I am back in my room at the Hilton Newark Airport Hotel, a couple of hours after finishing up the last workout at the Steve Nash Nike Skills Academy.  This academy featured 20 of the nation’s top HS point guards and 10 of the nation’s top college point guards. From top to bottom, both the HS and college fields were extremely talented, overly enthusiastic and very coachable. 

I do want to give a quick “congratulations” to Michael Beasley for being named the 2nd pick in last night’s NBA draft.  I have been working Mike out, on and off, since he was in 10th grade and I am very happy for him and his family.

Like the Paul Pierce Academy, the last 3 days were a huge success and definitely fulfilled Nike’s mission in making this a once in a lifetime event for some of the nation’s best ballers.

As I mentioned last time, Nike makes it a priority to hire a quality, veteran staff.  We basically had the same core staff as the Pierce academy with the addition of Lloyd Pierce who is the Player Development Coordinator of the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Once again, the staff did a magnificent job both teaching and motivating and this group of point guards and really made it a point to coach them on both the basic fundamentals of the game as well as concepts, drills, and skills needed to compete at the NBA level.

My role at all of the nation’s top HS events (Jordan All American Classic, McDonalds All American game, Nike Skills Academies, etc.) is simple – get the players talking, get them moving, and get them ready to play!  I am in charge of setting the tone for the workout and given the responsibility of doing what I do best – hyping kids up and getting them ready to compete.

The HS kids started off with a bang and were great communicators and leaders right from the beginning of the first warm-up.  As a whole the kids were very unselfish.  They went hard every workout, which showed, as many of them were pretty worn out, tired, and sore by the end of the second day.  While many of the players were small in stature, they were an incredible group of athletes. In addition to lightening fast quickness, several of the kids (many in the 5’8” to 6’0” range) could throw it down with ease.  I am really looking forward to working with these kids again at the LeBron James Nike US Skills Academy next week.

The college workouts were similar as well.  It was one of the best groups I have ever had the pleasure to work with. 

True to form, and the reason the camp is named after him, Steve Nash was amazing.  He is so soft spoken and so humble for being one of the NBA’s best point guards.  He was very involved at the camp and spent plenty of quality time with both the HS and college players.  He spent time speaking to the players as well as showing them some on court stuff.  Here, in no real particular order, is a summary of what he talked about:

He explained how the key to life is being able to find solutions, in your personal life as well as on the court.  Plenty of people have (and/or cause) problems, but those that consistently find solutions are the ones who are successful.  He also focused on the importance of being a good teammate and a good person, someone who people want to coach, want to play with, and want to be around.  Lots of guys have talent in the NBA, but the ones who have long careers, are starters or perennial All Stars, are the ones who do the little things to get better, pay attention to detail, and are beloved by their teammates.  He said this is even more important for point guards.  Point guards have to be leaders both on and off the court.

Steve gives a lot of his credit to his work ethic and desire to get better.  Every since college he wakes up every day and asks, “how can I make myself better today?”  He used to make a master list of every shot he wanted in his offensive arsenal, jump shots, runners, tear drops, long lay-ups, quick lay-ups, reverse foot lay-ups, etc.  Then he would make 25-50 of each of these every day.  If it was a shot he wasn’t as good at, he may make 100.

He also told the kids that point guards need to be able to change direction, change speed, and be smarter than every other player on the floor to be successful. He told them the game is all about percentages (always make the highest percentage pass available and take the highest percentage shot) and angles (your angles often dictate your percentages).  He acknowledged that most people don’t think of him as a great athlete because he doesn’t jump very high and dunk over people.  But he adamantly disagrees.  He knows there is much more to being a good athlete than jumping: hand/eye coordination, quickness and reaction, ability to control your body in space and change direction, etc.  Steve also placed a high priority on being in great basketball shape, as that is a factor you have complete control over.

