Building Confidence, What Trainers/Players Need To Know, and More with Tyler Leclerc (@tjltraining)

Foreign.

Welcome the Vision Gym Basket Training podcast. Appreciate you guys who are tuned in today. Everybody who's listening, Apple podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, Google podcasts, wherever else. And everybody right now who's watching on YouTube, shout out to all of you guys today. I have a very special guest on Guess that I'm sure a lot of you guys are aware of, a guy that I'm extremely excited to have on, Tyler LeClaire from Massachusetts. Wears a bunch of different hats, does a bunch of different things, and I'll let, I'll let him kind of give you some more of a background, but just kind of initially, you know, Tyler is one of the bigger guys on social media when it comes to training, especially over the past year with Mastery Hoops. And I know for me, like we'll talk more about Mastery Hoops for sure, but it's been one of the biggest resources for me in terms of getting better as a trainer. And I know they have a players platform as well. So they're really trying to reach every demographic when it comes to training and pushing the game forward, which is awesome. And of course, Tyler has his own thing with, with TJL training and all the stuff that he's doing. So again, Tyler, I appreciate you being on the show today and I'll kind of let you give a little bit of an intro, fill in the blanks where I missed there.

Yeah, so as you said, I'm up in Massachusetts, so I have my own gym out in Lowell, Mass. So I've been training for about five years now. So I started as a player like most and then I went on to play one year of college. Didn't really enjoy it. I started training right out of high school. So I just really fell in love with the training thing. Wanted to help as many different players. So I started picking it up and then I've just built it over the course of the last couple years, built it into having my own gym, training players from all over the world, train players from every different level from middle school to high school to college to pro. So yeah, a lot like you said, a lot of different things going on, a lot of different things that we're going to be talking about. So I'm looking forward to it.

I think your story is real unique, something that I kind of gravitate to a little bit with your whole, okay, you're going to look to play. So kind of first take me through that, your whole like high school. Like, were you heavily recruited? Were there schools that really wanted you to or was it more so, like, you know, if I have any opportunity, I'm going to take it. And then maybe you got to that point, you're like, well, maybe this isn't what I want to do. Was it that the college level wasn't what you thought it was going to be, or was it you got there, just realized, like, oh, this. This isn't what I want to do anymore.

Yeah. So out of high school, I had, like, maybe 10, 10 to 15 Division 3 schools that I was, like, talking to and looking at going. I wasn't too big on college in the first place. The only reason I was going was because of basketball. Um, so once I got there, to me, it just kind of felt more like a job. Like, you do this every single day. You do it over and over again from the day you get to school to the day you leave. You got workouts, you got pickup, then you got practices, then you got all this other different things. So it just became more like a job to me, as opposed to why I even started playing in the first place, was to enjoy it, to have fun. So once that kind of was in my mind, like, oh, this is kind of more like a job, and I really enjoy training, that's when I was just like, all right, I just want to do this training thing full time. Gotcha.

And so was there, like, an overlap between you as a player and a trainer? Like, did you start training when you were still playing and then you kind of realized, okay, I think I can maybe do something with this? And then you kind of went in all on that, or was it, okay, I'm done playing now I'm really going to get into this whole training thing. How did that. The training sort of pick up for you?

Yeah, so I. I definitely started when I was in high school, so I just loved working out. Like, that was, like, my favorite part about basketball is just, like, literally just working out, grinding, all that kind of stuff. And then I actually started training one of my buddies who was a freshman when I was a junior. So I just wanted to see him get better. So I just started, hey, you're going to come to the gym with me. We're going to go lift. So I started teaching him that kind of stuff. Then I was like, hey, you're going to come work out with me? So he was working out with me, then I was teaching him things. And then it got to the point where I was like, all right, I'm just going to work you out, as opposed to me working out with you. And then that's Kind of where my training journey started. And that's where I started to really enjoy helping players see results. And then I had another year in high school, so I was still kind of doing the same thing. And then when I got to college, it was more of me training other people as opposed to, like, people training with me and just trying to help other people.

