The Skill You Don't Train Enough: Adaptability (Podcast Episode 60)

Foreign welcome to the Visionary Master Training Podcast. Appreciate every single one of you guys who's tuned in right now, whether you're an Apple podcast or Spotify or anybody who's watching YouTube right now. Shout out to you guys. If you guys are on Apple Podcast, do me a favor, scroll down to the bottom of the page, leave a review, let me know what you think about the show. You guys have listened before. Know that if I get new reviews I read them on the show. So I've got one to read today. Says great stuff from baller 08. Says good vids. They've helped me to grow as a player so much I want to make it to the league. And do you have any tips on how to find the right AAU team? Best best tips for the AAU team is just talk to players like in your area that you know, maybe your teammates or your on your school team or just players in your area who play AAU and see what they think of their teams. That's probably the best way to do it. And of course like you know, if that's not it then just you know, know Google is your best friend when it comes to that. Depending on your area, you know, and sometimes you may have to travel a little bit. You know I was in just where I live like when I was in high school. I had to drive basically about two hours for my AU practices when I was in high school. So you know, you might have to find like a good program or a program that fits well for you. Sometimes that that might be the case. But a lot of times like you know, you can find stuff that's closer. If I was in high school now there's one that would be way closer than that. But um, yeah, Google's your best friend when it comes to that. But I also say word of mouth is probably the best way just so you can get some people who are like oh yeah, like they can vouch for the validity of that program. So that'd be my advice for that. But I appreciate the review. Like I said guys, if you have not left the review, go to Apple Podcasts short on the bottom. Let me know what you think of the show. I'll read that on the show. And then if you got everybody on YouTube drop a like subscribe. Let me know what you think in the comments as well. So I announced earlier this week that the first ever Vision Driven Basketball training camp is going to be happening. It's going to be a decision making and elite skills camps will be happening July 2nd through 4th so Friday, July 2nd through Sunday, July 4th, in State College, Pennsylvania, which is where I train out of. And so, you know, we're. It's going to be awesome. Like, I'm really excited for it, and it's going to be all about developing your decision making. We're talking about adaptability today. Adaptability is going to be a big part of what we do, what we talk about. You guys are going to kind of see firsthand, like, how we can work on that. Really just like the most important areas, you know, decision making, adaptability are two super important areas. I don't feel like players learn how to develop enough. So that's why a lot of times they struggle when it goes from practice to games, when you have to be able to make good decisions and be adaptable, which we're going to talk about today. And that's a big focus of what this camp is going to be all about. So it's going to be two days, so it's split into a middle school camp, which will be Friday into Saturday, and then a high school camp, which will be Saturday and a Sunday morning. And it's going to be awesome. We'll go through some film, like a classroom session, and we'll do a ton of encore stuff. And, you know, I really think you guys are going to learn a lot. So we're limiting spots with it, but there's 18 spots available per camp, less than that now because there's been some signups already. So the link for that is going to be in the description below on YouTube and on Apple Podcasts. You know, I don't want this to just be a local thing, right? I want this to be a thing where, like, you know, players who watch me or I've always wanted, like, I'll get players who DM me all the time saying, oh, man, I wish you live closer to here. I wish you live. And this is kind of what I want to do is like, have a camp here where, like, you know, you can come and like, for, you know, an extended amount of time, we can work. So that's really my goal with that. You know, I'd love to have players from all over Pennsylvania, from Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and the rest of the Northeast, honestly. So, you know, if you're from out of state, you're from outside of. Of Pennsylvania, or even you just from like, Philly or Pittsburgh, like, send me a DM on Instagram, just let me know that you're interested in coming. I just, you know, I'd like to, I'D like to know if there's people from out of state who, who you know are interested in coming. Because then that's one of my goals with this is like, let's make this a thing where like I, you know, I can have people who watch me come to this camp as well. I don't want it to just be a local thing. So. And there's going to be an additional $35 off for the next 10 players who sign up. All you got to do is use the code July35 when you check out and you'll get that extra $35 off. So that's again, the next 10 players who use that are going to get that. So again, don't hesitate to sign up. Very limited because I want this to be a real hands on thing where I can very limited because I want it to be a real individualized thing where like we can kind of coach every player through it. And it's going to be along with me, it's going to be some other coaches there as well who are very, very experienced with working players from the youth level through college, professional, like guys who really know their stuff. So it's going to be a great weekend and I'm excited for it. And I hope that some