Basketball is in Michael Plansky’s blood. Two of his brothers won state titles in high school, his dad coached his sister’s teams to another state championship, and his brother Mark played on Villanova’s 1985 NCAA championship team. After his own successful playing career in both basketball and baseball at Fairfield University ended, Michael decided to move into coaching. After serving as an assistant at Brandeis University for four years, Michael learned from the legendary Tom Davis at University of Iowa.

He then moved on to Saint Michael’s College, where the men’s team won their postseason conference title. As they went on to the NCAA Tournament, Michael’s twins were born prematurely at 26 weeks. Soon after, he accepted the head coaching job at Salve Regina University. On the way to practice for the team’s conference tournament, Michael found out that his son Max had cerebral palsy. After leading Salve Regina to a regular season championship and program wins record, he took Endicott College to two conference tournament titles and NCAA berths. Following roles as an athletic director and a leader of a veterans’ charity, Michael founded the non-profit You’re With Us, which began after Northeastern University’s basketball team welcomed Max into their team and their hearts.

In this episode, Michael shared:

·       How his father’s cancer battle inspired him to become his best on and off the court

·       What Tom Davis taught him about coaching philosophy

·       How he coped with parenting premature twins and a player getting meningitis during his first season as a head coach

·       Why Coach Bill Coen and the Northeastern University basketball team changed his son Max’s life

·       What You’re With Us is doing to empower teens and young adults with disabilities

Learn more about You’re With Us at www.yourewith.us and follow them on Instagram @youre_with_us and on Twitter @youre_with_us

Ken Hunter still remembers the night he pulled a kitchen knife to stop his dad hitting his mom. What came next was even more extreme, although for anyone growing up in southwestern Detroit, it was normal. The court provided Ken with some solace, and he quickly grew into a top prospect, attending the same school where Jalen Rose had won a state title. When his football coach kicked his butt for skipping school, Ken also became a standout student, even while living off friends’ couches and with his grandma.

A run-in with the law landed Ken in the courtroom, and seemingly heading for jail. But a mentor went all Good Will Hunting and convinced the judge to expunge his record if he served in the military. Once he got out, Ken picked up a ball for the first time in two years and played at LA Trade Tech. Feeling at ease for the first time in his, he helped turn a losing program into a winning one, including a statement win over East LA College. But wrestling with his roommate snapped something in Ken’s spine and he was instantly paralyzed.

Falling back in with his OGs back in Detroit, Ken was so depressed he called his wife and said he wanted to die. But his college coach brought him back to the West Coast as an assistant, and taught him the coaching trade over 13 years. Then, fittingly, his time as a lead recruiter started where his playing days had dramatically ended: ELAC. Since then, he has worked closely with Coach John Mosley to lead young men to D1 scholarships and faith on the court and leadership off it – as shown on camera in Last Chance U Basketball on Netflix. He is also involved in many charitable causes throughout LA and back in Detroit, and is a devoted father of five, husband, and now grandfather.

In this episode, Ken comes in hot about:

·       How his uncle shot his father in the head and what happened next

·       Why he turned to basketball for solace

·       How he turned paralysis into a blessing

·       Why he has such a heart for young men from inner cities

·       What drives he and Coach Mosley to deliver daily servant leadership

Keep up with Ken on his Instagram feed @coach_ken_last_chance_u and follow ELAC basketball’s progress at https://www.elacathletics.com/sports/mbkb/coaches/index

Most young assistant coaches dream of the day when they’ll finally get a crack at promotion. But few are ready for the realities of being a head coach. Jesse Wright realized he still had a lot to learn when he was tasked with running the weight room for the NFL Europe team in Barcelona while still in his early 20s. His work ethic and ability to problem solve got him through that trying season, and upon returning to his native Philadelphia, he soon found himself working for the 76ers as a consulting coach through a local performance center that had a contract to oversee the NBA team’s strength and conditioning. 

Overseeing the training of rookies, veterans like Andre Iguodala, Aaron McKie, and Elton Brand, and everyone in between, Jesse recognized the need to give players some degree of autonomy. After his company’s contract ended, he assumed the full-time role of the Sixers S&C coach, and later become the team’s Director of Performance Science. 

In this episode, Jesse reveals:

• Why younger players have so much to learn from the work habits of Aaron McKie, Andre Iguodal, and Elton Brand
• Which elements of coaching football players transferred to his time in the NBA
• How soft skills like communication, hustle, and vision can do more for anyone’s career than technical proficiency 
• How he continued his mother’s creative legacy by writing two books
• What tactics you can use to manage fast-growing teams in any walk of life

To learn more from Jesse, check out his book The Intent is to Grow, follow him on Instagram, and visit his website.

