The TCP Podcast (Tyler Clark)

Tyler is an incredible mind in the training space, in my opinion him and Coleman Ayers are on the brink of something huge in the field. He's at the forefront of a much needed and very necessary shift in the training world.

Tyler breakdowns his training philosophies (games-based/constraints-led approach), why he believes in what he does so much, why it makes sense, and how to apply it as well. What's great about Tyler is that he always has his receipts ready, he doesn't just do things to do them. His craft is backed by a lot of science, and it shows.

At 23 he's done a great job in this community, he opened his own gym in Lowell Mass (TJL Training) a couple years ago now which he's been training out of as well as creating a solid following on social media. He has multiple programs and an online academy for those interested. He helped put on, in my opinion, the biggest conference within the basketball world back in October in Miami. The second conference will be this April 2 & 3, along with that he has even more in the works. He hasn't grazed the surface yet, I'm beyond happy to have a relationship with him and to have gotten him on the podcast.

He puts out so much free content that's really game changing between his instagram and youtube, for even more (and at more depth) check out him and Colemans platform 'Mastery Hoops' which I'll link below.  

Tyler's stuff:
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/c/TylerLeclerc
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tjltraining/
Mastery Hoops - https://www.masteryhoops.com/

In this episode I took the opportunity to capitalize on topics discussed with recent guests (Coleman Ep. 3 & Tyler Ep. 5), those topics were things the games-based approach, constraints, variability, blocked practice and random practice and types of learning. 

At the root of all that is motor learning and skill acquisition, I go over what exactly motor learning is and the science behind it. If we actually look at the science and understand what motor learning is then the traditional approach to training simply isn't getting us better, the games-based approach is. 

I talk about the science but keep it very consumable, as well as giving some example of how we can apply these approaches and concepts. I hope the way I explain this stuff is easy enough to consume and that you're able to takeaway some key things and apply them to your own sessions

References and resources:
Skill acquisition (good entry article): https://www.scienceforsport.com/skill-acquisition/
Great video with Kyle Newell on motor learning: https://trainugly.com/portfolio/specificity-improving-the-learning-process-with/ 
Great resource for all things motor learning: https://thelearnerlab.com/train-ugly/
Rob Gray website: https://perceptionaction.com/
Way of champions podcast with Rob Gray: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/250-rob-gray-phd-how-to-teach-movement-improve-skill/id1223779199?i=1000544561093
Mastery Hoops: https://www.masteryhoops.com/

People to know:
Nikolai Bernstein
Rob Gray
Kyle Newell
Carol Dweck 
Dr. Elizabeth and Robert Bjork

I briefly met Danny in October last year for the PDC in Miami, since then I've been following him on Instagram and youtube and he's a great follow. He's a great trainer, entrepreneur and person. 

Danny is the owner and founder of "Danny Cooper Basketball" which has grown a solid name for itself, he interned under Drew Hanlen for 7 weeks which helped really skyrocket his business and confidence as a trainer. 

He and I talk about training, being a trainer while also being a college athlete, how juggling the two has helped him tremendously. Being the only senior and a captain of his team this year has helped him improve and understand what exactly being a leader is for him. 

Make sure to go check him out and follow everything he's got going on: 
https://www.instagram.com/dcoopbball/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2aMAHL9kgoxMrNkW8oQQ8w

We often times glorify the Kobe Bryant's and Michael Jordans for the shear amount of work they put in, early days and long nights, an obsessive dedication to the game. That's all well and good but they worked up to that point, as well as having great genetics, but also they prioritize their recovery just as much as their actual work. 

There's a reason Lebron James is the most durable athlete of all time, theres a reason he hasn't had a career ending/threatening injury or even season ending at that, there's a reason he spends $1.5 million on the likes of a sleep therapist, chef/nutritionists, strength and performance coaches that understand proper programming. 

It starts with the big rocks: sleep, nutrition, proper programming. If those things are impeccable than no thera-gun, normatec, cryotherapy or any other recovery modality will help you. Those just act as bandaids over a massive wound, once your sleep is good, nutrition is solid and your programming is there THEN you can play around with the sexy and cool recovery modalities. 

I talk about the importance of all those above and some ways to improve the three big rocks and further optimize them.

Jess is an incredible person! This episode is packed with so much knowledge, from talking about the struggles women face in sport and this field and conversely what kind of mindset you need to have if you're a women in this field. 

Jess gave a lot of great incite on how to prepare the human body basketball, starting with the feet and moving up the body. How important reactive strength is for sport and especially a sport like basketball. 

We talked about how to create a culture that breeds progress as well as an environment that welcomes everyone in the weight room, this is a huge topic. Jess works super hard on creating the culture and environment she has in her gym as well as what comes with her when she trains anywhere.

Make sure to check her out on IG and check out her app if you want to train with her!
IG - https://www.instagram.com/coachjrperformance/
App - https://my.playbookapp.io/jess-racz

Preface: If you like static stretching and it works for you, keep doing it. 

This episode I breakdown if static stretching is really helping us, in my opinion as well as a lot of research says, it doesn't.  It doesn't improve performance, warm us up, reduce injury, improve/increase range of motion, etc

It's really good for cramps, but that's about it. I talk about why that is and use this article for reference:
https://www.painscience.com/articles/stretching.php#sec_flexibility

Season 2 episode 1 was a great one!! Cristian is an awesome human being, everything about him just screams genuine. He puts so much into his craft and it's so easy to see that even just through his words alone. 

I'm a big believer that you can learn so much from others stories and others journeys, we spend a good amount of time going over Cristians background and then the importance of experience in this field and in general. Which brings us into the topic of his pro academy down in Austin, Texas. 

I ask Cristian if he uses a formal screening/assessment process, which he later talks about how it's not necessarily just about one assessment but how everyday he and his colleagues are reassessing their athletes. 

We talk about static stretching and if it really makes sense and Cristian has an interesting perspective on "static" stretching - not the traditional take. Mobility and flexibility aren't exactly the same, then once we gain adequate mobility do we keep driving for more?

