Blog Post #68, July 29, 2009

Condition: The First Key to Your Team Never Beating Itself

Category: Practice

The previous blog posting, A Journey to the Heart of the Pyramid of Success, introduced the three blocks located in the middle, or “heart” of John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success, “Condition,” “Skill,” and “Team Spirit,” as the key to John Wooden’s success. The promise was made: Deeply learn the meaning of these three concepts and apply them to your practice planning, and your team will never beat itself. 

In this posting, I will teach you, not only the true meaning of condition, but exactly how, as a coach, to apply that knowledge to the practice session so your team will be in the best physical, mental, and moral condition possible. We begin with the definition of condition.

The Definition of Condition
A player that is “conditioned” to play basketball, is able to physically and mentally give his best effort throughout the entire game. Condition, in sports, is sport-specific. While in top basketball condition in the peak of my career, I was challenged to a racquetball game, a sport I had not played up to that point. This sixty-year old man kicked my fanny all over the court and never got fatigued or out of breath. Meanwhile, I was gaping for any air I could find. I hope to think, had I taken him to the basketball court, things would have been reversed.

I’ve heard of coaches that make some of their players take ballet class to improve flexibility and core strength. That may be good as part of an off-season workout program, but it doesn’t train a player to endure the physical contact, repeated sprints and jumps, and intense reactive defensive efforts of a two and one-half hour basketball game. He will look good with a Pirouette toward the basket, landing in fifth position, but, like me on the racquetball court, he won’t last. To be in condition for basketball, one must do basketball.

Maximum Conditioning During the Practice Session
If you make the most of your time, one practice session per day, with weekends off, is all you need to get your team in better condition than any other team in the conference. (“This Swen guy is off his rocker! He doesn’t know what he’s talking about!”) But this is exactly the way John Wooden did it and things haven’t changed. In fact, I challenge anyone to find a current team that played at the pace we did. We didn’t have an off-season workout program (other schools did), no weight training, never ran one wind sprint, and never had more than one practice in a day, even at the beginning of the season. Yet, we never found one team that was in better condition. The reason is, John Wooden is a master at incorporating conditioning into practice. Here are some of his secrets.

1. Every Drill was a Conditioning Drill: He added cutting, sprinting, and game movement to every drill. For example, our spot shooting drill was one of the most taxing while, in other programs I’ve been in, it’s a time to catch your breath. At UCLA, there was rarely a chance to catch your breath. 
2. Quick Transitions: When one drill ended, the next one began. Balls were in place and we knew what to do. We sprinted to the next station with not a second wasted.
3. Free throws Inserted Between Drills and Integrated Into the Scrimmage:  In many programs, practicing free throws is a time where everyone stands around. At UCLA, six times each practice, we paired up, each shot a one-and-one, did five fingertip pushups, got two sips of water from the fountain, and sprinted to the next drill. Also, during scrimmage, if you were not in, you were required to make four consecutive free throws and then check yourself in for a player the next dead ball.
4. Make Practice Harder Than Games: Practices should simulate games but with higher intensity and higher physical demands. In the words of Bill Walton,

“Practices at UCLA were nonstop, electric, supercharged, intense, demanding…with Coach pacing the sidelines like a caged tiger, barking instructions, positive reinforcement, and maxims: ‘Be quick but don’t hurry.’ He constantly changed drills and scrimmages, exhorting us to ‘move quickly, hurry up.’ Games seemed like they happened in a slower gear. I’d think in games, ‘why is this taking so long?’ because everything we did in games happened faster in practice.”

Condition is a Trinity
In the introduction to the heart of the Pyramid of Success, I erred. The three parts of condition are not Physical, Mental, and Emotional; they are Physical, Mental, and Moral. The degree of physical condition a team can reach is dependent, to a large degree, on how mentally and morally each member is conditioned.

Mental Conditioning: When you read between the lines, when reading Bill Walton’s quote above, you will see how John Wooden mentally conditioned us. He made us think for two and one-half hours, not only about the changing drills and scrimmages, but in the areas of initiative, self-control, alertness, execution, and more. I hate to say it, but practice was two and one-half hours of incessant correction, admonition, exhortation, with occasional praise and confirmation. 

Moral Conditioning: During our pre-season team meeting and after every practice session, Coach Wooden reminded us we could tear down our bodies more, between practices, than we could build them up during practice. Enough said.

Conclusion
1. Also during the pre-season meeting, Coach Wooden gave us the secret to achieving maximum conditioning: “Push yourself until you can’t go any more, mentally and physically, and then go one step further.”
2. In Coach Wooden’s words, “The mental and moral example set by the coach can have a strong influence on the type of ball players he produces, and, of even greater importance, on the character of the young men who later leave his guidance and begin to lead others.”

More games are lost than won. Condition, Skill, and Team Spirit cause a team never to beat itself. What does that mean? It means somebody is going to have to play a pretty good game to beat you.