I hope you are enjoying the holiday season.  I love using this time of year to spend quality time with friends & family, reflect on the past year, and recharge my battery… both mentally and physically.   This will obviously be my last post of 2009 and I look forward to taking my blog to another level in 2010. I am overwhelmingly thankful for all of the positive feedback I have received and sincerely appreciate the support. 

 

In addition to my blog, I plan to devote much more of a focus to my YouTube channel: www.YouTube.com/StrongerTeamDotCom. I highly recommend you “subscribe” so you will be notified via email when I post new videos (so you don’t miss any of the action!). I am currently planning promos like “Can He Dunk,” “100 Exercises in 100 Days,” and “Every Basketball Move.”  For more detail on these electrifying projects; check out http://tinyurl.com/StrongerTeam.

 

As most of you know, I am currently in my 7^th year as the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach for the Montrose Christian basketball program, which is located in Rockville, MD. We are an elite level program and are fortunate to work with extremely high level players (Kevin Durant is our most famous alum).  We are consistently ranked as one of the top 20 programs in the country, are sponsored by Jordan Brand, and are internationally renowned. Coach Vetter just recently surpassed the 800 win mark and is in his 34^th year of coaching. To put that in perspective, I am only in my 33^rd year of being alive!

 

And while we are thankful for our stellar reputation, we certainly don’t rest on our past accomplishments.  We consistently take our daily preparation very seriously, both in and out of season.  Thus, the focus of this blog is to share insight into WHAT WE DO.

 

One of the key ingredients to long lasting success in any field is proper preparation. A player, team, or program that knows how to effectively prepare will have a greater rate of victory.  Proper preparation, which is the cornerstone of WHAT WE DO, is our collective commitment to doing everything in our power to earn and deserve success.

 

The goal of the Montrose Christian coaching staff is simple:  give our players the best chance to be successful on and off the court.  As a staff, we never want to look back after a game or season and say, “what if we would have done this… or would have done that.”  We take into account every aspect of preparation and don’t believe any detail is too small.  We know standardization and consistency lead to sound habits… which are the building blocks of success.

 

Last week we played in the 26^th annual Nike Iolani Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii.  This is always one of the nation’s top high school basketball tournaments and regularly boasts a field of several of the top ranked teams in the country. What follows is an overview of our daily preparation and how we tried to give ourselves a competitive advantage and win the tournament. Please note, the following paragraphs are written in past tense because this isolated tournament is now over.  However, this overall template for preparation currently continues, day in and day out, as the season progresses.  The tournament was simply a microcosm of what we do every single day.

 

We arrived in Honolulu three days before the tournament officially started and one full day before any other team arrived to better acclimate our players to the new time zone (5 hours behind EST) and weather (80 degrees in Hawaii, 20 degrees and 20+ inches of snow in Maryland). Despite an exhausting day of travel, and the vast time zone difference, we forced our players and staff to stay up to a normal bed time the first night to re-set everyone’s internal clock as quickly as possible. We also changed all watches and phones to the local time and never referenced what time it was back home. We had our guys drink a ton of water and got them on a meal schedule immediately. Despite some serious jet lag and tired bodies the next morning, we got everyone up at a normal time for breakfast the first day. We knew the sooner we were on “Hawaii” time, the better.  At our first team meeting after breakfast, I had the team do something I learned from Coach Roy Williams’ latest book, Hard Work.  I wrote the following statement on a piece of paper in big, bold letters:  

 

“I promise to do everything in my power (mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually) to help our team be successful and win this tournament.” 

 

I then told each player, that if they agreed to this statement; they should sign it, look me in the eye, and shake my hand to make it official.  Of course they all signed it. A tad dramatic? Yep.  A bit cliché and corny? Sure.  But I wanted to plant a powerful message in their subconscious mind that would last throughout the tournament.  This is just an example of WHAT WE DO.

 

For the first few days, prior to games beginning, we held daily practices and in-season strength training sessions.  Consistency leads to success; so the things that have made us successful at home will make us successful anywhere!  We made sure to keep the practices and lifting sessions brief (yet intense) because we knew that handling fatigue on a long road trip was integral.  We played back to back nights prior to leaving for Hawaii and then were set to play 4 games in this tournament.  That is 6 games in 10 days; a brutal schedule for any team at any level.

