http://www.internationalbigmanacademy.com
It’s amazing how many youth and even university teams employ a counting method while conducting a team stretching session before the running starts. What I mean by this is that most teams use a standard stretching routine before every practise session and a player will take the lead and proceed, along with the rest of the team, to count to ten while performing various stretching techniques.
This often boggles my mind because, if memory serves me correctly, as athletes we stretch to loosen up the muscle groups to avoid injuring ourselves. The best way to get loose while stretching is to BREATHE deeply before the stretches then exhale during the stretches. So, especially for most young players who breathe through their mouths which is what most of them do, how do they take in oxygen while counting during a stretching session with their team?
This process has often mystified me. Whenever I walk into a gym and there is a youth or college team stretching before the running starts, 80% of the time the team will count during the stretching session. I often think to myself ‘why bother to stretch if you cannot breathe?’ Most young players have a problem breathing during a simple stretch, much less to count and breathe at the same time during the stretch. They never take a deep breath before the stretch so therefore they have no oxygen in their lungs to release during the stretch.
Due to years of practising proper breathing and stretching techniques, I can always tell when a player is not breathing during a stretch because they appear to be straining. For example, if the stretching exercise calls for the player to stand with locked knees while bending forward to touch his or her toes, you can always see the tension on their faces. Or if they are sitting on the floor with legs straight forward and the stretch calls for them to touch their toes, you can always see the tension because nine times out of ten they are holding their breath while trying desperately to touch their toes, which they will never do because they are holding their breath.
I always wait for this to happen then I will say EXHALE!! When they finally exhale (even though they do not have much oxygen in their lungs), you will notice a slight lunge forward propelling them closer to their toes. For me that’s always a good time to teach the importance of taking a deep breath before every stretch and then exhaling during the stretch.
So, again, if they are counting during a stretching session how do they breathe? And if they can’t breathe, why stretch?? This counting system is something coaches need to revisit with their trainers or strength and conditioning coaches because young kids are not stretching properly during these sessions. In my opinion it should stop because it is affecting their flexibility. But at the same time, because of years of bad practice, I wonder if we can ever eradicate it from our systems.
Peace
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Learning From The Pros - 1983 - Training and playing pick up with Bill Walton
http://www.internationalbigmanacademy.com
(San Diego 1983) Yep...1983. I took a bus from Tyler JC, to San Diego to attend summer classes at San Diego State before the fall semester and training camp started at my new school and with my new team.
Tyler, Texas was such a small city compared to San Diego. Playing pick up ball in Tyler you would never expect to see an NBA super star walk into the gym to ball with everybody. Nope, not in Tyler! You were more likely to see Earl Campbell at the gas station.
But a few days after arriving in San Diego a teammate, Michael Cage, took me to beautiful Balboa Park to a gym that was located close to an Aerospace Museum. The gym was called Muni gym and as we entered the gym there was the first 7 footer I ever saw running up and down the floor playing with a group of university and college players who attended school in the San Diego area. His name was Bill Walton.
Walton was the center for the San Diego Clippers, but according to Mike Cage he was hurt and was working his way back into shape. I remember how it made me feel to finally get a chance to play with an NBA player. I felt on top of the world. The fist thing I thought was I wanted to dunk on Mr. Walton if I ever got the chance. Yea..I know, young dude dreaming!
But I guess thats what happens when young players get a chance to compete against professional players. They dream Really BIG dreams! I know I did! All kind of creative ideas were running through my mind as my adrenaline was pumping my heart out of my chest. I could not wait for my chance to get on the court.
And I remember this as clear as crystal because at the time it was such a disappointment. Bill's team lost and he had to leave the court. My heart dropped! But as Bill was leaving the court the player who was to choose next, (Zack Jones) an ex San Diego State player, pick Bill to run with us and he agreed.
So this was even better because now I get to play with Bill Walton and give him high fives. Yea!
Man, I was in heaven. I had so much to prove too because I was the new recruit every one was talking about. The Junior College All American transfer from Jamaica, with mad hops. Back then I had a 41 inch vertical jump and dunked everything I could and couldn't get my hands on.
I can't remember if we won the game or not but I do remember Bill pulling me aside at some point and giving me a few words of encouragement. He even asked me to shoot around with him on the other court while games continued on the middle court.
He did not want to play anymore because of his ankle injury so he could not risk injury. So off we went to practice on the side.
This was such a boost to my ego as I rebounded for him while he took ten shots. When he was finished with his ten he told me to take ten. We shot for a while then I fed him post entry passes so he could execute 10 post moves. Then it was my turn. I still remember him teaching me that little jump hook.
