My newsletter

Lessons learnt

Dec 22, 2024 12:20 pm

Hi there everyone,

Last week was interesting, to say the least. I got a sudden call from a contact who works for one of the Chinese sports brands (I shall not name them outright, however, if I were to say that their creative director is an NBA player, would that be a dead giveaway), so they wanted me to work out a few of their players out in Los Angeles that are under contract as two-way players. Me being me, I had to check with the big boss at home if I could take up the opportunity, as soon as it was approved I booked my tickets and was out there and back.

What happened out there?

I normally always thought of myself as a constant learner however this trip really was an eye opener for me. It had been a while since I had been back in LA and around the old circle of people I normally had been. Fun thing was that as humans we are constantly in the middle of change and within this lovely sport of basketball that we are a part of the change we face is very fast paced.

I always pride myself on trying to take at least one lesson away from other trainers, player developers, and agents I am in touch with. The biggest lesson I learned this time is that what I have actively been pursuing with Small Sided Games and Constraint Led Approaches (CLA) is giving players so much more output and pushing trainers and player developers to be way more structured in their approaches. Out of the 4 workouts that I conducted within group settings with 8 players this was evident. I wish I could get more into the nitty-gritty details, but I can't due to the NDA I signed.

Albeit, even with the one one-on-one sessions that I ran with the players I was there for, keeping their movements and constraints limited allowed for them to get better output in terms of made buckets across the sessions.

Alright coach time to wrap it up, so why share all this?

Alright, I will not go on an hour long rant on the details but it gave me confidence "in a nutshell" (I always end up using this saying).

I am so looking forward to the February Camp at this point and not just to show those that come to it from all across Europe but to the local talent in and around Amsterdam. I know the number of camps in the city are growing and that standing out is definitely hard but with all due respect, being able to do what I do day in day out, with the type of people and the insights that players and coaches can learn from being around me is so different.

18 - 20 February, 2025 is when I as well as my partner Kerri plan to shine a light onto players that are looking to step up their learning process more than anything else.

Grassroots or top talent, as long as you work hard and want to learn you'll improve by %1 each time you step on the court with us.

Interested? Sign up here: https://cme.sh/1AR6A1

Coaches and parents do not shy away!!! we expect to see you too at the camp, our camp is not limited to players learning but also to people in general. If anything basketball is a teaching grounds for improving things for everyone.

Have questions reach me here: https://wa.me/+31610128790

Happy Holiday Season and if I do not get a chance to address you Happy New Year's too!!!

Ubuntu Basketball

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