Posts Tagged ‘Stronger Team’

Successful Coaches, by Alan Stein

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Here is an update on last week’s blog, which if you have been following for the past month, can probably agree it would make for an excellent PBS after school special… “The Roller Coaster Life of a High School Strength Coach: The Alan Stein Story.”

Our leading scorer, Terrence Ross, who withdrew from Montrose upon our arrival back from Florida, has re-enrolled in his old high school (Jefferson HS in Portland, OR).  He is petitioning the state for an exemption to allow him to finish the season with them. If that goes through, he will be eligible to suit up early next week and help them pursue a state championship.  Is it just me, or is there something monumentally wrong with this?

Due to the inclement weather, we did not make the trip to New Jersey for the Nike Primetime Shoot-out.  It was very disappointing to not have the opportunity to play against legendary coach Bob Hurley and his high octane St. Anthony’s HS team.  I had been looking forward to that game since our schedule was released.  I have so much respect for Coach Hurley; it would have been an honor to play him.

So now my anticipation in seeing how our guys will respond to our back-to-back losses will have to wait until tomorrow when we play Ballou HS in College Park in the Comcast Center at the University of Maryland.

We have not played a game since January 30th. This past Monday marked only our third practice in the month of February!  In hindsight, I firmly believe the extended time off from the snow has been both a gift and a curse.  On one hand, it has given our guys some much needed time away… to reflect on (and hopefully mature from) our recent adversities. On the other hand, the only way you can get the taste of losing out of your mouth is to win… which means our back-to-back losses in Orlando have been lingering for nearly three weeks. We are ready to play!

All of that is behind us now.  No sense in living in the past.  It is time for a fresh a start.

Pause. Deep breath. Smile.

This blog is the first of a two part series on a subject that I hold near and dear to my heart:

“Traits and Habits of Successful Basketball Coaches”

I am a coach to the core.  I just happen to coach the X’s and O’s of strength & conditioning instead of the X’s and O’s of basketball.  I am passionate about coaching and have dedicated the last 10 years of my life to becoming the absolute best coach I can be.  I have read hundreds of books, watched dozens of DVDs, and attended countless coaching clinics.  I have subscribed to just about every basketball coaching resource available.  I have filled binder after binder with hand scribbled notes. My commitment to my own professional development is at times, overwhelming.  But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love it! Coaching is what makes me tick.

I have been extremely fortunate in my career to have had access to some of the best basketball coaches in history.  I have spent 7 years under the direct tutelage of Coach Stu Vetter. I have had lengthy conversations with Coach K, Jay Wright, Rick Barnes, Tubby Smith, and Gary Williams. I have had dinner with Hubie Brown, Bob Hurley, and Rick Majerus. I have spoken at clinics with Don Meyer, Chuck Daly, Tom Izzo, Jim Boeheim, and Billy Donovan. I have attended camps run by Dean Smith and Morgan Wootten. I have assisted camps with Tates Locke and Kevin Eastman. I have worked alongside numerous coaches at the McDonalds All-American games, Jordan All-American Classic games, and the Nike Skills Academies.  And I did my absolute best to soak up as much knowledge as possible from each of these iconic figures. And please know, I don’t mention these names to brag, but more to give thanks for the impact they have had on my development.  And while I have mentioned several high profile names, I can’t even begin to compile a list of every coach who has helped me, taught me, inspired me… and left their mark on me. And don’t get it twisted; it’s not about the names. Some of the finest coaches I have ever been around are not necessarily famous… but are remarkable coaches, teachers, and motivators. I have built some incredible friendships along the way, and as I mentioned in last week’s blog, I am eternally grateful to be a part of the coaching fraternity.

With that said, I wanted to do a blog that highlighted some of the things I have learned in the past 10 years as well as share a handful of resources I have collected along the way.  I will elaborate at the end of this post, but all you have to do is email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com and I will happily send you several powerful “coaching nuggets.”

This blog series will be structured a little different than my previous posts (change is good, right?).  This past December I did a phone interview with my friend Andy Louder from Hoop Skills Academy (www.HoopSkills.com).   The topic was “Traits and Habits of Successful Basketball Coaches.” What follows is an edited transcript from that interview.  I will post the remainder of the interview next week in the second segment.

Andy Louder: The first question I have deals with a broad topic of coaching in general. When I look at exceptional, top notch, hall-of-fame caliber coaches, I generally see three things they possess. They’ve got exceptional leadership skills, they’re great motivators, and they’ve got immense basketball knowledge. Now for a beginning coach, obviously it’s very hard to acquire all three of these things at once. Which of these areas do you recommend newer, inexperienced coaches focus on the most?

Alan Stein: While coaches wear many hats, and their job is all encompassing, I completely agree with you as far as narrowing it down to those three areas. It is difficult to pick which one should ultimately take precedence; but I’d have to lean towards leadership. I think great coaching always begins with leadership. As a coach at any level, you’re basically the CEO of a small company (your team) and it all starts with you and the environment and culture you create. It starts with the habits you instill and the standards you establish with everyone in your program. All three of the areas you mentioned require distinctly different skill sets.  I think especially for newer coaches, the Xs and Os will come over time and through experience.  Growth in coaching is learning through trial and error and seeing which things work and which things don’t. The basketball portion can be learned. You can attend clinics and get DVDs to pick up the basketball drills, concepts, and sets. So I suggest focusing on the leadership aspect and developing a strong culture with your program. You also need to work hard to develop a quality relationship with your players and staff.  You must build mutual trust and respect. You need to work hard to be the type of leader your players want to follow. Remember, as a coach, it all starts with you. Coach Don Meyer once said, “An army of asses led by a lion will always defeat an army of lions led by an ass.”