Lastly Cristian touches upon the foot & ankle complex and the importance of training it especially for hoopers.

Cristians info:
IG - https://www.instagram.com/cristiangplascencia/
Durable Athlete - https://durableathlete.com/
Texas Pro Academy - https://texasproacademy.com/

This past weekend I traveled to LA for the second Mastery Hoops Player Development Conference, and it was absolutely incredible. I wanted to use it as leverage to talk about why going to these types of events is so important.

Here's what I think going to these events do:
1. Build meaningful relationships
2. Travel and see new cultures, try new cuisine, site see, get new perspective which all help you become a better HUMAN
3. Gain invaluable knowledge and experience 
4. Incredible for business (immediate & for the future)
5. Improve your own craft and every around you

Listen to the whole thing to hear me digress some more on all those topics.

Contrary to common belief and what actual real doctors say, "rest and ice" doesn't help patellar tendinopathy. It's actually making it worse which I dive into in this weeks episode, in order to actually get better we have to load the tendon. 

Few big concepts in the episode:
1. LOAD the tendon
2. Manage your workload - spikes in your workload aggravate tendons immensely 
3. Train the feet and soleus to help protect the knee and hip 
4. Take a look at your nutrition - the saying "you are what you eat" rings true, we can't recover a degenerated tendon if you're putting McDonalds and sprite into your system
5. Practice proper mechanics - we land in precarious and often harmful positions post jump, so who's to say how much value snap downs actually have? I do think there may be at least a little value in training proper mechanics through the kinetic chain (ankle, knee, hip) and to try and properly distribute the force we absorb through all three joints. Altitude drops and a plethora of other deceleration type work has their place and prove to be extremely important 

Some notable names and people you should look up if you wanna learn more:
Jill Cook 
Keith Barr
Jake Tuura: YT - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGi0IxcAiCyOGmvTjVqAHiw 
Podcast - https://jackedathlete.libsyn.com/
Paul Fabritz
Mike G

Early off-season training needs to be as general as possible, stay away from any sport specific movement patterns. We just got through with a vigorous 7 month competitive season where all our body did was sport specific movements, a lot of players experienced other injuries throughout the season as well - jumper's knee, sprained ankle, pulled groined, and so much more

This is our opportunity to rebuild our foundation from the ground up and focus on individual weaknesses, movement quality, and recover from the season. If we stay specific to our sport we'll only burn out and inevitably get injured

I heard Joerik speak at the Mastery Hoops Player Development Conference this month and was taken away by his expertise and approach to player development, I'm ecstatic to get him on.

He and I talk about his gym in Belgium and his story to get where he is now, he's a trailblazer in Europe and continuously improving the culture where he is. He brings a unique philosophy by utilizing small-sided games to train one of the most important qualities in basketball: decision-making. 

Joerik takes his role extremely seriously as a role model to the athletes he works with, he provides an experience at his gym that helps teach life habits as well as basketball skills. Not every athlete will go play pro and make millions of dollars, but even so they shouldn't feel like they're stuck now or unprepared because all they've done is play basketball - Joerik's philosophy is to train both life skills and basketball skills at the same time. 

Make sure to check out Joerik's instagram and his online coaching platform below:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/joerik/

Platform: https://eliteathletes.be/events/elite-athletes-coaches-development-weekend/ 

Gabe Macias is a basketball skills trainer and gym owner in San Diego, California. He's the owner of Gametimeelitetraining, and he brought so much value to the show and for you guys.

Gabe gives such great insight on how he built up his clientele by training a couple kids at the park and starting as an AAU coach, then leveraging being a coach to his advantage. He goes into some methods of utilizing AAU programs to build your clientele as well as utilizing referral programs in order to grow your clientele.

We talk about how Gabe found his gym and then the best part of the podcast in my opinion is how he's built the culture in his gym, and he goes into a lot of detail. He mentions something he gives his athletes called an accountability journal which he has his athletes reflect in, do homework in and so much more

Make sure to tune in to the whole episode, you don't wanna miss any of it.

Gabe's social media:
IG - https://www.instagram.com/gametimeelitetraining/
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfyk9fwHemsNq3d_C6pG8tg
Website for links - https://gametimeelitebasketballtraining.com/links

Ben Teer is the biggest basketball trainer in the state of Maine, and not only Maine but he's also recognized as one of the best in America. It was great to chop it up with Ben especially seeing that I'm also a trainer out of Maine.

We talk about the development that Maine has seen since he started (2015) and what's helped get the state where we are now, we talk about how powerful your perspective can be, how important it is to not be someone else and to really step into your own legacy, he gave some insight on what it's been like building his social media as well as running a very thriving business essentially all by himself (hint - it's pretty hard).

Ben is really good dude and I'm glad I was able to connect with him, he does a lot for the state Maine and basketball within the state.

Ben Teer's IG: https://www.instagram.com/coachbenteer/ 

Atencio Martin (first ever guest of the show) and my good friend Matt Kenna join me for today's episode

Tence and Matt ask me a little about training, dealing with social media hate and we dive into the nba playoffs with predictions, rankings and more!

Mike G is most commonly known as Jrue Holiday's performance coach, aside from that Mike is an incredible person. Having the honor of meeting him two times now and speaking with him both times, he has an energy about him that's truly unmatched. He makes everyone around him better.

He's extremely passionate about his craft and his job, this episode is great because we talk a good amount of training but also Mike talks about the intangible things that aren't necessarily talked about enough in my opinion, things like: emotional intelligence, the importance of being adaptable as a coach, doing and not just consuming and so much more.

I really hope you guys are locked in for this one because Mike brought a lot of great value!

Follow Mike!!
https://www.instagram.com/mrdoitmoving/

GBG Hoops:
IG - https://www.instagram.com/gbg.hoops/
App - https://train.gbghoops.com/users/sign_up.html/?checkout=true

See Mike speak in-person (TripleThreatU) - LA, Dallas or Miami 
https://linktr.ee/triplethreatu

Josh has been Jeremy's trainer since his days at Harvard, through Linsanity and still with him today. He's been with him as his player development coach as well as an assistant coach with the Beijing Ducks of the CBA.

