You are probably like I was.
You love basketball, you want to be really REALLY good at it. You have spent hours on the computer finding the best basketball workouts. What workout does Kobe Braynt do? What workout does Chris Paul do? You may have even purchased DVDs or books to help you learn even more drills…
Some of you might even work REALLY REALLY hard to get better. Some of you might spend hours in the gym every single day. Maybe you play pick-up games and open runs for 5 or 6 days a week for 3 hours at a time (ignoring the skill & strength work you should be doing). Or you are in your basement pounding out ball handling drills, going to the gym and getting up hundreds of shots, doing the same routine day-in, day-out.
All this stuff will no doubt help you improve…but it’s not going to make you great. It’s not going to get you a scholarship, or a starting job as a 9th or 10th grader, and it’s not going to get you a contract to get paid overseas.
What you need is a REAL basketball skill development program (and a strength program too!). You need real workouts that bring new challenges every day. You need to work on game situations. You need to have the right progression in your workouts. And you definitely NEED the an intelligent program designed for you, not just a pdf or a DVD that shoves a bunch of drills in front of you with no plan or something that advises you to repeat doing same damn thing over and over again. You need a program that doesn’t OVERTRAIN you (overtraining is a real problem which causes fatigue, injuries, cuts down on your quickness and jumping ability, etc..).
That is why I started The World of Hoops. We are on a never-ending quest to improve our training techniques and methodologies. We take a full approach to your training. Our products have been tested, reviewed, revamped, tested again, and on and on. Our skill programs don’t make you a one-dimensional player, they TRANSFORM you into an ELITE, DO-IT-ALL PLAYER. World of Hoops players know how to play the game and they know how to WIN.
We work hard so that we give our players a chance to get SCHOLARSHIPS, we want our players to go from getting cut, to starting VARSITY, we aim to produce ALL-AMERICANS at the DI, DII, and DIII levels, and our goal is to have our best students get PAID TO PLAY.
A little about me…
I LOVE BASKETBALL. I have spent over 25 years playing, coaching, watching, and studying basketball.
Just like I said…I was like you. I wanted to be good at basketball so bad, but to be honest…I wasn’t very good. This was before the internet was big though, so I had to head to the library, the video store, and the book store and find books and videos on basketball drills. I did the drills, I watched the VHS (pre-DVD), I went to the camps, I did all the things you have probably tried. I was short and weak (still am short for a basketball player, only 5’10″). I loved basketball. I played every day. My school didn’t have a 3rd and 4th grade team, so I was excited to tryout for the 5th grade team…But, I was cut from the school team in 5th grade, then I was cut again from the team in the 6th grade. I finally made the team in 7th grade and was able to sneak my way into the starting lineup right way, despite not having made the team the prior 2 years. Basically, my coach rewarded hard work, as I still wasn’t a very skilled player.
As I moved into high school I continued to experiment with different training, I trained all the time. A few of my friends and I would head over to the local college and sneak into the gym to play pick-up games. We played anytime we could, usually against players better than us. I was still short, but was getting better. I would have to work to make the team at a high school with a strong basketball team. As a 9th grader, I was relegated to the 9th grade team, no JV or Varsity. My 10th grade year was a tough year. My high school was ranked top 3 in the state, and went deep into the PA state playoffs, losing in the Elite 8 to the team that won the state championship. I, however, was not much of a contributor to that team (scored about 30 points for the varsity team). I was definitely not where I hoped I would be at that point in my basketball career.
Between my sophomore and junior year in high school I started to change up my workouts. Instead of going through the motions shooting low effort jump shots or going nice and easy through the same exact ball handling drills everyday, I started to do shorter more intense sessions…almost everything was done at “game speed”. I found a good workout partner (another guard on my HS team) and we battled each other day in and day out. He was more talented and athletic than I was, so I knew I had to get stronger and faster. I started lifting and doing jumping/speed drills. I didn’t have any real guidance or coaching on this; I just did what I saw other people do. My increased strength and speed made my workouts with my teammate better than ever. My strength was forcing him to get tougher and learn to play with contact. His skill was forcing me to be sharper with my game and to work harder than he did. We made each other better through our intense workouts.
FINALLY, I had a break through. I jumped into the starting line up for the varsity team. I was a key player on the varsity team (finally), with the role of defensive stopper my junior year. I averaged about 6 points per game my junior year, but always had the responsibility of guarding the other teams best player (as long as they were under 6’4″). The summer before my senior year, I continued my mission of becoming a great basketball player. By this point there was a bit more information out there on the Internet …I found every drill I could, I worked out intensely and hit the weights just like the off-season the year before. By the time the season came, I was ready to really go to work. I went from averaging around 6 points a game in my conference, to close to 18.0 PPG (I even managed to grab about 8 rebounds a game at only 5’10” and I lead the team in steals as well). I helped lead our school to a 28-3 record and a 2nd place ranking in the state.
My performance my senior year got the attention of a local college team. I continued on with my quest for basketball training, but was often bogged down by a heavy course load, and working one or two jobs at any given time (as well as playing basketball and training). It was during this time that I realized the importance of rest and recovery in your training. Because of classes, jobs, and hanging out with friends…I wasn’t sleeping, resting, or recovering. My play suffered. But I managed to get by. I went on to 4 years as a strong guard on a 2-time NCAA tournament team at a small college. I always gave it 100% on the court, but it left me with the thought that I never reached my true potential on the basketball court.
So I continued my basketball obsession after I graduated college. I was still extremely interested in how a player becomes great. Is it genetics? Is it strength? Speed? Skills? A combination? What about players that get hurt? How do you avoid injuries? How come the game looks SO easy for some players? How come it looks so hard for others? What do the pros do? Why does Chris Paul see open men so easy? How does Kobe get by players? How do people’s games change as the age? What are the most important things you can do on a court? Do any of the thousands of vertical jump programs out there work?
I researched, read, talked to the experts, I trained myself, I got strength training certifications, I became co-owner of gym, and I started to try everything I learned on myself. I then started training basketball players and testing out all my training philosophies and methodologies as a coach. I have played with numerous NBA players, All-Americans, and overseas professionals…I always discussed with them their training programs, how they workout, what worked the best for them, what didn’t work…
My search to perfect basketball training is never ending. I will continue to refine my approach to training as more research is done, as science advances, and as the sport of basketball changes.
THE ANSWER TO TRAINING: It takes hard work to be good, It takes repetition to develop fundamental skills early on, it takes controlled practice to make these skills automatic, then it takes deliberate practice* at game intensity to master skills. In addition to this you need to develop your body’s strength, agility (quickness) and mobility to be able to get the most out of your skills (and remain injury free). BUT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE TO BE “BORN” WITH A TON OF NATURAL TALENT TO BE GREAT…WE CAN TEACH YOU TO BE GREAT!!!!
If you are ready to get started on your path to becoming an elite player, you should go directly to our products or services page. We have products that are specific to your goals (i.e. all conference/all state, college scholarship, starting high school job, professional contract). And we have services for you to work directly with one of our AWESOME and TALENTED team members either through in-person training, online training, or a clinic/camps.
Keep Hoopin,
Joe
*Deliberate practice is a term I learned from Geoff Colvin author of “Talent is Overrated” a great book proving how talent is overrated in everything from sports to playing the piano. It’s deliberate practice that wins out.