Gotcha. Gotcha. So then at that point, you know, when you're done playing, what does your journey kind of look like as a trainer from that point to where you are now?

So I finished school in May of 2018, and then a couple days later, I was working at golf course part or really full time, and then I was training part time. So I was training. I was actually sneaking into gyms. I was driving all over the place, train different people. So that was a grind in that respect. But, yeah, I was working at the golf course, like, 30, 40 hours a week, and then I would go and train 20 hours a week. So I was all over the place training a bunch of different people, like I said, sneaking into gyms. And then slowly, over time, okay, I found a solid gym that I can use. I was paying for core time, and I was just slowly building up my clientele, and it was just super, super consistent. Like, at first it was like 10 hours a week, and then slowly built it up to 20, and then I increased my prices. Then I was doing 30 hours a week, and then that's pretty much when Covid hit. And then I was like, you know what? I kind of want to get my own gym. So that's when that search started. And then I got my own gym about a year and a half ago, and then I've been doing this ever since.

Yeah, yeah. No, that's awesome. And you're working, what, 22, 23.

23.

23. Okay. Yeah. That was one thing that I, you know, thing kind of referring to the. The conference, the master Hoops conference from back in October. I was there with. With my guy, Danny Cooper, who. I know you know Danny, right. He went up there, I think, to visit you at some point. He was going to.

Yeah, but he couldn't.

Yeah, yeah. So we're up there.

We're both.

I think he's 22. I'm about to turn 22. And it was like you and Coleman putting on this massive thing. It's like, these dudes are like the same age as us, so it was awesome to see, like, the power of what all the, like, where all this stuff can go, you know, I think that I kind of want to approach this from both a trainer's perspective, but also players as well. I have a really good mix. I know who listen. I get messages from trainers and coaches and players and say, hey, I love your podcast. So I try and find ways to add value to every demographic I can. We look at it from just a trainer's perspective. How would you say you've improved? Like, what are some of the resources that you would say have kind of pushed you forward in terms of your ability to train? Like, obviously through experience, you get it. But when it comes to, like, books or research or people that you listen to, what is kind of the process of going from, okay, you know what? I'm a trainer to listen. I can charge more for this. I feel like I can give more value to players. Um, how did. How did that whole sort of process, like, what was that journey like for you when it comes to getting better at your craft?

So for me, I try to be real systematic with how I went about improving. Um, so I think for being a trainer, there's a lot of different aspects you need to get good at. One of them being communication, one of them being understanding the game. Another one is understanding how to actually get results. And then another one's just business. So I looked at it. Okay, there's like four main pillars that I need to get better at. How am I going to do that? So I think one of the best ways to get better is to go to people that are already doing what you are doing and then ask them questions. Because we can learn through experience, we can learn through trial and error, but these people already did that. So why am I going to try to do everything myself when these people already experience exactly what I'm trying to go through? So I think it's a healthy blend between finding mentors, finding people that can kind of help lead you along the way, that have already been there. Books, podcasts, and things like that. And that's kind of how I did it, was just reaching out to people, asking a lot of different questions, trying a lot of different things myself, stretching that comfort zone, because I knew that's how I was going to improve in all of those different assets, as well as just a shit ton of books and a shit ton of podcasts.

Yeah. So kind of going along with that when it comes to. There's so much that you guys talk about, and I'm sorry, saying you guys, you and Coleman with master hoops and you with your own stuff as well. When it comes to different aspects of training or coaching or, you know, helping players learn. You know, whether it could be like, you know, external versus internal queuing, or it could be block versus variable or whatever. You know, what are some. What would you say would be some key things that maybe a lot of trainers don't understand right now when it comes to actually helping their players get better? Or just things that you say in general, like, okay, these are like three things. Like, you have to know these things. Like, you have to have a good grasp on these areas.

Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing that's lacking in training is just skill acquisition. Like, and just like us being teachers in general, like, you wouldn't. To be a teacher in a school system, you have to go through a process. You have to go to school to be a teacher, to be a trainer. There's nothing. Right. You can just know basketball and people think you know how to teach. And the two totally different things. Knowing basketball, knowing how to teach and coach, two totally different things. So I think the biggest thing is just knowing how to get people results from a scientific perspective instead of just taking it from. This worked for me. I've seen this work. This is what I've been told. So I'm just going to do that. So I think the biggest thing is just understanding how everything that we do and say as coaches affects the player development process and how quickly or how slowly this player evolves and how efficiently that we can get these players results in games. Sure, sure.

And I think I definitely agree with that. And I think one of the things that I see a lot now coaching is I train, but I also coach with a high school team. And so you're just exposed to a whole bunch of different coaches all the time. Whether it be you walk into a gym for an away game and you see a team that's practicing or finishing up or whatever, or whatever. In the off season, if it's a. You, like, you're walking around seeing all these different teams, these facilities, practicing or doing whatever, and you like, you see it like, you see the same stuff where it's like, oh, yeah, you'll see the, okay, hey, this is what we did because I did it, or I'm looking at something being done. I'm like, there's so many better ways to do it. But it's like we feel like what was said in the 1980s, the 1990s, 2000s, like, that's where we've got to stop. That's where like they figured it out then there's no way to improve on any sort of Thing, and it's almost like. It's almost like basketball training. And I even would compare it to, like, other sport, like baseball. To me, I was talking about this a couple of weeks ago. I did an episode on internal was external focus. And like, with. With baseball, like, so many of the cues are externally focused was like, okay, squash the bug under your foot or it's. Show the picture your belt buckle or like, whatever. There's. There was all these different ones. When I looked up, like, baseball cues, it was like everything was external. And I was like, what? When I played baseball when I was like nine years old, I still remember some of these. And then you compare that to basketball, where everything's internal. Like, almost every. Almost everything. Okay. It's like, okay, you got to snap your wrist, you got to make sure you fully extend your elbow. And. And it's not necessarily that, like, you know, you can never do that, but it's like baseball. It's almost found a way where I can. I don't. I haven't played baseball since then, but I remember those cues and I think. I think that says a lot right there. But it's like with basketball, it's almost. We're kind of stuck. It feels like even in comparison to different sports. Weightlifting was another one. But I think with. That's kind of one aspect. But also, like, when you look at, you know, skill acquisition, it's like there's all this science out there, and there's not a ton of coaches out there who are like, diving into that.

Yeah.

You know?

Yeah. I think. I think the biggest thing to, like, sum that point up is, like, especially in basketball, people think because it worked that we should keep doing it. But it's like, to what degree did it work? Is there a better way to do it? And I don't think that enough coaches really explore that. Like, oh, I can do the mike and drill, and it helps players get better, but could I do something else in that same amount of time that's going to help them get 25% better than if I was to do the mike and drill? And I just think that's a question that, like, not enough coaches and trainers even think about. And then if they did, then they would try to find a way to. To do it better through the science and through things like that.

Yeah. So kind of going with that, going with the mic and drill. I know you posted about this pretty recently where it was just making some. Some upgrades to the mic and where you're almost adding in. I think variability is the Good word to use here, where it's not just repeating the same thing over and over and over again. Because to a point, once you have the initial mastery of that, like, what kind of value are you getting out of that? So when we talk about adding challenge to drills, and I think you can kind of speak on this, why is it important for trainers and for players to add variability or add challenge to these drills? And what are some kind of simple ways that you can do this with a drill, like the mike and, for example.

