Just about 3 or 4 years ago, I had the thought of trying to offer something to our higher level basketball players with respect to their development outside their season. But because of my busy summer schedule, it never seemed to be the right time to put my thoughts into action. Michael Macdougall also wanted to do something for that age group but we couldn't have the right timing for it. In addition, I felt that I needed to study up a little more toward training higher level athletes and to continue to build on my techniques to breakdown skill set in order to build it up even stronger. It is not that I didn't think I could do it, it is more a detail thing. My one year with the Moncton Miracles of the National Basketball League of Canada as an assistant coach has allowed me to grow tremendously. Thanks to Coach Bell, Coach Evans, Coach Chapman and Coach Njoku, I was able to bounce ideas off them and try some things out with our players on a daily basis for 5 months.
So this year, with the help of Michael Macdougall and Andre Doucet we went for it. Mike and Andre believe in development as much as I do when it comes to basketball skill. No system, no offense or no defensive scheme can beat TALENT. Training is the road to talent. But one cannot be random about the training. Training for the higher levels needs to be very specific. The higher level players can shoot the ball, handle the ball and pass the ball. BUT, there is a part of their game that for whatever the reason, they don't shoot it well, or they don't handle it well or they don't pass it well. This is the specificity to their training that is required. Most players do not do this. Not because they do not want to. But rather, they are comfortable being who they are or they are unaware that they need to be more specific with their training. Anything different makes them feel vulnerable. Training outside one's comfort zone is not something you are born to do. It is something you must learn to do. That's where coaching kicks in for these guys.
Ok, so enough about that. Sweat Academy operates within the Greater Moncton area. In our first year, we have opened it up to the male side only. First we sent out invitations to every player playing or wanting to play at the CIS \ CCAA level (so to be clear, our clientele was limited to grade 12 up to 5th year post graduate). We sent out some invitations to players outside the area but that did not work out as well as we were hoping. However, with respect to the local players, we had 7 players sign up. One decided to commit to something else half way through our sessions so we ended up with 6. The positive in that is we only have 6 players recruited or currently playing at that level. So we hit 100% of our potential client list. I think it's pathetic that the largest demographic in New Brunswick can only produce 4 recruited players but that will be a topic for another day. I should mention that we had a player from the Fredericton area come join us for two weeks when we were at the Coliseum training out of there (our host facility is the old Kay Arena in Lewisville- now call the Crossman Community Center). Once the invited players informed us they wanted in, we then got in touch with their university \ college coach and asked for a priority list for their off season development. Baker of UNB, Morrison of Holland College, Starratt of MTA, Plato of MSVU and Baker of Acadia all gave very specific detail for us to work from. Then it was up to us to put a plan together for each of our players and execute it. Generally, the sessions looked as such:
1- Give them a mental focus before starting the physical part of the session (2 minutes)
2- Warm-up (10 minutes)
3- Footwork, ball handling and shooting (10 to 15 minutes)
*Here we did do some teaching but really, it is all about review. To work on good habits and make them stronger through repetition
4- Skill Development (30 to 40 minutes)
*This is where we put into action what each of our player's coach want them to get better at. For instance, we had one coach tell us that he wanted his player better at breaking down his man on offense in order to get in the lane and find the open teammate. He also wanted his player to be ready to shoot the three once he got the ball back and to be quicker laterally so that he can defend the ball better. So when we put the plan to help this player get better, we didn't work on all of those things each and every session. We worked on him one part at a time for 30 to 40 minutes. More on that later.
5- Application of skill (15 to 20 minutes)
*Usually done through 3 on 3, 2 on 2 or 1 on 1 play.
6- Plyometric workout (30 minutes)
7- Cooldown, recover and discuss about mental focus
So that was the template for each of our sessions and I do not foresee myself making any adjustments to it. We have no rest in between parts and we go go go. If the player needs to grab some water, they do it on their own but get right back to training. Same if they feel they need to eat. Grab a bite and get back in the training. After all, it's Sweat Academy and not At Your Leisure Academy :)
In a nutshell, I would say our first off-season session has been a success. For our second year, we are already working toward involving some of our sponsors a bit more as well as add the female side of things. Perhaps we will be planning a summer camp as well for JV \ Varsity players. We are currently also trying to set up some coaching clinics for our local Minor Associations. More equipment and coaches are also on our agenda for next off-season.
We will keep you posted.
