There is also a new testimonial below from one of my most recent trainees, Kevyn Douyon who is a starting guard at Bishop Ahr High School in Edison, New Jersey. 

The Star Agility Drill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_oQ35ySpLc

Sports Performance Training: http://www.youtube.com/user/elitebasketball?feature=mhum#p/a/u/1/16JPNwHbak0

Box Agility Drill: http://www.youtube.com/user/elitebasketball?feature=mhum#p/u/3/F18OSmX5eRg

Coach Stoner -
 
We would be remiss if we did not take the time to THANK YOU for the time you spent with Kevyn during the last few months during the Elite Basketball Bootcamp. During that time Kevyn has seen and felt tremendous results from your training sessions. If you recall at the start of these sessions we identified all of the areas of his training that would be targeted to specific aspects of “his game” on the court. Suffice it to say, the training has exceeded all of the objectives we identified at the start of the training. The results are evident in his play – he is quicker, more explosive, and stronger. The overall training has help him elevate his game and prepared him for the rigors of varsity high school basketball. In addition to the positive results you can see, the training has made him more confident both on and off the court. He did not miss a single session and enjoyed every minute of the training. He is definitely looking forward to starting the next session with you in the spring immediately after the end of the basketball session.
 
Thanks again and looking forward to working with you again very, very, soon!!!

Hope that you enjoyed the videos and let me know what you think in the comments section below. 

See you on the court!

Rich Stoner

Elite Basketball Training, LLC

I recently read an email that I received about a clinic that Micah Lancaster did with Kobe Bryant at the Michael Jordan Legacy court.  The email was meant to advertise an upcoming Micah Lancaster clinic in my area, but it was the description of Kobe Bryant’s attention to detail that astounded me.  Obviously we know that he is arguably the best current player on the planet, and now I understand why. 

The email talks about a Kobe Bryant teaching the players the importance of having offensive combinations or a variety of moves along counter moves and counter moves to the counter moves.  For example, a shot fake, one dribble pullup jumper to the right, then a fake and step in the same direction only to pull back  and make the move to the other direction.  The point, to have as many moves and combinations as you need so that it is natural in the game.  How does Kobe do it?  Preparation, focus, and a drive like no other athlete.  Do you know that Kobe Bryant does not move on to the next combination move/shot until he has made 150 shots…IN A ROW?! 

That is absolutely insane to think that someone could make that many shots in a row (of one combination) let alone in an entire workout.  This takes extreme focus and drive to be able to be in the gym that long to complete this task, but that is the type of preparation that makes Kobe the best current player on the panet. 

Ask yourself, do you have that type of focus?  Are you willing to prepare to be great?  Being successful is not about the talent that you are given, but rather what you do with the talent that you have been given.  What are you doing with yours?

Train hard and I’ll see you on the court.

Rich Stoner

Elite Basketball Training, LLC

The real question is why?  Why don’t people use their talent and reach their true potential?  When I say the great Hubie Brown give his last clinic speach a couple of weeks ago, he closed with a piece on why people do not reach their potential.  In that piece, he gave five reasons which were:

1. Low threshold for pain
2. Low IQ for the job
3. Selfishness
4. A lack of intangibles
5. Alcohol and drugs

All five of these can definitely get in the way of reaching your potential and force you to waste your talent.  The best part about it, is that it can be applied to all aspects of your life, not just basketball. 

In the next post, I will expand on all of these and their relation to the real world and basketball, but until that time, let me know what you think. 

See you on the court!

Rich Stoner

Two Friday’s ago I attended the Garden State Coaches for the sixth straight year and as always, it did not dissapoint.  As far as basketball clinics go you would be hard pressed to find a better lineup than the one that they had there that day.  Kevin Eastman, Mike Fratello, Fran Fraschilla, Hubie Brown, and Joe Paglia all gave great presentations on various topics that I will be posting for you guys over the course of the next month, or so, leading right up to basketball season. 

For those of you who do not know, Kevin Eastman is an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics  and one of the foremost authorities on individual skill development for basketball in the world.  If you have ever seen him speak before you know he speaks in lists, and lots of them.  Man does he over deliver which is why I always try to get to see him when he comes out this way.

So let’s get started right now with Kevin Eastman’s thoughts on leadership and talent.

1. Do you occupy the seat or do you execute the position?
2. Leadership can build and leadership can destroy.
3. Talent can but does not always mean leadership.