of you guys are also going to be, are going to be and I'm hoping that some of you guys can also. And I'm hoping there's going to be a lot of you guys there as well. And I'm hoping that, and I'm hoping that I'm going to see some of you guys who watch my videos there as well. So let's hop into it. I want to talk all about building adaptability. I think this is one trait of great players that is so overlooked and there's not a ton of focus on it when it comes to training, you know, adaptability. You know, I guess the first question is like, what is adaptability? And it's really just your ability to adapt in game situations, right? To adapt to different things. So if a defender plays you a different way, can you adapt and overcome the way that they play you? If the defense as a whole plays you a different way, if they go from a man to his own, right, are you able to adapt as a team? Obviously it's better to adapt, but as a player, can you adapt to that as well? Okay, when you're playing as a player who's a little bit quicker and can cut you off, how do you adapt to that? Okay, when you're playing as a player who Might be a little bit taller than the players that you normally face. How do you adapt to that as well? Okay. When a player is early in to help when you drive, how do you adapt in that situation? Okay. And it's really, it's really just all about that and building that trait. And the best players in the world are masters of adaptability. If you watch, you know, if you watch Steph Curry, he gets played so many different ways throughout a game, okay? He, they might throw, you know, depending on the team, they might throw three or four different guys at him. Just try and give him a different look. He still is able to over to overcome and adapt in those situations. And he's unstoppable, okay? He's still gonna hit six, seven, eight, threes that game. There's not much you can really do about it. So that's one of those things where it's like you can see the ability to be adaptable is super, super important. As great a shooter Steph Curry is, if he couldn't adapt and hit different shots in different weird situations, then it just would be very difficult for him. He's got to be able to go down the floor and then on one possession, you know, his defender overplays it. Maybe they hedge and they over, they overplay. He splits the screen and gets downhill and finishes with a floater. Okay? That very next possession, maybe the defender gets caught and he has a little bit of space so he hits a 30 footer, okay? So now all of a sudden, like you're seeing the ability to go from, okay, this one possession, I split the screen, got downhill, floater. Next possession I got to shoot a three right here, okay? And that's a difficult thing to do in the context of the game, but a lot of players don't work on it. And that's kind of what I want to talk about today is building that ability to adapt and depending on how you are played, being able to overcome and still be successful in those situations, you're going to be in different spots on the floor, you're going to be going different speeds, there's going to be different defenders playing you, different reads to make. So it's not always going to be perfect, right? The thing with adaptability is that it's not about always doing things perfectly because basketball is an imperfect game, okay? And a lot of times, you know, players spend all their time working out by themselves where it is perfect, right? You can make things perfect when you're by yourself, okay? You can make it so that there's no Defense going to steal the ball from you, you can pull up off one dribble, not necessarily going that fast, not necessarily in a game context. And you can make a lot of shots, right? You probably can shoot the ball at a pretty good percentage by yourself because there's nothing that's rushing you, nothing that's trying to contest you to make your session less than perfect. Okay. The issue with that is that once you get into a game and things are not perfect, how are you able to be effective in those situations? And that's why you have to be able to build that ability to be adaptable. Okay? So really being adaptable is the key to your skills being effective in actual games. So what I want to talk about is block versus random training. Kind of run through this real quick. I don't want to get too far into like the scientific ish side of things. But essentially with block training, that's, you know, when you go to the gym by yourself and you shoot, you know, a thousand shots, okay, let's just say you, you go and you shoot, you know, 300 form shots and 300 pull ups and 300 threes and then 100 free throws, okay? That's block training where you're just doing rep after rep after rep kind of mindlessly. You don't have to think about it. You can stand in the same spot and shoot. Let's say you stand in the corner and shoot 10 threes, okay? That's block training. There's no, you don't have to think about anything. You can kind of just be mindless and just do it. Okay. And there's a place for that for sure. There's certainly a place for block training. And in every workout that I do, there's, there's going to be at least a little bit of block training depending on the player as well. So this is not an anti block training sort of thing. But that's just kind of the definition of it is just getting reps up over and over and over, kind of in the same spot or the same type of shot, not really changing things up, not really having to, to, to think about or do anything like that. And then that is in comparison to random training, which is where you know things are random, right? So you might be shooting a shot from the corner, then you're shooting a shot from the wing, then you're shooting a shot at the elbow, then you're shooting a shot from the top of the key, then