 

Over the course of the next week, everything was done with a purpose; nothing about WHAT WE DO was haphazard. Our usual game day routine consisted of breakfast at 8:00am followed by a mid-morning shoot around at 11:00am.  The purpose of the shoot around was to get in a light sweat and stretch, get up some shots and free throws, run through our secondary break and offensive sets (out of bound plays, etc.) and to review the scouting report of our opponent.  After the morning shoot around we gave each player a huge bottle of water and told them to finish it before we left for the game. Then, four hours before tip-off, we met for our pre-game meal. Research has shown this is the ideal timeline to fuel for competition.  We gave our players a few options with the menu to accommodate different tastes.  Some guys liked grilled chicken with rice; others liked spaghetti, while others liked pancakes and scrambled eggs.  To each his own.  The most important aspect of the pre-game meal was for them to eat something.  You can’t win the Daytona 500 without fuel in your tank! It is pointless to force feed spaghetti as the mandatory meal of choice if half of the players will only eat two bites and leave the rest. At the conclusion of the pre-game meal we gave each player a written scouting report so they could review our opponent’s personnel and tendencies (identical to the stuff they learned at our morning shoot around).  We then dismissed them to their rooms. Players were not allowed to nap after the pre-game meal to prevent a groggy feeling come game time.  They were also not allowed to spend time in the sun or go swimming; as that would add to their fatigue.

 

On the way to the game, each player had to wear a collared shirt, dress pants, and dress shoes (we let them wear polo shirts because we were in Hawaii; at home they wear suit and tie).  We didn’t let them wear doo-rags, sunglasses, or headphones.  We wanted our guys to respect the game and dress with class.

 

Once we arrived at the gym we had our players sit together and watch the first half of the game before ours. We then headed back to the locker room at half-time so the guys didn’t have to rush to get ready.  Once the entire team was dressed, we began our team warm-up.  Our warm-up took place any where we could find room… one night was a classroom and another night was a concrete common area.  Prior to starting, I brought the guys in and gave them a quick motivational jolt.  Then I had “everybody tap everybody” (meaning each player had to give a pound or a slap to the other 11 guys).  Then we began the actual warm-up.  While the warm-up varied each night based on our space, the overall template was always the same: we got a light sweat going with a series of dynamic movement based exercises and addressed their ankles, knees, hips, groin, and core.  We took 10-12 minutes to warm-up. For a video sample of our pre-game warm-up please go to www.YouTube.com/StrongerTeamDotCom and watch the "Montrose Basketball Pre-Game Warm-up" clip!

 

After our initial warm-up and stretch, we spent a few minutes in complete silence. I asked each player to visualize a time when they played the best basketball of their life. A time they vividly remembered when they were in the zone… when every shot they took went in and every pass they made was right on the money. I then had them picture themselves making a great play in that evening’s game… diving for a loose ball, making a steal, throwing an alley-oop, or hitting a 3 as time ran out.  These mental exercises reduced their anxiety and put our guys in a great frame of mind to compete.

 

Then our associate head coach, Dan Prete, gathered the team by the dry erase board and reviewed the scouting report. Then Coach Vetter went over the keys to game (“execute our system, push the ball, run our secondary break, limit them to one shot, know who their shooters are, get in the huddle quick, play hard/smart/together”).  Then we put our hands together and said the Lord’s Prayer.  Then Coach Vetter said his standard pre-game prayer.  Then we took the court.  Our on court warm-up consisted of a two line passing drill (chest, bounce, and hand-off), a zigzag defensive reaction drill, two line lay-ups, group work (half the players did partner shooting and the other half did partner passing/ball handling), and then finished with a group dive drill. Quick note, we recorded all missed lay-ups during warm-ups and had players run a minute drill for each miss at the first practice following the holidays.  After the dive drill they announced the starting line-ups.

 

Then we tipped off and went to battle.