There is physical talent and mental talent, the mental talent makes for better leaders. Consequently, we do not want talent on the team; we want the team to be talented.

The “ed” in talented stands for “Extra Dimension.”

Talent puts points in the basket.  Talented does the following:

• Makes teammates better.
• Makes the team better.
• Makes himself better by taking care of 1 and 2.

I thought these were fantastic points that Kevin made and I left them up to you to interpret.  Please let us all know your thoughts on any or all of them by responding in the comments section below.  Thanks.

See you on the court!

Rich Stoner

In the video below, you will see several sequences of one of the agility ladder drills that we did this weekend.  In the drill, the player is working on his quick feet agility as well as attacking moves, and finishing off the dribble. 

Have a look and let me know what you think, and don’t forget to add some of your own variations in the comments section so that we can all learn.  Thanks.

See you on the court!

Rich Stoner

Another activity that she has managed to pick up at quite a young age (most likely from me as well) is talking. She started talking before she was one and she seems to keep adding to her vocabulary on a daily basis. She even knows some Italian! Seriously, she is one of the few people that I know that can go on an hour and a half car ride and literally talk to the whole way. As a result, we usually know what she wants and when she wants it. This can be quite helpful as a parent, but what does it have to do with basketball?

Having been a basketball coach at the high school level for over a decade, the most common deficiency that I have picked up on has been a lack of communication. This lack of communication takes place on various levels including player to coach and player to player, and can really be a detriment to the team as a whole.

Communication is important on so many levels in basketball. Primarily, it keeps your teammates informed. Communication keeps them informed of where you are on the court, where the ball is on the court, where you might be cutting or moving to, and consequently, it will allow them to move into better positions based on that knowledge. For example, while playing defense in transition, my players are taught to call out two words immediately while starting to sprint back down court. The defensive player that is ahead of everyone should call out “basket,” meaning that he will be sprinting right to the lane in order to cover the basket. Another player should call out, “ball” in order to let everyone know that he will be stopping the ball in transition. Based on these two calls, the rest of my players know where they need to fill in as they reach the defensive end of the court. In this situation and all other situations, communicating keeps the players informed. Consequently, because the players are informed, they can react better to the situation and produce a more desirable result.

Keeping on the defensive end of the court, talking can also serve to intimidate and oponent. My players are always taught to close out and call, “ball” as part of a a way to let their teammates know where the ball is on the court so that they can move to the proper help defensive spots, but also as a form of distraction and intimidation. Communicating to distract is actually a technique that is also used by martial artists. Anyone who is a martial artist or has seen some of the old Bruce Lee movies or even The Karate Kid knows what I am talking about.

On the offensive end, communication from player to player will allow your teammates to know exactly where you are going on the court and that you want the basketball. Anytime that I work with a post player, they are taught some key components to playing the post like staying low and calling for the ball verbally and by showing a hand (remember, communicaiton does not always have to be verbal). By calling for the ball, it shows his teammate not only that he WANTS the basketball but also where he wants it thrown. Communicating on the offensive end can also serve to misdirect your opponent. For example, when my players make a cut back door, they usually sell the cut by stepping up the line, showing their hands (as if they want the ball on the perimeter), calling for the ball, and then cut hard back door, once again showing their hand in order to show where they want the ball passed. This form of communication can misdirect the opponent in a couple of ways. First, it can make them believe that you really want the ball on the perimeter thereby making it easier to get the back door cut. Second, throwing your hand out once you have made the backdoor cut can actually help draw a help defensive player away from his own player and leave someone else open for an easy shot.

Finally, I also mentioned communicating with your coach. This is extremely important because the coach needs to know what is going on with you for the team to be successful. It is for this reason that I ask my players at half time or during practice if they have anything to add that they might have picked up while playing. This can be a very important and useful variable since the players are the ones playing on the court and have a different perspective of what is going on. I may not always use what they have to tell me, but I do always listen. I cannot stress enough how important this level of communication is. It will go a long way towards building the players’ confidence, make them feel like they are a vital part of the team, and provide useful information for the coach.

So what can basketball players learn from my often chatty little girl? That communication is important on so many levels, coach to player, player to coach, coach to coach, and player to player. However, it does not matter who is communicating to whom, communicaiton always serves to keep everyone informed, and an informed team will ultimately be a better team.

Train hard, be efficient, and I will see you on the court.