Josh describes himself as a "professional learner" and he is absolutely that, he's extremely intelligent, intuitive and constantly listening with intent. You can tell by the way he speaks and through his thought process that he's amassed quite a bit of knowledge on his journey with Jeremy from multiple strength coaches and skill development coaches at the highest level.

It was truly a treat to get Josh on the podcast, you guys will wanna listen to every second of this one. 

Josh's social media & youtube:
IG - https://www.instagram.com/coachjoshfan/
YT - https://www.youtube.com/c/AwakenTraining

What can we learn from different opinions? 
Is it bad to disagree?
Are you stubborn or open-minded?
Do we benefit from being contrarian?

These are some questions I ponder in this weeks episode, it's inevitable that we'll disagree with someone about something in our lives and especially when you're in a field that has differing philosophies like training.

There are a lot of ways to do the same thing out there, and I don't think that's a bad thing. I think it's a bad thing when you're completely close-minded to others opinions and perspective  

Bobby Whyte is commonly known for his "Good Drills" on instagram at this point, some could consider these drills as "clown drills" but when you actually look into the rhyme & reason behind what he's doing and ask a simple question of "why?" you'll come to find that he's extremely detailed and there's intention behind everything he does

In my opinion Bobby is one of the best player development trainers in the world, he does a phenomenal job blending both performance & skill, building the PEOPLE in front of him (not just the athlete), staying true to himself and getting the most out of every single session he puts on

This episode Bobby and I have a very real conversation about skills training, what exactly drives a "traditional" skills training approach to development, social media and marketing yourself but not losing your integrity at the same time, strength training and so much more

Bobby has a personality that may not be for everyone, but he's okay with that. He's true to himself and is the unapologetically himself for a reason, the people that matter stick around both his athletes and regular people in his life. This is truly a great episode and I'm happy Bobby took the time out of his day to chat with me!

Check out Bobby of social:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bobbywhyte/
Online program - https://www.hypowersystems.com/hypower-performance-v21655422788388

Matt Dyck is a player development coach in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada. Matt is a phenomenal guy that has the best intentions, he's passionate about what he does which is the development of his players. His mission: provide an experience and support that he didn't get, and help anyone he can get to the level he couldn't. 

In Canada player development isn't as valued as it is in the states, and because of that Matt had to make a decision: take little to no money and train basketball players because he loved it or do something a little more lucrative. He chose to do what he's passionate about, that decision ended up bringing him to a situation where after a few years, perseverance and hard work players approached him wanting to pay him. That was his sign to start his own brand and program "Atlas Basketball"  where he trains a lot of the basketball players in his area now.

Matt is also passionate about the games-based approach and SSG's, he talks a little about it and why he loves them and why they're so present in his training sessions. He and I talk a little about confidence during our playing days and how Matt constructs an environment to breed confidence in his players naturally. 

We also talk about the importance of mentorship within Matt's career thus far and the importance of having a good group of people around you, Matt uses the phrase "collaborative competitiveness" when speaking about the people he has in his circle and how they constantly motivate him in the best way.

Check out Matt's stuff:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/atlas_basketball/
Website - https://www.atlasbasketball.com/

Coleman Ayers for the second time, it's truly always a pleasure to get to chop it up with someone like Coleman. 

He gives his opinion on if technique is really that important: when, where, why and how we should think about technique and what exactly a fundamental is. He talks about his Europe tour and how he set that trip up (easier than you may think) and much more about business regarding running clinics 

He also dives into 3 neglected performance modalities hoopers should be utilizing, make sure to implement those into your training!!

Find Coleman:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/byanymeansbasketball/
YT: https://www.youtube.com/c/ByAnyMeansBasketball
Mastery Hoops Platform: https://www.masteryhoops.com/

If you've ever struggled with mental health, been in a shooting slump or lacked motivation to get to the gym it's possible simply getting outside and seeing some green could help much more than you realize

Studies show that you access to green space is important for mental health and is associated with longevity and decreased risk of mental illness, as well as causing greater feelings of revitalization  and positive engagement. All types of green exercise activities also improved self-esteem and negative mood sub-scales such as tension, anger and depression. Green exercise has also been shown to reduced RPE, which in turn increases workload and motivation levels

The second part of this episode I talked about the importance of variability and its role in decreasing chance of injury

Make sure to follow me on IG for more content!
https://www.instagram.com/tc.performance_/

This weeks episode is a little different, Davis provides some great insight on all things marketing - target marketing, social media/digital marketing and how to use them to your advantage as a trainer, as well as some super important points when communicating with clients

Davis is an extremely down to earth guy and provides a lot of value that isn't always talked about for trainers, the power of communication and how important it really is.

Thank you Davis for your time 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/davis.ramos/

A lot of times as hoopers all we know is basketball, whether it's skill development, lifts, film, playing 2k, discussing the NBA with our friends (which is all fine), BUT sometimes that's all we know. Not only is it all we know, but it's who we become. That's the toxicity, you aren't basketball, you play basketball. 

No I don't think working hard and being ultra focused on one thing or one goal is toxic, but how you go about that and what happens in the process of getting to that goal may become toxic.

Experiencing things is important for us as people, not massive trips or experiences but even the little things like walks or talking with your grandfather. When all we think about is "I still have to lift" or "I gotta get shots up tomorrow morning before school", we're not present in that moment. We're sacrificing that moment for something else, we are present. 

Think about it, I'm not demonizing working hard and being ambitious. I'm questioning if we have to resort all of ourselves towards it in the process at the expense of other things.

Mike Dunn is one of the best shooting coaches in the world, you can tell why during our conversation in this weeks episode. What I admired about Mike the most though wasn't necessarily his knowledge and expertise for shooting, but his compassion and drive to help build his players character! 

