There are many social posts day after day that will showcase athlete’s getting lots of work in at the gym.
We encourage you to have conversations with your athlete about having a strategy when they set out to work on their game.
What do you need to work on? How do you work on it to see results? What results do YOU want to see? How will you chart a course to get there?
It’s time to work smarter not harder. If your athlete expects to hit their next level, they have to train with intention. Start Training and Join the Revolution
Are athletes focused more on their performance or on learning?
Learning and performance are two different things.
When athletes come into the Skill Lab the goal is to LEARN.
- When athletes are in “the lab” they’re in the learning zone.
- Things are rough around the edges.
- Mistakes are made. A lot.
- Shots and finishes are missed.
- The ball will fly out of their hands.
- The struggle is seen. And with the struggle, the learning begins.
If we’re more concerned about makes, looking good and as little mistakes as possible, then we’re not in the right head space for coming to the Skill Lab. Minimal learning will take place and long-term learning is not prioritized.
As the season gets underway, ask them, what is the goal? Team practice is necessary. And they typically don’t focus on individual skill development. They are focused on performance.
The best way to improve the team is to improve YOU.
Can your athlete find 2 -4 hours a month during their season to stay in the learning zone?
BUSY. Doesn’t even describe life right now.
There is no shortage of basketball to be played out there and playing the game is vital to a player’s development. The AAU season wind up is underway and we encourage our parents and athletes to remember that it is not about finding the right: team…gear…coach… tournaments that determines an athlete’s success.
Exposure doesn’t help if your athlete is going to be exposed.
Athletes must be ready for the opportunities, and to feel confident and find success means training your skills.
Is this the work your athlete wants to do?
- Regardless of position, face the basket and beat a defender one on one.
- Consistently make shots.
- Pass and make plays with high degree of speed.
- Confident multi-tasking with the basketball.
Give the gift to get better. Camps, clinics, personal training, small group training…… we have a busy summer ahead. Hope your athletes is Joining the Revolution!
Footwork is the Focus
Every player deserves to have a blueprint for how to become an offensive threat on the court. With so much training information at our fingertips, it’s hard to know what to focus on so we can get that blueprint.
It’s about focusing on what happens the most. So, when designing workouts, RBT Skill Specialists keep a simple rule in mind: We focus on what works. And a focus on footwork continues to be our staple!
Is Your Athlete Footwork Focused? Proper footwork is often underestimated as a top skill of the top players, Subtle changes and exposure to proper footwork can lead to more scoring opportunities, easier shots and an effective way to be quick and agile on the court. Footwork is detailed and for young athletes it needs to be broken down to digestible bites so they can implement.
RBT’s Skill Specialists are focused on proper footwork techniques and every session for every athlete has a footwork focus. Let’s work together to better your athlete’s footwork!
Make Time Outside of Practice and Watch For the Results
As your athlete prepares to take on a new practice schedule it is important to speak about the difference between practice and skill development. There is overlap and key differences.
Basketball athletes focused on skill development mostly target their training during the off-season AND, players make time OUTSIDE of practice to work on their skill development during the season. Otherwise, they can’t expect to progress as a player by only working on their game during practice.
Practice is the time that players should ensure their skills translate to what their coach wants on both ends of the court. The players that can comprehend and master this will have a high degree of success individually and that also makes the team collectively better.
Basketball skills will translate in games, but it must be taught and understood in practice. Your athlete’s coaches need time within practice to prep for opponents, condition athletes, implement offensive and defensive strategies and build team culture. All these things take time and that’s why practice time cannot solely focus on skill development. There is so much important work to do and not enough time.
Skill development is one more thing on the calendar. And it is the differentiating factor. To that end, RBT is committed to provide flexible schedules and training times on weekends, days off from school, as well as nights and mornings. All to accommodate the working athlete.
Why is Skill Development in Basketball Important?
Work Smarter
A big part of doing anything in life is finding the best way to do it and striving to do your best work. With the sport of basketball, if you only ever play, and don’t work on your game, you won’t give yourself the needed tools to succeed. How can you be the best teammate on your team if you don’t have the individual tool kit to properly contribute? Athletes may have A+ effort but not the required skills to succeed.
On the flip side, if you spend time developing your skills, you’ll have a new skill set that you didn’t have before and execute the needed moves to be successful in the game.
Develop Weaknesses
To grow as a player new area of weakness in your game need to be develop. Skill development will allow you to home in on these different areas and become more of a complete player. Training should be focused on helping athletes being well rounded and not focused on positions or roles on the team.
Focus on the Athletic Movements
If you really want to have more offensive freedom, athletes must spend time mastering the athletic movements needed. When the athletic attributes are of focus, there are less bad shots and turnovers. Skill development will allow you to train your body and mind to ensure they are able to read the defender and make the corrective movement in any situation.
As you start playing against better competition, it is about stringing multiple athletic movements together and being able to exploit the defense. The only way this happens is if you are confident with your skills. So, it only stands to reason, if you want to become better in games, you need to spend time working on the skills that you use in a game.
Increasing Your Ceiling and Playing Longevity
Have you ever seen the players that dominate when they are younger because they are bigger and faster than everyone else? What happens sometimes, though, is that they use their speed and size advantage without ever developing any other areas of their game. As they get older and everyone else catches up to them physically; well…. they have lost their dominance and has hit their ceiling.
This is why skill development is so critical. It is a way to leapfrog others. No one knows when things start to unlock for athletes, however if an athlete is looking to develop true skills; they will always be improving. Your ceiling rises!
Decide What Player You Want to Be!
How Skills Training Teaches Work Ethic- for whatever happens next they will be prepared.
When athlete’s commit to training at RBT, they are empowering themselves. They are working an important muscle that is need for all facets of their lives: grit.
The athletes have different goals, but we want to train them to meet THEIR goals.
Our training is different, and it is challenging. And it is centered around creating life changing habits in the athlete. It is about creating a love for the process of improving and if you want to be your best then it requires dedication. This training teaches athletes to respect effort and work ethic.
If basketball phases out of your athlete’s life, you’ve helped foster the habits and the work ethic to set them up for success. They are learning to be the best versions of themselves through their passion of basketball. It’s a win-win!
Why the “Boring Stuff” Makes the Basketball Player
Sometimes young athletes don’t have the capacity to realize that when it comes to their basketball development, what’s boring and doesn’t get attention often is what gets results. Living in the TIkTok, Instagram era, it’s easy to see how the process of improving gets lost in translation.
Let’s NOT focus on optics and remember the boring stuff is what makes the difference in their development.
RBT trains for building athletic traits, equipping the athlete with a variety of tools and skills. Then, they learn to use those realistic methods we are training to to use at any given movement in a game. It’s not overnight success. It will not automatically lead to more points in a game. And it will put the athlete in a better position to be successful.
One of the biggest pieces of advice you will hear from our Skill Specialists is:
- Have a strategy for your personal improvement. Know what you need to work on, how to work on it to see results, how long to work on it, how to take care of your body for long term.
- Focus on getting results for yourself and not focusing on how long you were in the gym or what time you woke up to “grind.”
