My Decision As A Coach?

Recently, I’ve had mix feelings about coaching the youth group that I am now, although I am very far from giving up, my passion draws thinner as the days goes by. Maybe I’ve set my expectations too high? or maybe the expectations of me on my players versus that of their own for themselves sets us apart right from the start.

My expectations for players VERSUS

Their expectations of themselves

Or maybe it’s my own incompetence as a coach to bring my players to the next level?

I’ve seen many of them grown so much and so fast in a matter of weeks during their initial days , but now their progress is.. lets just say i’ve be glad they didnt deprove. This truly saddens me as I really do not know where the problem lies.. this thought alone often bring tears to my eyes.. (metaphorically).

I’ve never met such a problem before, because all those i’ve taught progressed to the stage they wanted before eventually stopping, however these players i’ve now wants to go further (or so i think) but they are not moving! Is it my ability to coach them is only up till the level they are at now? Or their own lack of focus and intensity that delays their own progress? I am truly at a dilemma.

Besides, I’ve always coached for a love and passion for the game , and I associate with people whom competes and loves the game – or so I thought. I’ve been dealt a devastating blow when so many months of hard work can vanish for something as simple as monetary values – or did I too superficially gave my judgement in a premature manner? – Another question that lies in the balance of both ends.

Maybe its time I let go of the game.. and let it fade away in the sands of time along with the flow of my memory – am I hanging on too tightly to a rope that is affixed to no end?

Or maybe I should intensify the fire in the furnace to harness the most well forged weapon of my repertoire ?

Confusion bugs me and answers – the only antidote- seems to be sacred even in a time of technological advancement.

Maybe .. thats all that lies in my head now.. Maybe..

Respect In BasketBall

This video touched my heart.. and I would like to share it with all my friends and readers =)

This is how basketball at its highest level should be like..

The fans make those two seems like “Rivals” .. but they are only rivals on the floor..

Basketball is a game that should bring joy to everyone.. anytime on the floor.. there should be joy.. even in competing..

thanks kobe and lebron =)

Become A BBaller

Its been a long time since I last posted! Largely due to my mounting schedule but I didnt forget you guys! :)

In the midst of all the busy schedule , I’ve squeezed out some time everyday to prepare materials and content for a blog that I’ve been preparing for a few months now ^^

Introducing.. Become A BBaller.com !

So for today.. I’ll refer you guys over to my bball blog where you’ll find

2 featured articles on basketball

&

1 featured article on yu song’s basketball time line (never released before!!)

SO.. head over now.. to a blog filled with lots of basketball content!

See you there!

Kobe bryant just talented? read on

I am going to save my words in this post and instead use a video and an excerpt from ganon baker’s blog to show you that champions are made not born.

Kobe Bryant Scores 61 @ madison square garden

 

And then.. his routine in his off-season

(adapted from : Ganon Baker Bball Blog)

Below is the summer workout schedule he does in the off-season.  This is Monday-Friday.

5:30 a.m. - Wake Up

6:30 a.m. - Weight Room (no music and no lights on, he likes complete focus) 6:30 -7:15

9:00 a.m. - Hit the Court until 10:30 with Drills and Skills (Kobe said he might work on the same move 100 times in a row)

1:00 p.m. - Hits the beach for a run, runs hills or on the track until 2:00.

3:30 p.m. - Taekwon-doe, Pilates, Yoga or a massage until 4:00 p.m.

That my friends is the life of a champion. – Ganon Baker

the real price of being great…

There is always a price tag attached to most things.. and today, I wanna talk about the price tag of being great at [something] . In this particular post, i’ll talk about basketball !

What is your view of how to become a great basketball player? yes many of you would have already known some.. let’s try listing them…

 

1) Practice

2) Knowledge

3) Discipline

4) Ecetera

But do you truly understand what these are ? my dear readers, all of the above is nothing without one thing

Consistency

You can’t be good for one day, or practice for a month or get knowledge from one source.. , in order to be great at basketball, all of the qualities you know of must be woven into

A LifeStyle – Your LifeStyle

That is why most players are good at most.. I once had a player who shot 1000 shots and practiced 6 hours a day.. and he asked me “coach, i’ve given so much.. why am i still so lousy?” My answer to him would be “because you haven’t integrate it into a lifestyle – its still practice to you” .