Working out with Bill Walton was always a cool thing to do because my mind would always have these super fantasies about playing in the NBA. And I was learning from a professional just from working out with him or watching him play. I learned so much that summer it made my adjustment to Diego so much easier.
Mike Cage was not a pro yet but was about to be drafted at the end of the upcoming (1983-84) season.
Bill was traded from the Clippers to the Celtics in 1984. I guess because the Clippers were about to draft my teammate Michael Cage in the first round. But the runs continued at Muni gym the next summer and when Bill was home ( San Diego was his home) he would always come out to play and shoot the jive with us young fellas. It was always a pleasure to see him and work out with him. It was always time to learn.
I left San Diego the spring of 1985 and never saw or spoke to Bill Walton again till I saw him at his son's (Luke) basketball camp in San Diego at Francis Parker High School in July or August 2006. We only had a small opportunity to say hello because he was there to address the campers and he was bombarded with autograph seekers. But it was cool to see the man who first taught me the Jump Hook.
Peace
(San Diego 1983) Yep...1983. I took a bus from Tyler JC, to San Diego to attend summer classes at San Diego State before the fall semester and training camp started at my new school and with my new team.
Tyler, Texas was such a small city compared to San Diego. Playing pick up ball in Tyler you would never expect to see an NBA super star walk into the gym to ball with everybody. Nope, not in Tyler! You were more likely to see Earl Campbell at the gas station.
But a few days after arriving in San Diego a teammate, Michael Cage, took me to beautiful Balboa Park to a gym that was located close to an Aerospace Museum. The gym was called Muni gym and as we entered the gym there was the first 7 footer I ever saw running up and down the floor playing with a group of university and college players who attended school in the San Diego area. His name was Bill Walton.
Walton was the center for the San Diego Clippers, but according to Mike Cage he was hurt and was working his way back into shape. I remember how it made me feel to finally get a chance to play with an NBA player. I felt on top of the world. The fist thing I thought was I wanted to dunk on Mr. Walton if I ever got the chance. Yea..I know, young dude dreaming!
But I guess thats what happens when young players get a chance to compete against professional players. They dream Really BIG dreams! I know I did! All kind of creative ideas were running through my mind as my adrenaline was pumping my heart out of my chest. I could not wait for my chance to get on the court.
And I remember this as clear as crystal because at the time it was such a disappointment. Bill's team lost and he had to leave the court. My heart dropped! But as Bill was leaving the court the player who was to choose next, (Zack Jones) an ex San Diego State player, pick Bill to run with us and he agreed.
So this was even better because now I get to play with Bill Walton and give him high fives. Yea!
Man, I was in heaven. I had so much to prove too because I was the new recruit every one was talking about. The Junior College All American transfer from Jamaica, with mad hops. Back then I had a 41 inch vertical jump and dunked everything I could and couldn't get my hands on.
I can't remember if we won the game or not but I do remember Bill pulling me aside at some point and giving me a few words of encouragement. He even asked me to shoot around with him on the other court while games continued on the middle court.
He did not want to play anymore because of his ankle injury so he could not risk injury. So off we went to practice on the side.
This was such a boost to my ego as I rebounded for him while he took ten shots. When he was finished with his ten he told me to take ten. We shot for a while then I fed him post entry passes so he could execute 10 post moves. Then it was my turn. I still remember him teaching me that little jump hook.
Working out with Bill Walton was always a cool thing to do because my mind would always have these super fantasies about playing in the NBA. And I was learning from a professional just from working out with him or watching him play. I learned so much that summer it made my adjustment to Diego so much easier.
Mike Cage was not a pro yet but was about to be drafted at the end of the upcoming (1983-84) season.
Bill was traded from the Clippers to the Celtics in 1984. I guess because the Clippers were about to draft my teammate Michael Cage in the first round. But the runs continued at Muni gym the next summer and when Bill was home ( San Diego was his home) he would always come out to play and shoot the jive with us young fellas. It was always a pleasure to see him and work out with him. It was always time to learn.
I left San Diego the spring of 1985 and never saw or spoke to Bill Walton again till I saw him at his son's (Luke) basketball camp in San Diego at Francis Parker High School in July or August 2006. We only had a small opportunity to say hello because he was there to address the campers and he was bombarded with autograph seekers. But it was cool to see the man who first taught me the Jump Hook.
