Hoop Commitment

Episode 124: Last month I shared that I helped co-author a book called, There’s More Than 1 Way to Skin A Cat.  We’ve got 2 NBA, 3 Division 1 and  5 European Basketball performance coaches contributing to chapters on mobility, stability, power, agility, periodization and recovery.  I received my copies of the book last month and they turned out awesome.  For anyone wanting to buy a copy, make sure you reach out to @silk_man on Instagram, and Luka will take care of you.   

And so Today’s episode is another sneak peak into our book, where I interview the 9 coaches and ask, “what’s your thought process on reducing ankle sprains.”  And then you get to hear exactly how the Chicago Bulls, Denver Nuggets, Kansas Jayhawks and Louisville Cardinals do it here in the states.  And you’ll also get to hear how professional teams in Istanbul, Brescia, Jerusalem, Slovan and Maccabi do it in the European Leagues.  My goal for this episode is to prove that there really is more than one way to train & condition basketball players. Here's a list of contributors: 

Luka Svilar has a PhD in Sport Science with a master’s in Kinesiology and brings a wealth of experience from working with esteemed teams such as Bayern, Baskonia, Turk Telekom and Croatia’s NTs.

Ramsey Nijem is the Director of Performance for the University of Kansas Men’s Basketball Program.  He holds a Doctorate of Science in Human and Sport Performance and a Master of Science in Kinesiology.  Before joining the Jayhawks, he spent 5 season s with the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. 

Jure Drakslar is the Head Strength & Conditioning coach and rehabilitation specialist at BC Zenit Saint Petersburg.  He has over two decades of experience in professional basketball and hold’s a masters degree in sports science.   He’s also a personal off-season strength & conditioning coach for many top-level basketball players, including my son’s favorite NBA player, Luka Doncic, who he worked with for 3 off-seasons. 

Matt Comer is currently working on his PhD in Health & Human Performance while holding a master’s degree in biomechanics and a bachelors in athletic training.  He began his basketball  strength & conditioning career working in the G-League before getting promoted to the NBA. 

Roberto Iezzi holds a master’s degree in sport science and has almost 20 years of experience in basketball.  He’s currently the head of performance at Brescia Basketball, responsible for the players performance and rehabilitation. 

Kostas Chatzichristos is the Head of Performance at Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul,  He holds a masters degree from the University of Texas at Austin and is a current PhD candidate at Democritus University.  Kostas also serves as the director of the Euroleague Strength & conditioning Coaches association. 

Adam Petway is the Director of Strength & Conditioning at Louisville basketball and leverages extensive NBA experience with the 76ers and wizards.  He holds an MBA in sport management and earned bachelors and PhD degrees in Sport Science. 

Reggie Fanan is a graduate of the Zinman School of Coaches at Wingate and has served as Maccabi’s Head Strength & Conditioning coach for over a decade.  He is a former Euroleague player, which gives him a unique perspective as a basketball performance coach.

Claus Souza, He holds a master’s degree in applied sciences, a bachelors degree in physical education, and is an NBA championship with the Denver Nuggets.   He has over 15 years of strength & conditioning experience, working with the NCAA, WNBA and private sector.   

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Episode 123: Today’s episode is a sneak peak into our new book, There Is More Than One Way To Skin A Cat, where I interview nine basketball strength coaches and ask, “What’s your approach to testing and what’s the most common test you use?  And then you get to hear exactly how the Chicago Bulls, Denver Nuggets, Kansas Jayhawks and Louisville Cardinals do it here in the states.  And you’ll also get to hear how professional teams in Istanbul, Brescia, Jerusalem, Slovan and Maccabi do it in the European Leagues. 

My goal for this episode is to prove that there really is more than one way to train & condition a basketball player.  Here's an overview of the nine basketball performance coaches I interviewed:

Luka Svilar has a PhD in Sport Science with a master’s degree in Kinesiology.  He brings a wealth of experience from working with esteemed teams such as Bayern, Baskonia, Turk Telekom, Unics and Croatia’s NTs. 

Ramsey Nijem is the Director of Performance for the University of Kansas Men’s Basketball Program.  He holds a Doctorate of Science in Human and Sport Performance and a Master of Science in Kinesiology.  Before joining the Jayhawks, he spent 5 seasons with the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. 