Many players don’t understand this.. they think that by being able to do a particular drill or perform a certain move – it means they’ve mastered it.. thats not true.. being able to do a fade away doesnt make you a great fade away shooter.. you gotta work at it.. – consistently! All this takes time.. on the court, alone – when no one is watching , you gotta practice man! Stay focused , keep going at it.. master it, as tim duncan said

Good , Better , Best , Never Let It Rest, Till Your Good Is Better, And Your Better Best

This quote – along with many others meant so much to me.. I bought a permanent marker and wrote it on my basketball and told myself, until I practice using this basketball till the words fade, I will not play another basketball pick up game. And I stuck to it – results? My basketball pals was all stunned when I return from my “retreat” – because i pushed myself so hard just to get the marks off , just to play another pick up game (took me ~ 2 weeks). So how do we make something consistent? 

Think of something you’re good at.. something you feel confident of.. do you think about it? do you consider it as “chore” or its just “doing what I am doing’ kinda thing.. let me give you an example.. some people are really good at watching tv serials.. they can tell you 7pm channel U has this program and its about.. and then at 8pm.. oh and if you don’t wanna watch this you can choose from channel 5 which covers…

Is watching TV a chore? (oh its 7pm! time to go to watch tv.. AGAIN=.=) – I Doubt So

So you’ll ask me, but coach , training basketball is so not enjoyable!? its so boring!

let me help you out.. lets take the tv serial as an example again.. if you switch to a channel which speaks in a language you dont understand.. the graphics are distorted.. try watching it for an hour.. – and enjoy it! go ahead.. do it.. what? you already know its boring? so what do u instinctively do? oh right switch channels

That’s right.. if something is boring.. make it interesting.. switch channels!

Think of ways to make it fun.. enjoy the process.. switch channels..

Ask yourself.. how can i make this fun? how can i enjoy this process? Initially, you’ve probably say.. nothing is going to make this fun! but hey stop there.. keep asking.. if there’s gonna be something really fun about training basketball , what would it be?

Keep at it, get out of that comfort zone. keep practicing, till your good is better, and your better best.

My Journey back as a player

Through the years of basketball, i’ve been constantly surrounded by people who is constantly saying how “old” they have became – at the age of 25 or 26 – to play basketball. How they were once much better than they were and many other interesting stories . Although I do not deny that they were once great players , I feel that what they are really saying is this , “You ought to respect me for who I was, not who I am” . – it was really an excuse .

I can back that statement up because I am one of the people who did that (as described above). I would often tell my players how good I was, how smart I was and stuff like that. As a coach, I had that “Right”. I am more senior, older , I have a job commitment , I need to start a family soon , etc. Also my current level of basketball play does reflect shades of my old self. But hey , i told myself, “your students are busy too, they have homework , they need to deal with lack of freedom etc”.

I’ve always taught my players to exercise time management, I guess its time I did the same to myself, I have to stop giving excuses , stop talking about who I was.

Instead, I should focus who I am , how can I be a living example for my players? Look , i’ve seen 60 year olds playing basketball at a remarkable standard for their age – I am 21, no excuses.

Hence began the journey for me back as a player , in fact, this insight came when I ordered the DVD from ganon baker “How to survive and thrive as an undersized” , ganon baker is 35 yrs old… and he works out like no other player I’ve ever seen. “talk about being old? whos older here” – i asked myself .

I’ve learned to stop focusing on the past.. I’ve moved on, to the present. I do not know what the future holds for me, but that’s beside the point. I want to live in the moment, for the moment.

Comparing myself to who I was before will not get me to who I was nor will it get me to who I want to become. As we journey through the sands of time, I came to understand that at every stage in our lives, we mature and grow. We’ll never be who we were, we gain some stuff along the way, we lose some stuff along the way.