So I think the common misconception. Misconception is that we want to rep something until it's. Till you don't even have to think about it anymore. But once you get to that point, you're not going to see any more improvement, like you said, because there's no struggle. So when we struggle, that's when we can actually build a skill. So if, say you're doing the mike and drill and you can already make 25 out of 25, you're not doing absolutely anything in terms of getting better because there's no struggle presented. So that's something that we talk about all the time with mastery. Hoops is like, how can we improve drills by adding ways or adding ways to make it tough? Right? And I think one of the easiest ways to do that is just a bunch of different constraints. So I can use like. So say we're taking the mic and drill, for example. I can say I can use audio cues. That could be a constraint. Or I could use. We're shooting from a certain spot. So maybe instead of doing the mic and drill right under the hoop, we're taking it further outside the paint. So it's challenging that touch, Right. Just adding some sort of a constraint to make it more difficult, and then that's how we're actually going to improve. But just simply doing something that you can already do and doing it on autopilot is just in no way. It doesn't matter what skill you're doing, you're not going to see improvement. You might maintain, you might build confidence, but you're just simply not going to improve.

Yeah. And so what is. What's like, the balance? Because I see there. There's some coaches who have taken this to a point where it's like, oh, no block ever. You never do block training. It's always gotta be variable, always random. And then obviously you have kind of the normal, like, status quo, which is the other end of that spectrum, which is almost everything's blocked. There's nothing that's varied or challenging. So what is kind of your. Like, how do you find a balance between those two things of, you know, not completely cutting off one end of it, but also making sure that, you know, they're kind of in that ideal sort of like learning state?

I think. I think that part's more like of an art, so you understand the science. Okay, I need to use block practice at this point. I need to use variable practice at this point. And then that's the art of training is being able to, at the right times, implement the right amount of challenge. So if I start with block shooting, say, for example, and it's too easy, I might add one layer of variability where, okay, they're moving spots every single time. If that's still too easy, just add another layer of variability to that. Maybe I'm going to go jump shot and then floater. And then if they really struggle with that, that's kind of that sweet spot where it's difficult but not too difficult. I'm going to stay in that zone. And then again, if it becomes too easy, we stretch it even more. So we just want to operate as much as we can if we're looking for improvement in that optimal zone of improvement where it's not too easy, where they go on autopilot and they're not thinking, but it's not too difficult, where they're failing every single rep and they just get frustrated.

Yeah, yeah, I think that's. That's so big and it. It varies a little bit. And I think one thing that we'll touch on that I think you do well is you come up like, you come up with a lot of ways to work on different things that you might like. I'll see stuff that you put out and I'm like, oh, I like, I never thought of that, but that's phenomenal. And so a lot of times, and I think, I think it was. It might have been a video that you guys posted on Master who's. Where you were talking about with groups, how to, like, add constraints for different sorts for different players. You can make things. You can do the same exact drill for three or four different players. And you might have one player who's got to work on this, one player's got to work on that. And so you might think to yourself, okay, how can we do the same drill if this player is strong in that area, that players weak in that area and they both need to work on two different things? Well, I'll tell that player, hey, you can only score when you go left. Like if you go right, you get the ball back, score, you stay, but you don't get a point for it. So now they have to, that's. There's a constraint to force them to work on something they may be weak at. Whereas maybe you have a player who you know is super strong around the basket. So you say, listen, you only can score points from three or in the mid range. And then there's just ways for you to be able to add in constraints that, that way. And that was something that I know you guys talked about a little bit and kind of going with that, this, this whole kind of what I, what I mentioned right there, what's kind of your process for. Because like I said, there's a lot of times where, you know, you'll come up with, with drills, with the mic and drill, for example, where it's kind of like building on that. What's your kind of process for coming up with, with or almost like creativity, I could say, for coming up with, with those different sorts of drills and finding ways to work on those different things in probably a more optimal way than what's usually done.