you're back to the corner, okay? So you're kind of going through different sorts of shots. This could also be, you know, we get into like playing, right? So if you're playing somebody one on one in, you know, let's say we're doing like a one on one hip to hip drill where like you're simulating like you're driving to the basket, starting with your defender on your hip, you drive off that, the defender might play you different ways. Right. If you're just working up by yourself, working on driving to the basket, well, the defender is not going to play you any sort of different way. Okay. So you can, you could theoretically just go work on your layups over and over and over and over and over again. Never have to adapt at all. That would be block training. But then we throw a defender out there, all of a sudden now you have to adapt to them reaching for the ball early, them not reaching for the ball, them trying to swat you, them, you know, not trying to swat you, whatever it may be. That's where it becomes real random. Okay. This could also be as simple as taking, you know, you work on your right handed layups coming from the wing to now you're working on, you know, right handed layups coming from all over the court. So maybe one rep you come from the wing on the right side, maybe the next rep you go from the left corner and then maybe the next one you go from the top of the key. So you're again, you're just kind of switching up the spots that you're going from. Okay, so that's kind of the difference right there. Block training, very repetitive, after the same thing over and over again versus random training, which is where you have different sorts of shots or different coming from different spots kind of over and over and over again. So the two types of training that we kind of want to chase after to develop this adaptability is that random training. So for example, that might mean that you might shoot 23s and you might shoot 21 drill pull ups and then you might shoot 20 layups. Okay. And we'll say those are one after the other. So you're going to shoot a three, then you're going to shoot a one, drill pull up, then you're going to shoot a layup, you're going to repeat that 19 more times. So let's say that's a good example of random training right there. Okay. We also want to have an aspect of varied training as well. So this is where things kind of start to mesh together and it goes a little bit different than random training. Whereas random, you're just Kind of switching the shot up. When we can vary the training, that would be like we're doing that, but we're going from different spots on the floor and different, like, you know, know distances. So for example, let's say that first shot, that first three you take is from the right wing. And then that second, you know, that, that one drill pull up, you take, you know, you take one drill pull up to your right and you know, let's say that's a 15 footer. And then you take a, you know, you take a layup after that just using your right hand, okay? Then maybe the next set you go to the opposite wing and you take a couple steps back and then shoot an NBA 3. Okay? Then you take a one drill pull up and you're still a little bit behind the high school three point line, okay? Then you take a, you know, layup to the basket, going over the front of the rim this time. So now we're varying the, the shots that we're shooting, okay? And we're varying the distances that we're going to shoot them from. So that's kind of the next step up from that. Random practice is where we can, we can vary not only the shots we take, but the distances that we take those, those shots at, okay? All those shots are coming from different spots on the floor, coming from different distances. That's where we mesh that random training and that varied training. And that's where we build one of the biggest keys, which is contextual interference. So when we have a session or a workout that's high in contextual interference, all of that is, is the action that results from you working on various tasks or various skills in the same session or the same drill, okay? So instead of just working on one singular skill or one singular spot over and over and over again, now we add in various shots, various spots, things start to change a little bit. And high contextual interference in your workouts is going to lead to you shooting worse, okay? So trying to build adaptability, trying to build that ability to be able to overcome things is going to make you shoot worse in practice. You're going to shoot a lower percentage when you have to switch up your spots, your distances, when you add a reactionary element to that, which we'll talk about, but it ultimately leads to higher transfer into games and higher long term retention of those skills that you've built, okay? So you're going to see an immediate dip in performance while you practice as opposed to you just doing block training and not having to think about it. Going over and over and over again. It's an easier form of training when you start to add in the random and varied element to the drills that you do. Now all of a sudden your performance in practice is going to go down, your numbers are going to go down. But the result is that when games get here and you have to be able to adapt and you have to be able to play in a situation that is very, very high in contextual interference, which is what a game is, you're going to be more prepared for that and you're going to see better results then. And there's been a ton of studies to back that up. People will look at different sorts of skills, not even just basketball, but they'll look at different other sports as well and try and put, you know, they'll take two groups, put one in a setting that's high in contextual interference and one in a setting that's more just blocked. And