 

Prior to tip off, we made sure to prepare for every possible situation or emergency. We had extra sets of uniforms on hand in case anyone got blood on their jersey and we had all of our last second plays already drawn up on laminated cards for quick reference.  Each assistant coach was assigned a duty during the game; keep fouls, chart stats, and keep track of time-outs for both teams.  My job was to make sure our bench players echoed every call (offensive sets as well as which defense we were in) and had them stand up and clap when a teammate would come out of the game.  During time-outs, the players in the game sat in position order, 1 through 5, with the other players forming a tight huddle behind and around Coach Vetter.

 

At half-time we gave each player a small handful of Gummi Bears to replenish their sugar stores and had them put their shooting shirts back on to prevent cooling off.

 

After each game our players were required to clean the area around our bench, take a shower, put their dress clothes back on, and address the media when applicable. We made sure we fed our guys a post game meal as quickly as we could, and had them ice their knees/back, to help prepare for the next day.  And of course we had curfew each night to make sure each player got adequate sleep.  We collected cell phone and gaming consoles to help ensure they weren’t up all night!

 

Every night after bed check, the coaching staff stayed up into the wee hours of the morning breaking down film and setting a game plan.  They reviewed the stats as well as watched the film from our previous game to note what we did well and what we needed to improve on. They also watched film of our next opponent and prepared a detailed scouting report.

 

Despite being so well prepared, and having done everything in our power to put ourselves in a position to win, we lost our third game of the tournament to a very talented St. Neumann Goretti team out of Philadelphia.  After reviewing the film three times for accuracy, we saw that we missed 13 shots in the paint, missed 12 free throws, and had 11 “empty” possessions (meaning we didn’t even get a shot off… we turned the ball over).  5 of those empty possessions led to transition scores for them.  No matter how prepared you are; you can’t win playing like that.  You have to execute in order to win.  We prepared, but we didn’t execute.  There is a difference.

 

While I certainly can’t stand losing, I believe there is good in everything.  A loss every now and then keeps our guys humble and tests their character.  How they handle defeat and how they carry themselves after a loss tells me a lot more about each of them as a person than winning ever will. A person’s true colors shine through during adversity. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want our guys to accept losing or to be OK with losing.  I want them to feel overwhelming disappointment.  I know how much our guys have invested and how much they have sacrificed to be in our program.  So it should hurt. But losing is never an excuse to be a jerk, to make excuses, or to question the importance of always doing what is right. An occasional loss will never let us question the importance of thorough preparation. It will never make us question WHAT WE DO.

 

Our players responded well to the loss and bounced back the following night to play much better. We beat a very solid Columbia High School team from Georgia.  We finished 3^rd place with a record of 3-1. 

 

Please understand I am not implying WHAT WE DO is the only way to prepare, but it works for our program and is the fundamental backbone of what Montrose is about.  And we are proud of the results.

 

And believe me, those results last a lifetime.  Last night I went to the Verizon Center to watch Montrose alum Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder play against the Washington Wizards.

 

Playing in his hometown, in front of hundreds of family and friends, KD was spectacular. He effortlessly poured in 35 points (on 12-19 shooting) and had 11 boards.  But what I was most proud of was seeing him do the things that don’t show up in the box score or make it on to SportsCenter.  The little things he did that reminded me of his time at Montrose. Despite the fact KD is one of the top players in the league; he stood up and cheered for his teammates when he was out of the game. He sprinted over and helped his teammates up off the floor after they took a charge or dove for a loose ball. He thanked his teammates for making a great pass when he scored. KD is a great player, but more importantly, he is a great teammate.

 

After the game, he was dressed in suit and tie.  He patiently went up and hugged or shook hands with every person waiting specifically for him (50+) and spent a minute or two being genuinely interested in them. I was very thankful to have the opportunity to talk to him for a few minutes. He asked me how business was going, how my wife was doing, and if I was looking forward to being a father of twins. Then he thanked me for coming.  Wow. Kevin Durant is a class act and a true professional.  He is an NBA superstar… but he is an even better person.

 

Kevin Durant is a product of WHAT WE DO; both on and off the court.  I couldn’t be prouder.

 

I hope you have a wonderful New Year. If I can ever be of service or help you in any way, please don’t hesitate to email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com. I promise to respond as quickly as possible.

 

Play hard. Have fun.

