I love the story about KD in high school as one of the top prospects, but he did something a little different. He did not play as much AAU or travel ball, instead his mom & brothers locked him a gym to work on his guard skills. I remember a couple of interviews where KD says he does not think he would've been the same player as basically a 7-foot guard without those years of development instead of playing a ton of AAU. His older brothers were basically his trainers, they would spend hours in the gym working on his shot & playing like a guard. They were very protective of him but also the false narrative that KD should be a post player because of his size. I love the story about his mom standing at the top of a hill yelling & motivating him as he did hill sprints on weekends instead of playing in tourneys. Now of course KD played in AAU but the point is what did he focus on the most in those development years? What are your thoughts on this & what you all are seeing in your area? How much focus should there be on playing, travel ball, club/aau vs. training/practicing?

I'll start.

Confidence for a basketball player is crucial when it comes to performance. From players to parents and even coaches, there is sometimes a misconception of where confidence is derived. One common thought is that a players confidence comes from an outward source. Usually that outsource is from their coach, teammates or parents. While it’s more than understandable as to why this thought process has become a norm, we want to challenge that mindset and provide a different perspective that gives the athlete more control. The impact that preparation has on confidence is immeasurable. As with anything, when you put a lot of time into a craft, confidence is inevitable. I got this from the internet- I thought it was a good share: https://dvlpbasketball.com/blog/2019/7/2/how-to-raise-your-confidence

Does anyone have any thoughts on the NY Liberty winning the WNBA finals last night? It was a tough game and I was impressed they were able to pull out the W on a night when arguably there two best players were off.

I recently posted a couple reels on IG/Tiktok called "MY COLLEGE BASKETBALL ALL AMERICAN BLUEPRINT". It picked up a lot of steam so I thought I'd outline it here in a post & then create a whole course with the in depth details, drill & reps breakdown & step by step guide to exactly what I did for the 6 months leading into my jr season. My Soph college season I had a good one, I was the starting guard & avg 15ppg but did not get named to the All-Conference team (which disappointed me). So I was highly motivated to improve & our other All-American guard was graduating so my coach wanted me to play point guard full time & told me I had the keys to run this team. I felt that pressure & here is quick outline of what I did from April-Oct. 3 Phases, 2 months each: Phase 1 (April/May)- After the season ended around March 1 I took about a month break. During this phase I began a heavy lifting program to build up my foundational strength. Lots of Olympic lifts (Squats, deadlifts, bench, clings, etc). No that much cardio or speed/agility work yet. My goal was to build strength for 8 weeks going into the "Jump Attack" program I was starting at the end of May. For on court, it's Important to note here for most small colleges they bring in recruits at this time to play pickup games. I did not play any pickup basketball, I wanted to hone in on my specific skill set so I just got up tons of shoot reps & lots ball handling drills. I wanted to push my handle further than I ever had before knowing I would be the full time point guard next season. Phase 2 (June/July)- I had to get a full time job on campus as the garbage man! Tough gig but I'm a married broke college student so I adjusted to it. My work schedule was Mon-Fri 8am-4pm on campus & we lived in campus apartments next to our gym. So I had almost no travel time riding a bike around campus. I did 2 a day training before & after work. 6am-7:30am I did my hardest workouts because I knew my energy would be gone after 8hrs of picking up trash & cleaning toilets. I did my weight room & Jump attack program at 6am. After work I'd come home to eat, take a quick nap & get back up to the gym at night around 6:30p for my on court skills work for another 1.5hr. At night I focused a lot on stretching & mobility in my hips. I saw huge gains during this phase in my athleticism.