He makes a massive effort to provide the best experience for the person in front of him, but he also displays the same effort and energy for the people working with him online. He responds quickly, 24/7,  always trying to make sure he's available for his clients.

He's traveled around the world helping thousands of athletes improve their jump shot, Mike does a phenomenal job breaking down some really cool concepts.

Follow and subscribe to Mike:
https://www.instagram.com/seemikedunn/
https://seemikedunn.com/product/seemikedunn-keep-shooting-subscription/

Dario is a very intelligent and talented professional in the performance world, what's even more impressive is that a lot of his knowledge is from his own research and experience. He's done a phenomenal job acquiring high level information in order to apply to his sessions and improve every athlete he works with

Dario is a real life example of his work, at 5'9 he's trained his way to a 37 in vertical and is nearing putting down a dunk with ease. He's able to emulate the same training philosophies and principles in order to help many athletes grow their athleticism, vertical and ability to move.

This episode we dive into some of the science behind building elasticity, why it's important to train fast, building basketball strength, and even some sports psychology. This is a great episode I know you guys will love

Check out Dario's IG & Online training:
IG - https://www.instagram.com/saisantraining/
The Spring System (Online program) - https://www.saisantraining.com/https/wwwsaisantrainingcom/https/ferret-sealion-fjn5squarespacecom/https/ferret-sealion-fjn5squarespacecom/the-spring-system/p/a2c022oqpekzhvkts89hqdwowscil3/p/a2c022oqpekzhvkts89hqdwowscil3/p/a2c022oqpekzhvkts89hqdwowscil3

Ethan Khoza is a player development coach in State College PA, he's not your typical PDC. He does things "against the grain" and steers away from the more traditional approach on-court training, but what separates him the most is his passion for and ability to communicate with his athletes and figure out what they need 

Ethan talks a lot about emotional intelligence and what exactly that means for both coaches and players, why it's so important to both possess and nurture emotional intelligence. Possessing extremely good emotional intelligence and being able to communicate extremely effectively alone will make you way better a lot of the coaches and trainers out there

You can know all the X's & O's but ultimately if you aren't able to communicate it properly and effectively to your crowd in a manner that they'll interpret it and apply it to to the court then none of the knowledge and experience you possess really matters

Check out Ethan on social and make sure to check out his podcast as well:
IG - https://www.instagram.com/visiondrivenbasketball/
YT - https://www.youtube.com/c/VisionDrivenBasketball
Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vision-driven-basketball-training-podcast/id1508830824

A lot of times in this industry we tend to have to work for free, whether it's early in our careers and we're just trying to get in front of new athletes or it's an unpaid internship. Working for free is usually a common factor in a lot of our careers at some point, but how can we leverage that free work and turn it into future paying clients?

I talk a little about utilizing 3 specific ways we can leverage working for free, like I said, usually working for free happens in a lot of our careers. That doesn't mean we need to get into a bad spot where people expect it, we should have a calculated approach when providing our service for free - we shouldn't just do it to do it. Is doing this session for free or this internship unpaid, or this clinic for free setting up future clients, opportunities or connections? If no, then maybe we shouldn't be doing it.

Remember to always value yourself and set boundaries early, don't be afraid to be the asshole and say no to someone who can't pay. The more times to just "let it fly" and let someone hop in a group session for free the more that narrative is going to spread, that narrative then becomes an actual reality. 

Hopefully these 3 ways to leverage free work help someone!!

Do you wanna go to college because it's going to push the envelope for you and open doors, or do you wanna go because it's been conditioned by societal standards? Now more than ever we can accomplish so much without a degree, I'm not here to downplay a formal education but more so to spark thought - real genuine critical thinking. 

If your goal is to be a teacher, doctor, physical therapist or a division 1 strength coach amongst other professions then you'll need a bachelors or higher. There's no if, and's or but's on that. But have you sat down and thought about what you want to do and if getting a degree actually opens that door for you, or if the position you want requires a degree?

If you want to be a small business owner then maybe you don't need that bachelors degree, less than 50% of small business owners have a college degree. If you want to be a player development coach you probably don't need a college degree, think about what you want to do and where you wanna be before going to school and taking out thousands and thousands of dollars of loans and going in debt for the rest of your life. 

There are other things (IMO) that are more important than a degree:
- Traveling
- Networking 
- Experience 
- Saving & Investing your money in the right things that actually matter

I don't want to put down getting a formal education, it's still important and better than not getting one. Some people are the first in their families to do it and that's a massive accomplishment, I just want to spark some thought. 

Why does Russell Westbrook choose to drive when Steph Curry chooses to shoot a three on identical plays? Different affordances, they see different opportunities to act based on their own abilities, intentions and the characteristics of the environment as well as how they perceive those characteristics within that environment.

I'm a 5'11 white guy with maybe a 6 ft wingspan, if me and Lebron James both drive into two defenders there will be different results based on our individual affordances. Lebron is bigger, stronger, faster and obviously overall more skilled than I am. When he drives into two defenders he may see that as an opportunity to lay the ball up or even dunk on both of them, whereas when I drive into two defenders I see that as an opportunity to pass the ball out. This is based on the fact that Lebron is 6'8 and has a 40 in vertical, so he can easily get higher and lay the ball up but I can't do that so I don't see it as an opportunity to lay the ball up

This is extremely important when training our athletes, if an athlete is pass first and wants to get better at scoring the ball, then we need to manipulate the training environment so this athlete can start to see scoring as the opportunity to act. 

How do we do that? Use constraints, create small-sided games to isolate specific skills and actions we want to improve

Recognize your athletes affordances and take them into account every session

Danny Cooper round 2! Danny is one of the best up and coming young trainers in this industry and his work ethic, passion and drive speak towards it. He's a guy that works for everything he has and nothing happens by accident, he and I catch up and talk a little about his summer as well as his last year in general which has been very impactful for him.

He was able to connect with Mac McClung and helped him out for a camp that he put on in Gate City while also training Mac, then he tagged along with Mac during summer league in Vegas. He's built a really good relationship with Mac. He also worked with Lamar Stevens of the Cavaliers for 5 weeks towards the end of the summer.