Andy Louder: Very good. I think the first thing most new coaches gravitate towards is the Xs and Os. They think they’ve got to be a wizard on the court and know all the right plays. I agree with you Alan, I think it’s more about taking control of your team, being a leader, and getting everybody to focus on the same goal. OK, next question. Basketball practices are obviously a very important component to success. How would you recommend maximizing practice time?

Alan Stein: From a coaching standpoint, whether you’re a new coach or you’ve been a coach for 30 years, it’s very important you develop your basketball coaching philosophy and you need to stick to your convictions. You need to be authentic to yourself and your personality.  Learn from other coaches, but don’t ever try to be another coach. You need to have a priority list of what’s important to you and your program. You need to have a philosophy from a leadership standpoint point as well as an Xs and Os standpoint.  What do you believe in? What are your values? You have to be consistent in what you preach. Every program is going to be a little bit different in what they prioritize. If you’re going to be a running team, constantly looking to press and fast break, then that needs to be a high priority during practice (as does your teams’ conditioning level).  You get what you emphasize!  I also recommend being as time efficient as possible. If you can efficiently get in everything you need in an hour and a half… then don’t drag the practice out to two hours.  Focus more on the intensity of effort and the quality of effort as opposed to the quantity effort. This is really important towards the end of the season to alleviate both physical and mental burn-out. At Montrose we are very big in standardization and consistency. All of our practices follow a similar template and a pre-planned practice schedule. We work on different things every day, but the template is always the same. There is always a player led structured warm-up followed by “pre-practice;” which is 10 minutes of individual, position specific skill work where we divide the bigs and the guards. Then we have a 3 minute team meeting at the jump circle where we share a quote of the day, we have an offensive emphasis of the day (ex. “penetrate the gaps against a zone defense”), and a defensive emphasis of the day (ex. “close out on all shooters with a high hand”).  Then we break in unison and usually start practice with one or two of our fast break drills. This gets the players running and communicating and sets the tone for the rest of practice. At Montrose, we hold our kids accountable for everything they do during practice. We chart missed layups, free throws, charges taken, and dives for loose balls. At the end of practice there are rewards and penalties for those types of plays. Every detail is important in our program. Our goal is to create consistent work habits. Repetition is not a form of punishment!

Andy Louder: So you would say, rather than just bombard your players with all sorts of thoughts, ideas and drills and going from one idea to the next, get your few simple ideas in place for each practice and really stress on doing them well… so they can eventually master those things?

Alan Stein: Absolutely.  And you need to find balance throughout the year.  The off-season is a great time to do more individualized skill work, where players work on specific moves and address specific weaknesses. Once the season starts, more focus should be placed on the overall team concept during practice time (players should be encouraged to their individual work on their own; outside of practice). But it is all about balance. We certainly do individual shooting drills during practice, because we want our players to get in quality reps; but those drills take up a much smaller percentage of time than they do in the off-season. We spend more time involving team concepts such as practicing different end of game situations (down 3, the other team has the ball, 1:24 left in the game, both teams in the bonus). We coach both offense and defense during these situations. We want every person on our team to develop… not just the starting 5.  This is how you build a program, not just a team. We are also constantly trying to find ways to maximize our personnel and find who plays well together. It’s very rare that the five best players win a championship. It’s usually the five players that play the best together that win!  A true team is made up of players who understand and accept their role and maximize each of their strengths… while minimizing each of their weaknesses.  And figuring out that winning combination is one of the challenges of coaching! And establishing each player’s role… and getting them to accept it… is arguably the most difficult challenge.

Alright, that’s the end of “Traits and Habits of Successful Basketball Coaches Part I.” I will post the second segment next week, so please check back.

As I mentioned earlier in the blog, I have collected a variety of “coaching nuggets” over the years. I just recently sifted through them and pulled out my favorites… including some wisdom, advice, and stories from some brilliant basketball minds. If you would like them, please email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com.  I am happy to share them with you and encourage you to forward them (with a link to this blog) to all of your colleagues.

And as always, check out (and subscribe to) www.YouTube.com/StrongerTeamDotCom.  I just posted the Maryland Basketball Pre-game Warm-up.  My friend and colleague, Paul Ricci, does an outstanding job as their strength & conditioning coach.

If you would like the two songs I have been using in all of my recent videos, “Game Time” by S.K. and “Hoop Connection” by Chip Da Ripper; send me an email and I will gladly send them to you.  They are great for pre-game warm-ups or to listen to on your iPod during an individual workout.

As always, if you need anything else, or if I can be of service in any way, don’t hesitate to email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com. I will respond as quickly as possible.

Play hard. Have fun.

Alan Stein

www.StrongerTeam.com

www.Twitter.com/AlanStein

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Adversity, by Alan Stein

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

If you have read my last three blog posts (“Losing Sucks,” “Lesson Learned,” and “Want To”), you know the Montrose Christian boys basketball team has been experiencing some adversity lately.

It all started three weeks ago, when we luckily escaped with an overtime win against a team we should have pounded, because our players had a casual and arrogant attitude.

Then we traveled to Orlando and lost two games in a row at the Montverde Academy Invitational Tournament. We suffered our first lost because of a handful of critical errors… and the second lost because we laid down and played soft.

Upon our return from Florida, our leading scorer and a potential All-American, Terrence Ross, unexpectedly withdrew from school and transferred to a prep school in Arizona.

And towards the end of last week, the DC area was hammered with 20+ inches of snow.  The Blizzard of 2010 Part II started last night as we were hit with additional 15+ inches.

