Adapting To Change Part 2

As seasons change - we must understand and prepare for seasons to change.  Change is inevitable and as surely as time passes, things will change.  People will change.  Relationships will change.  Jobs will change.  Finances will change.  Circumstances will change.  You have to understand that just as you celebrate the blooming flowers of spring and enjoy seeing them bloom -- there was a season right before it where mostly everything beautiful died.  What was once desolate has come into full bloom and is beautiful again but only for a SEASON!

How can we adapt to change?  Here are my recommendations to being prepared for change:

1. Be aware that change is going to happen at some point.  Be prepared for unexpected change.  For example:  Most financial planners recommend that you have at least 3-6 months worth of savings in the event of getting laid off, medical trauma or some unexpected life event.  This is a great example of being aware that change could happen and being prepared for it.
2. Know that not all change is good and not all change is bad.  I gave an example of an unexpected negative change to happen but lets say the exact opposite happens.  What if your job's administrators came in and said you were being promoted to Vice President of the company which would include a heavy increase financially but would require you to travel 50% of the time.  Is your household prepared for this change or would they have to get ready for the change?  If you have children and pick them up from school every day - you now have to find someone who can do that for you.  Don't be so focused on the money you would be making - understand that to whom much is given, much is required.  So your family and whatever other places you serve will be without should you take this job.  What would you do?
3. Sit down with your family and decide what are your core values individually and as a group.  This will help you making good choices when change happens.  Example: They hire a new coach on the team you play on that has no morals - are you willing to subject yourself to that for years or would you rather transfer to keep your morals in tact and peace of mind?  Your decisions will be in alignment of your core values and your core values should be consistent with your immediate family or household.  (There are some circumstances that are different.)
4. Once change happens accept it and make a decision on what you are going to do about it.  Don't just sit around complaining about the change.  Make a decision that you will do something about it that aligns with your core values.

In conclusion, I encourage each of you to read and share this article with somebody.  Know that you are going to see change at some point or another and be prepared for the change that comes your way. You can listen to our podcast that talks about adapting to change. 

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Proper Conditioning & Stretching Decreases Lower Limb Injuries

Proper conditioning and stretching will minimize injuries when combined with effective strength training. Coaches all over the country have been trying to get to the bottom of the surplus of lower limb injuries -- especially with women's basketball players.  As a part of my graduate study, I researched leading causes in lower limb injuries and found the following to be prevalent: 

• Collisions around the rim 
• Landing off balance after a jump
• Changing directions suddenly
• Body anatomy - overweight and larger cup sizes can cause strain on the knees/ankles
• Previous injuries on one limb can cause overcompensation on the other limb

I found these causes in various articles on line and from asking coaches I knew.  Then my husband and I began to create an injury prevention plan that we implemented on every team we coached.  So we have found that after 5 years of using this injury prevention guideline we have only had 3 ACL surgeries out of 72 players that we coached.  Of those 3 ACL injuries - 2 had previous ACL injuries and admitted to not taking the rehab process serious.  

The injury prevention plan that we implemented consisted of daily attention to detail and observation of how each player's body was responding to drills.  Keep in mind that no two bodies are made the same.  So you must be aware of each player's body type and normal body movements.  Below are our daily guidelines to properly condition and stretch our players which helped decrease our lower limb injuries.

1. Stretching:  Every day we spent 20 minutes stretching starting with dynamic stretching (EX: high knees, butt kicks, walking lunges, high knee skips, knee grabs).  After a few down and backs of dynamic stretching, circle up for static stretching (EX: bend over and touch toes, hamstring stretch, pigeon stretch, butterfly stretch, groin stretch).  Resistance band stretching was next and players should be able to get deeper into each stretch by now.  Each stretch should be held for 15 seconds.  The last 2 minutes was for players to stretch any area that felt tight.
2. Agility drills:  We included a form of agility drills to warm their bodies up, such as speed ladders and cone drills to name a few.  With the ladders we would tell players to focus on their foot placement and making sure their feet were hitting each square - this causes them to not just go through drills, but focus on their foot movement and placement.  This is so valuable because where ever your feet go - your body will follow.  So if players can be in control of their feet, they can be in better control of their body.  With the cone drills - these were always short distances to practice breaking down and changing direction quickly.  Players were trained on how to have proper stance and chop their feet to prepare body for change of direction.  This is a great form of conditioning as well, but our teams always had fun doing these high energy drills.  Also include defensive slides to practice those quick changes of direction.
3. Sprints:  With women's basketball, full court sprints must be conditioned daily because that's what the sport requires.  These sprints should be consistent with your style of play.  For example if you like to press or play up tempo, a lot of sprint conditioning is needed to build endurance for this style of play.  Running a simple down and back is just not sufficient conditioning for basketball players.  Players need to run 5 or more sprints at a time.
4. Jumping and Landing on Balance:  Our belief is that rebounding is a great way to control possessions for your team.  So we taught and practiced rebounding techniques every drill of every practice.  A huge part of rebounding is jumping and landing on BALANCE!  We would practice this with basketballs, medicine balls and tennis balls by throwing the ball off the wall and having players pursue the ball with 2 hands and 2 feet.  We would practice landing on 2 feet at a time with bent knees on the balls of your feet.  One sign that players are off balance or landing too hard is how loud the landing is.  So I would always remind them - soft landing.  Bend those knees and use your whole body to absorb the landing.  

You can always e-mail us at kbjacademy@gmail.com to get a sample practice plan or season practice schedule sent to you.  We love sharing our experience to help others be successful.  You can always visit our website for free information and blog posts at kbjacademy.com. 

These are suggestions that we make based on our own experience and research.  We highly recommend that you as a player or coach would consult your doctor or athletic trainer before making any sudden changes to your normal work out routine.  Implement some of these strategies slowly and pay attention to what areas your body needs most.  

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