🏀 Entrepreneur’s mind. Athlete’s body. Artist’s soul. 🧠 🏊 🎨
“Working on a problem reduces the fear of it.”
Welcome to The Basketball Academy. 🏛️
We create Confidence.
We create Clarity.
We instill Capabilities in coaches & players.
Former guest & friend of The Basketball Academy coach Susan King Borchardt… congrats on all she’s done to help earn another gold 🥇
Pod W/ Susan 👇
Here’s what we’re serving up:
🏀 #1 - Favorite thing we heard 🎧
🏀 #2 - Must Add Action 🎥
🏀 #3 - How to Influence 🔑
LET’S DIVE IN ⬇️
🎧 Wisdom Naval
“Desire is a contract we make w/ ourselves to be unhappy until we get the thing that we want.”
• “When the mind is free of any thought or judgment, it is still & acts like a mirror.
Then and only then can we know things as they are.” - Timothy Galway.
• “Carefully train to avoid Anxiety during competition. There is need to compete w/ relaxed intensity, free of fear, able to risk, little or no self doubt & courage to move onward.” Tao Wisdom
• What looks like talent is often careful preparation.
What looks like skill is often persistent revision.
Tuomas Iisalo (Grizzlies Assistant) & JJ Redick (Lakers HC) on player development / Practice Design.
During games, there are constant ‘streams of information’ available to be perceived by the player. Learning is the process of being attuned to key sources of information.
Skill learning = forming of information-movement couplings.
To be able to do this as a team is called group “flow” or group cognition.
Finally: Prescribe a task (“problem”) not the movement (“solution”). More on this next week.
“Tuomas Iisalo’s Innovative Offense Paris Basketball Brilliant stuff 🧠”
Must Add Action 🎥
• Dribble Danilovic Grenade
• Stack Empty Ghost
• Bilbao Pin / Bilbao Rip / Bunch Series
• Zipper Ghost Pin
Leadership 🔑
Before every game, Lionel Messi’s teammates wait.
The team stands together, silent, just outside the tunnel. Then, he appears. Messi steps forward, taking his place at the center and front. Without a word, they fall in line behind him, matching his pace.
Each of these players was once the star of their childhood teams, the hero of their hometowns, the leader among leaders. But here, they follow Messi. Why? Because he’s earned it—not with loud commands or flashy gestures, but with years of hard work, unmatched skill, and quiet focus.
Messi’s leadership isn’t about words; it’s about example. He doesn’t need to say anything. His presence speaks for him, commanding the respect of every Alpha on the field.
This is what earned status looks like at the highest level: leadership through excellence, not ego.
Takeaway: True leadership is quiet. Master your craft, stay humble, and let your work speak for you. The most powerful respect is earned, not demanded.
Gregg Popovich influencing by giving detailed reminders
How do you as a coach connect with your players and ensure you are giving the right amount of information for them to retrain?
Pop uses three belonging cues: you are part of this group.
This group is special we have high standards… and
I believe you can reach those standards.
BONUS 🚨 Shooting Drill
Canada Shooting
🇨🇦 Split your squad into 2 teams
🇨🇦 Select 8 spots
🇨🇦 Make 4 shots from each spot
🇨🇦 Make 5 FTs in-a-row
🇨🇦 Make a halfcourt shot
🚨 Referral program
If you enjoy The Basketball Academy, it would mean the world to us if you invited friends to subscribe and read with us. If you refer friends, you will receive benefits that give you special access to The Basketball Academy.
Earn benefits. When more friends use your referral link to subscribe, you’ll receive special benefits.
5 Referrals = Get Team Playbook & Favorite Books
25 Referrals = Get Favorite Drills & SSGs
50 Referrals = Get 30 Min Zoom w/ Dustin & James