We have not played a game since our second loss in Orlando on January 30th. We have had four games cancelled since the snow began. The snow has been paralyzing. We have only had two practices since we got back from Florida and only one practice in the past 7 days.  That was yesterday and we only had the 7 players who could make it to school. Our top two players both live in Fredericksburg, VA (about an hour and half away from school) and have been completely snowed in.  Given the current weather conditions, we won’t be able to practice for the rest of this week.  That means our players will have been off for almost two straight weeks!

Why is that a problem?

We are scheduled to play St. Anthony’s HS in Trenton, NJ at the Nike Prime Time Shoot-out this Saturday. St. Anthony’s has been one of the nation’s top HS programs for the past 30 years… winning over two dozen state titles, a handful of national titles, and produced numerous All-Americans and Division I players… several of which have played in the NBA.  They are lead by Coach Bob Hurley, who in my opinion is one of the top 5 basketball coaches on the planet… and that includes college and NBA coaches.  I have admired Coach Hurley from afar since I was in high school and have read The Miracle at St. Anthony twice.  I got an opportunity to have dinner with him this past fall as our clinic speaking schedules intersected in Minnesota and Iowa.  It was a real honor.  He is a tremendous clinician and overwhelmingly passionate about the game of basketball. I have an immense respect for Coach Hurley, not just for everything he has accomplished, but because of the way he has accomplished it.  He is pure class. He is not just a coach, he changes lives.  He represents everything that is right with sports.  He is one of a kind.

But I will have to put my admiration aside for a few hours on Saturday, because we have a game to play! If you know anything about Coach Hurley’s teams, they are always one of the toughest teams in the country.  They play up tempo, smothering defense.  They press, they trap, and they never, ever quit.  They are relentless.  When they smell fear in their opponent, they go in for the kill. Currently, they are our polar opposite.  While we are facing some internal adversity, they are playing their best basketball and playing with a potent swagger. Last week they beat DeMatha HS by two. DeMatha was ranked in the top 5 in the country by ESPN at the time.  St. Anthony’s has climbed up to 23rd in the nation (ESPN) while we have plummeted to 45th.

The odds are stacked against us to say the least.  I am not saying that for pity or to make excuses, it is just a reality.

With all of that said, the million dollar question is… how will our team respond to our recent adversity?

My prediction?

Only one of two things will happen… there will be no grey area.  Either we will come out with passion and pride and play like we have something to prove (which we most certainly do) and make it a competitive, intense game between two of the country’s premier programs…

Or…

We will trudge in with our tails between our legs… mentally fragile…full of excuses…and walk right into the lion’s den and get smacked by 30. If we come in like that, trust me, St. Anthony’s will embarrass us.

Albert Einstein once said, “In the middle of every adversity lies opportunity.”

I hope our guys understand that.  Lord knows I will be doing everything in my power to get that point across.  I will also make sure they understand that the more adversity they face in life, the more positive they have to be.  A positive attitude and collective, sincere enthusiasm can conquer many things.  I also want them to know that many times, adversity is a prerequisite to major accomplishments.  Look at Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints.  Drew, as well as the city of New Orleans, went through severe times of adversity in the last several years… and now they are the Super Bowl champs!

Our players need to take pride in overcoming difficulties. They need to view them as challenges and rise to the occasion.  They need to look at Saturday’s game as an opportunity to “fix” everything we have been going through and to show the world what we are really made of.  They need to look at it as a chance to put this season back on track.

And when I say “fix”, I am not at all concerned with the final score.  My entire focus will be on how we play and how we respond to the adversity we have been facing. If we come out with passion, pride, and compete to the final buzzer… it will be one of my proudest moments since joining the program 7 years ago… regardless of whether or not we get the W.  If we cower, and wallow in our own self pity, and get mutilated and humiliated… it will be the most disappointing moment I will have experienced with Montrose.

And for the record, please understand I keep all of this in its proper perspective.  Basketball is my driving passion, and the Montrose players and staff are very, very important to me. But my overall happiness in life isn’t dictated by a scoreboard or a W-L column.  Sure, I get poopy-pants when we lose.  Of course food tastes better when we win.  But I learned a long time ago not to pin my own happiness on the shoulders of 16, 17, and 18 year old boys.  Life is too short for that.  And while I love the game of basketball about as much as anyone can and I am an extremely competitive person by nature… it is just a game… and I recognize that.  I am very well aware that the “adversity” I have been writing about pales in comparison to real adversity… natural disasters, death, unemployment, sickness, etc.  I don’t have it twisted, I know where things stand.

But on that note, over the course of the past three weeks, I have received dozens and dozens of unsolicited emails from coaches and players who have offered kind words of support for our program and have shared similar experiences of the basketball adversity they have faced this season.  For that, I am truly grateful.  I appreciate each and every time someone reaches out… and I am eternally thankful to be in the basketball coaching fraternity.

Whether good or bad, next week I will report in with a full recap of our game with St. Anthony’s.

And as always, check out (and subscribe to) www.YouTube.com/StrongerTeamDotCom. Last week I posted a video of a Nike Skills Academy Warm-up. I will post the second part of that later this week.

If you would like the two songs I have been using in all of my recent videos, “Game Time” by S.K. and “Hoop Connection” by Chip Da Ripper; send me an email and I will gladly send them to you.  They are great for pre-game warm-ups or to listen to on your iPod during an individual workout.

As always, if you need anything else, or if I can be of service in any way, don’t hesitate to email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com. I will respond as quickly as possible.

Play hard. Have fun.