Accepting what we’ve gained (experience, wisdom, maturity) and making the best use of it and accepting what we’ve lost (physical stamina , energy , drive) is the key to living one’s life. It’s never really about what we have, but more of how we use them. (note: Losing something doesn’t equate to not being able to get it back, I am just citing examples of stuff we can gain and lose – it doesn’t mean that in order to gain something, you need to lose something and vice versa)

Michael Jordan broke the record of most points scored for a 40 year old, he scored 51 points. Scoring 51 points was not something out-of-the-norm for jordan at all. But when he did that, I am sure he was always thinking about what he could do with what he had(jump shots, directing traffic, etc), not who he was(the high flying dunker).

I am glad I moved on to learn to let go of my past.. Readers, do you have a similar experience? Share it with me in the comment box. Here’s a video that illustrates what I just mentioned in the previous paragraph (last sentence)

“To be better basketball player …. you just have to be

smart to utilise the skills that have been given (to you”

-Michael Jordan

Basketball timeline – Sneak Peek

Hey all, i’ll be releasing a sneak preview of my “basketball time line” here =)

It’ll eventually be posted in full on a dedicated server of it’s own =)

enjoy!

Time Line Excerpt

During 2^nd half of 2003, I heard news that a renowned coach was opening a new youth team (Under 18s) playing for part of our constituency. Excited to hear this, I quickly began to ask all my friends whether they were interested to join in the training, in total these are the people whom join the team, Long , Gid , Ping , Wayne & me .

I remember training at a remarkable level at this stage of my life, I can’t remember how many things I broke at home (including my photo frame) just training on my basic cross over and behind the back passing – which I nearly broke my buddha’s image on the altar table.

Then there were days where I would train so hard on the court that all I saw was black & white. One significant drill was the full court lay ups with a few variations on the way to the basket. There were about 8 of us at beginning the drill , our coach didn’t gave us a specific number to complete , we just kept doing it until there were only 3 of us left. Coach continued to signal to us to continue and we just kept running and running and running up and down the floor – I must’ve ran 50 times up and down the floor alone – continuously.

After that particular training, I remember specifically seeing the basketball rim in black and white! I know I was close to fainting and vomiting, however I persevered and finished my free throws before proceeding to rest .

During my school holidays, I would rise to earlier than the sun and began having breakfast then proceeding down to the court to work on my game alone, went home had my lunch, and then go down on the court to play again in regular pick up games – I also studied the concept of the game and fundamentals when I reached home at night.

That kind of fire I possessed back then was so strong, I would just keep working on my game every chance I had. I would bring the ball everywhere I went – dribbling it whenever I can or doing some hand drills – the only place I didn’t bring my ball to was probably the toilet and the movies.

My studies didn’t suffer because my love for the game of basketball just propelled me beyond my comfort zone even in my studies. Everytime I would want to procrastinate on my studies , I would think “If I rest now, will it affect my basketball game?” .

This deep love for the game just drove me to eventually uncover the “genius” in me and to study the smart way – not the hardest way but the smartest way! In fact, during my mid year exams in 2003 , I topped my class !

BBall dilemma

Been rather busy recently with bball coaching and playing itself !

So far my feelings towards coaching my current players is half half, because they want to improve their studies and at the same time improve their bball. whilst this isn’t impossible to me, it seems to my players that it is quite an impossible task.

 

The frustrating part for me is that I would like to give them the freedom to choose their own path in bball (whether to come for training or not etc) , also I understand that to mould a great bball player, there are certain criterias and factors that simply is a must – attending weekly trainings is one of them.

Also, I do not want them to do badly in their studies, hence thus far I’ve not mind them missing trainings and skipping trainings even though it hurts me in my heart.

The worst part of it all, is that I know clearly how a person can both study, bball, have fun, enjoy and still score good grades and excel in bball, but clearly I haven’t got a chance to teach my players that yet.

I hope I get to teach them this ability to manage their life well soon – its an invaluable skill.

p.s sean taught me this trick from his blog

p.s.s should I make bball coaching a priority in my life since the above incident?

bball physical – 4 basic keys

Basketball is divided into 3 key areas of development, namely, skill , physical and mentality. In each of these areas, I have the opinion that the mental aspect of the game determines 80% of all outcomes of the game. However, that is based on the assumption that the difference in skill and physical areas do not differ largely.

