A strong with the ball player is one that is responsible with the basketball. At no point in time is that player going to have the ball taken from them, which is the most embarrassing thing that could happen on a basketball court bar none. I call this particular occurrence, “my ball” and I tally them for every team I coach. If you coach, maybe you should too! It opens up a door that is often ignored and will give you the ball for three to five extra possessions a game. Think about how valuable that is in a close game!
Being strong on the feet simply means that a player understands his body awareness, has coordination, and can move strong at will. A lot of this confidence is developed over a series of years and within specific athletic movement.
Hey, what about clumsy, heavy footed players? They dont have years of practice because the season is right around the corner?
Well, that is an obvious factor that warrants a specific solution. I know you have read it before but I have to reiterate it; swamp lunges. This movement builds coordination, joint integrity, muscular endurance, and bodily stability at the same time within anything dangerous getting in the way. Another huge advantage of this exercise and they way I designed it is that the participant begins by mastering his or her own bodyweight with it. This means that absolutely no resistance is added until certain prerequisite levels are achieved.
These reasons alone will keep dynamic movement training will stay on top of the athletic training world because its safe methods as opposed to the ones you can see inside some popular fitness magazines. An example would be the Bosu, which is a jelly-like structure that athletes are asked to balance and exercise on. At some point, things needs to be simplified and people should be able to balance themselves before embarking into advanced challenges.
Now correct if I am wrong but why would anyone ask an athlete to train motor movement using a jelly-like surface that will never be played on?
Why would a trainer ask an athlete to work on a synthetically developed surface where only the high level stable athletes can succeed?
I dont have those answers but I believe it may be due to a lack of safer options for the same desired result. Trust me; I have worked with countless athletes that were heavy footed and needed work on coming strong on the feet. The last thing I would ever do is put them on a Bosu and it’s because it would be a recipe for disaster. Yes, there are exceptions to every rule but why even take the chance?
The best way to develop strength on the feet is to train on the feet. You need that physiological connection with the ground through specific movement patterns in order to build adequate muscle memory. That muscle memory demonstrates itself outside of training and during competition in a short period of time when using the swamp lunges and their progressions.