Alan Stein

www.StrongerTeam.com

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Duke PreGame Warmup, by Alan Stein

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Check out the video below that Alan filmed prior to the Duke vs. Wake Forest game in January.  We actually do some of the two ball passing drills at our camps!

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Lesson Learned, by Alan Stein

Monday, January 25th, 2010

This is a spontaneous follow up to my last post, “Losing Sucks.”  Why a follow up?  Because this past Saturday night we were very lucky to escape with a 4 point overtime win against Kecoughtan High School from Hampton, VA.  Before I say anything, let me congratulate their players and staff for playing an excellent game.  They played winning basketball, and in all honesty, they deserved to win the game.  They should hold their heads high and be very proud of their effort.

Our performance, if you can call it that, bothered me so much I felt compelled to write this. If you haven’t already done so, I suggest you read “Losing Sucks” first for the proper foundation as I mentioned something in that post that is paramount to the point I want to make here:

“It is so important to recognize when you play well and lose.  It is equally important to recognize when you play poorly and win. You need to learn from both.”

KHS needs to recognize they played very well even though they lost the game.  I recommend they watch the film and take note of the many things they did so well.  My guess is, if they do those things against every other team on their schedule… they will win most of their games and have a great chance at a state title.  They took great shots and played tough defense for 32 minutes.

On the other hand, our players need to be humble enough and mature enough to admit they played poorly and still won.  And they played really poorly.  While I am thankful we got the W, I absolutely consider our performance a loss.

Why do I consider it a loss?  Let’s review, from “Losing Sucks,” the three reasons you lose a game:

  • You weren’t as talented as the other team.
  • You didn’t execute or make plays.
  • You played with a lack of effort.

The only reason we squeaked out a win was because we were more talented than they were. Bottom line, and I mean this with sincere respect to the KHS team, we had better players.  However, Montrose alum Kevin Durant’s favorite quote is quite applicable here:

“Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.”

We almost found that out the hard way.

KHS should look back and accept they lost because we had better players (Point #1)… there is no shame in that.  They did execute and they did make plays (Point #2).  They did play with passion, heart, and effort (Point #3).

Our players, on the other hand, need to look back and admit the exact opposite.  The only reason we won was because we had better players.  We didn’t execute or make plays and we sure didn’t play with the passion and effort that is the epitome of the Montrose legacy.

Please notice I said “our players” as opposed to “we” in an attempt to distance myself and the coaching staff from our players. I did that intentionally.  While we are all in this together, and we are all part of the program… the coaching staff very well recognizes and admits the shortcomings from this game… I am not quite sure our players do. They need to be mature enough to learn from this. Our coaching staff already has. As coaches, all we can do is prepare our players in the best manner possible and do everything in our power to put them in a position to be successful.  We can’t play the game for them.  That is 100% on them.

I have mentioned time and time again, that the Montrose program is run exactly like a major college program… only with 16, 17, and 18 year olds.  That is why our players are so successful at the next level, because they have already acclimated themselves to the academic and athletic schedules and standards of excellence required of big time Division I programs.  We take a lot of pride in “What We Do” (another previous blog post). What separates our program from others is our attention to detail, our strict discipline, and our proven system for building a time honored basketball powerhouse.  Structure and discipline are the backbone of our program… and this past Saturday our players lacked both.

The problems began at our standard Saturday game day shoot-around.  Our players were told to eat their pre-game meal at 2pm (4 hours before tip-off). On Saturday games we give our guys the freedom to eat on their own or with their families. They were also told to be dressed in their practice gear and game shoes and on the court at 4pm.  When the clock struck 4pm, only two players were dressed and ready.  For the next 10 minutes players casually strolled in… some wearing practice gear and some wearing Montrose sweats.  Some even had the audacity to have food in hand when they walked in!  This arrogant, lackadaisical attitude is the antithesis of what our program represents and is absolutely unacceptable.  This attitude goes against everything we believe.

Part of the problem was the kids knew that Coach Vetter was not going to be at the pre-game shoot around. They knew he would delegate that to our associate head coach, Dan Prete (who is a phenomenal coach in his own right).  Coach Vetter chooses not to see our players until right before the game. Coach Prete was shocked and extremely offended by this blatant act of disrespect.  He gave them a much needed verbal blasting… hoping to nip their overconfidence in the bud.

However, a verbal blasting a few hours before game time was not enough to knock some sense into our guys.  They pretended to put on their game face and act as if they were ready to play… but my keen eye knew better. Our guys continued to go through the motions of our warm-up with a pompous, care free attitude.  I tried to light some fire in them…with a few words of wisdom and an array of “F” bombs… but it was to no avail.  Their attitude was too deep… they were cocky, thought they were untouchable… and were just plain out of it.

Our staff knew we were in trouble.  And boy, were we right.

We missed 6 lay-ups during warm-ups. SIX! Five of which were from our starters.  We are one of the top 15 teams in the entire country… we have numerous high major Division I players… and we missed 6 lay-ups?! That can only happen from a severe lack of focus.

Our players thought they could just show up and win based on pure talent.

Looking back, I hope they realize if KHS scored 1 more point during regulation…just 1… they would have showed our guys how wrong they were and taught them a lesson they would never forget.  Now, all we can hope for, is our guys are mature enough to learn the same lesson without suffering the actual loss.  As mentioned before, we have not lost a home game in the 7 years I have been with the program.

And what is the lesson I hope they learned?

“Respect every opponent; don’t take anyone lightly.  On any given night, you can beat anyone.  On any given night, anyone can beat you.”

