not necessarily due to the volume of the stress, but the lack of preparation for the physical stress.

“There was a time when children ‘weight trained’ by carrying milk pails and helping around the farm. Now few children, even young athletes, get sufficient activity’ to fully strengthen their muscles, tendons and other tissues. ‘If a kid sits in class or in front of a screen for hours and then you throw them out onto the soccer field or basketball court, they don’t have the tissue strength to withstand the forces involved in their sports. That can contribute to injury,’ said Lyle Micheli, M.D., the director of sports medicine at Children’s Hospital Boston and professor of orthopedic surgery at Harvard University.”

A coaching friend called me recently and told me that every U.S. Olympic Wrestling medalist in the last 30 years grew up on a farm. That makes sense, as children on a farm grow up in a more active environment and develop strength naturally through the farming. Consequently, their bodies are prepared for activities like wrestling.

The best way to prevent overtraining is not to limit the hours of activity, but to increase the opportunities for physical activity and to incorporate preparatory activities like resistance training even (or maybe especially) with young athletes.

Despite what most people think, weight lifting is highly unlikely to stunt a child’s growth or induce injury, unless the child lifts inappropriately. The benefits of weight lifting, however, are many.

Read the article here: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/phys-ed-the-benefits-of-weight-training-for-kids/

by Fred Cantor

Posted on NaturalStrength.com on June 20, 1999

There are too many "rules," too many "self-evident truths," and too much egotism and close-mindedness. The fact is, strength training is simple -- no, not the training itself, which needs to be brutally hard -- but the principles behind the training. Let the scientists and researchers argue amongst themselves -- the disagreements that they have now will be the same disagreements that they'll be having 5 and 10 years from now. I'm too busy training myself and others to wait for the white smoke to arise from the chimney and the "final word" on strength training to be released.

Because there will never be a final word.

Machines or free weight, Olympic lifting or non-Olympic lifting, periodization or high-intensity -- what's all the yelling about? Why is there so much anger -- on both sides-- if the other side disagrees? It's time that we stopped looking for differences in philosophies and started concentrating on the similarities -- because there are a lot more similarities than there are differences.

The goals on both sides are the same: We train to stay healthy, get stronger, and perform more effectively. All these goods can be met and have been met over the years, using machines or free weights, doing one set or multiple sets, and doing a variety of exercises. In fact, there are numerous variables in strength training -- sets, reps, equipment, exercises, etc. The factors, however, that are not debatable, the components that must be satisfied for a strength program to be successful are quite simple:

1. There must be intensity.
2. There must be overload.
3. There must be progression.

That's it. Nothing else. If you don't have those elements, no philosophy, no equipment, no methodology, and no supplement will make the program effective. The flip side, of course, is that if there is progression, overload, and intensity, every program will get good results. If you're not succeeding, look no further. Don't blame the equipment and don't blame the workout program: Remember, the same workout given to 10 people will get 10 different results. You must work hard -- every rep, every set, every day.

When designing a program, ask the following questions:

1. Is the program safe?
2. Is it effective?
3. Is it efficient?
4. Is it practical?
5. Is it purposeful?
6. Is it balanced?

If you cannot answer "yes" for an exercise or protocol, then exclude it from your workout. Make your decision objectively. Don't lose sight of what we're doing: strength training. You should never, ever be comfortable in a weight room. No one has ever reached their strength gain potential by being comfortable. If it's comfort you want, go some place else.

There are no secrets to success. Choose only productive exercises -- they should be chosen for functional, not cosmetic purposes. Do perfect repetitions with maximum effort -- you can either train hard and short or easy and long. Choose the former. Remember: As the intensity increases, the duration and frequency of the workouts decreases. Adjust your workout accordingly.

Above all, be aggressive. Don't fall in love with rep schemes or exercises, and be sure to make changes when adaptation occurs. Add weight. Add reps. Intensify sets. Don't be comfortable.

There are no gimmicks to successful strength training -- just hard, brutal work. Keep it simple and safe. Plan all workouts. Be accountable. Sleep and eat enough to enhance your progress. And finally, have fun and enjoy your workouts and appreciate the opportunity that you have to train hard and to challenge yourself.

That's something both sides can agree on.

by Art Horne

Coach Murphy, you won over 600 basketball games (602-263) while you were at Hamilton College.  Besides the natural ability to put the ball in the basket, what physical qualities did you look for while recruiting players at Hamilton and now at Northeastern University?