Peace
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Building Boris Bakovic - The First Student of Pivotology
http://www.internationalbigmanacademy.com
As a personal basketball trainer its always very satisfying when a young player finally gets a particular teaching point or defensive technique or a goto move that he is able to use successfully more than once in a game. Its like when your five year old son or daughter score their first basket in a pee wee basketball game. Ping, the lights turn on and you can see, feel and share their excitement.
Watching Boris Bakovic, a 19 year old Serbian kid, perform as the leading scorer (27 ppg) in the Canadian university basketball league - CIS, brings back fond memories of when we first met in 2004 on the same floor he now calls home court at Ryerson university in Toronto, Canada.
You see, Boris is the kid (the gym rat) that was incubated in the gym with me for endless hours going through the skill drills that have not only formed the basis for my instructional basketball DVD series, Pivotology, but they have also equipped Boris with the best footwork in Canadian basketball.
Those were, and still are, fun days because Boris is one of the most eager to learn players I have ever worked with. A lanky 6'7" kid with skinny legs and no hops. He reminded me of Martin Muursepp a young Estonian players I played with, mentored and trained in Israel back in the 90's. Martin was a 1st round draft choice by the Utah Jazz and played a few years in the NBA before returning to Europe.
Boris would watch as I demonstrate a certain goto move and execute it 10-15 times before we moved on to something else. At first when he was in his junior year of high school he would come every Sunday to workout for two hours. I think it was the fact that he was learning a few skills from an ex professional player that kept him so keen because he would turn up like clock work to get his private training. At the same time I had to design new and different drills to feed his hunger to learn.
In essence he was my inspiration as I was his and we shared a mutual agreement that these drill were very different from what anyone else was performing anywhere in the world. The gym was our lab, I was the mad scientist and he was the gym rat.
Throughout the months we continued to meet for private workouts and as his individual skill-set got better, my ability to designed workout programs became more refined. Boris was having a solid senior season in high school and visions of playing college ball in the states fueled his drive to train harder at his craft. I encouraged him to take the SAT's which he would need to be eligible for the NCAA and he score 1650. Because of his marks he had offers coming in from Ivy league schools all across the US. While all this was going on we continued to workout as he evaluated his options to attend university. In the end he choose to go to school in Canada at Ryerson university.
In his first year at Ryerson he averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds and was selected the rookie of his conference (OUA) and earned a spot on the university league (CIS) all-rookie team. Boris was also selected to represent Canada in the 2007 FIBA U-19 World Championships held in Novi Sad, Bosnia.
Now he is in his sophomore year and as I enter this post in my blog Boris is averaging 27ppg and 8rpg for Ryerson U. How long he can keep that up before the defense starts to target him, your guess is as good as mine. But if this is any indication of how individual skill development training can refine a young eager, non athletic kid, then every kid that plays basketball should be in the gym working endlessly on their basketball game.
What Boris realized was that his individual game was getting better and he started to see the benefits of individual skill development specific training. What I set out to do was to build him into an offensive assassin-a player who can score from anywhere on the floor using an arsenal of moves in the mid-range and post area of the court.
Now after logging 300 hours of individual skill development training with me over the past three years, and counting, he has grown into Canada's leading scorer in only his sophomore year and I have trademark the drills and published then on DVD, under the title Pivotology.
I can't really predict what the the future has in store for such a committed and dedicated player but his upside is hugh. If he can handle the rigors, the bumps and the bruises that comes with being a first option player and continue to grow, professional basketball should be on his horizon. Even the League (NBA) is within reach depending on how the Canadian media exposes this young talent. Visibility plays a big part in making the NBA and currently I feel he will have to play pro ball in Europe or the NBA development league to get the visibility and scouting needed to get signed. But in the meantime for three more years Canadians will have a great time watching this young player evolve into his destiny.
Yo, Boris, we have a workout session at 9am in the morning, the gym is open!
Peace
As a personal basketball trainer its always very satisfying when a young player finally gets a particular teaching point or defensive technique or a goto move that he is able to use successfully more than once in a game. Its like when your five year old son or daughter score their first basket in a pee wee basketball game. Ping, the lights turn on and you can see, feel and share their excitement.
Watching Boris Bakovic, a 19 year old Serbian kid, perform as the leading scorer (27 ppg) in the Canadian university basketball league - CIS, brings back fond memories of when we first met in 2004 on the same floor he now calls home court at Ryerson university in Toronto, Canada.
You see, Boris is the kid (the gym rat) that was incubated in the gym with me for endless hours going through the skill drills that have not only formed the basis for my instructional basketball DVD series, Pivotology, but they have also equipped Boris with the best footwork in Canadian basketball.
