We need to understand the impact our words have on our athletes, recognize it affects so much than we realize. It can affect how we play on the court, our decision making, confidence levels both on and off the court, if we box our players in on the court it'll affect them off the court too. Whether you mean to or not it will. "Mental Toughness" is a phrase thrown around a lot in team sport, I think we get carried away with it. We categorize players as not mentally tough so much on the court...

Max Schmarzo is one of the most intelligent individuals I know of, he has been a massive resource in my education. Between other podcasts he's been on, his own podcast, his instagram, his educational platform EdgeU and every other platform he's on. He's one of if not the goat within the performance world (IMO). Max is a machine, he brings so much knowledge to every conversation and the best part is that he can talk about some of the most complicated concepts and make it so easy to...

Building off of part 1 (early phase off-season), I talk about how middle stage off-season could look and then finally how late stage can look. There are so many different ways to program and periodize, what I mention in this episode isn't the end all be all. It's just a way to go about things, do your own research and make sure to apply it to your own setting to make sure it works for you. Middle off-season is pretty simple, you want to progress off of the early phase and continue to build...

This week's guest is Matt Cooper, Matt is a performance coach out of Los Angeles filling the gap between rehab and strength and conditioning. His training philosophy is unique in that it's not quite your traditional style - he's interested in neurological adaptation, training his athletes to become better movers and integrating health and wellness into his training. Matt is extremely intelligent and I love his approach to the weight room and all things health, he displays his wealth of...

Kerri is one of the promising up and coming player development coaches in this industry, and specifically on the female side. She's a phenomenal role model for the girls and women she works with (anyone she works with really), she brings her experience as a pro as well as the information she's gathered from her mentors and from her travels to her sessions to make sure each session her athletes are getting better. Over the past year Kerri has grown at such a rapid rate, her player development...

Danny Cooper round 2! Danny is one of the best up and coming young trainers in this industry and his work ethic, passion and drive speak towards it. He's a guy that works for everything he has and nothing happens by accident, he and I catch up and talk a little about his summer as well as his last year in general which has been very impactful for him. He was able to connect with Mac McClung and helped him out for a camp that he put on in Gate City while also training Mac, then he tagged...

Why does Russell Westbrook choose to drive when Steph Curry chooses to shoot a three on identical plays? Different affordances, they see different opportunities to act based on their own abilities, intentions and the characteristics of the environment as well as how they perceive those characteristics within that environment. I'm a 5'11 white guy with maybe a 6 ft wingspan, if me and Lebron James both drive into two defenders there will be different results based on our individual...

Do you wanna go to college because it's going to push the envelope for you and open doors, or do you wanna go because it's been conditioned by societal standards? Now more than ever we can accomplish so much without a degree, I'm not here to downplay a formal education but more so to spark thought - real genuine critical thinking.  If your goal is to be a teacher, doctor, physical therapist or a division 1 strength coach amongst other professions then you'll need a bachelors or higher....

A lot of times in this industry we tend to have to work for free, whether it's early in our careers and we're just trying to get in front of new athletes or it's an unpaid internship. Working for free is usually a common factor in a lot of our careers at some point, but how can we leverage that free work and turn it into future paying clients? I talk a little about utilizing 3 specific ways we can leverage working for free, like I said, usually working for free happens in a lot of our...

Ethan Khoza is a player development coach in State College PA, he's not your typical PDC. He does things "against the grain" and steers away from the more traditional approach on-court training, but what separates him the most is his passion for and ability to communicate with his athletes and figure out what they need  Ethan talks a lot about emotional intelligence and what exactly that means for both coaches and players, why it's so important to both possess and nurture emotional...

Dario is a very intelligent and talented professional in the performance world, what's even more impressive is that a lot of his knowledge is from his own research and experience. He's done a phenomenal job acquiring high level information in order to apply to his sessions and improve every athlete he works with Dario is a real life example of his work, at 5'9 he's trained his way to a 37 in vertical and is nearing putting down a dunk with ease. He's able to emulate the same training...

Mike Dunn is one of the best shooting coaches in the world, you can tell why during our conversation in this weeks episode. What I admired about Mike the most though wasn't necessarily his knowledge and expertise for shooting, but his compassion and drive to help build his players character!  He makes a massive effort to provide the best experience for the person in front of him, but he also displays the same effort and energy for the people working with him online. He responds quickly,...

