What's up coaches and trainers, thank you for another great week. We're getting closer to the summer, which for most of us is the busiest time of the year, but also the most fulfilling. We get to test new methods, apply more of what we learn, and most importantly, see more results with the players we work with.

One thing I want to remind everyone of before we get into the content is the community on the platform! This is a great place for us to bounce ideas off of each other as trainers, and over 75% of our members haven't joined the Facebook group yet! Go check out the "Community" page to jump in.

Let's get to it.

Using audio cues is a great tool to have in the toolbox as a skill developer. For drills like this, the main things we are targeting are deception and adaptability. In regards to deception, I want the athlete to get as close as the actual shot as possible with their shot fake. What better way to do this than actually having them get into it, and reacting if I say "go?" Plus, any player in this drill will only improve in their ability to adapt and not pre-determine their next move.

Since we're on the audio cue wave with the featured video, this blog will arm you with more tools to utilize, especially in 1-on-1/private sessions. Understanding these and the difference between the two is very valuable, and opens up a world of opportunity for you in a variety of settings.

Tyler:
One thing I really focused on this week was being as present as possible. We only have the current moment we are in, being present not only helps our general happiness but our sessions as well. It’s easy to go through the motions at times during sessions, to be thinking about the next session or the next thing we have to do. Try to be more present, focus on who is in front of you and giving as much as you can in that exact moment. Easier said than done, but this is a skill that can be worked on.

Coleman:
There were a new personal improvements I dove into and started up this week, like the effects of journaling, reflection, and more, but I'll go with more of a training IQ concept I dove into this week that may seem a bit weird and trivial, but pretty interesting: "inattentional blindness." In other words, why we don't see some things on the court that may seem obvious, such as a wide open teammate. We've all seen it before. A player is WIDE open, and the ball handler misses them. How? Well, according to most studies, we miss this about 30-50% of the time. Crazy. The main variables here are (1) how difficult the task at hand is--in other words, if we're a great ball handler and it's automatic for us to keep our dribble alive, we're more likely to see the open teammate because we're able to divert our attention to the floor and not the dribbling task at hand. And number two, if we're expecting something to happen. When a coach tells a player to look for something on the court, they're significantly more likely to miss a teammate streaking open because they're caught up in a pre-determined pattern that they're looking for. So, want to work on court vision with your players? Start by making them the best ball handlers possible. In the process, don't tell them to expect anything on the court. They'll see more!

Added this week:
New resources (videos, articles, podcasts)
New individual and group drills
The ins & outs of starting your business
​and more!

Hope everyone had a fantastic week. We added a ton of content this week to the platform, and the community is growing steadily!

Also, today is the day for our monthly coaches' zoom call, so any coaches on the platform can join in to talk hoops and bounce questions off of us! If you are registered for the platform and want to join in at 5 PM EST, we will be sending the link out via email and on the Facebook Group (community).

Let's get to the good stuff.

It's already a difficult enough process to adjust a player's shot. Is it really worth it? In some cases, it's definitely warranted. But in others, we may just be nitpicking and end up wasting valuable effort and time! Check out our thoughts on it here.

Tyler
"How do I get twice the production for half the effort?" We've got to ask this question more both on the business and skill development side of things. Exerting the least effort to get the maximum level of improvement breeds the highest level of efficiency. This could be in a player development context, where we're asking ourselves what we can work on with a player to get the best long-term results, with the least amount of time and effort. Or on the business side, with finding a small tweak in the business that can lead to a massive increase in profit.

Coleman
There's one theme that has been coming up in many of the podcasts I've been listening to this week, and even in my own day-to-day experience: perseverance is undoubtedly more important than "hard work," and perseverance is only found by connecting to a purpose. Most entrepreneurs, players, and anyone with a dream stop because they get bored of the process. Because too much hard sh*t gets in the way and they don't see a point in continuing to persevere through these barriers. I've been there recently with a few ventures in my business. "It seems like it's never going to happen." But the way I've been working on to continue to push through these obstacles is being very clear with what my purpose is. Why am I doing this? Why are you doing what you do? Do you have people depending on you who you can't let down? Do you have to be the best because you absolutely love your craft? Ask yourself what your purpose is and get very clear with it this week.

New individual training drills
"Marketing Yourself Strategically for the Long Term"
22-minute video on the best ways to train ballhandling
New social media tips
​& more!