So I think with any drill creation, it's just like a reverse engineer process. So I'm not going to do a drill because I want to use a drill. I'm going to start with the problem. What's the problem? Okay, a player needs to work on this. So I'm just going to try to reverse engineer drill. What's the best environment that I can put this player in? Or what's the best situation that I can put this player in? So that way they have to solve that problem. So a quick example could be like, all right, say they need to work on their underhand layups or their touch or something. I might put a constraint on the environment where you have to jump from this spot. So it puts you in a position where you have to solve the problem of using your underhand layup. And it's going to as long as it presents the right amount of challenge. We're working on the key component and, and it's as game like as we can possibly make it. Depending on the situation, if I have defenders or if it's an individual session, that might look completely different. And then in terms of the creative creativity process, a lot of people ask me that question. I think with creativity and anything, it's tying a bunch of different things that you know and understand together to create something novel. Right. So because I've built up this knowledge of the skill acquisition, the motor learning, the Actual game of basketball, understanding where this player is at mentally, physically, I can tie all that together to create some sort of drill that most people wouldn't think of. But it's because I've built all the knowledge in all these different areas to do that. So people want to kind of skip those steps or how can I be creative? Well, if you don't understand what I understand, it's going to be really tough for you to replicate and come up with that same drill that I came up with. So I think in terms of, like I said, creating a drill, it's just a reverse engineer process. What can I do to put a good constraint on this player? So it challenges them to the right degree to work on the problem that they need to solve. And then in terms of the creativity, it's just understanding everything about the player, about the skill that you're trying to work on, about the science, and then tying that all together to create some sort of drill that other people might not have thought of.

Yeah. And I think that's kind of where sometimes it's a disconnect when it comes to basketball training is that we don't create problem solvers because. Because that's all basketball is always a problem. It's always, okay, there's a defender in front of me. How do I solve this problem of putting the ball on the basket?

Right.

And it all starts with that. But then you have all these smaller problems that, okay, I just drove help, defender stepped up. What do I do now? And when we don't put players in a position to actually learn how to be problem solvers, then you might have like the physical ability to go out and do that. But when it comes to actually you being able to do that within the context of, okay, now there's something that I might not have seen exactly before, then it just, you're completely thrown off and you have no chance of actually being successful. So the one thing that, like I'll, I'll say sometimes throughout workouts is just like, listen, we might do some drill that they might be like, okay, this is kind of weird, but it's like this might be like, you might not do this exact sequence in the context of a game, that's fine. But if we can just make your ability to solve problems better, then that's going to translate as much as anything else that we might do. And that's going to make the other stuff that you do in games more effective because you solve problems. And that's always like what I'm trying to key in on with the players. Okay. We have to become problem solvers. So I can't always. And we can kind of touch on this because this is something that you talk about a lot or at least when I think about this, I think about stuff that you said when, where it's like, I can't always give you the answer to, to, to everything that we do.

Right.

And I think. Cause I get this from like watching your workouts and stuff on YouTube where like sometimes there'll be like, you'll get someone last you a question, right? I'll play ask you a question about like, okay, hey, should I step here? And you're just like, you gotta figure it out.

Yeah.

And so that, that's like, how, how do you, like, where does that kind of come from for anybody who doesn't know like the importance of sometimes letting players struggle and figure it out, like, why is that important? And how does that. Like that's kind of an example I gave right there. But what's, what's some more like, how does that come to, to fruition throughout your training?

So like you said, like, basketball is just a huge game of problem solving, right. So if we're constantly putting players in a box, telling them what to do, we eliminate that problem solving ability. So like you said, just constantly allowing players to solve problems in workouts. And I think one of the big reasons why in a lot of my workouts where I might say something to one player and another player completely different, so say I try to put them in the same box and do the same exact move in the same exact scenario, these two players are completely different. They have certain individual constraints. So the way that they solve those problems are going to be totally different based on how tall they are, how fast they are, if they're a good shooter, if they're good ball handler, they might solve that same problem differently. So if I put them in the same box, I'm taking away that individuality that those players have. So by just simply saying figure it out, I'm allowing them to solve that problem based on that individual person. So it's just allowing them to learn implicitly to solve problems based on who they are as people and then still giving them that autonomy to be like, okay, I can figure things out. So when I get to a point in the game where there's a problem, I need to solve it, they already know how to do it. They know how to figure things out and how to adapt.