Jure Drakslar is the Head S&C Coach and Rehabilitation Specialist at BC Zenit Saint Petersburg and has over two decades of experience in professional basketball.  He hold’s a masters degree in sports science and has got to train my son’s favorite NBA player, Luka Doncic, for 3 off-seasons. 

Matt Comer is currently working on his PhD in Health & Human Performance while holding a master’s degree in biomechanics and a bachelors in athletic training.  He began his basketball  strength & conditioning career working in the G-League before getting promoted to the NBA. 

Roberto Iezzi holds a master’s degree in sport science and has almost 20 years of experience in basketball.  He’s currently the head of performance at Brescia Basketball, responsible for the players performance and rehabilitation.

Kostas Chatzichristos is the Head of Performance at Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul.  He holds a masters degree from the University of Texas at Austin and is a current PhD candidate at Democritus University of Thrace.  Kostas also serves as the director of the Euroleague Strength & conditioning Coaches association.   

Adam Petway is the Director of Strength & Conditioning at Louisville basketball and leverages extensive NBA experience with the 76ers and wizards.  He holds an MBA in sport management and earned bachelors and PhD degrees in Sport Science.  He’s also author to the latest book I’m reading right now titled, Basketball Mechanics. 

Reggie Fanan is a graduate of the Zinman School of Coaches at Wingate and has served as Maccabi’s Head Strength & Conditioning coach for over a decade.  Reggie is a former Euroleague player, which gives him a unique perspective as a basketball performance coach. 

Claus Souza holds a master’s degree in applied sciences, a bachelors degree in physical education, and  is an NBA championship with the Denver Nuggets.   He has over 15 years of strength & conditioning experience, working with the NCAA, WNBA and private sector. 

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Episode 122:  Learn everything you need to know about basketball pre-game meals from one of the best in the business.  Jessica Isaacs, RD, CSSD is a Los Angeles-based Sports Dietitian with an eclectic career working with elite-level athletes, creating engaging social media content, and is a highly sought-after speaker and mentor.

She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics from Purdue University and is a Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics. In her career working as a Sports Dietitian, she has supported thousands of athletes from youth to professional level, serving as the Sports Dietitian at Kobe Bryant's MAMBA Sports Academy, the Basketball Performance Dietitian at UCLA, and spent two seasons as the Lead Sports Dietitian for the LA Clippers.

To learn more about Jessica, check her out on social media @jessicathesportsrd

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Episode 121: Dr Andy Galpin has his bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Linfield college, a masters degree in human movement science from the university of Memphis and his PhD in human bioenergetics. 

He considers himself a scientist, teacher and coach, with his full-time job being a professor at Cal State Fullerton..  As a scientist, he’s the co-Director of the Center for Sports Performance where he conducts research on anything that is relevant to human performance.  He’s also the founder and director of the Biochemistry and Molecular Exercise Physiology Laboratory, with over 100 peer-reviewed publications and presentations. 

As a teacher, he’s written countless articles, created an awesome YouTube page and teaches grad classes in strength & conditioning, program design, muscle physiology and nutrition at Cal State Fullerton.  And as a coach, he’s worked with professional athletes for over 15 years that include NBA All-stars and Hall of Famers in multiple sports. 

So with a resume like this, I thought Dr Galpin would be the perfect person to share the big picture principles of designing a year long training program while also providing actionable specifics that we can apply starting next week

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Episode 120: Tyler Whitmer oversees the Olympic Sports Performance department at Boise State, works with their men's basketball program, and started an athlete mentorship group for their athletic department.  Prior to joining the Broncos, He earned his masters of science in Education with a concentration in Exercise Physiology from the University of Kansas and coached at Treasure Valley & Oral Roberts. 

Boise State was in town last month and I was lucky enough to reconnect with Tyler.  We hung out for almost an hour and the funny thing is, we talked about almost everything BUT strength & conditioning.  When I asked him what he was passionate about, he started telling about a mentorship group that he helped create for male athletes. 

As he was explaining his mentorship program, Get Reps, I knew the Hoop Commitment community needed to hear about it.  For anyone who has lost faith in high level athletics, it will warm your heart to know there are programs investing in areas that really matter.