Coach John Mosley can still remember the day his life changed forever. Gang members fired bullets outside his Los Angeles high school in a drive-by shooting, and Mosley was on his way to get revenge. But as he was about to jump in his friend’s car, he asked himself, “What am I doing?” Soon afterwards, two words took him down a different path: “Basketball tryouts.” Mosley came late to the game, but his stellar point guard play earned him minutes at East LA College (ELAC), The Master’s College (now University) and with pro teams in Brazil and Australia. Next, he went back to guide the Mustangs on the sidelines with Coach Keith Oates and then took the assistant coach position at Cal State Bakersfield with Keith Brown.

His other alma mater, ELAC, came calling, and Mosley took his first head coaching job, believing he’d just be there for a year before accepting a D1 offer. Yet 11 seasons later, he feels called to remain at ELAC to develop troubled young men as players and people. Just before the pandemic, his squad got international airtime in season 1 of Last Chance U Basketball. Though COVID robbed them of a state title, KJ Allen, Deshaun Highler, and Joe Hampton became stars. In season 2, Coach Mosley and his assistants Ken Hunter and Rob Robinson guided a new crew led by Bryan Penn-Johnson, Dez Washington, Shemar Washington and Demetrius "DC" Calip II to D1 and D2 scholarships, and ELAC won the conference title.  

In this episode, Coach Mosley shares:

• How faith and basketball saved his life
• Why growing up in a tough neighborhood prepared him to lead young men
• When he almost turned down Netflix
• How he and his kids survived a terrible car wreck
• Why he continues to turn down offers from prestigious programs to serve at ELAC
• How his father passing unexpectedly galvanized his mission
• Why impacting lives is even more important than winning games or trophies

Learn more from Coach Mosley at his website, https://coachjohnmosley.com/ and on Instagram @coachjohnmosley

Strength and conditioning for young pro athletes isn’t easy, but because they’re bouncy and resilient, you can experiment more to find a line of best fit. But what about when you’re training older athletes aged 35 and up, either in the general population or a pro sports setting? That’s the question legendary strength coach answers in this podcast. In this part 2, he and former Lakers S&C coach Tim DiFrancesco discuss:

• Why you should make a “who’s smarter than me?” list and then seek those people out to learn from them
•  How he approached coaching veteran athletes with the Boston Red Sox
• Why the most important question to ask is “Does this hurt” and any answer other than “no” means “yes”
• What the number one reason is for older athletes getting hurt and how to avoid it
• Why over-valuing your own knowledge leads to under-networking
•  Which exercises he typically avoids with veteran athletes
• Why a coach needs to be an effective face reader and active listener
• How being a bouncer and bartender gave him the soft skills needed for coaching
• Which coaches and PTs he sought out for mentoring and who he recommends today

Read Mike’s new book, Designing Strength Training Programs and Facilities (2nd edition), check out his articles at strengthcoach.com, and follow him at @mboyle1959 on Twitter and @michael_boyle1959 on Instagram 

Tim Frazier was told he was too small and weak to play contact sports. But sibling rivalry fueled him to prove his doubters wrong and propelled him to a basketball scholarship with Penn. There, his stellar play at the point earned Tim All Big Ten honors. Yet disaster loomed, and he tore his Achilles just a few months later. Looking at the game through his coaches’ eyes, he turned a negative into a positive and worked his way back onto the court with courage and determination.

In his senior year, Tim’s pure point guard skills and improved shooting got him back in contention for the NBA draft, but he never heard his name called. He worked out for several teams, including the Philadelphia 76ers and made the Boston Celtics’ summer league squad. He was playing in the D League in Maine when he got the call from the 76ers, who needed cover because of injuries. Avery Bradley had to lend Tim shoes because his were locked in his team’s practice facility. Tim had a series of short stays with multiple NBA teams, before getting a two-year deal with New Orleans. He played for 9 seasons in the league, before taking his talents to Greece and France.

In this episode, Tim dishes on:

• What mental tools he used to come back strong after tearing his Achilles and stay in the NBA
• Why his draft workout led to the 76ers drafting Joel Embiid
•  How he apprenticed under Rajon Rondo and Damian Lillard
• Why he and trainer Phil Beckner almost came to blows
• How his faith has kept him strong through adversity
• What athletes can do to level up on the court and in life
• How pro basketball games in Greece involve fans throwing flares, coins, and more

Keep up with Tim on his Instagram feed @timfraz23

Tim Frazier was told he was too small and weak to play contact sports. But sibling rivalry fueled him to prove his doubters wrong and propelled him to a basketball scholarship with Penn. There, his stellar play at the point earned Tim All Big Ten honors. Yet disaster loomed, and he tore his Achilles just a few months later. Looking at the game through his coaches’ eyes, he turned a negative into a positive and worked his way back onto the court with courage and determination.

In his senior year, Tim’s pure point guard skills and improved shooting got him back in contention for the NBA draft, but he never heard his name called. He worked out for several teams, including the Philadelphia 76ers and made the Boston Celtics’ summer league squad. He was playing in the D League in Maine when he got the call from the 76ers, who needed cover because of injuries. Avery Bradley had to lend Tim shoes because his were locked in his team’s practice facility. Tim had a series of short stays with multiple NBA teams, before getting a two-year deal with New Orleans. He played for 9 seasons in the league, before taking his talents to Greece and France.

