Imagine a pilot who has never trained on how to operate a plane. His plane would probably crash. Imagine a prize fighter who has never trained to properly box. He would probably get knocked out by a worthy opponent. And yet we put our child out on a basketball court constantly without proper training and see him or her constantly fail.

We live in an age where our children play too many games on a weekly basis and train much less than what they should. We are seeing our kids fail the big test (the games), because they have failed to study (training). If this happened in school, we would ground our child because that’s not proper behavior. We often don’t look upon basketball (or sports for that matter) in the same light, but perhaps we should.

Success begins with fundamental skill work and developmental training. Recently I had the opportunity to sit down for a long discussion with the Los Angeles Lakers Physical Trainer/Conditioning Coach Chip Schaefer. Chip has instructed Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Scotty Pippen and Michael Jordan during the past decade. In other words, he has nine NBA Championship rings. When he talks, I listen very carefully.

Coach Schaefer is very familiar with the Focused Shooter. His son, Alec, trains with us on a consistent basis. Chip remarked during our conversation, "it’s all about fundamentals and skill work. It’s the only way a person constantly improves." Coach Schaefer later added that, "there are so many players at even the high school level that fail because they lack skills. Because a player is quick or can jump doesn’t mean he (or she) will be successful. Without skills they will fail."

We can not agree more strongly with Coach Chip Schaefer. Recently I worked a guard camp at Los Alamitos High School ran by the Full Court Press Scouting Service. There were 100+ players most ranging between 10-12^th grade. It was a very impressive display of athletic talent. As soon as I walked in the doors, one could sense that the gym was full of physically talented players. The problem was most of these players had no skills. There were five players at this camp that have trained great lengths with us. I asked these five individuals (two of these players were in 5^th and 7^th grade) to go through skill work which included changing hands, feet and speed in a quick motion. They were not the most physically quickest or strongest players at the camp, but they had the best SKILLS and FUNDAMENTALS. These are the ingredients, however, that comprise greatness. What was humorous was my little 5^th and 7^th grader had stronger fundamental foundations than a good majority of these slam dunking fools. In the end, the basketball gods will turn their back on these highflying players and they will soon be found at the local playground telling everyone that coach messed up their game AND THAT’S THE REASON they didn’t get to college. I’ve seen it a thousand times and will continue to see it another thousand. Coach didn’t "mess up their game." Players don’t succeed because they are lazy or naive to skill work.

There’s an old saying of you be good to basketball and basketball will be good to you. In a way success in basketball is very similar to a marriage. It’s a 365 day a year maintenance. Neglect it and take advantage of it AND basketball will take advantage of you. IT NEVER FAILS.

     Its all about Skills

Players and Parents—It’s all about skills. That’s how you get to the next level. And you don’t start these skills in high school. You start them early and you practice these skills on a daily basis. Not once a week or once a month. If you want to learn proper habits, these musty be practiced a minimum of five times a week. All skills once they are mastered must be accomplished at 100% maximum speed. Not half speed. BUT FULL SPEED. It’s the only way one can improve.

We have become a society hooked on slam dunks. Don’t look now but NBA coaches and general managers don’t care about the dunk. Seventeen foreign based players were drafted in the NBA first two rounds the season. Why? Because these players have solid fundamental skills. They aren’t the quickest or jump the highest, but they know how to play. They know how to shoot, how to attack the basket, how to dribble and how to work with their teammates. Don’t look now America, but the rest of the world is catching up because we have become lazy and stupid on the hardwood. Team USA lost three consecutive games in the World Championships this summer because USA players couldn’t hit the jump shot, the free-throw, and the open man. Soccer dominant countries (Argentina and Spain) were all of a sudden were beating the great American NBA players.

It should be remembered that ANYONE can be fundamentally sound. All it takes is that a player understands:

1) It takes a large amount of time and patience to be great. PLEASE REMEMBER GREATNESS IS A MARATHON NOT A SPRINT. The greatest fundamentally sound player from this generation was cut from his high school team. He didn’t blame coach—he just worked even harder.

2) A player must work hard on the court. It’s not just putting in time and putting forth no effort at the same time. The only way a player improves is to go 100%. A player must push his body to excel to a maximum level. We like to use the idea that if a player practices poorly, he or she usually becomes a poor player. If that player practices average, he or she becomes average. And usually if a player practices great, that individual becomes great. Is it a coincidence that Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd are some of the hardest working players in the NBA and some of the best players also? No.

3) Repetition is the key to mastering skills. In sports it’s all about muscle memory. In other words DOING IT TIME AND TIME AGAIN. We need to also realize that to become great we must practice skills CORRECTLY. Practicing skills with improper technique never improves a player. Players often find repetition as boring and redundant. Greatness, however, is usually a player that understands the importance of repetition. If the player is so unfocused that he or she finds skill work as boring, then chances are pretty good that he or she will fail in the long run.

Hopefully this helps the parent and player understand the importance of skill work. If the player and parent believe the athlete doesn’t need to constantly work on fundamental skills and only needs to play games, then I suggest you try that angle. Millions of players go that way every year. And of course millions also fail this game every year because of lack of preparation. Question is this: will you be the one at the playground one day that is blaming coach for what you failed to realize and do? Or will you succeed because you work harder and because you have greater skills than your friends and teammates?