He was training all summer as well as working out himself and preparing for his upcoming season at Moravian University in Pennsylvania, he's going to have a great year individually while also being a huge piece in the leadership needed to get his team into the playoffs and make a push!

Make sure to keep up with him on all socials:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/dcoopbball/
YT: https://www.youtube.com/c/DannyCooperBasketball
Tik Tok: @dcoopbball

Kerri is one of the promising up and coming player development coaches in this industry, and specifically on the female side. She's a phenomenal role model for the girls and women she works with (anyone she works with really), she brings her experience as a pro as well as the information she's gathered from her mentors and from her travels to her sessions to make sure each session her athletes are getting better.

Over the past year Kerri has grown at such a rapid rate, her player development coach Matt Dyck has been a guiding hand for her in the process from transitioning from player to coach and she's done a great job networking with some really great people in this field (Coleman Ayers, Tyler Leclerc, Joerik Michels, Drew Hanlen and more).

The information she's been able to gather has been pivotal for her, but it't not just the information but it's the application that makes her growth so rapid. She's doing a great job and becoming a great resource for the people in her community, make sure to keep her on your radar!

Check out Kerri on socials!
IG - https://www.instagram.com/coach.kuzz/
Website - https://www.unboundedathletes.com/

This week's guest is Matt Cooper, Matt is a performance coach out of Los Angeles filling the gap between rehab and strength and conditioning. His training philosophy is unique in that it's not quite your traditional style - he's interested in neurological adaptation, training his athletes to become better movers and integrating health and wellness into his training.

Matt is extremely intelligent and I love his approach to the weight room and all things health, he displays his wealth of knowledge in this episode talking about things like proprioception (feeling your joint in space), merging the gap between rehab and performance training, nutrition and why exactly injuries might be on rise.

***When we discussed "Game Changers" and teams specifically we referenced a couple teams, but in fact the teams that were discussed and actually brought up in the documentary was the Tennessee Titans

Make sure to check out Matt's website, social medias and the article we reference below:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/rewirehp/
Website: https://www.rewireperformance.com/
Article: https://simplifaster.com/articles/proprioception-training-sports-performance/

Building off of part 1 (early phase off-season), I talk about how middle stage off-season could look and then finally how late stage can look. There are so many different ways to program and periodize, what I mention in this episode isn't the end all be all. It's just a way to go about things, do your own research and make sure to apply it to your own setting to make sure it works for you.

Middle off-season is pretty simple, you want to progress off of the early phase and continue to build the base. I mention a 3-day full body split but like I said it doesn't have to be that, I think that split is good for a lot of athletes and it's worked for me in the past especially for this phase of the off-season. We want to continue progressing things like our plyos, strength work and build movement proficiency.

Late off-season will become more specific to the sport, you want to overload specific joint angles and get the athlete prepare for the demands on the sport. This phase or stage will be more power based, contrast training can be utilized, MB work, speed-strength and so on. 

Max Schmarzo is one of the most intelligent individuals I know of, he has been a massive resource in my education. Between other podcasts he's been on, his own podcast, his instagram, his educational platform EdgeU and every other platform he's on. He's one of if not the goat within the performance world (IMO).

Max is a machine, he brings so much knowledge to every conversation and the best part is that he can talk about some of the most complicated concepts and make it so easy to understand. That's a testament to his knowledge.

In this episode we talk about the Bayesian Brain, and how our experiences (output) affect how we are as people and athletes (input). He gives great examples and makes it extremely consumable

We then talk about skill acquisition, blocked versus random practice and why using Kobe or MJ may not be the best examples to look at when talking about skill development 

Lastly we talk a little about performance, I will be getting Max on for a part 2 discussing more performance based stuff.

Check out Max:
IG - https://www.instagram.com/strong_by_science/
EdgeU - https://edgeu.passion.io/learn/products
UEN (Nutritional Products) - https://uenutrition.com/ 

We need to understand the impact our words have on our athletes, recognize it affects so much than we realize. It can affect how we play on the court, our decision making, confidence levels both on and off the court, if we box our players in on the court it'll affect them off the court too. Whether you mean to or not it will.

"Mental Toughness" is a phrase thrown around a lot in team sport, I think we get carried away with it. We categorize players as not mentally tough so much on the court that it translates to their lives, when in reality what even is mental toughness?

The last point regarding our words is how we say it and who we say it to, emotional intelligence plays a huge role in coaching. Some players can handle being screamed at in front of their entire team, others can't. If they can't that doesn't make them soft, or weak that makes them a person with their own feelings. Understand people perceive things differently.

Stress management - our bodies can't compartmentalize stress, whether it's stress from the weight room or because you're fighting with your gf or bf. Take those things into account especially with the season here now, on game days keep that day high - lift post game. Low days aren't the time to get extra reps or lift because you'll be overflowing that metaphorical stress bucket and ultimately get hurt 

Like everything - context matters. If you're just trying to condition then go ahead and condition and push your fatigue levels, but if you're trying to learn a new skill then we probably shouldn't be fatigued. When learning a new skill we want to be as fresh as possible and if you're fatigued the skill you "learn" might end up being an entirely different one all together

If we're only at 40% trying to learn a new skill, when we try said skill when were at 100% we won't be able to replicate it. We were a totally different person when learned it at 40%, we need to keep that in mind.

Here's 3 ways we can use fatigue as a tool:

1. Conditioning 
2. Use fatigue as a constraint to challenge skills you already have 
3. Performance/Strength & Conditioning - we need to perform under a fatigued state, implementing some fatigue in your resistance training in the right way can be extremely beneficial

Super excited to get Tyler on for a second time, any time I get to chop it up with him is a good day! This week he and I talk about how to get the most out of 1v1 sessions, as well as how small group work is actually the most specific skill work you can get. 1v1 is an opportunity to improve general skills whereas group work is a lot more specific, interesting topic!

We also talk about the difference between training pro's or higher level athletes versus younger athletes, also how maybe our skill work should look very similar across positions up until about senior year of high school - too often we box players in to a specific role too early.