 

Alan Stein

www.StrongerTeam.com

www.Twitter.com/AlanStein

 

I am extremely fortunate to you let you know I am writing this blog as I sit poolside at the Alana Doubletree Hotel in Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii.  I am here on a trip with Montrose as we are playing in the 26^th annual Nike Iolani Classic.  I have been privileged to have taken this trip six times over the course of my seven year stint as Montrose’s strength & conditioning coach.  This trip is always extremely therapeutic for me.  The long flight as well as the daily morning workouts on the beach give me ample time to reflect and evaluate the past year as well as brainstorm and plan for the New Year.

 

This post will give you some insight to the myriad of new programs, events, and products I plan to launch in 2010 (Twenty-Ten).  I am going to take my game to the next level this coming year and I hope to assist and motivate you into doing the same!

 

On a personal note, my beautiful wife and I are expecting twin boys in late March. We are absolutely elated and look forward to the joy (and challenge) of raising children.  I plan to give them the first few years of their life off before the mandatory workouts begin. Just kidding… official workouts won’t start until they are at least 8 years old. Hey, they’ve got to be focused early if they want to be the starting back-court in the 2028 McDonalds game!  All kidding aside, we are overwhelming excited and thankful to welcome children into our lives.

 

OK, now on to business. Here is a glimpse of what’s to come in 2010:

 

1)    Clinics: My Cutting Edge Reaction, Quickness, and Agility for Basketball clinic series was a raving success this past fall. I got an opportunity to impact hundreds and hundreds of players and coaches.  I am currently finalizing my spring tour schedule and have tentative agreements to hold clinics in Virginia, Florida, Wisconsin, Maryland, Ohio, Texas, Missouri, Iowa, and Georgia.  I hope to finalize exact dates, times, and locations in January and will post the schedule on my homepage.

 

2)    Downloads: I am pleased to have received tons of positive feedback about the downloadable documents I have for sale at http://Shop.StrongerTeam.com.  I plan to offer nearly a dozen new downloads in January and February on these topics:

·         ACL Injury Prevention

·         Training Young Players (ages 10-13)

·         Basketball Jump Rope Program

·         10 Best Speed Ladder Drills

·         Mental Toughness Training

·         Common Mistakes & Myths

·         Treadmill Conditioning Program

·         8 week programs (for individuals and teams):

o   Speed & Agility

o   Strength & Power

o   Reaction & Quickness

o   Conditioning

 

3)    Online Training Programs: I am thrilled to announce I have partnered with two different nationally renowned basketball training companies and will be offering customized, online basketball specific strength & conditioning programs.  These revolutionary programs will include detailed workout plans along with video clip instructions and demonstrations. They will be designed for every level (beginner through advanced) and for every portion of the training year (off-season, pre-season, and in-season). I have been working on this for well over a year and can’t wait to launch them!

 

4)    YouTube: I have put an inordinate amount of time and effort into researching the ways I can make my social media presence an even more valuable resource for basketball players and coaches.  I will continue to write this weekly blog as well as post daily motivational quotes on Twitter (www.Twitter.com/AlanStein) and Facebook (www.Facebook.com/AlanSteinJr).  I will run numerous promotions and give-a-ways so followers, subscribers and friends can win FREE downloadable documents, magazines, and DVDs.  I want to make sure I always give back to the folks who support my work. The major change will be the added focus and attention put on my YouTube channel (www.YouTube.com/StrongerTeamDotCom). I recently purchased a new HD video camera and wireless microphone to improve the production value. I have three killer concepts:

·     100 exercises in 100 days – I got this idea from the folks at Hoop Connection.  I plan to post an innovative basketball specific strength & conditioning exercise or drill every day for 100 straight days (beginning April 1^st) to create an impressive exercise library for coaches and players.

·     Will He Dunk? – I got this idea from a promotion ESPN did last year.  I plan to pick a high school aged player who has the goal of being able to dunk a basketball… but isn’t quite there yet.  I will then film excerpts from his weekly training program as well as his weekly attempt to dunk (to monitor progress).  He will get three chances to dunk a ball at the end of each week. The goal will be to get him throwing it down at the end of the12 weeks!