Hence today, our focus will be on – physical . And we’re just going to focus on simple and effective strategies to improve your physical.

Disclaimer: The author is not a certified doctor nor health care practitioner , what you read in this post is  the author’s personal opinion derived from his own experience.

They 4 key areas we’re going to focus on today is to assist our body in it’s 4 basic functions . All of which are vital for the body to rejuvenate itself and hence build muscles and remove rubbish we don’t need.

1) Digestion

Digestion is all in your mouth, I know how ridiculous this may sound to many , however my personal belief – not scientifically proven by myself – all digestion occurs in the mouth. (For more info , refer to this : Stomach is an organ of contribution).

Hence, a simple way to improve digestion is to bite longer.

Take least 15-30 bites for every food you take , including fluids like smoothies or vegetable juice or fruit juice.

2) Elimination

Elimination is the body’s function to remove rubbish (tox, acid etc) from the system. Only when your body is able to eliminate rubbish properly, then can it function optimally – including building those muscle of yours. I could write a couple of posts on this topic itself, however for beginners, I just want to emphasis 3 things

Dramatically reduce your sugar intake ,

Dramatically reduce your fat intake (fried food , junk food)  ,

Dramatically increase your fibre intake (vegetables , vegetables, more vegs!)

3) Hydrate Yourself

I believe this is a big reason why basketball players don’t grow in size much. They drink the wrong fluids. Most players drink sugar before a game and sugar after a game, I am not going into details here, but your body doesn’t sweat sugar, it sweats water and salt. So common sense would tell you that the drink you need is not coke.

 

Before a basketball game, you need to ensure you’ve properly hydrate yourself with at least 500ml of water – over a period of 2 hours prior to the game (do not drink all of it straight before a game!).

And after a basketball game, hydrate yourself with at least 1000 ml of water over a period of 2 hours.

YuSong : Personally, I drink 1000 ml before and after games (over period of 2 hours before and after)

4) Rest

Rest is the last – but not least – key to a good physical. Your body needs rest , your muscle needs rest and your mind needs rest. Getting enough rest is vital to your body’s basic function (the 3 above for example) and allows your system to run at 100% .

Always give yourself the gift of rest, when you rest , put away all your worries, excitement , dreams etc.

 

A good exercise to do when you sleep is…

Say to yourself , “I now give my body the greatest gift, the gift of rest” then..

From your hair down to your toes, say “let the hair relax.. forehead relax.. eyes relax.. nose relax..”

do this through your whole body (while lying down) – it helps in resting optimally.

The important thing when trying any of the above is to remember, make the changes gradually .

Swap that coke for plain water, swap the chicken wings for steam tofu , swap the french fries snacks for almond nuts. ( leave me a comment if you want to know more)

BasketBall Game of habits

In the game of basketball, its two different teams playing each other.

In the game of life, I would like to see it as a game between habits.  Why?

Our daily lifes are filled with good habits and bad habits – maybe a bit simplistic but it proves my point here.

Our destiny is hence a result of which of our habits are pre-dominant. If our good habits are pre-dominant, we can call ourselves successful and if vice versa, we need to work on certain things before success comes to us.

Using that as a setup, life is just like a game of basketball between our good habits and bad habits

Team Good Habits VERSUS Team Bad Habits

and every incident we meet in life, can be considered the show down between our two teams (Good and bad habits). So if you are in a situation where you need to choose whether to eat that junk food and get fat or skip the junk food and stay healthy, who will make the play? will good habits score 2 points or will bad habits get a steal for the fast break?

In thinking so, as a basketball player, think, the next time you want to procrastinate on that homework and let the bad habits score on you because you were lazy on defense!

If it was a basketball game, would you get lazy on defense for the national qualifier? i guess not!

If you are star player of your team, will you choose to rest because your legs are sore when you know you can lead your team to victory? i guess not!

but so many times in life when we are the star player of our life, we let our bad habits score on us, block our shots and abuse us. aint that a bit mis-fitting?

Its your call – after all its your game.

Thriving As An Under-Sized Player

Hi all, came across this video which is very motivating and powerful ^^ hence I ordered it on 26th Jan 09.