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Episode 119: Ben Greenfield is a New York Times best-selling author, health & fitness biohacker, and fellow podcaster who is extreme about practicing what he preaches.  I don’t know anyone who pursues mental, physical and spiritual health more passionately than Ben. 

His book, Boundless, is a health encyclopedia that combines timeless wisdom with up-to-date science and then he wraps it with a nice bow by giving simple, actionable solutions for the reader to implement. 

Today I chose two chapters in his book to focus on that don’t require any complicated technology or expensive supplementation to improve on.  Everyone listening to this podcast sleeps and breathes every day, and with Ben’s help, we can optimize the way we do it.

Check out Ben on social media @BenGreenfieldFitness and his website www.bengreenfieldlife.com


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Episode 118:  Lifestyle Performance with Portlands Bryant Ferate.  Bryant is the Assistant Director of Sports Performance at the University of Portland and works with their women’s basketball program.  We’ve had some awesome battles over the last few years, going back & forth during the regular season and WCC tournament championships.  And so this podcast was a great excuse to reach out to him and build our friendship.

Bryant's mission is to cultivate curiosity through performance coaching, writing and podcasting.  Before joining the Portland Pilot’s staff, he had experience at Washington state, Kentucky, Iowa, UT Arlington and the Minnesota Twins. 

Outside of coaching, Bryant writes a weekly newsletter, the Ferate 5, where he explores and shares something he’s curious about in less than 5 minutes.  He also has a podcast that focuses on health, sport and lifestyle performance… which is what we’re going to dive into today.

I hadn’t heard the term lifestyle performance, but it makes total sense that our lifestyle habits drive our performance.  And so today, I got to pick Bryant’s brain on how he helps athletes improve the way they eat, sleep, study and have fun. 

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Episode 117: There is huge value in doing hard things.  A challenging task can make normal, everyday life seem easier.  If you paddle boarded for 8 hours straight in the ocean, it makes going to the gym for a 30-minute run seem like a walk in the park.  It also raises your pain threshold and gives you confidence that you can try new things.  So many of us focus on how we can do less and less, how we can make our life more convenient, to a point that when difficult times arise, we’re unsure if we can make it through. 

While I see tremendous value in doing hard things, my current passion is finding out how people continue to do the easy thing, every day.  It’s not that I’m against doing the hard thing, it’s just that I believe most people, including me, would benefit way more from consistently doing the easy thing, day in and day out.  Instead of spending a massive amount of energy on doing a 5k underwater with a 70-pound boulder, it would be more beneficial for our conditioning and health to commit to 5 minutes of cardio work every day.  Instead of planning and spending a massive amount of money on a 1 time extravagant get-away with our spouse, most of our relationships would benefit way more from committing to giving our partner a compliment and asking them a good question every day. 

Check out this episode if you want to learn the power of small, easy, daily commitments.

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Episode 116: Today’s guest needs no introduction.  Anyone listening to the Hoop commitment podcast knows who Jay Bilas is.  And I feel so lucky that I was able to pick his brain on what it means to be tough.  If you’re like me, you read his legendary ESPN article and immediately shared it with your players and coaches.  It was the first time that someone defined toughness in a way that inspired me.  

Toughness isn't about pounding your chest after a routine play or getting in an opponent’s face.  It isn't about being physically intimidating.  Jay defined toughness as setting good screens, running to a teammate when they need help up and talking on defense. I loved the article so much that I bought his book, and in preparation for this interview, I just read it again.  

It is full of amazing stories from when he played at Duke, when got drafted in the NBA, when coached alongside Coach K, and when got his law degree.  There’s very few people that are more qualified to write a book on toughness than Jay Bilas.  He lives it every day with the amount of preparation he does as an ESPN announcer and the humility he shows as he lifts up those around him.  If you want to learn what it means to be tough on & off the court, you’ll love this interview. 

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Episode 115: And now to part 3 of the Dr. Dave Tiberio Trilogy! I’ve been excited for this interview because I’m learning how important training fascia is, but I’m not sure I’ve been optimizing it with my players.  As always, DT does an amazing job of taking the complicated and making it understandable. 

Click here if you want to watch the 22-part Fascia Series on Youtube  

Keep listening if you want to learn what fascia is, why it is important, and how to optimize it during your training. 

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