·     Every Basketball Move – I plan to partner with various skills instructors to break down actual on-court basketball moves and then prescribe the two or three best strength & conditioning exercises and drills that are most appropriate to supporting that drill. 

 

5)    Certification: After a year in the making, I will finally release my new online certification for high school and AAU coaches: Certified Basketball Strength Coach (CBSC). I realize most coaches do not have the luxury of hiring a strength & conditioning coach for their program nor is this type of training their main area of expertise.  This online certification is designed to lay the proper foundation needed to design, supervise and implement a comprehensive, basketball specific, year round training program. It will focus on the specific needs and demands of a high school (or AAU) coach; without diving too deep into physiology. I am not trying to develop professional trainers; just provide a base level of working knowledge for basketball coaches. The course will include online study materials and an online exam consisting of one hundred randomly selected multiple choice questions such as:

·         What age should a player start a training program?

·         What should females do differently than males?

·         How can I help a player gain weight?

·         What is the correct form for a lateral lunge?

·         How can I reduce the occurrence of ankle injuries?

·         What is the ideal pre-game meal?

·         How does the off-season program differ from the pre-season program?

·         What are the dangers of plyometrics?

·         What constitutes a quality pre-game warm-up?

 

Also note, while my goal is to help and positively influence all basketball players; there are two specific groups I plan to pay special attention to in 2010: female players (specifically ACL injury prevention) and younger players (ages 10-13).  I am going to dedicate a specific portion of my website to each of these groups and disseminate a plethora of info on the best practices for training them.

 

I want to apologize for disabling the “comments” feature on my blog (http://Blog.StrongerTeam.com).  I was flooded with dozens of automated SPAM comments each day.  I am taking steps to alleviate the issue and plan to re-open and comments section in the New Year as I very much value your feedback.  In the meantime, please email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com to let me know let me know your thoughts and suggestions on these new programs, events, and products as well as if there is anything I have missed. 

 

My next blog, which I plan to post on Wednesday December 23^rd, will be my last post of 2009. I will give a full re-cap of the Iolani Classic as well as post insight on “What We Do” (a behind the scenes look at the intricacies of the Montrose basketball program).

 

I want to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who has helped me and supported my work this past year.  I look forward to, and am honored, to serve you in 2010.

 

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

 

Play hard. Have fun.

 

Alan Stein

www.StrongerTeam.com

 

 

One year ago, almost to the day, I set the lofty goal of reading 50 books in 2009.  And here, in my 50^th blog post of the year (strangely coincidental), I am proud to announce… mission accomplished!

 

I actually began my quest about two weeks prior to the New Year and cracked opened the first book on the list below on December 14, 2008. I was on a flight to Hawaii as I traveled with Montrose to play in the Iolani Classic.  I read four books over the course of that ten day trip and have been on a rampant pace every since.  Given the fact those four books were technically read in 2008, I made sure to read an additional 50 books in 2009, hence the current total of 54.  I haven’t stopped since reaching my goal. I am halfway through #55 and have four more books to read before year’s end.

 

I also want to clarify that 14 of the books on my list are Audiobooks I listened to on my iPod during long car drives and a myriad of flights.  For those who don’t think Audiobooks should count… sorry… it was my goal and my rules!

 

I never thought being a veracious reader would be so fun.  I can honestly say I learned more in 2009 than during any other single year of my life. And the best part was; I had a blast doing it!  It was never a chore. Other than a few of exceptions, I really enjoyed and benefited from every book on the list.

 

I tried to read a wide variety of books and did my best to pick ones I believed would help me become a better coach, a better businessman, or a better person (the three areas of my life I am always looking to improve). 

 

I have rated each book on a scale from 1 to 10 as well as marked which domain I found the book most beneficial – coaching, business, or personal. NOTE: anything marked for “coaching” would be beneficial for athletes as well!