In this episode, Tim dishes on:

• What mental tools he used to come back strong after tearing his Achilles and stay in the NBA
• Why his draft workout led to the 76ers drafting Joel Embiid
•  How he apprenticed under Rajon Rondo and Damian Lillard
• Why he and trainer Phil Beckner almost came to blows
• How his faith has kept him strong through adversity
• What athletes can do to level up on the court and in life
• How pro basketball games in Greece involve fans throwing flares, coins, and more

Keep up with Tim on his Instagram feed @timfraz23

Tim Frazier was told he was too small and weak to play contact sports. But sibling rivalry fueled him to prove his doubters wrong and propelled him to a basketball scholarship with Penn. There, his stellar play at the point earned Tim All Big Ten honors. Yet disaster loomed, and he tore his Achilles just a few months later. Looking at the game through his coaches’ eyes, he turned a negative into a positive and worked his way back onto the court with courage and determination.

In his senior year, Tim’s pure point guard skills and improved shooting got him back in contention for the NBA draft, but he never heard his name called. He worked out for several teams, including the Philadelphia 76ers and made the Boston Celtics’ summer league squad. He was playing in the D League in Maine when he got the call from the 76ers, who needed cover because of injuries. Avery Bradley had to lend Tim shoes because his were locked in his team’s practice facility. Tim had a series of short stays with multiple NBA teams, before getting a two-year deal with New Orleans. He played for 9 seasons in the league, before taking his talents to Greece and France.

In this episode, Tim dishes on:

• What mental tools he used to come back strong after tearing his Achilles and stay in the NBA
• Why his draft workout led to the 76ers drafting Joel Embiid
•  How he apprenticed under Rajon Rondo and Damian Lillard
• Why he and trainer Phil Beckner almost came to blows
• How his faith has kept him strong through adversity
• What athletes can do to level up on the court and in life
• How pro basketball games in Greece involve fans throwing flares, coins, and more

Keep up with Tim on his Instagram feed @timfraz23

Ax throwing. Log balancing. Carrying kettlebells through the forest. Standup paddling. Visitors to Gray Cook’s lake cabin invariably do some activities that might seem unconventional at first but actually train every major movement pattern and then some. Gray applies a similar real-world lens to the movement and function assessments that he co-created for athletes, including the Functional Movement Screen (FMS), Functional Capacity Screen (FCS) and Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA). 

When Basketball Strong co-host Tim DiFrancesco was the S&C coach for the Lakers, he used these screens to identify the gaps in their movement literacy so that he could make them more durable on the court. Gray’s practices are used across the NBA and in many college and high school programs, and his movement philosophies and practices offer coaches, parents, and players at every level the chance to reduce the risk of injury, increase strength, power, balance, and speed, and play the game better for longer. 

In this episode, Gray shares: 

• What movement patterns and exercises are best suited to basketball players and other tall athletes
• How to improve balance, squatting, rotation, jumping, and more 
• What S+C coaches, PTs, ATs and other professionals can do to help players with ACL injuries avoid getting hurt again
• What “functional” training does and doesn’t mean
• Which physical qualities should be developed to make basketball players more durable and how the FMS can help identify weaknesses that can be turned into strengths
• How John Wooden ensured his UCLA teams were fresher than their opponents in the fourth quarter

Click here to read Gray’s books and articles, find seminars and other resources on the Functional Movement website, and keep an eye out for Gray’s new book, The Business of Movement.

Ax throwing. Log balancing. Carrying kettlebells through the forest. Standup paddling. Visitors to Gray Cook’s lake cabin invariably do some activities that might seem unconventional at first but actually train every major movement pattern and then some. Gray applies a similar real-world lens to the movement and function assessments that he co-created for athletes, including the Functional Movement Screen (FMS), Functional Capacity Screen (FCS) and Selective Functional Movement Assessment (SFMA). 

When Basketball Strong co-host Tim Francesco was the S&C coach for the Lakers, he used these screens to identify the gaps in their movement literacy so that he could make them more durable on the court. Gray’s practices are used across the NBA and in many college and high school programs, and his movement philosophies and practices offer coaches, parents, and players at every level the chance to reduce the risk of injury, increase strength, power, balance, and speed, and play the game better for longer. 

In this episode, Gray shares: 

• What movement patterns and exercises are best suited to basketball players and other tall athletes
• How to improve balance, squatting, rotation, jumping, and more 
• What S+C coaches, PTs, ATs and other professionals can do to help players with ACL injuries avoid getting hurt again
• What “functional” training does and doesn’t mean
• Which physical qualities should be developed to make basketball players more durable and how the FMS can help identify weaknesses that can be turned into strengths
• How John Wooden ensured his UCLA teams were fresher than their opponents in the fourth quarter

Click here to read Gray’s books and articles, find seminars and other resources on the Functional Movement website, and keep an eye out for Gray’s new book, The Business of Movement.