Welcome to week 2 of our newsletter! Another week of growth and development in the books. This past week we recently announced the official date for the Mastery Hoops Player Program. (June 5th) 

This will be based around the same concept of training effectively and utilizing the science and research on what actually works, not just what players see on Instagram.  We will have 3 different pillars, like we do on the coaches side, basketball training, performance training, and mental training. We will be talking about this more as we get closer and even how you coaches can potentially benefit from this as well..

Enough about the players, lets get into some practical stuff that might be of value for you guys this coming week. 

The Language of Coaching has been one the most impactful and useful books we have read over the last year. Every word we use has an impact on the players we coach, for better or for worse. This book will give you a full breakdown on how the words we use, and the way we use them, effect our players ability to learn and improve. You can also buy the book right here

Featured Blog Post: What do players REALLY want from coaches. 
This is my currently my favorite blog post we have up and was written by Coach KJ Conklin. As coaches, we think our players mainly want a coach who KNOWS the game, but is that really the case? This article dives into all the things players actually want. To check it our for free click here

Tyler
The main thing I have been thinking about this week and continuing to learn as I progress in my training business is this; if you do everything in your business, you don't have a business, you have a job. It is extremely hard to detach from the business especially because it was just you at the start and you did everything. You want to keep that quality and feel if anyone does any aspect of it, it wont be as good, so you refrain from trying. If you want any FREEDOM, you need to find the right people.  This applies for business owners and coaches, if you success and freedom you need the right people and culture to thrive. What in your life that you do subpar could you give to someone else who can do it better than you?

​Coleman
This week I have been reminded of something that we all experience, but quite often take for granted. Basketball is a great game and better. But no aspects of the game compare to how basketball can be used as a platform to connect with others, experience new things, and take you to places you could only dream of. Use the game to your advantage, what you give the game, it'll give you back.

"5 lessons from the language of coaching book."
"How to blend your desired skills into live play."
"How to manage players load"
"What to consider when planning your players off season plan"
and more

What's up everybody, welcome to our first weekly newsletter! Will just give you all a bit of an idea of what we'll do every Sunday from here on out:

On our platform, we're constantly uploading new videos, new research, new drills, new guests, and more. A lot more. We want you guys to get a free taste of what we have on the platform, and for our members--we want to send you a video, article, or resource you may have missed on the platform, and then discuss what we cover in the newsletter in the community. We'll also give you guys a quick overview of what was added on the site this week and what's coming next week, so you'll know exactly what to look for. 

Plus, we'll be sending out anything we've learned this week that may be noteworthy for you, and practical enough for you to add into your workouts. While Mastery Hoops' coaching platform is primarily targeted towards the coach and trainer (for now 👀), athletes can get a step ahead by learning the depths of the game.  

OK, that's enough explaining. Here's what we really want you to have this week...

Trevor's big thing is "Training Ugly." Making training look a little bit (maybe a lot) imperfect. We posted a snippet on Instagram this week in which Trevor explained his reasoning behind it, but in short: there needs to be a level of difficulty in any skill enhancement for us to actually improve. In this snippet from the full conversation, Trevor talks about how we can do this. 

It's 2021. The youth sports industry is growing exponentially, basketball is becoming more and more global by the day. The time is now. Check out why here.

Coleman:
Something I have started to think about a lot this week is how all athletes will play at different levels, not only defensively but offensively as well. More strength-based athletes will sit into deep defensive stances to lock up a ball handler, but there are also phenomenal defenders who play at higher levels/joint angles. By always telling players to "get low" and "sit down" on defense, we may be trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Just some food for though.

Tyler:
Something that caught my eye this week was again something not basketball related, but can certainly be carried over to us as coaches and trainers. I was learning about a guy named Cus D'Amato, who was Mike Tysons trainer and was big on the mental side for Mike. He really tried to groom him from a young age mentally. He was constantly help monitor Mikes thoughts, and getting him to belief he was a champion, far before he ever was one. Mike HAD to have unwavering confidence in himself, had to learn how to channel his anger in a positive way, and how to use fear to his advantage. All that to say, how can we as coaches breed this mentality and thought process into our athletes by what we say and how we treat them?

"Coaching Your Players to be One Step Ahead through Defensive Anticipation" (full video)
Defensive Anticipation Drills
"5 'Weight Room Tools' All Skills Coaches Can Use" (full video)
"The Internal vs. External Cueing Magic" (full video)
Live Two Foot Cut Finishing Drill
& more.