If you’re serious about getting better, stop guessing and start tracking. You don’t need an expensive app or fancy equipment. Go to Walmart or the dollar store, grab a notepad and a pen, and start keeping track of your work. ✍️ Track your makes. How many shots are you actually making? What’s your percentage? Are you getting better from the spots you need to score from? 💪 Track your workouts. What did you work on? How many shots did you take? What moves are you developing? What do you need to improve next time? 🏆 Track your wins. Did you hit a new personal record? Finally master that move? Improve your shooting percentage? Write it down. Give yourself credit for your progress. 🎯 Track your opportunities. What went well in your games? What did you struggle with? What opportunities do you need to take advantage of? Use every game as a chance to learn. And don’t just track everything randomly. BE SPECIFIC. If you’re working on your pull-up jumper, track your makes and attempts from different spots. If you’re developing your left hand, track how often you use it and how effective you are. Because here’s the truth: If you aren’t tracking your progress, how do you know you’re improving? Too many high school players show up to the gym, get shots up, and leave without ever knowing whether their work is paying off. They repeat the same workouts without measuring their progress and wonder why they aren’t seeing results. Don’t be that player. The numbers don’t lie. They show you what you’re good at, what needs work, and whether you’re actually getting better. They also give you something concrete to show a coach when you want to prove how much work you’ve put in. Remember, you’re not just working out to say you worked out. You’re working out to get better. TRACK YOUR WORK. MEASURE YOUR PROGRESS. HOLD YOURSELF ACCOUNTABLE. Don’t let all that hard work go to waste. Make sure it’s working. TRACK IT. 📝🏀 Trainer: @Logan Hinton, a former 5 year pro across three countries.

Here’s a truth every basketball player needs to hear: If you’re good enough, you’ll find a way. Does basketball have politics? Absolutely. Does favoritism exist? Sure. Do coaches make mistakes? Of course. But if you are truly undeniable, eventually someone is going to notice. If you aren’t getting varsity minutes, you should be dominating JV. If you aren’t getting noticed at school, you should be standing out in AAU. If you’re that much better than everyone else, you should be producing, winning, getting ranked, getting invited to camps, getting recruited, or finding another opportunity to prove it. And if none of that is happening… You have to be honest with yourself. Where’s the problem? Maybe you aren’t as good as you think you are. Maybe your defense isn’t good enough. Maybe you don’t make winning plays. Maybe your conditioning isn’t there. Maybe you don’t understand the game. Maybe your attitude is holding you back. Maybe you’re inconsistent. Maybe you aren’t putting in nearly as much work as you think you are. And here’s the hardest one: If your team is consistently winning with you on the bench, you have to be willing to ask yourself why. That doesn’t mean your coach is always right. It means you control what happens next. Stop blaming the coach. Stop blaming politics. Stop blaming your teammates. Stop blaming your height. Stop blaming your role. Look in the mirror. Because the second you stop asking, “Why aren’t they playing me?” and start asking, “What do I need to become so they CAN’T keep me off the floor?” — everything changes. Go get stronger. Get in better shape. Become a better defender. Make the right play. Become more consistent. Study the game. Get in the gym when nobody is watching. Master the fundamentals. Become someone your team needs. Don’t just want to be talented. Be undeniable. Make the decision so easy that your coach has no choice but to put you on the floor. And when you finally get that opportunity? Be ready for it.

One of the most underutilized skills in basketball might be the one that hurts the most. Taking a charge isn’t flashy. It won’t show up on a highlight reel like a dunk. It doesn’t have the same appeal as a block or a steal. But it can completely change a game. A charge does more than give your team possession. You just turned an opponent’s advantage into your team’s advantage. They beat their defender. They got downhill. They created an opportunity. And you erased all of it by being willing to step in and take the hit. That’s why taking charges is such an underrated skill. It requires: • Anticipation • Positioning • Timing • Courage • Discipline • A willingness to sacrifice your body for the possession And here’s the thing: Most players aren’t willing to do it. That’s exactly why it can separate you. If you’re trying to earn playing time, don’t overlook the things that don’t require you to score. Be the player who takes the charge. Be the player who gets the 50/50 ball. Be the player who takes the toughest defensive assignment. Be the player who makes the winning play nobody remembers. Because one possession can change a game. And sometimes the biggest play you make… is the one you’re willing to hit the floor for. The little things aren’t little when they happen every possession. Trainer: @Logan Hinton, a former 5 year pro across three countries. Train Like a Pro!

Everybody wants to be in “game shape.” But most players train conditioning like they’re preparing for a 5K. Basketball isn’t a 5K. You sprint. You stop. You change direction. You shuffle. You jump. You jog. You walk. Then you have to do it all again. So your conditioning needs to reflect the game. 1️⃣ BUILD YOUR ENGINE You still need an aerobic base. Your aerobic system helps you recover between high-intensity efforts, which is a HUGE part of being able to maintain your performance throughout a game. Don’t completely eliminate steady-state cardio. Just don’t make it your entire conditioning program. 2️⃣ TRAIN REPEATED SPRINTS This is where basketball conditioning gets specific. Try: 10 × 15–20 yard sprints with short recovery periods. Or: 5–10 rounds of: * Sprint * Change direction * Backpedal * Shuffle * Recover * Repeat The goal isn’t just to run fast once. It’s to stay fast when you’re tired. Research consistently supports repeated-sprint training as a useful way to improve sprint ability, repeated-sprint performance and high-intensity endurance in team-sport athletes. 3️⃣ CONDITION WITH THE BALL One of my favorites. Instead of running suicides for 30 minutes, make your conditioning look like basketball. Example: 3–4 minute continuous drill Attack → finish → sprint back → defensive slide → catch → shoot → sprint → repeat. Now you’re conditioning your body AND your basketball skills. Research has found that basketball-specific ball drills can improve intermittent endurance while simultaneously developing technical skills. 4️⃣ PLAY SMALL-SIDED GAMES 1v1 2v2 3v3 With short rest periods. You’re constantly making decisions while accelerating, decelerating, defending, attacking and recovering. That’s conditioning that actually looks like basketball. Small-sided basketball training has been shown to improve aerobic capacity while also improving basketball-specific qualities. 5️⃣ DON’T FORGET CHANGE OF DIRECTION Being in shape isn’t just being able to run straight.

There is so much info and opinions on sleep on the Internet I don't know how many hours I should aim for. One one hand getting in 7.5 hr allows for that extra workout and extra meal but getting 9 hr allows for complete recovery. When if comes to sleep as a 15 yr old how much should I get every night?