Editor’s note: In Blair’s most recent blog entry, he wrote about his recent experience working with a team in Indonesia and mentioned how some of his previous international opportunities came about. He neglected to mention that during the same time period, he was regularly brought in to work the prestigious NIKE Skills Academies in the summer which were hosted by the brand’s top NBA players and attended by some of the top high school and college prospects in the country!
Steve said that any move he’s done in a game has been practiced a minimum of 500 times. He wanted to have absolute confidence that he had control of a certain move so that it was second nature in a game. Upon hearing this I didn’t feel like it was game changing. However, fast forward several years later and I’ve changed my mind. I’m sure I’m wrong for some athletes, but I’d be willing to bet that there are several athletes that have never done a game specific move more than 500 times simply based off the reasoning that attention spans are low across the board. If it’s a move that’s not going to look good on video or go viral, but would certainly be effective in a game, then I doubt most athletes have the bandwidth to drill a move into boredom. If a back-to-back NBA MVP does it, we should follow the clues to what helped him become successful!
Off-season work
I asked Steve Nash what his off-season routine was like as I had always been curious. I heard he’s a big soccer guy so I was hoping to hear if he incorporated it much in his summer routine. Sure enough, he mentioned playing indoor soccer and tennis as well as involving yoga within his off-season program. Of course he would maintain a certain workload of basketball skill work but it wasn’t dominant early in his off-season. I loved hearing this, because I find it important for athletes to know it’s ok to do something different every so often. I don’t think that someone has to shove basketball to the side to devote total time to another sport, although that would be helpful for many athletes. I’m simply encouraging athletes to play other sports for fun or try sports they’ve never experienced. I understand time commitments are heavy for the youth athlete these days, so I’m a realist in this situation. I don’t know many basketball players that do much else other than play basketball. I believe it’s healthy to get outside the box or comfort zone and try something else, at the very least, for a mental break from a specific sport.
Take care of your body
This point wasn’t one that I was able to discuss with Steve during camp, but I did find this article in Men’s Journal years ago where he mentioned how important having a high quality unprocessed nutritional regiment was for his energy levels and recoverability. I believe it’s worth sharing as so many athletes disregard how much quality nutrition can actually affect performance.
I truly miss these camps as I learned something new everyday. I was able to spend time with so many incredible coaches/teachers of the game. I look back and wish I had a Go Pro attached to my shirt just to remember all the experiences and knowledge shared. I’ll be sure to continue to share more of my experiences from some of the other players and Nike Skills Academy experiences as I jog my aging memory 🙂
