That Basketball Life

One of the things I like to do with the kids I train is video them while they train.  In today's day with all the technology around it is easier than ever to do so and the feedback these videos give are priceless.  As a coach or as a player who manages to video training sessions what should you look for?   To begin with I want to make clear that we are talking about training here and about individual improvement.  A coach will be looking for other things not included in this post if he is filming his team practices, his team's games, or opposition games (we'll cover these in another post).   With that out of the way, what do we look for when we review a training session on film?  There are a number of things: Form when performing the drill - how does the form look?  Say you are teaching a reverse layup, how does the kid look when finishing with no one defending?  Does it look effortless or does it look like there is a lot of discomfort w...

Here at That Basketball Life we have spent a lot of time discussing drills that can be used to help improve your basketball game.  There are a ton of drills for dribbling, shooting, agility, defense and all the rest of the good stuff.  What I haven't spent a lot of time doing is discussing how you can incorporate all of the drills into a useful plan to help take your game to the next level.  In order to do this you need to incorporate a plan that not only teaches you how to use the skills but also when to use them.   The "when" is done with the mind processing information.  At first your mind will be slow to process this information as you will spend more time thinking but eventually the thinking will become reactive and instinctive.  To nurture this process, you need to be involved in battles against other players.  I love small sided games (SSG) for this reason.  Going 1v1 or 2v2 or even going 3v2 and learning how to capitalize on the advan...

There have been times that I've wondered why super athletic players can't seem to excel on the basketball floor.  I've seen guys that are tall and long and can jump through the roof that didn't make it.  These are the guys who in warm ups look great but in the game are not as relevant as you think they would be.  A lot of times you hear the phrase "they couldn't put it all together" being tagged on these people.  Why couldn't they put it all together?  Why is it that their dominance may have been evident against people at the lower levels but faded as they kept trying to climb up the ladder.  After listening to and studying how some of the greats approach the game, I believe that there are 5 elements that make a great player.  Possess all five and you will make it.  Possess four of the five and you can still make it depending on which four you possess.   The five elements are (ranked in order): Basketball IQ and studying the game,  ...

Nice video by Coleman Ayers on how important changing speeds is in basketball. He provides some great tips also.  

This is a nice video on how to get low and how to practice getting low.

 The difference between a player who plays well in big games and the one who doesn't comes down to his ability to embrace playing outside his comfort zone.  If you listen to the successful pros in their interviews before and after big games the one common theme they all share is how important it is to embrace the opportunity that is in front of them.  They all will say how they put their trust in the thousands of hours they have spent in the gym honing their craft.  They will also say that failure never crosses their mind.  They prefer to focus on the opportunity that is before them. How does this translate to kids and how can you as a coach instill values in them so that they can embrace such opportunities?  I think there are a few steps that coaches can take to build up confidence in their team. Find competitive games for them to play in.  Teams and players need to learn how to win.  This is especially true the older the child gets.  It is ...