A lot of times as hoopers all we know is basketball, whether it's skill development, lifts, film, playing 2k, discussing the NBA with our friends (which is all fine), BUT sometimes that's all we know. Not only is it all we know, but it's who we become. That's the toxicity, you aren't basketball, you play basketball.  No I don't think working hard and being ultra focused on one thing or one goal is toxic, but how you go about that and what happens in the process of getting to that goal may...

This weeks episode is a little different, Davis provides some great insight on all things marketing - target marketing, social media/digital marketing and how to use them to your advantage as a trainer, as well as some super important points when communicating with clients Davis is an extremely down to earth guy and provides a lot of value that isn't always talked about for trainers, the power of communication and how important it really is. Thank you Davis for your time  IG:...

If you've ever struggled with mental health, been in a shooting slump or lacked motivation to get to the gym it's possible simply getting outside and seeing some green could help much more than you realize Studies show that you access to green space is important for mental health and is associated with longevity and decreased risk of mental illness, as well as causing greater feelings of revitalization  and positive engagement. All types of green exercise activities also improved self-esteem...

Coleman Ayers for the second time, it's truly always a pleasure to get to chop it up with someone like Coleman.  He gives his opinion on if technique is really that important: when, where, why and how we should think about technique and what exactly a fundamental is. He talks about his Europe tour and how he set that trip up (easier than you may think) and much more about business regarding running clinics  He also dives into 3 neglected performance modalities hoopers should be utilizing,...

Matt Dyck is a player development coach in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada. Matt is a phenomenal guy that has the best intentions, he's passionate about what he does which is the development of his players. His mission: provide an experience and support that he didn't get, and help anyone he can get to the level he couldn't.  In Canada player development isn't as valued as it is in the states, and because of that Matt had to make a decision: take little to no money and train basketball players...

Bobby Whyte is commonly known for his "Good Drills" on instagram at this point, some could consider these drills as "clown drills" but when you actually look into the rhyme & reason behind what he's doing and ask a simple question of "why?" you'll come to find that he's extremely detailed and there's intention behind everything he does In my opinion Bobby is one of the best player development trainers in the world, he does a phenomenal job blending both performance & skill, building...

What can we learn from different opinions?  Is it bad to disagree? Are you stubborn or open-minded? Do we benefit from being contrarian? These are some questions I ponder in this weeks episode, it's inevitable that we'll disagree with someone about something in our lives and especially when you're in a field that has differing philosophies like training. There are a lot of ways to do the same thing out there, and I don't think that's a bad thing. I think it's a bad thing when you're...

Josh has been Jeremy's trainer since his days at Harvard, through Linsanity and still with him today. He's been with him as his player development coach as well as an assistant coach with the Beijing Ducks of the CBA. Josh describes himself as a "professional learner" and he is absolutely that, he's extremely intelligent, intuitive and constantly listening with intent. You can tell by the way he speaks and through his thought process that he's amassed quite a bit of knowledge on his journey...

Mike G is most commonly known as Jrue Holiday's performance coach, aside from that Mike is an incredible person. Having the honor of meeting him two times now and speaking with him both times, he has an energy about him that's truly unmatched. He makes everyone around him better. He's extremely passionate about his craft and his job, this episode is great because we talk a good amount of training but also Mike talks about the intangible things that aren't necessarily talked about enough in...

Atencio Martin (first ever guest of the show) and my good friend Matt Kenna join me for today's episode Tence and Matt ask me a little about training, dealing with social media hate and we dive into the nba playoffs with predictions, rankings and more!

Ben Teer is the biggest basketball trainer in the state of Maine, and not only Maine but he's also recognized as one of the best in America. It was great to chop it up with Ben especially seeing that I'm also a trainer out of Maine. We talk about the development that Maine has seen since he started (2015) and what's helped get the state where we are now, we talk about how powerful your perspective can be, how important it is to not be someone else and to really step into your own legacy, he...

Gabe Macias is a basketball skills trainer and gym owner in San Diego, California. He's the owner of Gametimeelitetraining, and he brought so much value to the show and for you guys. Gabe gives such great insight on how he built up his clientele by training a couple kids at the park and starting as an AAU coach, then leveraging being a coach to his advantage. He goes into some methods of utilizing AAU programs to build your clientele as well as utilizing referral programs in order to grow...

I heard Joerik speak at the Mastery Hoops Player Development Conference this month and was taken away by his expertise and approach to player development, I'm ecstatic to get him on. He and I talk about his gym in Belgium and his story to get where he is now, he's a trailblazer in Europe and continuously improving the culture where he is. He brings a unique philosophy by utilizing small-sided games to train one of the most important qualities in basketball: decision-making.  Joerik takes...