Yeah, and I think that's, that's big too, because it almost takes Me from, like, a position where back when I was in high school and I was like, I had a trainer or different trainers, and you almost expect them to, like, be your savior. Like, they're the ones who are going to do everything for you. Like, okay, I go see my trainer and they're the ones who make me better, and then if I don't see them, I don't get better. But I think the, the actual way that that player should look at it is like. Or hopefully if they have a trainer who understands, okay, I want to put these players in a position where they are actually the ones who are really doing most of the work. Like, I'm. I'm placing them in a position where, okay, you're going to have to figure out this problem, and we're going to work on the skills that you're able to do that. But at the end of the day, like, I'm not on the court with you. Like, you're out. You're out there playing. So I have to try and put you in a position where you can actually become better at being like, you know, like you said, like, solving those problems and kind of being independent, it feels like. And not needing a crutch of a trainer or a coach or, you know, somebody yelling, oh, crossover. Go between. Okay, shoot. Like, you know that that's not going to be game. Like, although, you know, you might. You might have people yelling that at you from the stands, but, like, at the end of the day, can you be the one to actually figure that, that sort of stuff out? I think that's such a big thing for kind of a big mindset shift. I know that I made from. Okay, it's not all about you. It's about putting those players in a position where they actually are the ones who are pressing forward on the learning process. So I think that's big. And then kind of tying into, like, players a little bit. What would you say? And this is kind of something that I just thought of. I didn't send this to you, but when it comes to. If you have a player, for example, and this is kind of a broad question, but you can kind of take it wherever. When you have players who maybe struggle connecting what they do in practice to games, maybe they feel really confident in workouts or practices, but when it comes to the actual game, like, they freeze up or they're not confident or whatever, like, what's your kind of message to them? Maybe you've had situations that you can speak to on that and what, what overall is like what's your process for players who might lack that confidence?

Yes. I mean, overall, I would say a lot of that comes from players just working out by themselves all day. And then they step into a game, there's real defense. Like, they're not prepared for it. Like, so, for example, just to give you a quick example, so, like, when I was preparing for the conference, right, Speaking in front of 120 people, that's like me just standing in the mirror and practicing to myself all day long in front of the mirror. But the second I step out in front of everyone, I'm going to be super fucking nervous. So those two environments are totally different. So if I wanted to practice my speech in the best way, which is kind of what I did, was I was trying to present it to real people. So, like, I would have three or four of my buddies sitting in here and I'd present it to them. And that gave me a little bit of, like, nerves, just because it was awkward. So I was practicing in, like, a more specific environment to what I would be seeing during the conference. So players can take that same exact mindset and thought process and, okay, you want to get better in games, you got to play more games. You got to play against real defense. Like, and some players are just, like, overthinkers in general. So do things where you don't overthink, AKA playing in a game. So it's like, depending on who you are, that answer could be different. But I think a lot of it stems from players practicing by themselves. Six, seven days a week. They go to a trainer. The trainer's doing them, making them do reps on air all day long. You haven't seen a defender in seven days, and then you step into a game. What do you expect, right? So it's like, I think for most players, just play and work out with people as often as you possibly can.

Yeah, yeah, no, definitely. And it's funny because, like, I. So a couple players that I coach, like, on my team, they are massive overthinkers. And you can see it, like, they'll come off the floor and they'll want to start, like, talking about, like, oh, like, I don't know, like, I just shot the ball and I'm like, it just. You got like, shut up. Like, you can't talk. Like, you just gotta. You just gotta forget about it. Because that, to me is like. That's like the worst thing you could possibly do is, like, start thinking about, hey, is my elbow right? Like, is it? Like, that's what they start doing. Like if you, if that happens, like I've seen it so many times, like you're. That's where things start to really. That's where you're in trouble because now you don't trust any of the work that you've done. You're starting to really think about everything that you do. And it almost turns you from being in a state where basketball like you can't be thinking about it, you have to be playing. And it puts you in that thinking state where things are just become robotic and that's where you start to mess up was when you actually try a little bit harder. I think that's the, that's the disconnect for players sometimes. So going with that, if anything else that you would add to important things that players should know when it comes to their own development. Maybe they don't always have a trainer, maybe they don't have a trainer at all. What are some things for them to think about, some things that they can take to improve their development?