Just got the video DVD yesterday for the above =x

I watched it together with gordan and for the first few mins, we were like “OH MY GOD , HE DID THAT?”

His speed , everything! is just so so . .amazing. I think he works out faster than me at least 3 times >.<

if anyone can do the way he does the drill at 50% speed, i think can be Singapore national player already – just too good. If you would like to see the video , just leave me a comment here and we can fix a time ^^

So guys out there, don’t think because you’re small , you can’t compete. You still can and may do much better because you got that drive to workout!!

#1 Key To Grow your Bball Skills exponentially

Today’s training marks the starting of emphasising 2 key concepts that i’ve learned from Ganon Baker

1. When you practice, you have to practice at a pace and rate where .it’s not comfortable for you – break out of your comfort zone (health issues must not be a concern here – if you have health issues, listen to your doctor’s advise)

2. We do not aim for perfection, instead , we aim for persistence.

Elaborating on point 1 )

Alot of players (in fact i would say up to 95% of players) train at a level where they’re comfortable with. Now there’s no real problem with training comfortably except that it brings little growth.

“Training at a comfortable level brings you little growth.”

Taking an example of push ups, let’s say you can do a maximum of ten push ups, which one gives you the most growth? Number Eleven. (11)

So for today’s training (Rubin and Gordan turned up), I had rubin do some drills that he had done before – this time at a higher intensity and faster speed. He was losing the bball all over the place and finding it tiring. The main point is this – his growth was tremendous .

Because Rubin was willing to break out of his comfort zone  , his growth was exponential.

To point 2)

As i mentioned, Rubin lost the bball a whole lot of times, this is where persistence – rather than perfection – comes into play, you ought to lose the bball a few times during practice, if you don’t then you’re still at a level where you’re comfortable at.

The key here is to persist, lose the bball? grab it back! that’s how you play the game!

Overall, I am certain that if players are willing to practice at a level where growth takes precedence over comfort , their growth will be exponential

Afterall, that’s how michael jordan and dr julius erving did it :)

Are you afraid to break out of your comfort zone to bring your game to the next level?

Ganon Baker Crazy Stuff

I was thinking of working on my shooting and vertical when I came across an “old time friend” – ganon baker. (I used to watch his videos before). Oh and he has alot of credentials, including being amare stoudamire’s personal skill development coach, michael jordan europe tour head coach and kobe bryant skills academy head trainer.

Now for me at an earlier age of basketball , his drills was IMPOSSIBLE to me. Yes you got that right. As a young player I never found those drills possible. But now I know better – I’ve missed some of my best chances to advance as a player . But I do intend to workout myself back to shape and become a better player than I was ever before.

 

When I was younger, my focus was on vertical, driving , blocking shots and acrobatic finishes. As my age advances now, I would like to shift my focus to ball handling, passing , court vision, defense and shooting. It is the fundamental basic skill – something not glamorous , but wins you games and make second & third rounds .

So to all my readers, here’s a crazy drill from ganon baker.

To my players, I challenge you to master this drill before I do ^^ (yes i cant even do this now =.= )

My Youth Team ‘09

Hi All,

I would like to honour my players whom have all played so well and to best honest, they blew me away with their performance and every game I witness just makes me more proud of them.

As I stand by the side-lines , i beam with glory and pride, when others ask me about them , I always say

“Those are my players ^^” with pride and honour.

I feel compelled to dedicate one post in my blog to let my players know how proud am I of them. (list alphabetically)

C. K

Ck played minimal minutes in the first two games, however when he was on the floor I could sense his hustle and will to win. I would like to emphasis in the third game, he just leaped the ladder in improvement. I beamed as I saw the way he played. He made defensive stops that was only capable by someone with immense mental toughness , he took shots and drives with a excellent timing. C.K has shown tremendous improvement in the third game ^^

C.K factors : Simplicity (he plays a simple and non-fanciful game) , humility (always willing to learn)

Rubin

Rubin was the support “hero” for his team, doing all the little stuff . He played a bit of everything, defense, hustle , anything the team needed. I remember his unselfish plays in all games plus his shot selection was commendable. Although he looks “cool” on the outside, he’s always giving his 101% on the floor without a doubt ^^

Rubin factors : Unselfish plays

Sean

Sean played way beyond my expectations in games, his rpg (rebounds per game) easily averages at 4-5 , and is amazing for someone who plays only 10-20 mins per game. He also made defensive stops – largely un-noticed – which were crucial to his team. Sean is also another player whom does all the little stuff (boxing out, hitting shots , defense) .

