Billy with his College Coach Bob McKillop
Players, coaches, parents and inquiring minds all over! Here is your chance to get all of your basketball and training related questions answered by a professional basketball player! Please note that your question may appear on the website. Do not submit a question that you do not want published. Only your first name will be used for privacy reasons.
Date: April 3, 2008
Q: Hi Billy, I was wondering what kind of jumping program I should do since I'm technically in-season since I'm doing your Spring League and AAU. I have the JumpSoles and a Hypergravity Weight Belt, and was wondering if I should follow the training guide. How intense should my vertical training be during the season, and basically how much should I train? Thanks.
Ryan
A: Hi Ryan, great to hear from you. My advice to you regarding your training is to go all out. The most important season for you is during the winter when you are playing for your high school team. Even though you are playing spring AAU this is still technically your off-season so don't hold back. Champions are made in the off-season. As far as the jumpsoles are concerned I would follow the workout exactly as it is presented. Go through the first 4 weeks and then add your weighted belt to the workouts. Start out with only using about 2% of your body weight and then add 1% per week and after the third week stop using the weighted belt for three weeks. I hope this helps and continue to work hard.
Billy
January 20th, 2008
Q: Hi Billy. I have tried to get my 12 year old son to understand that basketball is indeed a game of contact. He has a hard time understanding that he must first make some contact with his defender in order to get free. How do we appropriately teach our youngsters that basketball is a game of some contact? Thanks for your time and I love your site.
Joseph
Joseph,
A: I am glad you like the site. I will be adding more interesting basketball content very soon. Your question is great and also very important. The sooner kids can understand that basketball is a contact sport the easier the game will be for them in the long run.
At Hoop Dreamz we do a lot of drills which force the kids to make contact with the defense. One great drill to do is one that I did everyday in college when I played for Davidson. It is very simple. Have your son start out on the wing with the ball. Have someone play defense on him and have a coach stand in the low post same side of the court. Then have your son just pivot around while the defender is applying tremendous defensive pressure. The more contact and aggressiveness the defense can apply the better. The offensive player is not allowed to dribble. They just have to pivot around and be tough with the ball while the defense is fouling them. The offensive player must feed the post when the coach puts up his hand. This drill is called "tough with the ball" and will start to get your son used to the physical aspect of basketball. You can also do this drill while dribbling in one spot.
Hopefully this will help and thanks again for a great question.
Billy
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