Going off that same thing we're just talking about, I'd say read Inner Game of Tennis. That's a great book for them to read to understand that concept we just talked about. But I would just like be a student. Like I know a lot of people say that shit, but it's like basketball is not just play basketball and then you're done, right? It's play basketball, focus on your sleep, focus on your diet, focus on your mentality. Are you confident? Are you not confident? Maybe you got to meditate, maybe you got a journal. Like it's a very holistic approach. Don't just think about playing basketball and then going home or playing basketball and lifting. Like there's a lot more that goes into it. So if you want to be the best player, dive into all those different things and just try to be really self aware about what you need as a player. There's so much access to information out there. If they're listening to this, I'm sure that they can go and find any answer to any question that they have somewhere on the Internet. So if you don't know something, if you want advice on something, you can go and find that answer if you really want to. So take advantage of the time that you're living in with the crazy access to information and go figure out what you need to figure out.

Yeah, yeah. So kind of the last thing that I want to ask you about and kind of circling back to more of a trainer's perspective is building relationships with your players and how that looks for you. And just it can be like in a real practical sense, like, I know you had a few of your players at the conference, which was awesome. But what is your, like, how do you kind of go about building relationships with players? How does your kind of training environment foster that? Um, and I know for example, like one thing that I saw you did was you had your, your board over the summer. You're keeping track of like wins and losses throughout the, the, the summer. Okay, who won the day. And then in the day somebody gets, you know, whoever has the most points, like gets a reward or something. So kind of to build that relationship, but also foster that kind of competition as well. So how do you. Because I know that was one of the pillars that you mentioned of being super important. So what is that process for you when it comes to building relationships with your players?

So I would say like when I first get a new player that I haven't worked with yet, it's just really trying to get to know them. So I'm literally asking them like the first 10 minutes of any session is me just asking them a ton of questions. What's, where do you live? What's your family life like? You got siblings? How does that kind of situation play out? Because then based off that, I can tell a lot. Like if a brother, if there's a guy, I'm training a guy and he has a sister, I can kind of tell a lot about that. If there's a girl that I'm training and she has a brother, I can tell a lot about her. And then I might say, okay, what other sports do you play? What subjects do you like in school? What do you do when you're not in school? So I'm just really just trying to get to know them. And the more that I get to know them, the more that I can understand them, the more I can understand, the easier it is for me to work with them and to help them. And then over time, like I just generally build a care for these players. I see them often, so I care about them as people. And then obviously some players I'm going to be closer with just off the nature of who that person is and how old they are. Like, I'm not gonna have a crazy good relationship with a 10 year old boy that I see once every two months. Right. So it kind of largely depends. But like you said, like in the summer we do the kind of win the day type thing. If player wins, they get a gift card or I take them out to lunch and things like that. So I've been able to really build good relationships, especially with a lot of the high school kids that I train and a lot of the college kids, just because I care about them off the court. I'm checking in with them, I'm texting them, I'm FaceTiming them, we're going out to lunch together and things like that. Like, one of the things I did last winter, I was working with a lot of my college guys for a long period of time. It was kind of during COVID so I just got Chipotle catering for, like, 20 of us, and that was just a good time for just, like, us to just chop it up, talk about other things, not focus on basketball. And I think that's just doing things like, that's a great way to just kind of build that relationship and strengthen that bond with your players.

