Last week’s blog began with a quick monologue about how much I love my job and how fortunate I am to do what I do.  This past weekend, I had the pleasure of traveling to San Antonio to speak in front of 1,500+ coaches at the annual TABC Basketball Clinic, as well as to Las Vegas to speak in front of 2,000+ coaches at the Nike Championship Basketball Clinic (which holds claim as the “world’s largest basketball coaching clinic!”).  Both clinics went extremely well and I had an absolute blast being a part of such incredible events.  Speaking at clinics and teaching coaches how to train their players is yet another segment of my business that I thoroughly enjoy.  I have so much respect for high school coaches; it is always an honor to help them in any way I can.  High school coaches coach because they love the game and enjoy helping young people (two things I am very passionate about as well).  They certainly don’t do it for fame or money.  Some of the most dedicated people I have ever met in my life have been high school basketball coaches.

While I have been traveling a ton and doing a fair amount of pre-draft training for the past several weeks, this past week marked the official kick off to my super busy season.  Many college players just finished their semesters and are home for a few weeks before summer school starts up.  So I have had a gang of guys start coming in for workouts.  Most of these players I have known and worked with since their high school days and it has been great catching up with them.

My goal has always been to create an extraordinary environment for elite level basketball players to strength train and condition.  An environment for dedicated players to work hard, yet have fun as well.  I work hard to stay on the cutting edge of basketball specific training methodology, techniques, and equipment to make sure I fulfill my goal.  I prefer to train 3 or 4 guys per workout because the group dynamic always adds to the intensity (and the fun!).  I also try to get my returning college guys (like Nolan Smith, Austin Freeman, Marcus Ginyard) around my pre-draft guys (like Tywon Lawson, Stephen Curry, Greivis Vasquez) and my pre-draft guys around my NBA guys (Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley) to help aid their motivation.  Being around players who are where you want to be is a tremendous motivator.

Dedication and commitment are essential for success in any endeavor, but especially in basketball.  The game is so unbelievably competitive right now that if you aren’t dedicated, you won’t make it.  That goes for everyone; from high school players to the NBA.  The current crop of players I am working with are incredibly dedicated.  Each one of them is keenly focused on their own skill and physical development and on achieving their own personal goals.  Many of these guys are up early in the morning for individual skill work, come see me around mid day for their strength & conditioning work, then off to another individual skill session, and then play pick-up at night.  They do that 5-6 days a week.  That is dedication!

On the topic of dedication, a powerful quote comes to mind (which was shared to me by the legendary Coach Don Meyer):

“There are two pains in life.  The pain of discipline and the pain of regret.  Take your choice.”

Everything in life, whether shopping for a new a TV or chasing your dream of playing in the NBA comes down to three simple questions:

1)       What exactly do you want? (play college/pro basketball)

2)       What does it cost? (time, effort, consistency)

3)       Are you willing to pay the price? (make sacrifices, be focused and dedicated)

While listening to one of Coach Meyer’s stories he mentioned he heard Tiger Woods makes 100 9-ft putts in a row to end every practice.  That is 100 consecutive putts.  If he misses his 92nd putt, he starts over!  That is dedication.  I figure an appropriate equivalent for basketball players are free throws.  Are you dedicated enough to end every workout with 25 or 50 or 100 consecutive free throws?  Tiger went on to say, “If people knew how hard I worked, they wouldn’t think this came so easy to me.”  I guess it is true; champions are made when no one is watching!

Another example of dedication is what’s known as the NBA “early bus.”  There are two buses that head to the arena before every NBA road game.  One heads over 3 hours early and one heads over an hour and half early.  The guys that head over on the early bus are usually rookies, guys fighting for playing time, guys on 10 day contracts, etc.  Guys that need to put in the extra work as often as possible.  They head over early to get up shots, work on their ball handling, and sometimes even lift weights.  These guys are dedicated to getting better every day.  Legend has it that NBA superstar Tim Duncan continued to take the early bus every game, even after his legacy and superstardom were solidified.  In fact, the Spurs organization took notice and said “if our best player can take the early bus, then everyone can take the early bus.”  Needless to say the Spurs only have one bus to games now!

The truly dedicated players understand dedication isn’t a sometimes thing, it is an all the time thing.  There is no such thing as being “kind of dedicated.”  You are either dedicated or you’re not; there is no in between.

Now the question is, are you dedicated?

If you have any questions or thoughts on this blog post please email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com.  I will respond as quickly as possible!

Train hard.  Train smart.

Alan Stein

www.StrongerTeam.com

 

Alan Stein is the owner of Stronger Team and the Head Strength & Conditioning coach for the nationally renowned, Nike Elite Montrose Christian Mustangs boy’s basketball program. Alan is a performance consultant for Nike Basketball, as well as heavily involved with Nike SPARQ Basketball. He is the head conditioning coach for the annual McDonald’s All American game, the Jordan Brand All American Classic, and the Nike Summer Skills Academies. Alan is a Camp Coach at the prestigious NBA Player’s Association’s Top 100 Camp, as well as the Chris Paul CP3 Elite Backcourt Camp. Alan has filmed over a dozen DVD’s on improving performance and is a sought after lecturer at basketball camps and clinics across the world. He has been featured in Winning Hoops, Time Out, Dime, SI.com, SLAMonline.com, American Basketball Quarterly, Stack, Men’s Health, and FIBA Assist Magazine.