• Quickness: can they change direction quickly? Closeout on a shooter? Are they able to pressure the ball during a full-court press and then get to their next assignment?
• Hand-eye coordination: are they able to handle bad passes? Can they catch and handle the good passes as well as make good passes to their teammates?
• Foot speed: and how well they move their feet.  Can they open their hips and swing their feet around to establish position? Can they recover and defend after being crossed-over?
• Conditioning: this could always be improved upon once they arrived on campus so I never held it as a must when evaluating kids.  But if they weren’t in shape in the first place seldom were they able to show you that they could move their feet or coordinate passing and catching due to fatigue.
Legendary Princeton basketball coach Pete Carril once said that the ability to rebound was inversely proportioned to the number of cars that his players had in their garage. Beside pure physical attributes, what do you look for in a basketball recruit?
ATTITUDE:  95% or maybe even a greater percentage of coaches recruit pure ability, but I look at attitude.  Players need to be a good teammate; they have to have the right attitude.  No matter how much ability they may have, if they have a bad attitude they will never be as successful as they could have been with the right attitude.

How has college basketball changed from when you coached to today? How has the players changed?

The addition of the 3-point line has changed the game the most.  I think it was the year that Pitino went to the final four with Providence.  He figured it out before a lot of other coaches – 3 points are better than 2. That year I think his team shot the most number of 3-pointers in Division One and we shot the most 3-points in Division Two at Hamilton.  The 3-point line changed spacing on offensive and really stretched defenses.

A lot has been made of how a few professional athletes have handled their business off the court.  How has these professionals influenced the players that you deal with today?

I just hope that the basketball players today have learned from both the positive and negative actions of the guys that have done it before.  A lot of people focus on the guys that have made mistakes, Antoine Walker comes to mind (recently in jail) and we can use those examples to demonstrate to our players what not to do, but there are many positive examples that we can use as well such as Jerry West and Ray Allen, guys that are professional and respectful in every facet of their lives.

What does LeBron’s recent ESPN show, “The Decision,” say about the culture of basketball and where do you think it is heading?

LeBron is still young and young people make mistakes.  Announcing your decision to join a new employer/team on national television is not the way to go about business. Especially without speaking to your current employer about your decision first.  The game will survive LeBron, but LeBron’s shine has clearly faded after his “decsision.”

While at Hamilton you were famous for your conditioning drills. Can you share your favorites?

• We would run 11 down and back in a minute at the end of a practice.  If you could run 11 lengths in under a minute you were pretty fit. 
• We would also run baseline to baseline for as many repetitions as possible over 3 minutes.  The Boston Celtics use this run and we still use it at Northeastern.  It’s as much a conditioning test as it is a test of mental fortitude.
• Lane Slides: I would have our athletes hold bricks with their hands out to the side and do as many lane slides as possible for 30 seconds. Bigs would have to get one foot outside the lane and guards both feet out.

Why is it important for a basketball player to weight train?  Simple, basketball is a physically demanding sport in which the player must be a complete athlete: strong and explosive while exhibiting fine motor skills when shooting, passing, rebounding, and dribbling.  Basketball players must be conditioned to the demands of the sport.  Weight training has been shown to increase the strength of muscular contractions, speed, and flexibility.  The result is a stronger and faster player. Unfortunately, some players (high school and collegiate) do not understand the importance of strength training. In addition, those who do train seem to ignore the importance of lower body and core strength focusing entirely on upper body aesthetics.  A basketball player must be able to efficiently run, shuffle, jump, and cut.  All of these movements are performed primarily through the use of the ankles, knees, hips and core.  In reality, players should possess the proper strength, power, flexibility, balance, coordination, and quickness to effectively compete on the court.

I’ve included 20 basic training tips for basketball players and coaches looking to get a competitive edge on their opponent. 

1.  Always start your weight room and on-court workouts with a general warm-up which is designed to raise your core temperature and increase blood flow to the muscles.  Ten to fifteen minutes of jogging, form running, or active/dynamic flexibility drills are an excellent way to warm-up.  Make sure your athletes take the warm-up drills seriously.  Proper warm-up can reduce the chances of injuries.

2.  Train the muscles of the core (hips, abdominals and low back).  The core is the link between the upper and lower extremities.  Without a strong core, athletic performance is limited.  Forces generated from the legs and hips can be transferred into efficient movements when the core is solid and strong.  This translates into running faster and jumping higher.

3.  Train the core in a sports specific manner (on your feet).  Medicine ball drills (i.e. chest pass throws, side throws, overhead throws, etc.) are an excellent way to strengthen the core and develop total body power.

4.  The majority of training should include exercises that are closed-chain (standing on your feet), multi-joint (i.e. squats, squat jumps, lunges) and multi-planar (i.e. lateral lunges, 45° lunges, lateral step-ups).

5.  Do exercises that focus on single leg strength and power.  Players typically run and jump off one (1) leg to make lay-ups, make sharp running cuts, and to play defense (i.e. defensive slides). 

6.  Strengthen the muscles of the posterior and lateral hip (i.e. hamstrings and glutes). These muscles play an important role in rebounding, boxing out, blocking shots, and taking jump shots. 