Sean factors : Effort , Effort, Effort

Thian Seng

Thian Seng is perhaps the most talented driver in the team. His drives are explosive and his finish is acrobatic and often creative. Shades of his explosive drives always impresses me to no end -  especially in game 3. He is also a fairly good shooter plus good shot selections. These 3 qualities are rarely found in a single player – but thian seng has them all.

Thian Seng factors : Creativity, Acrobatic finish

Tommy

Tommy is the guy whom has the best vertical amongst my players and is not afraid to show it. I’ve seen him leap pass players taller than him and scoring – on all attempts. HIs athleticism also makes him a player that – once his fundamentals are polished – once he gets pass you, its over (think allen iverson). Tommy also exhibits a thirst for knowledge and is not shy to source for ways and means to improve on his own.

Tommy factors : Athleticism  , Vertical , Initiative

Zi Yang

Zi Yang posies the “gentlemen” factor in his team. Always calm and compose , zi yang seemingly nevers loses his calm in tense situations. The thing that impresses me (and am proud of) zi yang is his unshakable confidence – so rare . When you calm, compose and confident, not many players will mess with you. With proper skills and mindset, zi yang can be easily counted on to lead his team to many victories

Zi Yang factors : poise, confidence

Ah! I am so proud of all of you :) By far the most talented bunch of players i’ve coached so far in my 3 years of coaching youth basketball. Well done boys ^^

p.s. Game proper will be updated either tomorrow or saturday. I want my players name to top my blog for at least a while ^^

My Priority As A BasketBall Coach

Recently (actually today) I heard that some of my player’s seniors seems to feel that I am not as good as a basketball coach compared to their current one.

Random Fact: My favourite coach is coach carter (yes the movie one – its based upon a real life story, youtube it to find the video for the real coach carter interview)

First and foremost, I wanna specify that I coach for one reason & one reason ONLY

MY PLAYERS

 

It is not within my agenda , principles nor wish to compete with another coach (although bball is a competitive game ). I believe if you ever become a coach, it should and always should be about

THE PLAYERS

Not for fame, glory or money (no pun intended)

My first priority for my players is mastery skills, meaning at the end of my coaching , my players should be equipped with

1. Have strong moral backbone
2. Able to lead a life of fulfillment
3. Being able to foster social relationship in an outstanding fashion
4. Finance Mastery
5. Personal Mastery
6. Emotional Mastery
7. Academics Excellence
8. Basketball Skills
9. Mindset Of A Champion (think 7 habits of highly effective people)

This is what I have in mind for all of my players. None of them is about myself, its all about

MY PLAYERS

So if people were to wanting me to compare with other coaches(means trying to ask me to compete with other coaches) , i’ve say they are a far cry from ever succeeding, my aim and goal is for my players and only my players

Just a random side note, I overheard that some players mentioned that I should play a 1 v 1 with another coach if I think I can coach better.

My philosophy is this : Being a great player doesn’t automatically makes you a great coach

A metaphor I like to use is this

Imagine 2 primary school teachers, trying to teach 7 yrs old how to do sums like 1 + 1 = 2, and 3 x 3 = 9. One of the teacher is a diploma graduate while the other is a P.H.D (Doctorate). Does that automatically means that the PHD teacher will teach better? answer: no . (the reverse is also true)

Point of matter, you do not need a doctorate to teach primary school maths

And you do not need to be a national player to teach secondary school basketball.(It would complement you if you am already an outstanding coach)

Personally , I chose to teach under 16s because I had played 2 yrs of under 18 league and a year of open league. And I feel fully qualified to teach basketball skills to 14 and 15 yrs old.

I hope this dismisses any wild claims of me trying to do anything that is not mentioned in the above post.