Those were, and still are, fun days because Boris is one of the most eager to learn players I have ever worked with. A lanky 6'7" kid with skinny legs and no hops. He reminded me of Martin Muursepp a young Estonian players I played with, mentored and trained in Israel back in the 90's. Martin was a 1st round draft choice by the Utah Jazz and played a few years in the NBA before returning to Europe.
Boris would watch as I demonstrate a certain goto move and execute it 10-15 times before we moved on to something else. At first when he was in his junior year of high school he would come every Sunday to workout for two hours. I think it was the fact that he was learning a few skills from an ex professional player that kept him so keen because he would turn up like clock work to get his private training. At the same time I had to design new and different drills to feed his hunger to learn.
In essence he was my inspiration as I was his and we shared a mutual agreement that these drill were very different from what anyone else was performing anywhere in the world. The gym was our lab, I was the mad scientist and he was the gym rat.
Throughout the months we continued to meet for private workouts and as his individual skill-set got better, my ability to designed workout programs became more refined. Boris was having a solid senior season in high school and visions of playing college ball in the states fueled his drive to train harder at his craft. I encouraged him to take the SAT's which he would need to be eligible for the NCAA and he score 1650. Because of his marks he had offers coming in from Ivy league schools all across the US. While all this was going on we continued to workout as he evaluated his options to attend university. In the end he choose to go to school in Canada at Ryerson university.
In his first year at Ryerson he averaged 17 points and 10 rebounds and was selected the rookie of his conference (OUA) and earned a spot on the university league (CIS) all-rookie team. Boris was also selected to represent Canada in the 2007 FIBA U-19 World Championships held in Novi Sad, Bosnia.
Now he is in his sophomore year and as I enter this post in my blog Boris is averaging 27ppg and 8rpg for Ryerson U. How long he can keep that up before the defense starts to target him, your guess is as good as mine. But if this is any indication of how individual skill development training can refine a young eager, non athletic kid, then every kid that plays basketball should be in the gym working endlessly on their basketball game.
What Boris realized was that his individual game was getting better and he started to see the benefits of individual skill development specific training. What I set out to do was to build him into an offensive assassin-a player who can score from anywhere on the floor using an arsenal of moves in the mid-range and post area of the court.
Now after logging 300 hours of individual skill development training with me over the past three years, and counting, he has grown into Canada's leading scorer in only his sophomore year and I have trademark the drills and published then on DVD, under the title Pivotology.
I can't really predict what the the future has in store for such a committed and dedicated player but his upside is hugh. If he can handle the rigors, the bumps and the bruises that comes with being a first option player and continue to grow, professional basketball should be on his horizon. Even the League (NBA) is within reach depending on how the Canadian media exposes this young talent. Visibility plays a big part in making the NBA and currently I feel he will have to play pro ball in Europe or the NBA development league to get the visibility and scouting needed to get signed. But in the meantime for three more years Canadians will have a great time watching this young player evolve into his destiny.
Yo, Boris, we have a workout session at 9am in the morning, the gym is open!
Peace
Friday, December 21, 2007
Back To Reality
http://www.internationalbigmanacademy.com
ROCHESTER, NY. I am smiling because the title of this entry is so surreal. Back to reality! What reality? The reality of what was basketball training camp. Basketball in turbo drive! Two-a-day training camps and three hour one day training sessions, that's what I mean!
On December 10th, 2007, I took part in a minor league basketball training camp...no, not to make a come back at the minor league level, but to fulfill a personal challenge to see what kind of shape my vintage body was in.
When I played professionally I was always regarded as the best athlete on all the teams I played for, from Turkey to Taiwan. Even now during life after pro ball, conditioning remains a constant in my life.
The 2003-05 Toronto Nike Battleground Tournament, which was a one-on-one competition played in a cage, was also a personal challenge that took my body, mind and soul back to a reality of competitive basketball played in an intense ladened environment reserved only for a certain beast of a human being. I was younger then, only 41, so taking on that challenge was easier than the journey I was about to take.
As a personal basketball trainer to numerous NBA, NCAA, Minor League, and European players and the lead instructor at the International Big Man Academy and Tall Girls Basketball Academy, the "Power of Demonstration" plays a major role in the way I teach players certain skills and techniques. Conditioning is very important so as to endure the rigors of demonstration's teaching points, I must be in top shape. I can't afford to walk around with a pouch bulging through my shirt for all my clients to see or huffing and puffing after every drill I demonstrate. It just does not fit the image of a professional trainer whose strength is supposed to be the power of his demonstration and his ability to endure pain.
