NORTHERN STATE WOLVES BASKETBALL



NORTHERN STATE WOLVES BASKETBALL

COACHES’ NEWSLETTER

October, 2006

Topic: Preseason Strength & Conditioning Thoughts by Matt Hammer, Former NSU Player (2003-06), 2005 NSIC MVP, 2005 NSIC Leading Scorer, 3-year starter, 2-time NSIC All-Conference, 2-time North Central All-Region Team.

My name is Matt Hammer and I am currently in my first year as a student assistant coach for the men’s basketball team here at Northern State. I’ve had the privilege of playing for Coach Meyer and the Wolves for the past four seasons, and now I’m getting the chance to see what it’s like on the coaching side of things.

I went to a small high school in South Dakota (Elkton), where lifting weights wasn’t mandatory for any of the sports. When I came to Northern I had no idea what to expect. All the older guys on the team were bigger, stronger, and faster than I was. I knew the only way I would be able to compete with them would be by working hard in the weight room and becoming better athletically. My freshman year was also the first year for our Strength & Conditioning coach, Derik Budig. Coach Budig did a number of things with our team to improve our athleticism. In the following pages I will discuss some of the different ways we prepare our team for the long and rigorous season that we go through every year. I will also talk about a few things I went through as a player in making the transition from high school to college basketball.

Preseason and Postseason Workouts

The first week we start school, Coach B has our team test out. He tests our team on our height, weight, body fat %, wingspan, vertical jump, max bench, max squat, shuttle run, 3x5’s (which I’ll explain later), and the time it takes us to sprint from one baseline to the other. Coach B does these tests at the beginning of the year, after our seven weeks of preseason workouts, after our season is over, and at the end of the school year. These tests are great to compare the athleticism of the players on your team, as well as their improvements over the course of the year.

Before and after our season our team lifts four times a week, and during the season they lift 3 days per week. Starting this year we are conditioning once a week instead of twice, and playing at least three times a week. On top of conditioning and weights, our guys also have three individual workouts with our coaches each week that are for forty minutes (2 hours total). For our individual workouts we can only have up to four players in a group. The groups are made up of our players by what position they play.

When our team scrimmages we don’t just throw a ball out on the court and play five on five. When we do play five on five, we always play make-it, take-it full court. This puts an emphasis on defense and it makes our players run more. We also have the defense pick the ball up full court. We want our players to know what it feels like to play under pressure and in a hectic environment. Another way we scrimmage is by playing 5 on 5 on 5. A team will start with the ball at half court and there will be a team waiting for them on defense, and the third team will be off on the sidelines. If the offensive team scores they keep the ball. Once they’ve seen a team score, the team on the sideline has to run and touch the middle circle and get back on defense. The team that was scored on is now on the sidelines. Now, if there is a missed shot and the defense gets the rebound, they take it back against the same team that just missed the shot. So, the only way the team on the sideline comes in is if one of the teams score or there is an offensive foul. If there is a defensive foul the offensive team takes the ball out under their basket. You can also play this with 4 players on a team. We also pay 4 on 5 Overload. This causes one team to be at a disadvantage. It makes the team with more players work on trapping the ball. The team with fewer players has to work on rotating on defense so they don’t give up an open shot.

A New Beginning

One thing that really helped me as a freshman was being paired up with a veteran player in the weight room. Every year Coach B has a veteran pair up with a rookie. My partner as a freshman was Steve Smiley, who at the time was a junior and also our starting point guard. Since I didn’t lift very much in high school it was nice to work with a teammate that knew what he was doing in the weight room. Steve helped me out by encouraging me to get better and by showing me the different techniques used in lifting weights. If you do have your team lift, make sure you just don’t unlock the weight room door for them. Pair them up so that the younger players don’t feel so out of place and they have somebody there to help them lift. This will make the younger players feel less intimidated when they are lifting less weight than the older players. After only a few months with Coach B and my teammates I started to see a change.

This chart below shows the improvements I made throughout my career at Northern

The four years that I played at Northern State, we conditioned twice a week and played less compared to this year’s team. We would condition on Sunday afternoons and Wednesday mornings before class. Coach B was great at switching up our conditioning drills. He would have us in the gym a couple days and then outside for another. Coach would also take us into the pool for a couple of workouts. Our conditioning practices consisted of many drills that Coach B would use and switch up from time to time to make sure that we were staying sharp and on task.

Here are a few drills that Coach B uses with our team:

• 3 x 5’s – We start on the baseline and run down and back, that equals 1. We have to make 5 trips in a row under a minute to successfully complete a 3 x 5. We started doing 3 x 5’s after my junior season. At the time we thought it was impossible to run that much under a minute. It took our team a few try’s to get there before we went under a minute. This year I think we had 6 or 7 guys make it.

• The Ladder – We start either on the baseline or on the sideline of the floor, depending on if we are running lengths or widths. Coach splits us up into two groups, the guards and the bigs. We start by sprinting to the other end of the floor, that’s one. We then work our way up the ladder by running 3, then 5, then 7, and so on until we get to 11. We then work our way back down the ladder. Coach B times us and if he feels like we aren’t working our hardest, we either start over or do that particular sprint over.

