1 Expert Advice on Basketball Conditioning-hoopskills.com

Expert Advice on Basketball Conditioning "How Former NBA Coach, Paul Westhead, had so much success at Loyola

Marymount because of his intense focus on conditioning"

-by Coach Brian Schofield http://www.hoopskills.com

While I was playing high school basketball a team came

out of nowhere in California to catch college basketball

by storm. Loyola Marymount University was an amazing

team to watch. I grew up in Utah and would stay up as

late at night just to watch them play on television. It

was a show. The thing that made them most unique

was their desire to score lots of points and to put lots of

shots up.

They wanted to average a shot every 6 seconds. They

had great players like the late Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble

and a baseball player named Terrell Lowery. They would

full-court press, run as fast as possible and score lots of

points. They had a shooting guard named Jeff Frier and he was my idol. He was my

idol because he was able to shoot whenever and wherever he wanted to. It was

crazy to watch.

They were coached by Paul Westhead who used to coach the Los Angeles Lakers

when Magic Johnson was playing. Westhead was interviewed on ESPN and gave his

secret to how his team could play this way.

It was no surprise that the answer was conditioning. How he conditioned them was

what set them apart from all the other Division 1 college basketball teams.

Westhead described making conditioning something that wasn't associated with

punishment. Instead he tied it to playing time. Nobody could play on his team if

they weren't in shape. If you ever watched them you know what I'm talking about.

His off-season workouts were grueling, but the players knew if they wanted to play

that had they had to sacrifice.

2 Expert Advice on Basketball Conditioning-hoopskills.com

In-season was just as bad, but the key to truly conditioning players is to make

certain that it isn't a punishment but something that is directly tied to playing time.

Nothing impresses a coach more than a player who is in shape. It shows

dedication, responsibility and that the player cares about his or her basketball

career.

Then he focused on the conditioning not being strictly lines or ladders, but

associated directly with basketball. Meaning that many of the drills for

conditioning were done while backpedaling or doing defensive drills or running fast

breaks. Players were asked to jump rope because of its direct correlation to

basketball.

I thought often about all the conditioning that I did that wasn't basketball related

and it made me understand the true point behind conditioning. The best coaches I

ever played for were coaches that timed drills and segments of practice and

everything was done full speed or as they called it "basketball speed".

Last thing he mentioned was to really ensure that each conditioning drill had a

benefit to it or included some form of competition. Everything in basketball is

competitive and the conditioning drills should be also. Players enjoy competition. I

loved racing other players for loose balls or for anything. I enjoyed knowing that

there was a purpose for my running or conditioning.

Once, I remember a coach asking me to run against the fastest player on our team

and if I beat him then we would be able to go home early from practice. He also

told the kid that if he won he didn't have to run anymore.

Not the greatest strategy when I look back but I gave everything I had. It had a

purpose and a point and because of that I beat him. I wanted my team to see the

benefits and that's what it should be about. If you are a coach and reading this,

then please use competition in your conditioning.

Paul Westhead went on to coach the Denver Nuggets and attempted to use the

same style in the pros. What happened were some of the highest scoring games in

NBA history. However, the style simply wasn't as effective in the pros.

One of my favorite memories was watching that Loyola Marymount team beat the

University of Michigan in the NCAA tournament. Afterward they interviewed Jeff

3 Expert Advice on Basketball Conditioning-hoopskills.com

Frier and asked him why anyone wouldn't want to play ball at Loyola. He laughed

and said "they need to come see us in the off-season." He was right. The best

players are made in the off-season. They beat Michigan in the off-season and the

win that night was a result of that.