Work Hard and Good luck

Thank you for reading my blog. I feel confident that after reading every post that you will feel very ready as you being or continue the recruiting process. I’ll leave you with a few key points to remember. When you play, compete like your future depends on it because in most cases, it does. Don’t forget you have to stay confident in every game and know that you’re the best player on the court, and then you will play like it. Make sure you work hours a day on your game and don’t settle for having a good enough practice or good enough workout. If it wasn’t great, stay longer and work harder until you feel good about it. Make sure you’re outgoing to the coaches and very friendly and respectful when talking to them.

If you follow all these steps, and pursue your dream harder than anything in your life, I guarantee you’ll make it to college basketball…

Summary: Being the Best Prospect

Coaches want to pick someone who is going to keep them employed, so they’re going to have to need you

When you’re playing at these camps or tournaments, there’s a lot of non-glamourous things they want to see. Yes they want to see some threes or dunks or some great plays that really shows how you’re a great option for them, but they want to see some things that often get overlooked. Most importantly they want to see effort. They want to see you work hard on defense, dive for lose balls, and take charges. They also want to see you be a leader on the court. You have to be vocal and always talking on defense and to your teammates to show how you’re a smart player. Work hard Play well and play hard and there will be no doubt that someone watching will be talking to you after.

Next once you start getting in contact you have to be very respectful. You have to prove that you’re not going to be a player that’s going to frustrate your coach by not listening, getting suspended for bad grades, or getting suspended or drinking or drugs. Coaches will have very little tolerance for that stuff and they can sense if you may be a problem based on how you act with them.

NCSA whom I’ve previously trusted with this blog, they have some good articles on being a great prospect: http://www.ncsasports.org/

Deciding On A College

You need to choose a college where you will be happy on and off the court

Obviously basketball will probably be the most important part of your decision. I recommend doing an overnight visit so you can have a long talk with the head coach and the assistants to see how they are, watch a practice to see how they run things, and stay with a player and meet other ones to get a feel for the team. This way you can get a feel for every aspect of the school and see how much you like it.

Basketball will probably take up about two to four hours of your day every day. There’s a lot more time in a day than that, so you need to make sure then when you’re not playing you’re still having fun. When looking and learning about colleges you need to ask yourself “if I stopped playing basketball here would I still be happy?” If the answer is yes then it is most likely a good choice for you. You’re also going to want to go to a school with good academics if you can because basketball can give you the opportunity where you could go to a better school academically due to your athletic talents. Maybe you can play pro, but your whole life won’t be basketball, so it’s important to go to a school that can set you up for a good steady job.

College is where you’re going to spend most of the next four years of your life so you need to make sure that you get the perfect fit feeling when making your choice.

Here’s an article from College board about choosing a college for athletes: https://professionals.collegeboard.org/guidance/prepare/athletes/college

 

 

 

Hard Work Pays Off

If you work hard in anything you do, then you will be successful

You can look up thousands of success stories of people who seemingly had no chance of making it to college or the league, and anytime they talk about how they made it was because they had people who believed in them, and they worked extremely hard. Everyone that has given me advice on how to make it to college basketball said that I need to put in work everyday because someone else is doing the same thing and is trying to take my spot. That’s the mentality you have to have all the time. When you’re tired and thinking about taking a day off, you have to remember that that kid isn’t taking a day off and he’s getting better while you’re not.

When I was in high school I challenged myself with another kid who had incredible work ethic, and now plays basketball at Johns Hopkins. I would take it as a challenge to get to practice before he did and stay longer after. Sometimes we would both be there for two hours after a two hour practice. I was always so tired but I just couldn’t accept not being the hardest worker on the team. We never spoke about it but I’m sure he felt the same way I did and it definitely helped us both be successful.

Here’s an article on both athletes, and businessmen who worked extremely hard to achieve their goals: http://www.businessinsider.com/16-people-who-worked-incredibly-hard-to-succeed-2012-9?op=1/#a-legend-michael-jordan-spent-his-off-seasons-taking-hundreds-of-jump-shots-a-day-1

 

Why Conditioning is Crucial

College coaches love players who put out maximum effort. If you’re in shape, physically it shouldn’t be hard to be able to beat every one to a loose ball, or out outrebound someone, as long as you’re willing to do it.

Not only can you put in a lot of effort, but you can also be on the court longer if you don’t get tired which is not only fun, but gives coaches a longer chance to look at you, and see all areas of your game. If you play a lot during games, and work extremely hard while playing, then you’ll going to be a very appealing prospect.

I recommend jogging or doing sprints a few times a week during the offseason so that you’re always in shape and nothing holds you back when the real season starts. When you’re well conditioned everything about the game because easier showing that it is absolutely crucial.

Lower Body Workouts

Similar two the previous blog, if you want to play college ball you need to get stronger and start lifting. This post is specifically for lower body workouts. Jumping and quickness are the two most important physical qualities in basketball, so it’s important to work hard in improving that. 