 

So, without further adieu… 

 

 

1.    Mind Gym by Gary Mack

9 – Coaching – insightful thoughts on mental training and preparation

 

2.    Little Black Book of Relationships by Jeffrey Gitomer

10 – Coaching/Business – tremendous resource on building quality relationships

 

3.    No Limits by Michael Phelps

7 – Coaching – inspiring story about one of the greatest Olympians ever

 

4.    100 Ways To Motivate Yourself by Steven Chandler

9 – Personal/Business/Coaching – tons of original strategies on self improvement

 

5.    The Bald Truth by David Falk

8 – Coaching/Business – fascinating story of the NBA’s first super agent

 

6.    Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

9 – Personal/Coaching – incredible story with numerous life lessons

 

7.    How To Eat, Move, and Be Healthy by Paul Chek

7 – Personal – excellent concepts for general fitness and improved heath

 

8.    The Story of You (A) by Steven Chandler

10 – Personal/Coaching/Business – a must read for everyone; life changing concept

 

9.    Little Green Book of Getting Your Way by Jeffrey Gitomer

9 – Business/Coaching – superb resource for writers and speakers

 

10. Rebound Rules by Rick Pitino

10 – Coaching/Personal/Business – terrific resource for being successful

 

11. How To Get Clients by Steve Chandler

7 – Business – several helpful strategies  

 

12. Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inside Basketball by Pat Williams

7 – Coaching/Personal – numerous heartwarming stories

 

13. Born Standing Up (A) by Steve Martin

9 – Personal/Business – wonderful insight on the life of a show biz legend

 

14. Chicken Soup for the Sport’s Fan Soul (A) by Jack Canfield

5 – Coaching/Personal – a couple of terrific stories; several lame ones

 

15. Making It All Work (A) by David Allen

3 – Business/Personal – only got through about 60% of it; found it boring and repetitive

 

16. People Are Idiots And I Can Prove It (A) by Larry Winget

9 – Personal/Business – hilarious and extremely accurate & insightful

 

17. Quiet Strength (A) by Tony Dungy

9 – Coaching/Personal – sensational story of an iconic coach and humanitarian

 

18. The Success Principles (A) by Jack Canfield

10 – Personal/Coaching/Business – tremendous resource on becoming successful

 

19. Why We Suck (A) by Denis Leary

9 – Personal – hysterical and extremely perceptive

 

20. 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries

8 – Business – full of valuable concepts on branding a company or product

 

21. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

5 – Personal – good book; just not my “cup of tea”

 

22. Money Players by Marc Isenberg

10 – Coaching/Business – a must read for anyone who is or works with elite athletes

 

23. Me 2.0 by Dan Schawbel

9 – Business/Personal – magnificent resource for all Gen Y’s

 

24. Gold Standard by Coach K

10 – Coaching/Personal/Business – a must read for every basketball coach

 

25. Always Looking Up (A) by Michael J Fox

9 – Personal – an amazing “feel good” story… very touching

 

26. Can We Do That by Peter Shankman

9 – Business – excellent resource for any business trying to get noticed

 

27. Collapse of Distinction by Scott McKain

9 – Business – outstanding resource for any business owner

 

28. Think Like a Champion (A) by Donald Trump

8 – Business – valuable insight; but I liked several of his other books better

 

29. Fight For Your Money by David Bach

5 – Personal – I am a huge David Bach fan; didn’t find this one very helpful though

 

30. Shift Your Mind by Steven Chandler

8 – Personal/Business – numerous lessons for self-improvement 

 

31. Twitter Power by Joel Comm

10 – Business/Personal – a must read for anyone who utilizes Twitter

 

32. Facebook Marketing by Steven Holzner

6 – Business – got a few decent nuggets, overall was disappointing

 

33. Secrets of Social Media Marketing by Paul Gillin

6 – Business – gave couple decent tips; not very groundbreaking  

 

34. Outliers (A) by Malcolm Gladwell

10 – Business/Coaching/Personal – absolutely fascinating… a must read

 

35. Know Yourself As A Coach by Denny Kuiper

9 – Coaching – incredible resource for coaches of all levels

 

36. Game On by Tom Farrey

10 – Coaching/personal – captivating look at American sports culture… a must read

 

37. The Adsense Code by Joel Comm

3 – Business – well written; just didn’t do much for me

 

38. Cross Over by Brian McCormick

9 – Coaching – tremendous resource for basketball coaches

 

39. Leadership Game Plan for Success by John Wooden

10 – Coaching/Personal/Business – one of the best books ever written about success

 

