Recognize the Season and its Purpose:

With so many "playing options," players too often don't recognize what Season they are in. Next, you move towards its purpose which is to better you game, towards its full potential, All of your game. You must be focused on that goal, Better Your Game!

Again, I repeat, the "off season is where you make your game," "where players are made."

How do you make your game? Through Training, not just conditioning, that is important but, it must be kept in proper perspective, proper balance. I'll tell you, conditioning can be very tricky; I worry about the future consequences of all these physical "conditioning" programs. One thing is for sure, you can get to the season being in the best condition of your life that is great but, how much better are you as a Basketball player, how many Skills did you learn, better, Mastered? How is your Basketball Aptitude?

Don't neglect conditioning, but do not exaggerate it, be careful with it and make sure you get the skills and Aptitude Training, first and foremost. The rest of the challenge is how, and where to Learn the Best Skills, the Best Basketball Aptitude and get the Best Conditioning training.

Quote of the day: "Greatness is never satisfied. It is achieved through diligence, desire, dedication, study, and the humility to respect the game. It always seeks to learn more from it and its True Teachers, always striving to get better through it. Greatness is not self advertised, it’s clearly recognized." Marvin Harvey 

Come Master the Shooting Form, all Basketball skills, Basketball Aptitude and Condition Like the Pros at HSTA:

Break away from the destructive-cycle of playing, playing, and more playing, and use this off-season for what it is meant for, Learning/Training, Preparing. "Elevate your game" towards its greatness!!!

A basketball game, a basketball career, is not the same as ESPN or Fox Sports highlight segments or even a "career game." A scorer is not the same as a shooter. Successful, 80% free throw shooting, 40% three point shooting, does not make a player a shooter.

Besides the most widely used shooting form in the world, the 3 R's, there are other outside and free throw forms that will derive some success, even what is considered "much success," in the "basketball world," but not Optimum available Success. So the player must seek, study and "sort out" the most effective and valuable, in all of Basketball.

Quote of the day: “You play your game in the season; you make your game in the off-season." Don't delay, the clock is ticking!!!

Katie Douglas of the Indiana Fever

Granted, it is early. But so far, the Indianapolis native has been the best player on the best team in the best league. Douglas will try to help her current team, the Indiana Fever (6-2), stay on top against her former team, the Connecticut Sun (4-3), in tonight’s game at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Douglas, 30, said she feels young and would be willing to play for Team USA. “Obviously, I know they have my birth certificate and know I’m not getting any younger,” she said, smiling. "It’s a great honor, and if it comes my way, I’ll seize the moment and seize the opportunity. “Right now, my goal is to chase after that elusive championship, be a leader for this team.”

The lightened load allowed Douglas to be fresher. She had few preseason practices a year ago after being acquired from the Sun, and she finished the season with an ailing knee. This year she went through a full training camp with the Fever. “That’s helped us get to know each other on and off the court,” Catchings said. “And it helps when we play.”

Douglas said she benefited from tips delivered by “shot doctor” Marvin Harvey of Tampa, Fla. She began this season rested, healthy — although she needs pads on both elbows — and confident.

In successive games, the Fever erased 17-point deficits to win in rallies sparked by Douglas. She scored 17 of her 23 in the second half of an 82-70 victory over Detroit. She scored all of her 28 points after halftime in an 82-81 victory at New York. “That second half, it was Reggie Miller-esque,” Dunn said. “Really. That was an amazing performance.”

Douglas is seventh in the league in scoring (18.1) and fifth in 3-pointers (22). It is revealing that on a Fever team with more depth than ever, she rarely sits. She is second in the league in average minutes played (35.4).

Quote of the day: "Life is measured, not by how much you do, but how much you do for others."MH

During the season, running is always attended to. Have you noticed how it is a part of the game many Coaches always make sure is done on it's own, even without a basketball? Yet, perhaps the Greatest Coach of all time, Mr. John Wooden, believed he "got all of his teams' necessary conditioning in during the manifestation of his practices, without setting aside anytime for, just running," Interesting.

During the Off Season, Training/Learning, requires time, commitment and attention, without playing. Basketball Training is much more than a "sweaty workout," more than just getting your heart beat rate up, it requires more from you.

Just about anybody can give you a "workout" where you sweat and your heart beat goes up. I have plenty of those type of workouts. Training requires Learning, Acquiring the Best and most Effective Knowledge to make your game it's Best.

That Learning time cannot be substituted by just sweating workouts. We Train/Teach you to discipline yourself to Learning and to Master all of Basketball's required conditioning, through the Ways we have proven work, no theories.

When a player is in our Training/Learning session, the player may think, "this is so easy," referring to the process to Learn, Acquire and Master the basic principles. That player is right on, it is so easy. That is why the player should Learn, Acquire and Master the Principles, with no problems. It is easy but, it still takes time, how much time depends on how much of everything is applied to the Learning, Acquiring and Mastering process.

Quote of the day: "Our Basketball Conditioning works to set a Basketball standard, a Basketball state, within and of the player, in every way. The goal is to reach the players' full potential, deriving from the Knowledge and Wisdom of the Game" Marvin Harvey

Marie Ferdinand-Harris trains in the off-season at HSTA-Tampa:  

Marie Ferdinand-Harris scored a season-high 15 points to lift the short-handed Sparks to an 82-55 victory against the Seattle Storm on Sunday night.

"I think right now everybody's stepping up and taking their game to another level," Ferdinand-Harris said. "When you lose a player like Lisa Leslie, there's a sense of urgency where everybody needs to step up and do more than they're normally doing.

"I've been trying to do more offensively and defensively just to try to make up for what we lose in a Lisa Leslie.

Quote of the Day: “No discipline seems pleasant at the time it is being administered; even painful, but it produces a peaceful and just harvest for those who are trained by it!” So, you'd rather play than train... go ahead!