We talk business in-season as a trainer, how to keep money coming in and Tyler gives insight on both what he's doing currently while owning a gym as well as when he didn't own a gym and what he did during this time of year.

Lastly we talk content, how he comes up with his ideas, his relationship and communication with his Alex (his videographer) and a lot of other great things regarding content.

Make sure to check Tyler out on social if you haven't:
IG - https://www.instagram.com/tjltraining/
YT - https://www.youtube.com/c/TylerLeclerc

As much as I advocate for working out with someone else, that's just not always realistic for some people. This can be due to circumstances like not having access to a trainer or others, being away with your team or you simply just like to work out alone - which we see constantly in this sport. With that being said, if you're training alone I talked about 3 ways you can drastically improve these sessions.

Preface: A question I ask players when they ask what they can do to improve their workouts is "do you write your workouts down?", a lot of times the answer is no. Taking a quick 5 minutes to write down what you're doing in your workout later that day will immediately make it way more productive

1. Visualization - this is something that separates good players and great players, players like Kobe and MJ are on record talking about how they utilize visualization. It's such a powerful tool that can help merge the gap of having physical context, if we can be detailed and deliberate with what we visualize we can create the context needed to transfer skill 

2. Train based off of feel - don't just arbitrarily go into your workouts saying "I need 500 makes a day" because that specific day maybe you only need 100 makes, or you might need 1000 makes. If you go into your workouts judging them and basing them off of feel you can get more of what you actually need

3. Use constraints - constraints can be a phenomenal tool if you're working out yourself, target skills you need to work on and apply them within that session. Challenge the skills identified with these constraints, you can get very creative and really get better when using them

*Bonus tip* - Watch film, watch and analyze as much film as you can, it'll help you understand what you need to work on and exactly what constraints to apply or exactly what to visualize in your workouts

Drew is one of, if not the best basketball skills trainers in the world. His resume speaks for itself, Jayson Tatum, Brad Beal, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Haliburton, Tyler Herro, the list goes on and on. It's safe to say he's really good at what he does, and he provides a little insight into how he trains this week!

Drew talks about his off-season model (add-develop-compete) he uses with his clients, he talks about the tools and approaches he has when utilizing that model and expands on some other great points.

Another thing he touches on a little bit is his ability to build the relationships he has with his clients, the relationship he creates allows him to be so affective. The relationship builds trust and that trust then bleeds into everything, the way he talks to them, challenges them, then of course the way that he trains them.

Super thankful to Drew for his time!!

Make sure to follow Drew on socials:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/drewhanlen/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/puresweat/
YT: https://www.youtube.com/@PureSweat

Joel Smith is one of the great minds in the performance industry, he has one of if not the best performance & strength and conditioning podcast with over 300 great episodes with great guests that bring a unique set of knowledge and a different perspective on how to train!

I really like Joel because he's an extremely progressive thinker, he doesn't settle for the traditional strength & conditioning philosophy and is constantly pulling from different practices, different sports, different coaches and making them work in his own way. 

Joel has done phenomenal work for the performance work with his podcast but also has also contributed plenty of articles, e-books, books and even courses. I'm very thankful to have gotten him on the show and hopefully I'll get him on again in the future!

Check out Joel on all platforms!
IG: https://www.instagram.com/justflysports/
Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/justflysports
Website: https://www.just-fly-sports.com/
Podcast: https://www.just-fly-sports.com/podcast-home/

Lee Taft is renowned as "The Speed Guy", he's one of the most influential figures in the industry when it comes to speed work, change of direction and specifically basketball change of direction. He could easily be considered one of the GOATS in the industry. 

He and I talk about the state of youth basketball right now and how some AAU programs and the system as a whole are failing some of these athletes, Lee also adds some of the things he's actively doing within his community to combat the AAU system and it's great stuff.

We talk about building speed, change of direction as well as how to training power athlete to be more elastic and the opposite. 

Lastly, we talk about some myths about defensive stances and what a "good" stance should actually look like

Martin is a player development and sports performance coach in Uruguay, South America. He's a mad genius when it comes to player development, he's able to apply the science of skill acquisition to his sessions at an extremely high clip. I think he's also one of the best in the business at creating one of the best environments for his athletes.

We talk about international hoops, using constraints to develop skill, can we build a player like Kyrie, creativity and much more! 

Enjoy

Check Martin out on social:
IG - https://www.instagram.com/onlyaboutbball/
Website - https://www.onlyaboutbball.com/ 

Our confidence starts during early childhood - how our parents nurture us, how our teachers teach us, how our youth coaches coach us, the people that have a position of influence at that stage so early actually have a massive influence on your confidence today.

Were you boxed in and not allowed to express yourself creatively at home, or in the classroom or playing youth sports. If you were that can trickle into you as both a person and an athlete

I don't say that to scare you, because if that's you don't worry. There are things you can to increase your confidence, I talk about those things in this episode. I break it into how players can increase confidence and then how coaches can be a helping hand in increasing a players confidence  

Shea Frazee is a skill development coach in Southern California, he's worked with 35+ NBA athletes and a lot of the top high school prospects in that area. Shea is an extremely intuitive & intelligent individual, he understands training & coaching on a different level than most.

Shea and I talk about his training philosophies and how he trains his players, we touch on how he trains both in a 1v1 setting and also in a group setting. We talk about how he goes about adding "cognitive load" in his sessions, how he can challenge his athletes psychologically as well as physically. The game of basketball is not 1 dimensional, it's 3D and multifactorial - sometimes we neglect the psychological aspect of the game in our training sessions.

Shea also speaks on his perspective in building confidence and what exactly goes into confidence, he has a 5 important steps in building confidence (towards the end of show).