If you don’t really believe that… believe me… someone will eventually bite you in the ass.  Ask Tark and Larry Johnson if they thought Duke could beat them in the 1991 national semi-finals.  Or if Mike Tyson thought Buster Douglass could win… much less knock him out.  The list of surprising upsets is long.

Another lesson I hope they learned?

“It’s not who you play; it’s how you play that matters most.”

Great players and great teams prepare for every game the same way.  Whether it is a pre-season scrimmage or a state championship… their mindset is the same.

Please know I really and truly care about the players on our team.  They are amazing young men and I am very thankful to get an opportunity to work with them.  And that is the main reason I hope they learn from this.  I want to see them grow. I want to see them get better. I want to see all of the sacrifices they have made to be a part of our program pay off… not get flushed down the toilet because of an afternoon of immaturity and cockiness.

I told them afterwards, there are three things they need to do when reflecting on this particular game:

  1. 1. Admit they were overconfident and didn’t take their preparation seriously
  2. 2. Learn from it
  3. 3. Don’t ever, ever let it happen again

If they do those three things, then this can be the spark that ignites us and takes us to a whole new level. We absolutely have the potential to be the #1 team in the nation… we have the tools. It will be interesting to see how we respond.

Hopefully they respond quickly as we have a great opportunity in front of us this week.  We head down to Orlando on Wednesday to play in the Montverde Classic. Our first round game is against one of Florida’s state champs from last year, a team that is 14-1 and has most of their players back from last year.  If we win that game, we will most likely play the host school, Montverde Academy… a team that hasn’t lost a home game in several years.  Montverde is currently ranked # 21 in the nation by ESPN and is coached by Kevin Sutton… a former Coach Vetter assistant of 13 years and an amazing coach. If we were to win that, we will most likely play Findlay Prep in the championship… who is currently ranked #2 in the nation by ESPN… and a team that beat our ass in the semi-finals of last year’s RISE National Championship tournament.

So we have a few days to get it together and take advantage of a special opportunity. I will be tweeting in regularly from the tournament, so make sure you follow me at www.Twitter.com/AlanStein for updates and behind the scenes insight.

And as always, check out (and subscribe to) www.YouTube.com/StrongerTeamDotCom for video clips of our Pre-game Warm-up, On Court Warm-up, and In-Season Workout.

And if you need anything else, or if I can be of service in any way, don’t hesitate to email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com. I will respond as quickly as possible.

One love.

Alan Stein

www.StrongerTeam.com

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Losing Sucks, by Alan Stein

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Losing sucks.

How’s that for an introductory line and title?  Hell, I don’t even like losing my car keys!  Chris Paul said it best during a talk at his camp last summer, “I hate losing more than I like winning.”  I know a lot of elite level ballers who feel the same way and use their distaste of losing as a major source of motivation.

As much as losing sucks, I do hope we can all agree, especially given the catastrophic events that have recently taken place in Haiti… that losing a basketball game is not the end of the world.  As important as basketball is, you have to keep things in perspective.  Nevertheless, I still stand by my opening statement… losing sucks.

Now, some of you reading this haven’t lost a game this season (John Wall, are you there?).  And some of you have lost almost every game you’ve played (hmmm…. New Jersey Nets).  However, I imagine a majority of you are somewhere in between.

Given January is the “hump month” for high school and college hoops, I have received a few dozen emails in the past two weeks asking me how we (Montrose Christian) deal with losing.

Whether you are a player or a coach, how you handle a loss and deal with adversity speaks volumes about your character, your competitiveness, your commitment to excellence, and determining whether losing will become a habit or the initial spark that ignites success.

Even though losing is not the end of the world… losing should hurt.  When you invest an inordinate amount of time, effort, and love into something like the game of basketball (and at Montrose we do)… losing should hurt.  If it doesn’t hurt, then you don’t care.  And if you don’t care… you shouldn’t be playing.  However, you can’t let it hurt for long. You can’t wallow in self pity. You must lick your wounds, learn from the loss, and quickly move past it.  If you don’t, it will happen again. And it will continue to happen until the reasons you have been losing are corrected.

I will be the first to admit how fortunate I am to be involved in a program that doesn’t lose very often. In my 7 years at Montrose, we have only lost around 15 total games (not sure of the exact number, but we have only averaged a couple of losses per year). I mean we haven’t lost a home game or to a local opponent since I have been there.  The good news is we don’t have to deal with losing very often.  The bad news is, when we do… it really sucks!

Losing, like any other setback or failure, should be looked at as a learning experience and a way to grow and improve.  It is very important to learn from every loss… and use it as a stepping stone to future victory.  You don’t want to let one loss rattle your team’s confidence and snowball into a streak of losses (like what’s happening to the North Carolina Tarheels right now). You need to learn from it and nip it in the bud!

However, in order to learn from it… you must honestly and accurately identify why you lost.  In my opinion, there are only three reasons you lose a game:

1)    You weren’t as talented as the other team.

2)    You didn’t execute or make plays.

3)    You played with a lack of effort.

Determining why you lost is the most important factor when deciding how to handle it and how to bounce back.

If you lost because the other team was more talented… did you still compete? Or did you play scared?

If you lost because you didn’t execute or make plays… was it a mental thing (lack of focus)? Or was it just a poor shooting night?

If you lost because you lacked effort… and the other team outworked you… was it because…

Scratch that, there is no because.  There is never an excuse for playing with a lack of effort.  That is absolutely unacceptable.  Losing from a lack of effort is the only time you should punish yourself or your players at the next practice.  And you should make a statement to make sure it never happens again.  Like killing an ant with a sledgehammer.

I can accept and admit when the other team was better.  I can accept and admit when we had an off night (poor shooting)… but I cannot and will not accept losing from a lack of effort.