40. The Talent Code (A) by Daniel Coyle

6 – Coaching/Business – a few interesting tidbits; not as good as Outliers

 

41. Optimum Performance Training for Basketball by Michael Clark

7 – Coaching – well done; pretty repetitive for me personally

 

42. Training Young Athletes by Brian Grasso

8 – Coaching – excellent resource for anyone who coaches younger kids

 

43. Pistol by Mark Kriegal

8 – Coaching – a bit lengthy, but extremely interesting

 

44. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma

10 – Personal/Business – brilliantly written story; a must read for everyone

 

45. The Miracle of St. Anthony by Adrian Wojnarowski

10 – Coaching/Personal – a must read for every basketball coach

 

46. Winning (A) by Jack Welch

4 – Business/Coaching - only made it through about 70% of it; couldn’t stand any more

 

47. Bounce Back by John Calipari

9 – Coaching/Business/Personal – valuable resource for overcoming obstacles  

 

48. The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo

9 – Business – outstanding resource for any public speaker

 

49. Trade Off: Why Some Things Catch on and Others Don’t by Kevin Maney

9 – Business – superb resource for any business owner

 

50. Hard Work: A Life On and Off the Court by Roy Williams

10 – Coaching/Personal/Business – a must read for every basketball coach

 

51. No by Jim Camp

9 – Business/Personal – exceptional concepts on negotiating

 

52. Funny Thing Is (A) by Ellen Degeneres

6 – Personal – I am a huge Ellen fan; unfortunately I heard most of this in her stand up

 

53. Secrets of the Millionaire Mind (A) by T. Harv Eker

2 – Business/Personal – didn’t quite finish it; too corny

 

54. The 50^th Law (A) by Robert Greene and 50 Cent

10 – Business/Personal – Captivating story of how 50 became a hip hop mogul  

 

 

I hope you found this list helpful.  I would love your feedback and thoughts as well as hear any books you recommend for me to read.

 

I challenge each and every one of you to try to read 50 books in 2010. Don’t think you can find the time? You are partially right. You will never find the time to accomplish something like this… you have to make the time to do it!  If something is important to you, you have to make it a priority. And what could possibly be more important than becoming a better person, a better coach or player, or a better business person?

 

Are you up for the challenge?

 

Next week I will give you a glimpse of what’s to come in 2010. I have a suite of programs, events, and products I am really excited to launch!

 

Until then, if I can ever be of service or help you in any way, please don’t hesitate to email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com. I promise to respond as quickly as possible.

 

Play hard. Have fun.

 

Alan Stein

www.StrongerTeam.com

www.Twitter.com/AlanStein

www.YouTube.com/StrongerTeamDotCom  

 

 

 

As most of you know, I focus a lot of my energy on my own professional development and improvement. I am relentless in my quest to become the best basketball strength & conditioning coach I can be.  If you are looking to be the best coach or player you can be, I certainly suggest you do the same.  One of the most important ingredients of effective development and progress is constant evaluation. You have to know where you are… to get to where you want to go!

 

Self reflection and evaluation doesn’t need to be a long process. I recommend taking 30 minutes (with no distractions… no TV, no cell phone, and no computer) and honestly answering each of the following questions:

 

Overall, how do you rate this past pre-season? 

·         Did you get stronger?  Quicker? More explosive?

·         Did you get in great basketball shape?

·         Did you improve your ball handling? Shooting? Passing?

·         Are all of these things showing on the court?

 

Overall, how do you rate the first few weeks of practice?

·         Have you been on time, to every practice? 

·         Have you been injury free?

·         Have you been a great teammate? Coachable? Enthusiastic?

·         Have you given a great effort? Do you practice hard even when you don’t feel like it?

·         Have you played as well as you are capable of playing?

·         Have you communicated effectively with your coaches and teammates?

 

If you want to have a remarkable season; you need to be tough and you need to be 100% committed to yourself, to your team, and to your coach. 99% isn’t good enough.  As the legendary Pat Riley says about commitment, “you are either in or you’re out – there is no such thing as in between.”

 

How tough are you? 

