Do you want to make your high school or college basketball team as a walk-on? I did it and had a great 4 year college basketball career.

Lets get right to the facts. If you want to walk-on to a college team or make your high school team during try-outs you have to be in better shape than everyone else. You will be going up against some great athletes and if you are not in better shape you don’t stand a chance. I have seen many examples of a good athlete in great shape—make a team–over a great athlete in poor condition.

How do you get in shape for try-outs? There are a couple of proven methods.

First…play in full-court pick-up games with the best competition you can find at least 3 times a week. Do this at least a month or two before try-outs start. This will help you get in basketball shape and help you work on your basketball instincts.

Second…run three miles a day a month before practice starts. Make sure it is a run or a fast jog so you can build up your stamina.

Third…run a 1-3 mile long hill or mountain a month or two before try-outs start. Don’t go slow, jog as fast as you can. Make sure it is up-hill all the way. This is the best conditioning method period! You will not be able to make it up the mountain the first time. Every step is a workout. If you do this 3 times a week before try-outs you will be in better condition than anyone there. I guarantee it. This exercise will also test you courage

Be careful running down the mountain. I left a couple of my teeth on Squaw Peak Mountain in Phoenix Arizona!

Fourth…work on your lay-ups and jump-shot everyday for at least an hour. Set up your own routine. It doesn’t have to be strenuous. But you have to develop a great touch. You are going to be doing a lot of full-court crazy eight drills and full-court 3-on-2 drills during try-outs. This will make sure you can make your lay-ups and pull-up jumpers at the free-throw line. In short–it will look to the coaches like you know what you are doing.

Stay tuned for more articles on how to shoot a basketball. That is my specialty.

Fifth…lifting weights is another awesome thing you can do before try-outs.

So there you have it. Five things you can do to give yourself the best chance of making your high school team or walking-on to a college team.

1.) Playing full-court pick-up games with good competition

2.) Run 3 miles a day

3.) Run a 1-3 mile long hill or mountain

4.) Practice lay-ups and jump-shots for at least 1 hour per day.

5.) Lift weights

Doing one of the first three and #4 is a must.

Doing #1, #3, and #4 will get you the most prepared. I know. I walked on to my college basketball team my freshman year and had a great four-year career.

In closing, these workouts give you the confidence you will need to make your high-
school team or walk on to a college team. It also shows the coaches that you are serious about making the team–this is unbelievably important to you. What your coaches think of you will determine if you make the team or not.

I have seen excellent athletes fail to make the team because they pulled a hamstring the first day of try-outs, or their puking their guts out after running a suicide drill, or they are too sore to hit a 15-foot jump-shot. If you do the things above this will not happen to you.

P.S. Make sure you also participate in any recommended workouts by your coaches or current team-

members

See you at the top!

Dave Z.

Visit http://www.JumpHigherSports.com for more tips and strategies on playing better basketball.

Dave Zalewski is a Peak Performance Coach. He uses his experience as a USPTA Tennis Pro , former College Basketball Player, and Multi-Million Dollar Realestate Agent to change peoples lives. He loves to help clients discover the time-tested principles that lead to lasting success. Stay tuned for more power packed articles.

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Many of the questions revolve around getting your foot into the door and how that can happen without knowing a lot of people in the basketball world. Here are the top five questions I receive and answers:

Here are five common questions by aspiring college coaches;

1. How to become a graduate assistant coach at programs all over the country.

The key is to get to know as many assistant and head coaches at all levels, especially Div. II and III. Each year they have at least one opening on average for a new graduate assistant. Learn about these through word of mouth.

2. Top 3 things you can do now to get your foot in the door.

Make a 100% decision to put everything you have to get your foot in the door. Learn a unique skill, like video editing. Network, network, network

3. How to build a strong Coaching Network

First you must hire or befriend a mentor, someone who has already accomplished what you desire. You can build a huge network by learning from this mentor and that is the key to getting college jobs.