Rich Stoner

One of Coach Eastman’s main concepts that he feels should be included in every skill building workout is weak hand devlopment.  Working on this skill in a variety of ways will allow players to pass, dribble, shoot, and finish with their weak hand.  This can be done in a variety of ways, but one of the more basic ways is seen in the video below.  This video will show you how to incorporate weak hand development into a workout for beginners.  There will be videos to follow really soon on more advanced weak hand development drills, but if any of you know of some other ways to work on your weak hand please let the Elite Basketball Training community know about them by responding in the comments section. 

Train hard, be efficient, and I will see you on the court.

Rich Stoner

Anyway the real point of this post is not to tell you about my lowrider Nissan Pathfinder and its once crappy tires, it is to tell you how you can get in a great workout with very little equipment.  It is frustrating when players tell me that they cannot workout because they have no ride to the gym.  That is an EXCUSE.  You really do not need a gym to get a solid workout.  For example yesterday, my guys did the following:

Sandbag Shouldering (similar to a deadlift) 3 x 6

Dumbell Jump Squats (Can be done with body weight) 3 x 6

Split Squats 3 x 6 with Pullups for max effort

Overhead medball throws 3 x 6 with max effort pushups

Prowler finisher 

Two rounds of planks and side bridges each held for 30 seconds.

ALL AT THE PARK!

Now I know you are probably thinking, “Rich I don’t have all of that equipment.”  This is fine, but much of what I wrote down can be done with bodyweight.  Not to mention,  a sandbag

costs about $20 to make,  You can pick up dumbells on Craig’s List (btw who is Craig?) for next to nothing, and instead of a prowler, throw that sandbag in an old tire and push that around.  All you need is a little imagination and some creativity and you could be getting killer workouts anywhere you want. 

If you have any other rustic, old school training techniques please share them with the Elite Basketball Training community, we would love to hear from you all out there.  In th mean time, train hard, be efficient, and I will see you on the court.

Rich Stoner

Defending in basketball is not always that simple.  Will power and discipline are definitely a great start, but there are proper defensive fundamentals that need to be practiced and drilled in order to become a great defensive player and team.  Not to mention getting yourself in great shape in order to outlast your opponent on the court and defend the entire game, and not only in spots. 

In this blog, I have spoken on multiple occasions how players and coaches should use drills that work on multiple skills at once.  The following drill, (what I call) The Closeout, Slide, and Shoot Drill, is another perfect example of this.  In this drill, the player is once again working on a variety of basketball skills, two of which are defensive oriented.  The drill starts with the player on the baseline with a basketball and the coach at the top of the key.  The player passes the basketball to the coach and then closes out on him with proper form.  Proper form should include sprinting to the closeout.  My players never jog or slide or shuffle to their closeouts.  These methods of moving are too slow and the basketball moves incredibly fast for anyone to be sliding or shuffling to a closeout.  So, we sprint.  This requires two larger steps at first and then breaking down into choppy steps as your approach the offensive player.  The defensive player should be on balance throughout and as they approach the player have their hands and feet active in order to be prepared for any pass, dribble, or shot.  Once the player has closed out on the coach, he or she will defensive slide to the sideline, and then sprint back in for a wing jump shot.  Proper form should be maintained in the defensive slide as well as proper footwork and form on the jump shot.  Make sure the player is breaking down as they step into the shot with their knees bent and hands ready in order to insure a quick release and good arch on their shot.  You can also progress through this drill beyond just a step in jump shot, by using a jab series and then shooting off the dribble or attacking and finishing at the rim.  The possibilities are endless, so be creative, and if you come up with any good variations, as always share them with the Elite Basketball Training community.  Below is a diagram of the drill with more detailed instructions. 

Instructions

• The player is on the baseline with the basketball and the coach is at the top of the key.
• The player passes the basketball to the coach and closes out on him.
• He then defensive slides to the sideline.

• The player will then sprint in to the wing and receive a return pass from the coach for a wing jumper or drive to the basket.

Points of Emphasis:

• Proper closeout technique
• Sprint to closeout
• End with choppy steps, active hands, and active feet
• Proper sliding techniques (hips down, communicate, active hands, etc.)
• Sprint to the jump shot
• Proper footwork, hands ready, hips down, knees bent
• Finish all shots.

Motivation/Teaching Tips:

• Time the drill and compete against the clock
• Set a number of makes before moving on to the next variation of the drill.

Work hard, be efficient, and I will see you on the court!

Rich Stoner