Yeah. And I think with that, too, like, when you build that strong relationship, that leads to more. More progress being made, because you can. Like, when they trust you because you have a relationship, you can push them more, and they're more willing to buy into what you're going to say. So if you come in with a drill that they've never seen before or that they haven't done or that they think might be a little bit weird, they're going to buy in and trust you with that, as opposed to somebody who maybe doesn't have a great relationship with you, and they're gonna be like, I don't know about this. And you probably. Even if you get them to do it, it's not going to be at the highest level that it could be. So I think that, like, I think the relationship is such a important piece because it's not just about, okay, do my players like me? But it's like, do my players actually buy into what I want to do? I think that's massive. So when you kind of talk about in season with that, what is that? Like, how does that change? Or how do you kind of connect with those players, especially throughout their games? Like, are you, you know, like you said before we started that you're going to go watch some games today. So how does that look when it comes to kind of in the season?

Yeah, so definitely just trying to reach out to a lot of the kids that I see consistently try to do it on a weekly basis. And then I'm going to try to go to at least one game of every kid that I train consistently, at least. Obviously, some players I train once. I'm not gonna miss the game for a kid. That I trained consistently for that. But just try to go to their games, support them, check in on them. Hey, how's your games going? Are you struggling? What are you doing? Well, that's awesome. And just try to. Just try to go and see them, support them. I'll FaceTime them if I. If I need to. That's what I do. With a lot of the guys overseas, I'm talking to them consistently about how they're doing, especially the guys overseas. Like, they don't. They're basically in isolation, like, they don't know anyone out there. They don't speak the language. So especially those guys. It's super important. Same thing with the college guys. So just trying to stay in touch as much as I can, show them that I support them even when they're not training with me, and just try to go to as many games as I can.

Yeah, that's awesome. So we kind of have. We've talked about it a little bit, but Mastery Hoops, I know, for me, like, one of the. One of the best platforms when it comes to helping me develop as a trainer, and it's given me a ton of resources to kind of build on as well. So, like, the amount of value inside of that is massive. But I'll let you kind of talk about it a little bit, give people an idea of what Master Hoops is, and not just for coaches, but I know you guys have a player's aspect to that as well.

Yeah. So our goal with Master Hoops is to just really bridge the gap with the art and the science of training, like we kind of talked about in the beginning. So introducing as many of the scientific topics that we've researched ourselves and that we're diving into, and just give other coaches and trainers one simple platform where they can go to look at new drills, they can go to look at new resources, what podcasts they should be listening to, what books they should be reading. So just really simplifies that process for coaches primarily to educate themselves. So when we were younger trainers just starting, like, we don't know what we're doing, we don't know where to go look. So we wanted to create a platform where if you're a coach, if you're a trainer, this is the one platform that you can go to to get everything you need in terms of skill acquisition, in terms of drills, in terms of basketball knowledge, and in terms of business stuff. So just kind of being that platform where we can help every single coach and trainer in the field to be their best selves and Just continue to push the basketball field forward and educate as many people as we possibly can. So definitely a big vision. A lot of things that we're working on behind the scenes right now that will come to fruition in the next year. So definitely stay tuned for Mastery Hoops. Cause we're definitely gonna be doing some big.

Yeah, definitely. And like I said, any trainers especially. Make sure you check that out. Tyler, for you personally, people who are watching right now can see the social media behind you. But for everyone listening, where can people find you?

Instagram, TJL Training, Twitter, TJL Training or YouTube is just my name. So Tyler Leclair can hit me on there. Any questions you guys got. I always answer DMs, emails, things like that, so.

All right. Yeah, and I'll have all that stuff linked below in the description of both of these as well. So, Tyler, I really appreciate you coming on, man, sharing your knowledge, sharing your time with everybody. And hopefully this. This gave some value for trainers and coaches and players out there as well. Everybody who's listening right now, thank you, guys. Apple Podcast, Spotify. You guys on Apple podcasts right now? Do me a favor, leave a review, let me know what you think. You have any questions for me, any suggestions. And Everybody who's on YouTube right now, drop a like, subscribe. Let me know in the comments what you thought about this episode. Again, I appreciate all of you guys. I'll talk to you guys soon. Peace.