Our most famous loss in my tenure at Montrose was last year’s double OT loss to Oak Hill in the Championship game of the Iolani Classic.  That was a devastating loss.  However, our kids played their hearts out.  We couldn’t have asked them to play any harder.  I am not much into moral victories, but ironically… I still to this day think that was the best game we played all year… and we lost!  It is so important to recognize when you play well and lose.  It is equally important to recognize when you play poorly and win. You need to learn from both.

Our only loss this year was to Neumann Goretti out of Philly (currently ranked 9th in the nation by ESPN) in the semi-finals of this year’s Iolani Classic.  We played very hard that game; we just didn’t play particularly well.  We didn’t execute and we didn’t finish plays. We missed 13 shots in the paint, 12 free throws, and had 11 empty possessions (where we didn’t even get a shot off because we turned the ball over).  And we only lost by 7! While we were very disappointed in the loss, we knew our missed shots and careless turnovers were correctable mistakes. So we let it hurt for the night and then we woke up, put our hard-hats on, and went back to work. And our response paid off as we played very well the next game and beat a nationally ranked team out of Georgia.

NOTE: while we certainly missed some chip shots and freebies at the line, I don’t want to take anything away from Neumann Goretti.  They played an outstanding game and deserved to win that night.

In addition to identifying why you lost, it is equally important to evaluate how you lost.  Did you show proper sportsmanship to the other team and the officials? Did you play like a team or did you play selfishly, point fingers and make excuses? Obviously no one likes to lose, but it is very important you learn how to handle losses like a professional and with character… not like a petulant child.

We are very strict about this with our players and don’t give them an inch when it comes to sportsmanship or playing the blame game.  We win together, we lose together.  No one player wins a game by his or herself and no one player loses a game either.  Missing a shot at the buzzer, or throwing the ball away with 3 seconds left, is never what actually loses the game.  It was an accumulation of the previous 31 minutes and 57 seconds.

Make sure, as a coach or as a player, you take some time to reflect and evaluate both why you lost and how you lost and use it as a learning experience for your next game as well as for the rest of the season.  Even though January is coming to a close, there is still a lot of ball to be played!

If I can ever be of service to you or your team, please don’t hesitate to email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com. I promise to respond as quickly as possible.

If you haven’t done so, please check out (and subscribe) to www.YouTube.com/StrongerTeamDotCom.  I just posted a new video of a Montrose Basketball In-Season Workout.  Next week, I will post clips of the Duke men’s basketball team’s pre-game on court warm-up.  I got some awesome footage from their game against Wake Forest!

Also, for those of you who follow me at www.Twitter.com/AlanStein, or are my “friend” at www.Facebook.com/AlanSteinJr, beginning in February I will be posting weekly trivia questions for folks to win some sweet prizes – like Nike and Jordan gear!  All of the questions will come from my blog archive… so make sure you read past posts and study up.

Play hard. Have fun.

Alan Stein

www.StrongerTeam.com

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No Guarantee, by Alan Stein

Friday, January 15th, 2010

The word on the street is Mark McGuire read the second half of my blog post from last week (“Random Thoughts”) and finally decided to admit he took steroids.  Thanks Big Red, it only took you 10 years.  And it wasn’t the slightest bit obvious (insert sarcasm). All joking aside, the year he broke the home run record, the measured circumference of his right forearm was an inch and half bigger than my neck! How in the hell could that be natural?!

OK, back on topic.

One of the toughest things to deal with as an adult is the concept that nothing in life is guaranteed.  Except for death and taxes.  And while I certainly despise paying taxes, my gut feeling is I would like death even less.

This concept of “nothing being guaranteed” is so evident in sports. Jim Valvano, the late coach of NC State and one of my favorite motivational speakers, once said something to the effect of:

“Just because you work hard doesn’t guarantee you will be successful.  But not working hard guarantees you won’t be.”

Reigning NCAA National Champion coach Roy Williams said something similar:

“Working hard doesn’t guarantee success, but without it, you have no chance.”

Have you ever spent hours upon hours studying for a test… and still gotten a poor grade? Has your team ever spent hours upon hours practicing all week… and still lost the big game?

Of course you have; it happens to the best of us. Working hard and not achieving success is a tough pill to swallow.  It is hard in basketball and it is hard in life. But it is fact.  And it is something every player and coach needs to come to terms with… because no one is immune.  And when a minor setback (or failure) occurs, you have to learn from it, move past it, and get back to working hard again!

A young lady I had been working with for over a year, and who is a very accomplished high school player, tore her ACL a few weeks ago in a holiday tournament.  She was having a phenomenal season (team was 7-2) and a stellar game (had already hit five 3’s) up to that point. Then, early in the second half on a drive to the basket, she landed awkwardly while being fouled.  BAM! Just like that, she tore her ACL and her season was over.

Her father called me to tell me the bad news and told me she was devastated. As a senior, she was being recruited by several Division I schools, but unfortunately was waiting until the spring to sign… and she was distraught with thoughts that “no one would want her now.”

Personally, I was crushed by the news.  I couldn’t sleep for two days.  I really care about all the kids I work with and I felt terrible she was going through this.  She is such an impressive young lady, both on and off the court.

Unable to sleep, all I kept thinking was, how could this have happened?  She worked so hard this pre-season.  She did everything I asked of her and did it to best of her ability. After a couple hours of staring at the ceiling, I went down to my office and reviewed my notes from our sessions. I took solace in knowing we did everything possible to try to reduce the occurrence of this happening.  We incorporated numerous exercises and drills, every single workout, to reduce the likelihood of an ACL injury. We worked on proper landing. We worked on proper cutting.  We properly strengthened every muscle and joint in her lower body.  Honestly, I wouldn’t have done anything different. So thankfully, I don’t have to live with the woulda, coulda, shoulda’s.  We worked hard all pre-season and literally did everything we could have done to prevent this. Yet unfortunately, it still occurred.