 

We have a 9^th grader in our program named Yuki. He moved to the US from Japan in August.  He speaks very little English and is thousands of miles away from his family; which I am sure is difficult for a 15 year old to handle. During our second official practice, Yuki got elbowed in the mouth and had his front tooth knocked out.  Without saying a word, he casually picked his tooth up off of the floor, jogged over to the sideline, set his tooth on the bleachers, and jogged back into the drill! Now that is tough.

 

How committed are you?

 

What are you willing to sacrifice to be the best player you can be?  I have an 8^th grade client who just started working out with me and he pays for our training sessions with his allowance!  He is so committed to being the best he can be he is willing to sacrifice every dime he has toward getting stronger and more explosive.  Now that is commitment.

 

Here are 5 more questions aimed to help you maximize your potential this season:

 

1)    Are you giving your best effort every day in the classroom and on the court?

 

2)    Are you doing things in addition to practice to improve your game (like watching film)?

 

3)    Do you think “we” before “me” (are you a team player)?

 

4)    Are you taking care of your body and mind (sleep, lifting, tending to injuries, etc.)?

 

5)    Are you having fun?

 

If you can sincerely answer “yes” to all 5 of these questions; you are doing everything you can to have an impressive season.

 

Here are a few more things to think about:

 

What do you watch for when you watch college and NBA games on TV?  Do you watch as a fan or do you watch as a true student of the game?  Do you always watch the ball or do you watch what players do to get open to get the ball?  Do you always watch the shooter or do you watch the player setting the screen to get the shooter open?  Do you always watch the player guarding the ball or do you watch the player in help-side position?  Now, I am a huge basketball fan… and I understand watching games for the love of the sport… but if you want to get better, you need to learn how to watch games as a means to improve.  

 

How will you prepare for games?  Does your preparation start the night before?  Do you eat a good dinner and get plenty of sleep?  Do you eat breakfast the next day?  Do you double check to make sure you packed everything in your bag you will need for the game?  Do you eat a specific pre-game meal?  What method prepares you the best? Listening to music? Sitting in silence?  Do you even know? Do you review the scouting report on your own?  Do you do any visualization exercises before games?  Here is a visualization technique I use with Montrose before every game: I have them sit with their eyes closed for about 2-3 minutes and visualize a specific time in their life when they played the best basketball they have ever played.  A time they vividly remember when they were in the zone – when every shot they took went in and every pass they made was on the money.  I encourage them to engage every sense.  What did the gym look like? Sound like? Smell like? How did they feel?  This technique puts them in a confident frame of mind when they take the court.

 

How will you focus during games? Will you be focused on the task at hand or on the crowd, opponent, or cheerleaders?  Your focus is crucial to playing well. It is imperative you focus on what you want to happen; not on what you don’t want to happen.  Why? Your mind can only focus on one thing at a time.  For example, when you are shooting a free throw; think something to the effect of, “nice and easy, over the front rim”… instead of thinking, “don’t shoot it short.”  If you think “don’t shoot it short”… 9 times out of 10, you will shoot it short because “short” is the only part of that thought your subconscious mind remembers!

 

Still don’t think focus is important to performance?  Think about this:

 

If I laid a ten foot long, wooden 2” x 4” on the ground and asked you to walk across it; you would do it easily because you would be focused on the task at hand (walking across the board). But what if that ten foot long, wooden 2” x 4” was 100 stories high and connected the top of two buildings? Would walking across it be easy then? Why not? Although the task wouldn’t change (walking across a ten foot board); you wouldn’t think it was easy because you would be focused on falling… not on the task at hand. The same can be said with shooting a free throw.  Shooting a free throw in an empty gym after practice is the exact same task as shooting a free throw with 2 seconds left and the score tied… if you stay focused!

 

I hope answering these questions helps you have a memorable season. 

 

This past January I set the lofty goal of reading 50 books in 2009. I am proud to say last weekend I finished my 50^th book of the year! In next week’s blog I will list and rate all of the books I have read as well as offer my thoughts on a few of them.

 

Until then, if I can ever be of service or help you or your team in any way, please don’t hesitate to email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com.

 

Play hard. Have fun.

 

Alan Stein

www.StrongerTeam.com

www.Twitter.com/AlanStein

www.YouTube.com/StrongerTeamDotCom