Mind you, before I embarked on the journey into minor league hell, I was already in good shape from working players out, demonstrating drills and playing pick up ball with the university players I work with at home in Toronto. But thats not what this personal challenge was about.
This was about being pushed to the breaking point and not breaking. Thats what training camp is all about. Only the fittest survived. Waking up at 5am to be on the basketball floor at 6am for three hours of hell, and the body not breaking down, that always have a special feel to it. Back in the day, my playing days, that was always a very normal thing to do on a daily basis. Training to the point of exhaustion was my reality! But now as a personal basketball trainer, I don't have to do that. I don't have to push myself to the point of breaking, to that extent anyway.
So I needed to experience that feeling again, I needed to experience a reality of intense training that was twenty-seven (27) years of my life.
Man did it feel good!!
The team was the Rochester Razorsharks, located in Rochester, NY. The head coach there is Rod Baker, a hard nose coach who knows what it takes to win championships. A forward thinking coach who coached the Globetrotters, UC Irvine, Cincinnati, and some, and took the Razorsharks to the ABA championships, which they won, in 2005.
Baker's style of coaching was reminiscent of my college coach, Smokey Gaines, at San Diego State when I played alongside Michael Cage. Everything was on the clock from the minute you walked into the gym to the end of practice suicides.
But this was not college, no, this was the minor league where players will eat you alive to get a step up on you. At this level players are trying to put food on the table and get to the next level weather it be the NBA or Europe. Guys wanna get paid.
The intensity at coach Baker's training camp was consistent throughout and you either broke down and quit (which happened to a few players), or you take the stuff that's being thrown your way and become a better player and a better person because coach Baker was gonna give it to you straight.
He cussed at everyone, and always had some smart remark about something you did. I loved it though because I felt like I still belonged in this intensity ladened environment.
Sure enough even though I was the elderly statesman of the group, I got cussed at too! I remember one situation I threw a bad entry pass to the post only to hear Baker yell, Mike, "bend your old ass over and make a good pass". I wanted to laugh so hard but was sorta momentarily stunned by the comment because really and truly no one had ever used that word to my face while I was playing basketball. But I guess I am vintage! Not that being vintage had anything to do with the soft entry pass I made.
So there I was, forty-three years young, running around with twenty something year olds. Man, I was having fun though! Loving every minute of it, especially those minutes I was laying in the hotel bed relaxing and watching TV, trying to recover from the days grind while Vidal Messiah, my roommate and the player who beat me twice (2004-05) in the Toronto Nike Battleground, was sitting at the desk checking his Facebook page and talking on the phone to his daughter.
Recovery was a big deal for me and was not something I took lithely at this stage of my life as compared to earlier years when I was able to recover much faster. Recovery was foremost on my mind when I went to training camp so, I took my Jack Lalane juicer with me - to juice fruits and vegetable- which I shared with my first roommate (not Vidal) before he got waived. I also traveled with my magnetic mattress which I laid atop my hotel bed's mattress.
With these two devices and a big tub of protein powder I was ready to recover from whatever training camp had to offer.
Getting tired was never the problem, cramps were. I had some serious cramping in the abdominals whenever we did our core workout at the end of each session. But I endured from persistent hydration and the juicing of potatoes , carrots and spinach. The cramps passed and the next day I was back to normal working every drill with the highest intensity in the camp. Yes there were a few times I would lay in the cut and let the younger players pass me up but hey, I considered that my "vet break" which coach Baker never offered. Especially during the transition drills where we had to make five consecutive trips down the floor and back at top speed. I would need an extra 30 seconds to recover before taking the floor again. This was often a difficult maneuver to pull off because other players were also trying to "lay in the cut" and avoid a turn. I would alway smile to myself when I saw other players avoiding turns because clearly, age had nothing to do with me skipping a turn. It was just an intense drill that needed more recovery time, time we did not have because this, was training camp and we better recover fast or pay the price.
I worked out with the Razorsharks from December 10-23, then returned home to my present reality. The experience was very rewarding as I dropped 5 pounds and reached a level of conditioning not experienced since my time as a pro baller!
This (training camp) is something I could definitely do more often to keep myself in top shape. It is a grind though but well worth the pain.
Peace
ROCHESTER, NY. I am smiling because the title of this entry is so surreal. Back to reality! What reality? The reality of what was basketball training camp. Basketball in turbo drive! Two-a-day training camps and three hour one day training sessions, that's what I mean!