His off season workouts consist of working with a strength coach three times per week with a heavy focus on core strength and stability.  Many of his strength exercises add a balance component because he performs them on an unstable surface: BOSU ball, wobble board, etc.  He doesn’t play 5 on 5 during the summer but instead plays in two soccer leagues, jumps rope, and runs stairs for conditioning.  He does get in intense shooting workouts to keep his handle and shot sharp, but no playing!  He stressed the importance of having a solid daily routine.

Just watching him in action with the campers it was amazing how quick he is, how high his basketball IQ is, and how precise he is with everything he does.  Nothing he does is ever haphazard and he never appears flustered.  He is always in complete control, regardless of the game’s situation.  Steve Nash represents everything that is right with the game of basketball and I sure enjoyed hearing him speak and watching him work.

If you would like to contact me about this blog, my MVP Vertical Jump Training DVD, my training and/or camps and clinics, please email me atAlan@StrongerTeam.com.  I will respond as quickly as possible!

Train hard.  Train smart.

Alan

As I mentioned before, I plan on checking in with a new blog entry after each Nike Skills Academy. I am currently at the Hilton Newark Airport Hotel, about 20 minutes outside of NY City, gearing up for the Steve Nash Nike Skills Academy.  This academy will feature 20 of the nation’s top HS point guards, including Lance “Born Ready” Stephenson and 10 of the nation’s top college point guards, including LeVance Fields (Pitt), Tyrese Rice (Boston College), and Jack McClinton (Miami).  I had an opportunity to work with Rice and McClinton a couple of weeks ago at the Chris Paul Elite Backcourt Camp, both are tremendous talents.

On Sunday I finished working the Paul Pierce Nike Skills Academy which was held at the prestigious Mater Dei HS in Orange County, CA.  The camp was a huge success and featured the nation’s top HS and college shooting guards.  In addition, both Paul Pierce (Celtics, 2008 Finals MVP) and Brandon Roy (Trailblazers) were in effect kicking knowledge and spitting wisdom to the aspiring ballers.  As you can see, there was no shortage of big time talent for the three days we spent in the OC.

This academy was a tremendous success and definitely fulfilled Nike’s mission in making this a very positive experience for the nation’s most elite players by offering superior instruction, personal mentorship, and ensuring it was a once in a lifetime event.

First and foremost, Nike makes it a priority to hire an amazingly talented and experienced staff.  This academy featured numerous NBA assistant and player development coaches. This staff did a phenomenal job both teaching and motivating at every workout.

My role at all of the nation’s top HS events (Jordan All American Classic, McDonalds All American game, Nike Skills Academies, etc.) is simple – get the players talking, get them moving, and get them ready to play!  I am in charge of setting the tone for the workout and given the responsibility of doing what I do best – hyping kids up and getting them ready to compete. I force the kids to communicate to each other and “show each other love” while getting them warmed up through a fast paced 10 minute series of basketball specific movements (cuts, pivots, jumps, sprints, and slides) along with some dynamic flexibility exercises (lunges, straight leg march, etc.).  I pack a mean punch in the 10 minutes and am usually dripping in sweat myself.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work with both the HS players and the college players. This year’s HS group was not as talented as last year’s crop, but these kids gave a great effort at every workout, showed tremendous progress from workout to workout, and most importantly, were very coachable.  I plan on seeing many of these kids signing at big time college programs next year.

The college workouts were one in the same. With only 8 college players suiting up to workout, each player got in tons of reps, and was pretty wiped out at the end of each practice.  Demar DeRozen (USC) is going to be a big time pro one day and showed the most progress from the first workout to the last. He has a great attitude and was very coachable. James Hardin was a physical beast, sporting the solid 20 pounds of muscle he gained his freshman year at Arizona State.  And to no surprise, Stephen Curry (Davidson) was always the first player dressed and putting up shots and the last player to leave the gym.  This kid is something special.  His heroics this past March were no fluke, this kid can flat out play.  I asked him about his off season shooting routine and he said he makes 40 shots from 5 different spots as part of his warm-up!  He usually makes between 500-600 shots every day in the off season.  His form and footwork is always flawless.