Check Shea out of socials:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/shea.frazee/
Website: https://www.sheafrazee.com/

Different format to this weeks episode: I'm joined by Coleman Ayers, Gabe Macias, Dario Saisan, Martin Andrade and Danny Metser to talk about some really interesting topics

Some of the things we discuss were: psychological stressors and the effects they have on things like free throw shooting, finding alternative consequences to physical punishment (running, push-ups, etc), what is the "it" factor in players - where does it comes from, the different styles/subcultures in basketball depending on where you are in the world geographically 

I enjoyed this episode a lot because everyone of these guys are super open minded and extremely intelligent when it comes to basketball skill development, performance and a lot more. That made this discussion as great as it was!

Check everyone out on socials:
Coleman - https://www.instagram.com/byanymeansbasketball/
Danny - https://www.instagram.com/dmhoops/
Dario - https://www.instagram.com/saisantraining/
Martin - https://www.instagram.com/onlyaboutbball/
Gabe - https://www.instagram.com/gametimeelitetraining/

Mitchell is a player development coach in southern New Hampshire, he integrates the science of motor learning/skill acquisition along with sports psychology in his practice. He develops his clients holistically as humans and not just as basketball players, we had a great conversation.

Mitchell and I talk about a lot of different things regarding sports psychology, things like what he's seen are important in the development of psychology in himself and his clients: focus & confidence. Some of the tactics he uses to develop the brain, his training methods as a whole help with that (training with chaos, challenging things like focus and their current ability, etc) as well as things like visualization

We also touched on how we both agree that the player development on teams, be it college, high school, etc could be better and need to improve. A lot of programs preach and teach what they think is right and what they think is going to get players better but it's not actually helping them translate skill to the court.

Lastly, we talk a little about Mitchell's experience in Columbia playing professionally.

Check out Mitchell on socials:
IG - https://www.instagram.com/hoopin_mitch/

Jon is on a mission to help athletes get to the next level with mental performance, he specializes in basketball mindfulness and it's clear by the way he talks about it and implements it that it's extremely effective.

The mental performance side of sports is something I'm super intrigued by. I've studied it, implemented it with my athletes, with myself and I've seen results in both. It's an extremely powerful thing, Jon thinks so as well.

Jon and I talk about what mindfulness is to him, he talks about his 3 buckets of mindfulness. We also talk about how he implements mindfulness, strategies as well as some tactics to use for both individuals and teams or groups. 

We then touch on some specific topics like "being totally involved but unattached", self-talk, dealing with emotions/feelings and also breath work and the role it plays in all of the above

Make sure to check out Jon on socials:
IG - https://www.instagram.com/playfreebball/

John Evans is one of the best jump coaches in the world and is notably the performance coach for pro dunkers Isaiah Rivera, & Jordan Southerland (1footgod), as well some other very incredible dunkers/jumpers and thousands of athletes all over the world now with his online business "THP Strength". 

John was a treat to have on, the conversation was free flowing and a fun one to have. Early on he and I talk a little about skills training and what I think the top 3 trainers in the industry are, we then talk about what his approach would be with a brand new athlete to the weight room with their goal being to dunk a basketball. 

We talk a little about long term athlete development and some stories from Johns end, then John finishes up talking about olympic lifting and 1-foot bounce 

There was a lot of great stuff in this episode as well as it being a great listen!

Check out John on all his platforms:
IG - https://www.instagram.com/johnevans_thp/
Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thpstrength/id1503429069
Website (THP Strength) - https://www.thpstrength.com/

Ross is one of the most passionate professionals in this field I've had the pleasure of connecting with, not only is he passionate but he knows what he's talking about! Ross gets in depth talking about how he builds athletes and so much more along the way

You don't wanna miss a second of this episode!

Check out Ross on social media and his program as well!
IG: https://www.instagram.com/coach_ross_dpt/
Program "Good Drills": https://good-drills.com/ 

The past two seasons with SMCC have been beyond rewarding: 2 YSCC Conference championships (back-to-back), first ever USCAA Division 2 National Championship in program history, multiple All Conference and All American players. I was lucky to be apart of all of it, and I was able to learn a lot from it as well.

My takeaways:

1. Trust & Buy-in = Everything
2. Film is so important
3. The mind is powerful beyond comprehension 

2 Bonus points:

1. The college system as a whole could do a better job with their practice design
2. Freshman need to come into the season better prepared 

Make sure to check out all my stuff on social media:
IG - https://www.instagram.com/tc.performance_/

This week I talk about how to design better practices and how to optimize those practices. I discuss some important mindset shifts, important concepts and much more in order to accomplish the goal of designing better practices

Follow me on socials:
IG - https://www.instagram.com/tc.performance_/

We're back!! Our first guest since the hiatus us Alex Sarama, Alex is a basketball coach from the UK. He's extremely good at what he does, he's immersed himself in the literature of skill acquisition and ecological dynamics in order to develop basketball players and ultimately change the way we as an industry look at developing basketball players

Alex is a delight to talk to, he's extremely genuine and truly wants to change this industry for the better. I think he's one of the best coaches in this field and this is just one podcast that shows that

Make sure to check out Alex on all platforms!
IG - https://www.instagram.com/alexsarama/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/AlexJSarama?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Some great videos I came across -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGOUh0rmsaE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-SSSyUfDhM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xt5Ouu3g98
Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-basketball-podcast/id1398261897?i=1000558143105

Erik Huddleston is the assistant performance coach for the Indiana Pacers, Erik is a true professional and has equipped himself with so much knowledge & experience prior to entering the NBA. That education & experience presents itself during this conversation.