that block troop is going to do better in training. But the group that, that does stuff that's high in contextual interference. So random and varied practice, those are the, like that group is going to do better when it comes to the actual in game performance. Okay. As in comparison to that block group. So that's what we want to be aiming towards is how can we put ourselves in situations that build that have that high contextual interference so that we can see that transfer come over to the games. So now the question becomes how do we train that? Right? How do we train, how do we put ourselves in that, those situations with that high contextual interference and how do we build that adaptability with that? So one of my favorite things to do in all my workouts, but especially workouts where I have like a limited, like maybe if I'm just doing a one on one session with a player, I'll do so much reactionary stuff when it comes to like verbal cues where I'm giving my players a cue. So I'll probably post a video on Instagram this week that's going to go through like a couple of drills of that. But I just posted a video actually the other day on my YouTube channel, so go check that out. It's my last video right before this podcast where I, I went through some reactionary drills. And again, just like I actually went through it with my younger brother and the, and I can tell like because we did some, we did some more block style shooting at the end. He shot very well in comparison to the reactionary side of things where he didn't shoot quite as well, because it's a different. It requires just a different level of focus from you and just makes everything more difficult. So verbal cues, where I might have a player, I might pass the ball to them and we're going to work on attacking the closeout and as I'm passing it to them, I might yell, you know, I might yell shot. Or I might yell one drill, pull up. Or I might yell two, drill, pull up. Or maybe I'll yell corner, where they've got a dribble to the corner. Or maybe I'll yell opposite elbow. And they've got to get to the opposite elbow and shoot that ball. Okay. So now they have to be able to adapt on the fly to, you know, whatever it is that I cue them to do. So that's just kind of one way that you can build that and you can obviously build that through live play. So that's another big part of it is like, you know, put players in situations to, to play live and be able to figure stuff out, have a defender. That's the best way to have a situation with high contextual interference is have somebody out there that's actually going to try and stop you because they might play you different ways. Okay. But when it comes to just, you know, one on one reactionary stuff, when it comes to verbal cues is probably my favorite way to do it. You guys are in the elite shooter system. We have a whole. There's a whole section that's built for reactionary audio shooting drills. I've gotten some good feedback on that where essentially I'm just kind of like cueing you guys through some drills and I've had some guys tell me. Shouts My guy Ian, who left a comment, he was like, man, this is like one of your best ideas, Coach. Because I feel like I'm in a game when I have to react quickly to what you're saying. And that's ultimately the goal is, I'm sure he can vouch for. He probably shoots a little bit worse than he does the rest of the workout. But ultimately you really get that game like, feel when you have to react quickly like that, because every shot is going to be different. It's going to be from a different spot, from a different distance. But ultimately that's what games are. Okay. You don't just shoot the same, the same shots every single time more than likely. So verbal cues, it's a great way to do it. And like I said, go check out my last video. I'll be posting more on Instagram about that this week. As well. And then what you can do by yourself if you don't have somebody who can give you those cues, is that you can just have different series that force you to switch up the types of shots that you shoot. Okay, so let's see, you have a four shot series. With the first shot you're sprinting into a jump shot. The next shot you're backpedaling, catching, shooting. The next one you're sliding to the right, catch and shoot. And then the next one you're sliding to the left, catch and shoot. Okay, so four different shots consecutively. And you know, first of all we can make that random by obviously just going through those four shots, but we can even add some variability to that by then saying, okay, you know what, you're going to shoot that series of four, then you're going to go to another place on the floor and do the same exact thing. So maybe I'll start in the corner and then maybe the next one I'm going to go up to the wing. The next one I'm going to go to the opposite wing. So now we're adding in that variability as well. You could also say, okay, I'm going to do this one from the mid range and and then this one from three point and then this one from NBA range. So mixing up those spots and those distances now we can start to build that, that atmosphere of that high contextual interference as well, which is with a series right there. I think probably to add an even bigger element to that, we can add some, you know, both off the catch and off the dribble. So maybe your first one is a two drill pull up to the left. Maybe your second one is a backpedal catch and shoot three. Maybe your next one is a shot fake sidestep three and then your third one or your fourth one is a rip through one dual pull up to your right. Okay, so again we can go through that whole series on the corner and then we can boom, go over to the top of the key. Now we have that added variability into where we're actually shooting the ball from. And again we're able