Squats, lunges, calf raises, and workouts like that a few times a week can help a lot. My trainer recommended this simple program he did when he was younger that was able to make a 5’10 man able to dunk a basketball from a stand still jump. He would jump rope on day for 5 sets of 3 minutes, then rest the next day, then do a lot of box jumping or as I do jumping up stairs off two feet, one foot, running, or standstill position. Then take a rest day and then jump rope, then rest, then box jumps and continue that habit and you will be jumping higher in no time.

Here’s an article that can give more advice on jumping exercises: https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kelly11.htm

Also here’s a link to purchase a jump rope because that is crucial to improving your vertical and quickness: https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Best-Seller-Training-Adjustable/dp/B074QCD4LT/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1507785417&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=amazon+jump+rope&psc=1

Upper Body Workouts

You’re going to be playing against 22 year-old men in college so you need to get stronger

It is extremely important to start working out when you get to high school. Sometimes in high school you play teams that all have grown men, but usually you never play anyone that’s too strong to handle. In college though everyone is grown men, and you will get exposed for being weak hurting your playtime. Coaches also look for players who are strong so that they don’t have to wait for you to get stronger before they play you.

This is a pretty interesting article describing what muscles to work out specifically for basketball: https://www.livestrong.com/article/412897-what-muscle-type-should-basketball-players-develop/

Since it’s hard to describe workouts, click this link that’ll show you specifically how to do any dumbbell workout to help get you stronger. I recommend waiting until your almost done growing to star benching, squatting deadlifting, and other heavy weight things like that, but for now do a lot of pushups, pull ups, and dumbbell exercises are a great way to start lifting weights without potential stunting your growth.

If you need some dumbbells, here’s a link to some on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/105-Adjustable-Cast-Iron-Dumbbells/dp/B009GC76NW/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1507784874&sr=8-6&keywords=dumbbells

Work on Your Handle

If you’re a guard you need a great handle in college

If you spend thirty minutes a day working on your handle, it’ll become really good. You got to do one ball drill, two ball drills, dribbling with medicine balls, and dribbling with a basketball while tossing a tennis ball. Similar to my shooting blog, it’s hard to describe specifically what drills to, but Definitely watch this video for a basic daily ball handling drill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Y_6VBAGIY

This guy Dre Baldwin has a lot of great dribbling drills I highly recommend looking at more of his stuff for specific drills. Everyone needs a good handle. You can’t be trusted with the ball if you can’t handle, and there’s no way you can score in one on one situations. If you can handle, then you can play multiple positions too making you a more appealing prospect. 

Like I said watch some videos to learn some drills, but remember when doing these drills to go 100% at all times to really get better.

Getting That Shot Right

If you wanna play college basketball, you have to be able to shoot

 

You’re gonna want to get up shots every day. I understand an off day every now and then, but that doesn’t mean you can’t shoot a hundred shots from four feet away. I recommend if you don’t already, you start shooting and making at least fifty four foot shots a day. This will help your body’s muscle memory with your shot and make it more consistent. Then shoot fifty to a hundred free throws and try to get ten in a row before you finish. Then you can start your workout.

It can be hard to type out workouts to do so I just recommend you look up YouTube videos, or ask your coach for some workouts. I can, however, give you the mechanics to a perfect shot. First you need to get low. Most of your strength for your shot should come from your legs, and if you get low that’ll happen. Next, you want to shoot the ball up. When you release, your arm should be almost vertical. You should then flick your wrist when releasing, and give it some good backspin. Check out this article by Bleacher Report on Klay Thompson’s perfect shot for additional information: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2430552-breaking-down-klay-thompsons-picture-perfect-jump-shot

The 94fifty basketball is a great tool to use to judge how good your shot is. It’ll tell you the ideal arc, backspin, and release time, and compare it up to yours. I highly recommend purchasing it as it definitely helped my shot. Here’s a link: https://www.amazon.com/94fifty-Smart-Sensor-Basketball/dp/B0168II644

 

 

SAT and ACT

Not only do you have to maintain a 2.0 and take a certain amount of classes, but you also have to take and do fairly well on the SAT and/or the ACT. For those who don’t know, the SAT and ACT are standardized test students generally take during junior year that colleges use to help judge your intelligence along with your grades and other things. The SAT and ACT are things that colleges often take a lot of consideration of when looking to accept a student.

This also plays a part into the previous article that student-athletes with better SAT and ACT scores are more appealing. Schools like to show off their athletes on the court/field, but they also like to show off how smart their athletes are, and how they’ll have success beyond basketball.

If you haven’t yet, and plan on studying for these standardized tests, buy these books and use them to study. They aren’t that expensive, and are the best way to test through practice tests from actual previous tests.

ACT: https://www.amazon.com/Official-ACT-Prep-Guide-2018/dp/1119386896/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507783416&sr=8-1&keywords=sat+act+study+guide

SAT: https://www.amazon.com/Official-ACT-Prep-Guide-2018/dp/1119386896/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507783416&sr=8-1&keywords=sat+act+study+guide