Erik and I discuss a lot of great topics: how to structure an NBA teams season for performance training, game-day lifts, using isometrics, addressing asymmetries - when to correct those asymmetries and when to leave them alone, PRI concepts like exercise selection for wide vs narrow ISA individuals as well the in between individuals and much more 

Make sure to check out Erik on IG!

https://www.instagram.com/eph.24/

Drake is true professional and currently working with one of the best force plate companies in the world (Hawkin Dynamics). Drake and I talk about force plates, interpreting data, applying the information you get from the technology, using that data to address things like asymmetries, things like how to recognize if an athlete is "cheating" a test and much more

I think the force plate talk is great, but you can also learn a lot from Drakes journey. Hearing about the amount of internships he did, the people he connected with, the positions that didn't work out and everything else in between speak to the industry and also why he's so effective at the position he currently holds with Hawkin

Make sure to check out Drake on social media and check out the force plates too!
https://www.instagram.com/strength2.speed/
https://www.instagram.com/hawkindynamics/
https://www.hawkindynamics.com/

Trevor does an amazing job breaking down, what can be pretty dense, science about learning. In the weeds, talking to the researchers about their work and applying it constantly to his own work and then creating content and making it super consumable for anyone listening 

Trevor and talk about a metaphor he coined "zoo tiger vs jungle tiger", what that means to him and how it applies to life and even sport. We talk a little about representation and why it's so important and even why we lack in that area sometimes, we talk about the mindset needed to truly grow and then we talk about the importance of feedback when teaching and/or coaching!

Make sure to check out Trevor, you won't regret it:
IG - https://www.instagram.com/learnerlab/
Website - https://thelearnerlab.com/
Podcast - https://thelearnerlab.com/podcast/

This week I touch on what exactly skill is, and how it differs from things like technique, as well as what exactly constraints are and how we can use/apply them

There's an important distinction that I think needs to be more known and that's the difference between a games-approach and the constraints-led approach, while you'll see a lot of crossover between the two they are very different. There are plenty of coaches that create small-sided games and apply one constraint and then leave that and let them play for awhile, and that's where I believe the misunderstanding comes from - some people think that I throw the ball out and just let my players play 3v3 freely... that's not the case. 

I work hard to engineer practice sessions to development skillful basketball players, and that happens through creating unique and creative small-sided games with specific constraints applied in order to elicit the skills needed to be improved upon. 

Let me know what you guys think!!

Jack is a great human & basketball player, he and I talk about his journey from being under recruited, having his freshman year taken away by covid, winning a national championship the next year and then back to back conference championships along with all the struggles and hardship in between 

After SMCC Jack takes us through his experience at Franklin Pierce which a NCAA Division 2 school in NH in the NE10, he played there for one semester and shortly transferred to UNE (University of New England) to finish out the year and why that change was so important to him and why it was such a better fit 

Jack provides some great insight for any players listening and anyone in general!

Enjoy the rest of Jack and I's conversation!

Alex is a phenomenal coach and a pioneer in this space, he's an advocate for progressing and evolving the current state of development and basketball coaching as well as the overall approach to things like: performance training, front office work, athletic training, etc

The traditional/dominant approach is outdated, and as Alex mentions in the episode - you wouldn't expect your doctor to be using methods/medicine from 2000 or early because that would be malpractice, why do we continue to accept this as the status quo and not demand for this field to be as updated and progressive as possible. The most recent and relevant research/information should be applied to coaching as much as possible

Alex and I talk about a bunch of great stuff in this episode and he's always a treat to talk to and have the pleasure of having on the podcast, please make sure to check out all his stuff linked below:

Website - https://transformingbball.com/subscribe/
Podcast - https://education.transformingbball.com/podcasts/the-transforming-basketball-podcast
IG - https://www.instagram.com/transformingbasketball/

What's up everyone!! I appreciate you so much for tuning in.

For the first episode I talk a little about myself, and a glimpse into my journey to where I am today. What performance means to me, and the goals/format of the podcast going forward.

I love any kind of feedback, constructive or not I'm all ears. 

If you haven't already, please follow me on IG & TikTok @tc.performance_. That's where I post the bulk of my content, other platforms will of course be this podcast as well as getting on youtube soon. 

If possible please leave a rating, review and share the show! It helps out a lot, my goal is to reach as many people as possible. Helping anyone I can, networking with as many as possible, growing myself and much much more. You sharing and leaving a rating will help more than you realize.

As always thank you for your support.

Atencio and I met in 2018 at Southern Maine Community College, he and I played on the team that year. Atencio is someone I'm lucky to call a friend, he kept it real this episode talking about his process getting recruited into college, his experience at the college level having played at a community college then division 3 then working his way on to a professional roster in Armenia. There's a lot of great takeaways from this episode so tune in to the whole thing!!

It was great to chop it up with my guy Coleman, he's an incredible mind in the performance and basketball industry pushing for a necessary change within this field. Through his innovation, creativity, application and more he's the pioneer of a new aged training format that meshes both on-court skill development and strength and conditioning. Coleman is a science-based guy who backs up everything he says with literature.

At only 23, yes you read that right, Coleman has managed to create multiple thriving businesses in Byanymeansbasketball being his original brand and business to then co-founding him and Tyler Leclerc's online platform "Mastery Hoops" which gives so many trainers, coaches and players access to all the possible information you could need. He also has his own gym in Miami Lakes Florida, "Detail Miami". Not to mention a massive social media presence on youtube, instagram and more which he funnels in information to constantly @byanymeansbasketball. 

If you're unfamiliar with Coleman then take a minute to check him out, a good place to start is his IG @byanymeansbasketball. Here are the links to his platforms and more:

Mastery Hoops Platform: https://www.masteryhoops.com/
E-Book: https://www.masteryhoops.com/ebook.html
Attention to Detail Podcast (Colemans Podcast): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/attention-to-detail-the-podcast/id1547502821
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ByAnyMeansBasketball

Episode 4 means a lot to me because Bryton is a really good friend of mine and he and I have talked about doing a podcast for years, so to be able to create a podcast and get him on is big. 

Bryton is an exceptional athlete and an even better person, he kept it real and was very open about his battles with mental health, the role that sports played regarding his mental health and so much more. 

Since he was in fifth grade he dealt with injuries, and not just busted ankles but torn ACLs, we talk about the physiological aspect of rehab and what an injury like that does to a young hooper so dedicated to a sport. We breakdown what exactly body language is and how it can be very misinterpreted as well as mental toughness.

Bryton and I left you guys some of the things and coping mechanisms we've used and or tried dealing with mental illness and just some great general advice for any listening not just trainer and athlete but anyone.