I went to one of her team’s games last week to say hello, offer my support, and to speak to her father.  We had a wonderful conversation and I promised him I would help her with every step of her recovery. I also told him I was confident she would still play college basketball. The road will be tough, and it is (obviously) not guaranteed, but my advice to her was to stay positive, get ready to get back to work… and things will work out for the best.

Now, I am a strength & conditioning coach… not a psychologist by any means.  But I really believe after her short grieving period is over, she will need to re-focus and get back to working as hard as possible. I understand she is entitled to a period of time of feeling disappointed and depressed… but what’s done is done.  She tore her ACL; it’s a fact. Nothing can be done to undo that now.  Just like an errant pass or a missed shot, it is time to move on to the next play!

The most influential factor in her future success on the court will be how she responds to this setback.  This will be a real test of her character. I have full confidence she will come back better than ever because she has a tremendous attitude, relentless work ethic, and the mindset of a champion.

I am proud and thankful to claim an exemplary record over the past 10 years, with a particularly high rate of success for both injury prevention and performance enhancement.  And even though I can say, with full confidence, we did everything “right” in regards to her pre-season preparation… an injury still occurred.  We worked hard… and as we learned… success was not guaranteed (at least success in this particular instance). Fortunately, this is not the final chapter in her playing career.

It is imperative you understand you can’t second guess the importance of working hard and of doing what is right just because things don’t turn out the way you want. You still need to make the conscious choice to consistently work hard in every aspect of your life (especially in your training).  While the possibility of not achieving success is always looming, it is nothing to be feared, and certainly nothing to give in too.  If you make a daily commitment to excellence… you will absolutely “win” more than you “lose.” And I am not talking about the scoreboard.

If you read my recent blog post, “What We Do”, you can see the lengths the Montrose Christian basketball program goes to in order to be successful.  And yet we still (occasionally) lose games.  Do you think losing a game causes us to second guess “What We Do?”  No way!  And when you have a setback it shouldn’t cause you to second guess yourself either.

If you have any questions about ACL injury prevention (or recovery), or if I can ever be of service to you or your team, please don’t hesitate to email me at Alan@StrongerTeam.com. I promise to respond as quickly as possible.

If you haven’t done so, please check out (and subscribe) to www.YouTube.com/StrongerTeamDotCom.  I just posted two videos of the Montrose Basketball Pre-Game Warm-up (one before we take the court and one on-court).  Next week, I will post clips from a recent in-season strength training workout.

Also, for those of you who follow me at www.Twitter.com/AlanStein, or are my “friend” at www.Facebook.com/AlanSteinJr, I will be holding weekly trivia questions for folks to win some HOT prizes – like Nike and Jordan gear!  All of the questions will come from my blog archive… so make sure you read past posts and study up.

Play hard. Have fun.

Alan Stein

www.StrongerTeam.com

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Random Thoughts, by Alan Stein

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

Happy New Year!  While I sincerely hope everyone’s 2010 is off to a wonderful start, I will be honest, I say “Happy New Year” somewhat facetiously. It’s January 7th for cryin’ out loud! When will people stop saying it?! On a similar note… the folks still saying “Happy New Year” are usually the same folks who thought it was cute to say “see ya next year” the last week of December or who are so void of something significant to say they say stuff like, “is it cold enough for you?”  Are you kidding me? It is 7 degrees out you dolt! Yes, it is plenty cold.  Oh well, I guess some people aren’t much for meaningful conversation.

Sorry to digress.

While I am not much into making New Year’s resolutions, even I get excited and inspired at the nostalgia associated with a new year.  Having spent a good portion of the last few weeks reflecting on 2009, my goal for this year is the same as it is every year:

“Do more of what is working and less of what isn’t.”

This simple concept is the foundation of success. You can take that concept a step further and ask yourself this question every morning when you wake up:

“Are the things I am doing today going to help me get to where I want to go?”

Are the things you are currently doing going to help you next week? Next month? Next year? In 5 years?  If you can’t answer yes to at least one of those time periods … then why are you doing what you are doing? Stop wasting your time!  And both of those thoughts transition into yet another power concept:

“Don’t confuse being busy with being productive.”

Everyone is busy.  Everyone has a long “to-do” list. But not everyone is productive. Not everyone gets results. Make sure the things you do on a daily basis are taking you where you want to go.  Don’t just spin your wheels.

With that said, those three concepts are very applicable to basketball players and coaches.

Now that a good chunk of the season is over… what things are working? What things aren’t? Are you too stubborn to change? Are you on pace to accomplish the goals you set at the beginning of the season?  Do you need to slightly alter and adjust those goals based on the results of November and December?

Are the things you are doing on a daily basis making you a better player? A better coach?  I am sure you are extremely busy during the season, but are you truly being productive?

If you are a player and you have been in a shooting slump the last few games… are you coming in before practice to get in some extra shooting work?  If you are, are you taking extra shots from where you get most of your shots in games? Do you even know where you get most of your shots in games?  At Montrose, we run a very disciplined offensive system.  Each of our players take a majority of their shots from the same 3 or 4 spots on the court.  So that is where they should take most of their shots in practice… if they want their practice to be productive.  If you are not playing as much you feel you deserve, have you scheduled an individual meeting with your coach to ask what you need to do to get more playing time? Or do you just sit on the end of the bench and pout?  That negative energy is a cancer to any team… don’t do it! And if you are a coach, don’t tolerate it. “Energy takers” need to be nipped in the bud immediately.