• Cone Drills – Coach will set up cones in the shape of a square. He will then break us up into teams and have us compete against each other. We don’t just sprint through the cones, we also backpedal, carioca, and our teams personal favorite, the defensive slide.

• Stations – Coach B would set up 5 different stations in the gym and break us up into 5 groups. Here are a few stations that really stick out in my memory. One station would have us doing defensive slides from one side of the lane to the other. Another station would be standing under a hoop and jumping up and touching as high as you could on the backboard as many times as you could. A different station would be jumping rope while another would be doing body squat jumps. Coach B would also use bungee chords in a station. One partner puts the belt on while the other partner holds the end of the bungee chord. There is a cone on your left, right, and in front of you. The cones are approximately 15 feet in front of you. There is a coach that stands in the middle of the group that will point to his left, right, or straight up, and you sprint to that cone and touch it while the tension in the bungee chord continues to get greater. These are just a few stations that come to mind, but you can come up with many more that will fit your team.

Coach Meyer always tells us that there comes a time when winter asks what you’ve done all summer. Our style of play at Northern forces our players to be in great shape. If your players aren’t very well conditioned, they might not be able to play the style of basketball you want them to play. If your players aren’t willing to go through the pain of discipline in the summer, they better be ready for the pain of regret in March.

I hope you’ve gotten some ideas you can use with your players by reading this newsletter. If you have any questions for our coaching staff please give us a call or send us an email. And remember, those who work the hardest are the last to surrender.

Coach Don Meyer Strength Coach Derek Budig Matt Hammer

meyerd@northern.edu budigd@northern.edu hamme494@northern.edu

2007 NSU Men’s Basketball Key Dates

2007 Camp Dates:

• June 1-3: College Perimeter & Post Position Camp

• June 4-7: Boys & Girls Day Camp

• June 7-9: 17th Annual Don Meyer Coaching Academy

• June 10-13: Girls Skill Development & Competition Camp

• June 13-16: Boys Skill Development & Competition Camp

• July 8-10: Boys Shooting & Scoring Camp

• July 10-12: Boys Perimeter & Post Position Camp

• July 12-14: Boys Varsity, JV, & Junior High Team Camps

• July 15-17: Girls Shooting & Scoring Camp

• July 17-19: Girls Perimeter & Post Position Camp

• July 19-21: Girls Varsity, JV, & Junior High Team Camp

** All of our practices are open to coaches who want to observe them and talk basketball. Please contact us in advance for specific practice times and help with lodging. **

Building a Championship Program: Coach Meyer’s Best-Selling 30 Tape Series is now available in DVD format! Use the Order form off of our website and specify DVD on your order. Go to for order forms for the tape series and other exciting products!

2006 Don Meyer Academy Notes with Featured clinician Tubby Smith of the University of Kentucky: Detailed notes from this year’s academy can be purchased for $20 by contacting the NSU men’s staff at the contact information below.

Playing For Coach Meyer by Steve Smiley: the just-published, original story that shows the amazing bond that a legendary coach develops with one of his players, Steve Smiley, throughout his collegiate career is now available and can be purchased by filling out the order form at the end of this newsletter or by going to or northern.edu/athletics.

Contact Information:

Coach Meyer’s Website:

NSU Athletics Website: northern.edu/athletics

Don Meyer Steve Smiley

Head Coach Assistant Coach

meyerd@northern.edu scsmiley@northern.edu

(605) 626 7730 (605) 626 3300

Cell (605) 290 3970 Cell (605) 290 3447

Order Form: Playing For Coach Meyer

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Don Meyer has been coaching the game of basketball at the collegiate level for the past 33 years, amassing more than 800 career victories at three different schools (Hamline University in Minneapolis, Minnesota; David Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee; and now at Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD). He has won a national championship, coached players that were at one point in time the all-time leaders in college basketball in points (John Pierce, Philip Hutcheson), steals (Marcus Bodie), and assists (Jerry Meyer), been inducted into five different Halls of Fame, including the NAIA Hall of Fame at the age of 47, and he was twice named NAIA National Coach of the Year (1989 & 1990). In addition, Coach Meyer was running the largest summer camps in the nation while at DLU and over 10,000 coaches have attended Coach Meyer's nationally acclaimed Don Meyer Coaching Academies which featured speakers such as John Wooden, Pat Summit, Morgan Wooten, Roy Williams, Tubby Smith, Rick Majerus and countless others.

While these accomplishments are impressive, they pale in comparison to the relationships that he has developed with his players, co-workers, and fellow coaches over the years. In this book, one of his former players, Steve Smiley, discusses his five-year journey with Coach Meyer in detail. The ups, the downs, the triumphs and the defeats are all discussed as the author attempts to show the amazing bond that Coach Meyer develops with his players and the true character of a legendary coach whom many people know nothing about. Included are over twenty pieces written by other former players, coaches, and administrators that have worked with Coach Meyer that will give you, the reader, an even deeper appreciation for the impact that Coach Meyer has had on these people's lives. Take pleasure in reading about a truly amazing teacher of basketball and life; a man that embodies the idea of servant leadership. A man simply known as Coach Meyer.

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PRICING INFORMATION

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10-19 Copies = $18 / Copy

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MAIL ORDER FORM & CHECK TO:

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Men’s Basketball

Northern State University

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