7.  Train movements not muscles.  The kinetic chain which consists of the nervous system, the muscular system, and the articular system (joints) must work interdependently to provide efficient movement.  Strength training goals should focus on improving athleticism and movement on the court.

8.  Drills to improve reaction time, footspeed, and eye-hand-feet coordination (i.e. stealing a ball from an opponent) should be included in your workouts.

9.  Common injuries in basketball occur at the ankles and knees.  Lower body exercises are crucial in reducing injuries in the lower extremities.  Remember, athletes train to reduce the chances of injuries associated with their sport.

10.  Use a variety of equipment for training (i.e. bodyweight, weighted vest, medicine balls, bands, manual resistance, dumbbells, barbells, slideboards, agility ladders, etc.).  They all provide a training stimulus for improving on-court performance.

11.  Incorporate exercises to improve the strength and the range of motion at the ankles.  Most players tend to play with their ankles taped or with ankle braces which can lead to a lack of mobility.  

12.  Players should learn how to land and distribute ground forces from joints to muscle.  Learning how to land on one (1) leg in multiple directions should be included in a training session once the athlete has mastered landing on two (2) feet.

13.  Perform a static stretch routine after each workout session to:
1. Increase flexibility
2. Delay and lessen the on-set of muscle soreness.
14.  Drink a post-workout shake consisting of protein and carbohydrates after each training session to re-fuel the body.

15.  Drink plenty of water and remain hydrated.  A lost of 2% of bodyweight due to dehydration can cause a 10-20% decrease in athletic performance.

16.  Eat a minimum of three (3) meals per day consisting of protein, (good) carbohydrates and low fat for energy and to maintain or increase lean muscle tissue.  However, it is recommended that athletes have at least six (6) meals a day.

17.  Absolute speed (or linear speed) is not necessarily important in basketball.  Lateral speed and the ability to accelerate, decelerate, and change direction is crucial.  Cone drills, slideboards, and agility ladders are excellent for developing lateral quickness and agility.

18.  Research has proven that basketball is predominately an ANAEROBIC/FAST GLYCOLYSIS sport (non-endurance).  Basically, it’s a game of brief but intense and repeated burst of action and the ability to recover quickly is vital for playing hard.  Therefore, conditioning must mimic the energy demands of the sport.  Sprinting drills, interval runs and shuttle runs should constitute the majority of training.  Aerobic training or long distance running will have a negative impact on developing speed, strength and power.

19.  Learn how to think and play under fatigue.  Circuit training with a work to rest ratio of 1:1 or 2:1 is a good training method at accomplishing this task.

20.  Proper rest is needed to recover from strenuous workouts.  Athletes should aim to get at least seven (7) hours of sleep at night.

Is it measured in wins, loses, injury rates, athlete's experience, compliance and satisfaction by the coaching staff, etc.?  In the NBA, strength and conditioning coaches are measured on the basis of games missed due to injury.  Therefore, if players are not missing games due to injury but the respective team finishes the season with a losing record is this still considered successful? 

Thoughts?

Ray Eady, University of Wisconsin

Good question.    This is a problem seen for many years and will continue for many years in our profession.
I feel that some of the measurement is due to the administration, organization, coaches and how they view it.
Obviously, wins and losses are a big key to how people in charge will respond. Keeping players on the court, field playing and developing well in the areas necessary for success is a huge part of the job.  Pressure placed on coaches by upper level management for not enough wins eventually will trickle down to the strength program.   This is regardless of any success with a lack of injuries, athletes experience, compliance, and coaching staff’s happiness. 
I hope this answers it somewhat; it is a very open question.

RON – Purdue

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How do I measure success by keeping our guys healthy and how many games did players miss - that is a quantitative approach.   I also see success from a qualitative standpoint in what kind of impact does our program have on them from a mental stand point:

I.e. Are we making athletes more confident b/c of their improved strength, body comp, conditioning, power, etc.
Are we making athletes better by improving their mental state and teaching them how to remain positive and not show defeat and frustration during difficult tasks?
Are we making athletes better by asking them to themselves and their teammates accountable?
Are we making athletes better because they start to care more about their bodies inside and outside the weight room (attentive to nutrition, recovery, extra workouts, etc.)?

These are all things that make my program successful - as well as the feedback that I get from the athletes about what we are doing - if I see them buy into what we are doing, then I know I'm being successful.

How do sport coaches measure success - they see performance numbers increase, they see that they are healthy, they see improvement on the field/court/ice, etc.