If you are a coach, and your team is struggling, have you pinpointed the specific reasons why?  Lack of effort? Lack of execution?  You can’t do much at this point about lack of talent… but you can about poor effort and/or execution.  Just make sure your practice plan addresses the specific area you need to ignite and improve.  If your team is not executing well… a ton of extra running as punishment will not help solve the problem. That’s apples and oranges.

Pause… new topic.

I have always been a big believer in the concept of “choices and consequences.”  Each of us has a choice in everything we do in life. Everything.  Even the things that happen to us that are beyond our control, we each choose how we respond and handle the situation.  And every choice we make has a consequence.  Some consequences are good, some are bad.  For some reason, the word “consequence,” has been given a negative connotation. But I believe the word consequence is just another word for result.  Every choice you make produces a result. What is the consequence of not eating breakfast? Hunger, lack of focus, low energy, and poor performance.  What is the consequence of  making 10 free throws in a row before you leave practice every day? Shooting a higher percentage from the line over the course of the season and hitting clutch free throws during games.  See the correlation?! Success is not an accident. Neither is failure.

I feel it is my duty as a coach to teach this concept of choices and consequences to the players I work with.  Here is a perfect example:

Coach Vetter has a mandatory team rule that every player must wear ankle braces for every practice and every game.  Right or wrong, that is his rule.  One of our players asked me the other night before our game if it was OK if he didn’t wear them.  I said, “Sure, if you are 100% willing to face the consequences of not wearing them.”  He looked at me with a bewildered look of confusion.  I asked him if he would be willing to face the consequences of Coach Vetter finding out he intentionally broke a team rule (and then have to face whatever punishment resulted), or even worse, if he severely injured his ankle during the game and ruined his season?  He looked to the floor and mumbled, “No.”  To which I smiled and said, “Good answer. Now put on your ankle braces.”

Here is another example of choices and consequences that is currently making headlines across the sports world:

Do you think Gilbert Arenas gave much thought to the potential consequences of bringing in three guns to the locker room?  Was that irresponsible stunt worth the consequence of suspension (and possible expulsion) from the league, severe legal action, loss of millions of dollars, and a permanent black mark on his reputation?  Not so funny now, is it Gilbert?

You know another valuable lesson to teach young people that comes to mind from this Gilbert situation?  And don’t say, “You shouldn’t bring guns in the locker room.”  If you don’t already know that you shouldn’t bring guns in to the locker room… then you either have a room temperature I.Q. or you have lived in a cave your whole life.  If that’s not the case, you should be hit in the head with a sledge hammer. (NOTE: Yes, I do think Gilbert should be hit the head with a sledge hammer; hopefully it would knock some sense into him!)

No, the real lesson is one we rarely see in professional sports… taking personal accountability for your actions.  Whether you are talking about steroids in baseball, Tiger’s myriad of affairs, or Gilbert bringing guns in to the locker room… I wish just once a pro-athlete would immediately accept the blame and say something like this:

“I am so sorry. I used horrible judgment and made a terrible mistake.  I was wrong and I sincerely apologize. I promise to go to whatever length is necessary to right this wrong.”

Of course they all say that once it’s too late… after a week or two goes by and they have exhausted all efforts to cover up their wrongdoing and BS their way out of trouble.  They all say it then. At that point, it is meaningless.

If Gilbert was man enough to be strapped with three guns, he damn sure should have been man enough to immediately accept full responsibility and hold himself accountable for the consequences. Instead, he acted like a horse’s ass and publicly joked about it.

And for the record, admitting you were wrong and apologizing does not make up for the mistake… but it does show you are a person of character and that you take full responsibility for your actions.

Lastly, I am very thankful to have received many nice Christmas gifts from my friends and family. One of my favorite gifts, given my affinity for reading, was the new Amazon Kindle electronic reader.  It is awesome!  If you are an avid reader, I highly recommend it.

The first book I bought was Personal Foul by Tim Donaghy (the former NBA referee who was arrested for gambling on NBA games).  It was extremely fascinating and was an easy read.  I knocked it out in a week. Of course, the entire book was written from the perspective of a lying, cheating, self-admitted gambling addict… but if even 10% of what he claims is true… WOW!

Also, I just posted a video montage of the Montrose Pre-Game Warm-up at www.YouTube.com/StrongerTeamDotCom.  Early next week I will post the Montrose Pre-Game On-Court Warm-up (showing what we do when we take the court 20 minutes before every game). Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss any of the action!

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

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What We Do, by Alan Stein

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

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 7th 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 34th year of coaching. To put that in perspective, I am only in my 33rd 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 26th 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.

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 3rd 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

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Twenty Ten, by Alan Stein

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

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 26th 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):
    • Speed & Agility
    • Strength & Power
    • Reaction & Quickness
    • 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 1st) 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 23rd, 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

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Mission Accomplished, by Alan Stein

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

One year ago, almost to the day, I set the lofty goal of reading 50 books in 2009.  And here, in my 50th 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. 1. Mind Gym by Gary Mack

9 – Coaching – insightful thoughts on mental training and preparation

  1. 2. Little Black Book of Relationships by Jeffrey Gitomer

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

  1. 3. No Limits by Michael Phelps

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

  1. 4. 100 Ways To Motivate Yourself by Steven Chandler

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

  1. 5. The Bald Truth by David Falk

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

  1. 6. Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman

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

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

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

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

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

  1. 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 50th 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

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