to build that adaptability even better as well. So that's a great thing that you can do when you're by yourself or even just shooting like with a partner or whatever. It's just kind of going through series and not be afraid to switch up where you're shooting that series from. And again it's going to result in you probably shooting the ball worse in that practice than if you were to stand still and shoot. But the retention that transfer over to games is going to be significantly higher when you train with that random and variable style. Okay. So the biggest thing I think when you're by yourself is you have to remember to be going game speed at all times. If you're not going games, if you're not going game speed and not able to train yourself to be adaptable at game speed, then it's going to be a struggle for you to be able to actually do that again. When the game is here, it's high contextual interference and it forces you to be adaptable at game speed. Okay. So make sure if you're by yourself, that's something that you focus on as well. And then obviously the holy grail of all this is just playing. So putting yourself in situations where maybe whether it's a one on one, a one on two, a two on two, a three on three, whatever it might be, putting yourself in different game situations where you actually have to build adaptability by being, by, you know, adapting to situations. Okay, if I'm playing one on one with a defender on my hip, well, again, maybe they cut me off early. Maybe they got a good jump on me and I have to counter back to the outside. Okay. Or the inside, depending on where they're playing you. Okay. Maybe they get a late jump on me and I've got to get to the opposite side of the basket and finish to use that rim so that they aren't able to block me. Okay. Again, now we're building a different adaptability so that the same reps not, you know, each rep isn't going to be the same as the one before it. So big key to focus on right there and then, you know, one thing I love to do also is just adding in times for you to just be creative with the shots that you shoot. So like just almost like a shoot around with high intensity going game speed, just shooting different shots. So maybe your first shot you take two dribbles to the, to the right into the mid range and then pull up. Maybe your next shot catches you three, maybe your next shot, you know, shot fake two dribbles, step back, you know, maybe next shot is, is slide to the left, catch and shoot three. You're just kind of going through different sorts of shots. And actually we have that listed in the primitive score system. That's, that's. We probably have that a good amount of workouts. The primitive score system in the advanced program where we're just going through like your opportunity to whether off the catch or off the dribble, string different sorts of shots together, okay? And that's really where you can, you can build that random practice and that, that variability. And the best you can do in that situation, especially by yourself, is really envision that you're in a situation, you know, that defender is closing out at you. How do you attack it? Okay, that defender is on your hip. How do you play it? Right there, okay, that offender's late on that closeout and you got to shoot the three. So again, by yourself, there's another strategy that you can use to make sure that you build that adaptability to the highest quality that you can. So, so again, hopefully that, that helps you guys out. Adaptability is such a big quality, such an important quality to have as a player. If you want to be good in games, you want to be good consistently. Being adaptable, guys, is the key to having your skills transfer. That's what I already said at the beginning of the podcast, but it's so true. And I think the best players are the ones who are able to adapt, able to make different shots. When it's not perfect, okay, if you only train in perfect situations, then when things aren't perfect in games, which is 95% of the time, you're going to struggle. Okay, when you get a wide open catch and shoot three, you might be okay with it, but when you have to do anything else, okay, when that three is not wide open also it's a little bit rushed or when that pass comes from a different angle, all of a sudden you're going to struggle. Okay? So biggest thing, guys, is work to build situations that have a high contextual interference. Best way to do this is by having something to react to. So some sort of verbal cue or a defender who's playing you, that's, that's the best way to do it. But by yourself, work on using different series, you know, three shot series, four shot series, forcing also to shoot different shots consecutively after the other and then varying the spots and distances that you take those shots from. And then of course adding in that sort of intense shoot around as well, where you're just going through different shots. You want to, you know, just kind of being creative with it, honestly. Again, envisioning that defender is actually there playing you in the different, in those different game situations. So you can start to build that adaptability quality as well, being able to hit different shots one after the other. So again, hopefully this helps you guys out. Like I said, guys, you're interested in the camp limited spots. Make sure you guys click the topic of my description below to get more details on that. Registration is below as well. If you guys are from like kind of far away again, send me a message on Instagram at Vision Different Basketball. You just let me know, let me know if you're interested. And if you got. If you guys use code JUly35, you'll get $35 off as well. Next 10 people to do that will get that discount. So shout out to you guys. Really, really excited for that. I'll talk to you guys soon.