I don't think we have a direct result in wins/losses but we do have an indirect effect:

1.  are the athletes able to with stand the rigors of the sport (conditioning, strength, power, etc)  2.  are the athletes resilient enough to bounce back from difficult practices (mobility, flexibility, stability, recovery)  3.  are the athletes confident in their preparation that they won't crumble under the pressure of competition

Unfortunately if teams lose but stay healthy there might be a trickle down effect to the strength coach, b/c everybody is quick to point the finger during difficult times but in reality we don't have any technical or tactical effect upon the game itself - our job is done prior to the ball being tipped.

Brijesh Patel

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How do I measure success? Injury rates and performance indicators such as vertical, 10 yard, 4 jump, etc.

How do sport coaches measure success? I think that depends. Some only care about wins/losses. Some just care about bench/squat/clean numbers. If we are lucky, they understand our field a little more "globally" and realize the best thing we can do for our athletes is improve their chances of staying on the court/field.

Devan – Stanford

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Devan,

If performance indicators improve and injury rates decrease but the team still performs poorly in the win/lose column is that still considered successful?

Granted, as strength coaches, we can't control many variables: recruiting, game strategy, etc. etc. but should we still take some accountability for wins and loses?

Ray – Wisconsin

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I don't think I can say it better than B did.

If performance indicators increase and injuries decrease, I believe we have done our job. As B stated, their may be trickle down if we lose, but we really don't have direct influence over those stats, so while I do take it personally, in the end we can't claim victories nor SHOULD we be held over the fire for losses. Not real world obviously.

I will add 2 aspects to my evaluation of a successful program:

1. FMS scores improve. I am a big believer in this screen, and though it could be seen as the same as injury rates decreasing, I do get fired up for my athletes when they improve their scores.

2. As B alluded too, how much have our athletes changed for the positive and grown as people when they leave. At then end of the day, very few of them will make money playing their sport, and even if they do, if they leave a more responsible, confident, "better" human being than when they arrived, and my program had anything to do with that, I view my time with them as successful.

D – Stanford

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When a high school athlete signs their letter of intent, their #1 goal is to play [and play immediately and long-term].  Simple!  They choose that "specific" collegiate program because that program gives them the BEST opportunity to achieve that goal.  Therefore, success [for me] is helping that player [who signs that letter of intent] achieve the physical and mental tools needed to compete in the sport they LOVE. Basically, creating a POSITIVE experience and environment for the athlete when they are in a strength training [conditioning] session and using that environment as a catalyst for on field, court, or ice success. 

Of course, in order to achieve that positive experience and/or environment we must keep our players healthy [first and foremost]. Nothing is more discouraging for a player than not being able to play [THE SPORT THEY LOVE] because of an injury.  Positive experience/environment also means helping that athlete achieve the physical attributes that are needed to excel in the sport and giving them the motivation and confidence needed to be successful on AND OFF the playing field.  In a nutshell, that is all I can control.

I agree, I don't think we have a direct result in wins/loses; however, our yearly interaction with the players can definitely influence how they compete. We can all agree, outside of the coaching staff, we spend the most time with the players than any other person within the athletic department.  Therefore, if our interactions [and environment] with the players are not positive, I believe it can have some influence on wins/loses.

In the end, the best testimonial must come from the athletes. Athletes with positive experiences that are achieving positive results is a key indicator of success.

Ray – Wisconsin

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I’ve always looked at success from both a strength program and a sports medicine perspective as simply related to the number of shots being put up each year. This is clearly related to the total games missed due to injury – but it goes one step further. Not being able to play in a game due to injury is devastating for both coaching staff and athlete, but not being able to practice for the days leading up to games week after week also has a tremendous effect on “success” both from a team perspective (wins/losses) but also overall skill development. Not being able to practice day in and day out limits reps on the press-break, in-bounds plays and “getting up shots” not to mention the opportunity to develop strength in the weight room.  At the end of the day, the ability to endure the rigors of college basketball day in and day out is a huge factor when addressing this question.

The second part is simply about filling the gaps. This is twofold: First, it starts with assessment and addressing the needs and deficiencies of the athlete prior to injury. I think we all get that. The second part is about filling the gaps associated specifically to the success of the basketball athlete. Mike Curtis’ video that just recently came out I think summarizes what I am about to say. Our job is to create better basketball players – not better “weight room athletes”.  Strength development is certainly a large piece of this, but should not be the end goal.  Creating athletes who are strong and explosive in the frontal plane (especially for guards) is paramount in my eyes and simply cannot be done with traditional strength training (squat, bench and clean). Guards live and die by the cross-over, either putting on their opponent or defending it.  If your program is not addressing this unique, yet trainable quality, I’d say you’re not filling the right gaps.

Art – Northeastern University

To watch this entire video click HERE.

View highlights and photogallary from the 2010 BSMPG Basketball specific conference click HERE.

To purchase the 2010 BSMPG Basketball specific conference featuring Mike Curtis click HERE.

Click HERE to download and view the entire article.