The Next Step

Watching the NCAA tournament has been a lot of fun. I wish the Zags would have been able to play on.

It is fun to see a team play long past the time that league play is over. It is exciting to see kids make great improvements from one season to another.

Unfortunately some folks believe that merely getting a year older and wiser will automatically make any team member better. If only it was that easy then most anyone could be all-league or even all state. But it isn’t that easy. And merely playing more games isn’t the entire answer.

Kids need to work at it on their own or at least with a buddy or someone that can push a player to improve. I’m sure we’ve seen some very good players stagnate year after year after very promising early years. Some lose confidence shooting, or dribbling and a lot of it has to do with the fact that they work out lazily.

The best way to work out is game shots, game spots, game speed. But too often a player will work on shooting threes or a dunk because those plays hit the highlight reel.

I remember watching one kid work on his dunking ability by running from half court and getting close but not quite high enough to dunk.

My question to him was, “Why aren’t you dribbling to the basket before you dunk?”

The answer was simply that he couldn’t dribble any more than 10 feet before he dribbled it off his foot or leg.

So the real question was why aren’t you working on your dribbling skills? For most kids it comes down to dunking is cooler than dribbling.

Top 10 ESPN highlights ruin most players’ ideals. They see somebody dunk or shoot a three from 30 feet out and they think those are the skills they can master in ten minutes.

How many hours did Steph Curry spend improving his game and shooting the ball all over the court?

A lot and he still works at it, oh, and he can dribble and pass too.

I’ve seen too many kids at the pee wee level hoist up shots far beyond their reach and if they come close or even make one or two they’ll keep throwing the ball up at the basket thinking they are getting better.

What they are really doing is messing up their technique to shoot shots where they can be more consistent and truly help a team win ballgames. But if no one changes that behavior bad habits will ensue and confidence levels will drop significantly.

Sometimes an adult needs to spend time passing the ball to the player in a spot where they can make shots consistently. Then keep moving back a few feet until that shot is mastered. It takes a lot of time and a lot of patience.

Young players need to understand that more shots are missed close to the basket and at the free throw line that lead to more losses than three point shots lead to victory. But who wants to see highlights of free throw shots. If your team wins I guarantee you that the free throw will be exciting.

For any player at any age it is the right time to take that next step to become a better and more consistent athlete. It certainly isn’t easy and some of the drills aren’t exciting but greatness doesn’t come easy and no one wants to watch you work out but fans will pay money to see the results when it really matters.