Thanks for the email. Our basketball training is hard. What we’ve learned in doing this is that when a player is eager and hungry to get better, they pester their parents or grandparents or whomever and they figure out how to come to see us as much as they can.
Just like I said when we talked, what we do is not the fun part. It’s not the social part. It’s not the competitive part with fans and attention. There are so many things about training that are not “fun”. We are in the dark. We are behind the scenes. We are not Instagram likes and followers. We aren’t appealing in many ways. We do things that are hard initially for most athletes. We have standards and expectations for players, and we hold them accountable in the most patient way no matter how old they are. Not in a mean way, but we are there to help them learn and improve. It’s that simple.
If a player wants to truly get better, they have to do these things. They can do them on their own. They don’t have to work with us or anyone else. But beyond our time and expertise, we provide three things.
1. A plan (so they know what to do to get better)
2. Accountability (a time and a place where they work to improve)
3. Feedback (letting them know what they are doing well and what they need to correct)
Some players can figure out numbers 1 and 2 on their own. There is a ton of free information out there. Some of it is good. Some of it isn’t. You can pay for information etc. Again some of it is good and some of it isn’t. A driveway is oftentimes plenty good enough when it comes to having a “place.” We have players that are in their driveway, cold, hot, rain or shine. They are just trying to improve.
The third one is hard to get without being with someone. Number 3 isn’t very important if you don’t do 1 and 2. However, number 3 becomes very important if players want to play at a high level.
Parents and players regularly use “the season” as a reason not to come to training. I understand time might be more limited, but the best players spend time working on improving themselves all the time. In-season training might look different from off-season training, but it’s still important.
It really bothers me that someone spent money with us and for whatever reason, it was basically wasted. I feel bad about that because I feel like we didn’t provide value. However, we can only provide value if a player shows up. I tried to reach out multiple times as a reminder that we are still here and want to work with *****. Maybe I should have been more specific that these sessions don’t last forever. When I first talked with ******, there seemed to be a high level of interest and we thought we would see ***** very regularly. We aren’t just trying to take someone’s money and run away. That is common in this “industry” and we never want to be accused of that.
Our perspective is that training was hard and not very fun for your athlete. So it is easy to find reasons to not attend. If they wanted to work on their game, they would have figured it out. I’m sure they figure out how to do other things they want to do.
We want to help players get better. We’ve seen players make huge transformations that started way behind where your child is now But it all depends on how much they are willing to do about it. This involves more than just coming to see us. However, the longer we do this the more realize that we are an important part of the equation.
From our perspective, most players aren’t interested in what we offer. That’s fine. We aren’t mad about it. We understand that we don’t fit what a lot of players want. Either they realize that it’s too hard and they really don’t want to do it or they think since it isn’t 5 on 5 that it’s a waste of time. This is why only 1% make it. They are willing to do things that are hard and they understand that it’s hours of work when no one is watching that lets them shine when people are.
We also don’t want you or anyone else to spend more money or time with something that is going to be wasted. This was never an option for me when I was a kid. I’m very sensitive to the sacrifices that parents or others make to give their kids an opportunity.
I hope this all makes sense. If you have questions, let me know.