To no surprise, the highlight of the academy was when Paul Pierce arrived and spoke with both the HS and college players.  This guy just came off of winning his first NBA Championship along with Finals MVP award, and he was amazingly humble when he talked to the kids.  He was sincere and spoke straight from his heart and definitely made an impact.  Paul is perfect example of the old adage, “it takes years to make an overnight success.”  Paul talked about how sweet it felt to win his first championship at any level (never won in HS or college) and how he had been working for this for the past 21 years, since he first picked up a ball at age 9. He explained how thankful and blessed he was to be able to make a living doing what he loves to do.  You could see in his eye how much he loves to play, especially when he laced up and ran through some drills with several of the players (and of course, gave them the business!). Paul talked about how he wasn’t really ranked in HS, flew under most college’s radar and wasn’t heavily recruited until right before his senior year.  He told stories of how he used to get up at 5:30am every morning before school, catch the bus, have someone open the gym, and get up shots from 6:00am until school started. How many players today do that?

When I asked him about his off season workouts, he said he plans to take one more full week off and then get started with his training. This is from a guy who just played 116 NBA games! He said gets up around 7:00am, eats breakfast, and does his strength training and running (sometimes runs a series of sprints on the beach in LA).  He then breaks for lunch and does his skill work and shooting in the afternoon.  He then breaks for dinner and plays 5 on 5 at night.  This makes for some pretty long days, but he knows that is the price he needs to pay to stay at the top.

Make no mistake, Paul Pierce is a superstar. He is that good.  What a perfect role model for a skills academy that was equally impressive.

If you would like to contact me about this blog, my MVP Vertical Jump Training DVD, my training and/or camps and clinics, please email me atAlan@StrongerTeam.com.  I will respond as quickly as possible! 
Train hard.  Train smart.
Alan Stein, CCS, CSCS
Vertical Jump Expert

Sorry if I have been MIA on the blogs, been putting in long hours at the gym helping Michael Beasley, Tywon Lawson, and DeVon Hardin prepare for this year’s NBA draft as well as working with Kevin Durant prior to him heading down to Texas for a month.  I leave today forNorth Carolina to go work Chris Paul’s CP3 Elite Camp but wanted to throw you all a quick blog before I headed out.
 
If you want to be successful at anything in life it is important you have a certain level of confidence. You must have confidence in yourself, in your ability, and your preparation.  And please note there is a fine line between confidence and being cocky or arrogant. Confidence is crucial to success, cockiness and arrogance can ruin success.  Ask any of the players mentioned above and they will agree.  The best players in the world have a confident swagger about them.  They know they can play because they have put in the work.
 
Confidence is especially critical when it comes to shooting the basketball.  If you don’t think the ball is going in every time you shoot, then why are you shooting?!?  Ask any good shooter and they will tell you the “next shot is going in.”  They will tell you this even if they missed their last 10 shots!
 
How do you get confidence on the court?  You prepare. You strength train and condition so fatigue is never a factor and you spend hours a day shooting hundreds of shots.  But you don’t just go out and shoot; you take game shots, from game spots, at game speed.  I have mentioned before, Kobe Bryant told me he makes 1,000 shots a day (6 days a week).  It is not an accident he is the best player on the planet right now, and arguably, the most confident.
 
“You only feel pressure when you are not prepared.” 
 
If you are ever in a shooting slump, go back to the basics, and put in the work.  Most shooting slumps are mental; they require a check up from the neck up!  If you put in the work on a daily basis you have to believe in yourself that it will pay off!
 
If you would like to contact me about this blog, the MVP DVD, my training and/or camps and clinics, please email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com.  I will respond as quickly as possible!
 
Train hard.  Train smart.
 
Alan Stein, CCS, CSCS
Vertical Jump Expert