On December 10th, 2007, I took part in a minor league basketball training camp...no, not to make a come back at the minor league level, but to fulfill a personal challenge to see what kind of shape my vintage body was in.
When I played professionally I was always regarded as the best athlete on all the teams I played for, from Turkey to Taiwan. Even now during life after pro ball, conditioning remains a constant in my life.
The 2003-05 Toronto Nike Battleground Tournament, which was a one-on-one competition played in a cage, was also a personal challenge that took my body, mind and soul back to a reality of competitive basketball played in an intense ladened environment reserved only for a certain beast of a human being. I was younger then, only 41, so taking on that challenge was easier than the journey I was about to take.
As a personal basketball trainer to numerous NBA, NCAA, Minor League, and European players and the lead instructor at the International Big Man Academy and Tall Girls Basketball Academy, the "Power of Demonstration" plays a major role in the way I teach players certain skills and techniques. Conditioning is very important so as to endure the rigors of demonstration's teaching points, I must be in top shape. I can't afford to walk around with a pouch bulging through my shirt for all my clients to see or huffing and puffing after every drill I demonstrate. It just does not fit the image of a professional trainer whose strength is supposed to be the power of his demonstration and his ability to endure pain.
Mind you, before I embarked on the journey into minor league hell, I was already in good shape from working players out, demonstrating drills and playing pick up ball with the university players I work with at home in Toronto. But thats not what this personal challenge was about.
This was about being pushed to the breaking point and not breaking. Thats what training camp is all about. Only the fittest survived. Waking up at 5am to be on the basketball floor at 6am for three hours of hell, and the body not breaking down, that always have a special feel to it. Back in the day, my playing days, that was always a very normal thing to do on a daily basis. Training to the point of exhaustion was my reality! But now as a personal basketball trainer, I don't have to do that. I don't have to push myself to the point of breaking, to that extent anyway.
So I needed to experience that feeling again, I needed to experience a reality of intense training that was twenty-seven (27) years of my life.
Man did it feel good!!
The team was the Rochester Razorsharks, located in Rochester, NY. The head coach there is Rod Baker, a hard nose coach who knows what it takes to win championships. A forward thinking coach who coached the Globetrotters, UC Irvine, Cincinnati, and some, and took the Razorsharks to the ABA championships, which they won, in 2005.
Baker's style of coaching was reminiscent of my college coach, Smokey Gaines, at San Diego State when I played alongside Michael Cage. Everything was on the clock from the minute you walked into the gym to the end of practice suicides.
But this was not college, no, this was the minor league where players will eat you alive to get a step up on you. At this level players are trying to put food on the table and get to the next level weather it be the NBA or Europe. Guys wanna get paid.
The intensity at coach Baker's training camp was consistent throughout and you either broke down and quit (which happened to a few players), or you take the stuff that's being thrown your way and become a better player and a better person because coach Baker was gonna give it to you straight.
He cussed at everyone, and always had some smart remark about something you did. I loved it though because I felt like I still belonged in this intensity ladened environment.
Sure enough even though I was the elderly statesman of the group, I got cussed at too! I remember one situation I threw a bad entry pass to the post only to hear Baker yell, Mike, "bend your old ass over and make a good pass". I wanted to laugh so hard but was sorta momentarily stunned by the comment because really and truly no one had ever used that word to my face while I was playing basketball. But I guess I am vintage! Not that being vintage had anything to do with the soft entry pass I made.
So there I was, forty-three years young, running around with twenty something year olds. Man, I was having fun though! Loving every minute of it, especially those minutes I was laying in the hotel bed relaxing and watching TV, trying to recover from the days grind while Vidal Messiah, my roommate and the player who beat me twice (2004-05) in the Toronto Nike Battleground, was sitting at the desk checking his Facebook page and talking on the phone to his daughter.
Recovery was a big deal for me and was not something I took lithely at this stage of my life as compared to earlier years when I was able to recover much faster. Recovery was foremost on my mind when I went to training camp so, I took my Jack Lalane juicer with me - to juice fruits and vegetable- which I shared with my first roommate (not Vidal) before he got waived. I also traveled with my magnetic mattress which I laid atop my hotel bed's mattress.
With these two devices and a big tub of protein powder I was ready to recover from whatever training camp had to offer.