4. Five things you need to learn that will help you get a job this spring.

Make a commitment to do everything it takes to accomplish your goal, make financial sacrifices, contact as many coaches as possible in the next three months, learn to accept rejection, make sure your effort matches your desire.

5. How to get Tom Crean, Coach K, Sean Miller to return your notes and emails!

The key is to begin a handwriting campaign to 100 coaches at all levels and positions in the NBA and NCAA basketball. This will help you deal with rejection but also begin to build relationships.

Ask yourself this question before contacting me however; How bad do you want it? If you truly desire this career, set your sets high, set goals, and be willing to do anything it will take to accomplish your goal.

Randy Brown is a basketball instructor, speaker, author and has authored 100+ articles on coaching effectiveness. His 18 years in college basketball highlights a successful 30-year career. Get your FREE bonus at: http://video.kudda.com/coach/Brown
Contact him at rb@coachrb.com.

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At the beginning of the 20th century, there were enough college teams to begin forming basketball leagues, and the NCAA was founded in Chicago in 1906. Over 5,500 fans were witness to the first NCAA Championship tournament, which took place in Evanston, Illinois, in 1939 (Oregon emerged victorious over Ohio State in the final game with a score of 46-33).

Another tournament, the National Invitation Tournament, was also very important at the time, and was believed to be just as high quality as the NCAA. However, by the 1950′s, the NCAA was dominant, and the NIT became a showcase for teams that were not as talented and couldn’t make the NCAA tournament. It is still played today in Madison Square Garden.

At nflsystems.com, you get to see much more history and analysis.

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There have been a multitude of exceptional basketball players in the relatively short history of the game and the international involvement as well as overall increase in popularity has spurred more great talents in the past twenty years than arguably the summation of all the great hoopsters that came before. While the debate over who is the best at shooting buckets will never be definitively resolved many younger fans not familiar with the body of work Pistol Pete put up are oblivious to the fact that his name clearly deserves to be in the conversation if not specifically at the top of the list of best shooters in the history of college and professional basketball. The fact that Maravich died from an untimely heart attack in 1988 at the age of 40 makes him even further removed from the youth culture that primarily consumes basketball.

Pistol Pete was born Peter Press Maravich in 1947. As the son of a former professional player turned basketball coach fundamentals were instilled in Pete from an early age. The Pennsylvania native eventually moved to South Carolina (while his father served as the head basketball coach at Clemson University) where he excelled at high school basketball and garnered the nickname Pistol for his shot release that involved pulling the ball up from his hip like a cowboy in wild west pistol shootout.

After finishing his prep career in Raleigh, North Carolina Pistol Pete joined the LSU Tigers where his father was coaching at the time. The scholarship offer Pete received to play at LSU was by no stretch of the imagination a handout from his father as Pistol quickly proved by scoring 50 points, dishing out 11 assists, and pulling down 14 rebounds in his very first game as a freshman. Over his three year college career Pistol Pete averaged an astounding 44.2 points per game during a span from 1968-1970 when he led the NCAA in scoring each of those three years.

The 6’5″ guard accomplished the majority of his scoring with outside shooting and all of those points were accumulated before the implantation of the three point line. Years later LSU head coach Dale Brown reviewed game tapes and ascertained that had a three point line been in place when Pistol Pete played Pete would have averaged an astounding 13 three pointers per game which would have boosted his average points per game from an astounding 44 per game to an unbelievable 57 points per game. In 2005 ESPNU (ESPN subsidiary that specializes in college sports) named Pistol Pete Maravich as the greatest college basketball player of all-time – almost solely based on his incredible outside shooting ability.

Sam has been fascinated with Pistol Pete since watching the dramatization “The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend” and encourages fans of Maravich’s college career to take a look at the LSU wallpaper images that can be easily found on Sam’s website.

Folks who enjoyed this article but aren’t interested in LSU computer desktop background wallpaper are still encouraged to spend a few minutes looking at the author’s website as he is sure college basketball fans of any school will find something they’re interested in.

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