In this episode we meet Brandon Heyen, who, after finishing a college career at IllinoisWesleyan, decided to go into the world of becoming a skills trainer for up and coming basketballhopefuls. To get there, he tapped into the successful Pure Sweat franchise run by DrewHanlen, who trains a number of current NBA players. In recent years, both parents and playershave been searching out “personal trainers” (Brandon hates that term) in hopes of improvingskills with the hopes of possibly getting a college scholarship. Brandon is a successful new facein this arena and has Francis Okoro (Normal West- #1 recruit in Illinois and 2019 ESPN 60 recruit) andAnaya Peoples (Danville Schlarman- Notre Dame signee) as clients. Pretty impressive!

In the first part he talks about his start in training and discusses its worth. He sees basketball as adynamic, ever-changing game, and his methods adapt to this. He doesn’t focus solely on conedrills; he would rather avoid the “gimmicky” stuff and concentrate on his player’s ability to makedecisions and reads vs defense. Sometimes this defense is his “dummy” defense while othertimes it involves their training partners. Either way, it is a more realistic approach. Brandon alsogoes on about the ability to read and adapt rather than playing with “predetermined” moves(still favors 3 dribble attacks).In the middle segment we discuss the great basketball teacher Kevin Eastman (Boston Celtics)and his “Theory of Twos”. This is a crucial component to Brandon’s training. He also talksabout the value of watching video (like John Gruden) in order to more easily tailor his trainingto his client’s style. We finish with Kobe Bryant and his “next level” vision when playing.

The last section looks at shooting and scoring. We look at the value of playing with a strongfoot and the ways to create space. Brandon believes that a player needs a “go to” move and acounter to be effective. His discussion on shooting and why it is important to teach it early is apoint we definitely agreed upon. He focuses on 3 key mechanics and thanks his old high schoolcoach Scot Vogel (Paxton-Buckley- Loda) and Ron Felling (Indiana/Lawrenceville) in theirhelping develop his shot. Finally, we hear about Drew Hanlen’s SWOT (Strength, Weakness,Opportunity, and Threat) analysis and also making sure that what he teaches fits in with style ofhis player’s team’s style. It is good. So sit back and grab a listen. I loved getting a chance totalk theory about player improvement and I wish we could have gone on for hours. Maybeanother segment????

Thanks to Audio Out Studios (Peru, IL) (www.audioout.org)

GUESTS: Brandon HeyenHOSTED BY: Scott OlsonCONTACT: [email protected] or [email protected]