Getting tired was never the problem, cramps were. I had some serious cramping in the abdominals whenever we did our core workout at the end of each session. But I endured from persistent hydration and the juicing of potatoes , carrots and spinach. The cramps passed and the next day I was back to normal working every drill with the highest intensity in the camp. Yes there were a few times I would lay in the cut and let the younger players pass me up but hey, I considered that my "vet break" which coach Baker never offered. Especially during the transition drills where we had to make five consecutive trips down the floor and back at top speed. I would need an extra 30 seconds to recover before taking the floor again. This was often a difficult maneuver to pull off because other players were also trying to "lay in the cut" and avoid a turn. I would alway smile to myself when I saw other players avoiding turns because clearly, age had nothing to do with me skipping a turn. It was just an intense drill that needed more recovery time, time we did not have because this, was training camp and we better recover fast or pay the price.
I worked out with the Razorsharks from December 10-23, then returned home to my present reality. The experience was very rewarding as I dropped 5 pounds and reached a level of conditioning not experienced since my time as a pro baller!
This (training camp) is something I could definitely do more often to keep myself in top shape. It is a grind though but well worth the pain.
Peace
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Good Luck Samardo Samuels: My Failure Will Be Your Success
http://www.internationalbigmanacademy.com
ROCHESTER, NY. I am chillin' in my hotel room icing a bruised thigh I sustained from a collision in the paint resulting from a post move I tried to execute in heavy traffic. On ESPN is a game my roommate and I have been anticipating all day.
The game is St. Benedict's Prep vs. Oak Hill Academy and our players of interest, Samardo Samuels and Tirstan Thompson, both playing with St. Benedict's Prep.
This is the first time I will see Samardo Samuels, the #1 center in America high school play the game of basketball that has been our ticket out of Jamaica.
My roommate, Vidal Messiah, was curious to see Tirstan Thompson play. Tirstan is a high school transfer from Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto where Vidal and myself live. Tirstan was a 16 year old up and coming Canadian talent who transferred states side (Just like Samardo and I did from Jamaica) to experience a better brand of basketball.
As I iced my bruised thigh, and the game progress, watching Samardo run the floor stirred deep memories of when I first came to America to play college basketball. Those days are so far gone now, but tonight they were staring me dead in the face as I thought to myself…. Man, I pray this kid make it to the league.
See, back in 1981, I left Jamaica on a scholarship to Tyler Junior College with hopes of one day being an NBA player competing against the best players in the world.
Originally I was supposed to go to the University of Texas. U of T brought me from Jamaica on a recruiting trip that exposed me to my first live NBA player, George “ The Ice Man” Gervin. The “Ice Man” had stopped by to visit his younger brother Derrick who was also on this recruiting trip. It was an inspiration to meet “Ice”.
Anyway, I committed to Texas but had to change gear because the school was placed on probation, which was something I really had no understanding of back in 1981. Barry Dowd who was the assistant to Abe Lemons, and the coach who came to Jamaica to recruit me, suggested I attend Tyler JC because the coaching staff at the University of Texas had been fired.
This was all very confusing to me back then because I really wanted to go to the University of Texas to play alongside LaSalle Thompson, who was an All-American and my tour guide throughout my recruiting trip. Coach Dowd suggested Tyler JC as leverage and then transferring to a major D1 which turned out to be San Diego State in 1983. So already my lofty dreams of getting to the NCAA and the NBA was taking some bumps and bruises.
But getting back to reality… as I lay here reflecting on my time at Tyler… Samardo is collecting a rebound which he outlets to his PG while Tristan Thompson fills the lane….
How crazy is this though? Why did these memories of ages past enter my mind. I am guessing it’s because Samardo has committed to attend the University of Louisville and play for Rick Pitino.
See, in 1981 my roommate at Tyler JC was a kid from Louisville, Kentucky by the name of Keith Floyd. Keith took me home with him to Louisville one spring break and that’s when I first met Milt Wagner who later played with the Lakers and then in Israel the same year Derrick Gervin and I were also on contract with Israeli teams. Buck Johnson was in Israel that season too playing with Milt, so was my younger brother Andrew.
In 1987 I went through the Houston Rockets rookie and vet camp with Buck Johnson who was Houston’s first round draft choice that year. Hmm....memories, memories!
So here I am in Rochester, NY laying in bed icing my bruised thigh thinking to myself….. watching this young Jamaican kid play ball got me reflecting into corners of my mind I have not been to in a long time…
Thanks though kid, those were fun times and I wish you the best of luck because I did not get that long NBA career I left Jamaica dreaming about, and I hope our path cross so I can teach you the art of Pivotology, because I know it can help you at the next level. Don’t worry though because you are my little homie, and even if our paths don’t cross I will make sure you have my instructional DVDs. And when you get them study them and use the drills over and over. They will take care of your footwork the way they did for Boris.
The stuff that goes through my mind!
Anyway, the game is over and Samardo and Tirstan's team, St. Benedict's Prep, won.
So now its time for me to get some sleep because we have practice in the morning at 6 am.
Peace
Friday, October 26, 2007
The Filming of Pivotology
http://www.internationalbigmanacademy.com
TORONTO, CANADA. (October 26, 2007). Well I finally got it done! I just returned from the US where I went to film 3 instructional DVD titles with the team at hoopsking.com under the big man, post play category.
Thanks to the Advanced Basketball Training (ABT) team who have incorporated me into their network of world class trainers, I was able to leverage their resources to film my instructional DVD series that will come to market through their extensive network of catalogs and will also be available for purchase on the International Big Man Academy website.
The instructional DVD series should be out in March 2008. They will fall under the title, Pivotology: Ultimate Footwork Drills For Post Players and Pivotology: Explosive Post Moves. Explosive Post Moves was edited to include the Lost Art of the Jump Hook on the same DVD. We decided to do it like that to make sure you our audience had 40 minutes of quality footage. The Lost Art of the Jump Hook was edited down to about 20 minutes so the decision was made to combine it with the Explosive Post Moves footage to make one 40 minute product.
I am very excited about these DVD titles because general consensus, among the major basketball minds who have seen my workout, conclude that the Pivotology workout drills are very unique and that they will be delivering something different and very challenging to the global basketball community.
I guess time will tell how the titles are received and I hope that I have contributed something needed in the category of post play and basketball development.
I hope you find them edutaining and that players use them as the productive tools they were filmed to be and don't just file them away among your DVD collection. Lookout now!
Peace
Mike get ready to demonstrate the power of the pivot
TORONTO, CANADA. (October 26, 2007). Well I finally got it done! I just returned from the US where I went to film 3 instructional DVD titles with the team at hoopsking.com under the big man, post play category.
Thanks to the Advanced Basketball Training (ABT) team who have incorporated me into their network of world class trainers, I was able to leverage their resources to film my instructional DVD series that will come to market through their extensive network of catalogs and will also be available for purchase on the International Big Man Academy website.
The instructional DVD series should be out in March 2008. They will fall under the title, Pivotology: Ultimate Footwork Drills For Post Players and Pivotology: Explosive Post Moves. Explosive Post Moves was edited to include the Lost Art of the Jump Hook on the same DVD. We decided to do it like that to make sure you our audience had 40 minutes of quality footage. The Lost Art of the Jump Hook was edited down to about 20 minutes so the decision was made to combine it with the Explosive Post Moves footage to make one 40 minute product.
I am very excited about these DVD titles because general consensus, among the major basketball minds who have seen my workout, conclude that the Pivotology workout drills are very unique and that they will be delivering something different and very challenging to the global basketball community.
I guess time will tell how the titles are received and I hope that I have contributed something needed in the category of post play and basketball development.
I hope you find them edutaining and that players use them as the productive tools they were filmed to be and don't just file them away among your DVD collection. Lookout now!
Peace
Mike get ready to demonstrate the power of the pivotWednesday, September 21, 2005
International Big Man Academy - Pro Camp -2005
http://www.internationalbigmanacademy.com
In August 2005, The International Big Man Academy, held its first NBA camp in Dallas, Texas. The camp was hosted by Mark Aguirre - 2 time world champion with Detroit Pistons and current New York Knicks Assistant Coach, and Steffond Johnson, ex NBA player and current personal basketball trainer. The inaugural launch of the pro camp featured Al Harrington, Mike Sweetney, Channing Frye, Kurt Thomas, Malik Rose and a host of other NBA and European players who were on a summer quest to elevate their games to the next level for the upcoming 2006 season.
Mike Kennedy and Clifford Ray (Boston Celtics assistant coach) conducts camp at the Academy
In August 2005, The International Big Man Academy, held its first NBA camp in Dallas, Texas. The camp was hosted by Mark Aguirre - 2 time world champion with Detroit Pistons and current New York Knicks Assistant Coach, and Steffond Johnson, ex NBA player and current personal basketball trainer. The inaugural launch of the pro camp featured Al Harrington, Mike Sweetney, Channing Frye, Kurt Thomas, Malik Rose and a host of other NBA and European players who were on a summer quest to elevate their games to the next level for the upcoming 2006 season.
Mike Kennedy and Clifford Ray (Boston Celtics assistant coach) conducts camp at the Academy
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