Raising The Game- UBA Head Strength Coach Keith Wilson, UBA US Pro Performance Camp
“Sessions with Coach Keith Wilson are amazing. He has incredible knowledge about fitness. To play at a high level, you need to train hard beyond the court as well. The right way to exercise, plyometrics, a lot of people do not know how to do all that properly. It’s really helpful to have Coach Wilson show us the right way to help us grow.”- Prudhvi Reddy (Mumbai Challengers)
Watch a video of a session with Coach Wilson training some top UBA players from India and all across the world during the 3rd UBA US Pro Performance Camp.
UBA players at UBA US Pro Performance Camp get to work with one of America’s top trainers in UBA Head Strength coach Keith Wilson. “You feel like you can carry back a year’s worth of experience from training here,” said Ajinkya Mane, Pune Peshwas. The UBA USA Pro Performance Camp had Coach Wilson working on the players’ fitness and UBA Director of Coaching Jody Basye along with UBA League Assistant Coach Jon Kimberlin working with the players on and off the court. “We get to learn so much in this two-week camp, our fitness goes up to a whole new level. There is a high standard of professionalism here,” added Mane.
Wilson is also the owner of Pro Advantage Training Systems and has worked with NBA, NFL & MLB players and with Olympic gold medalists. Having the knowledge of training the world’s best athletes across a wide variety of disciplines allows Coach Wilson to give players a unique perspective designed to give them a leg up in their fitness levels. “Coach Keith Wilson really helps us to get in the right shape to play professional basketball and makes us work very hard. He teaches us things in minute details about body mechanics, about the position we need to be in while training,” said Siddhant Shinde, Pune Peshwas.
Training with Keith Wilson, UBA players receive the best basketball conditioning and strength training available anywhere in the world. Coach Wilson has worked with the world’s best athletes and with youth athletes, he knows how to approach each athlete in a way to maximize their learning. “Coach Keith Wilson is really sporting. He’s very positive and explains things really well, breaks things down nicely. He works with pros and even the youth games that we saw there, the standard is very high. He does not expect us to have the same speed of picking up some concepts as the players over there, he’s very understanding and teaches things really well,” -Narender Grewal (Pune Peshwas).
For an athlete, getting stronger and faster is just one aspect of physical fitness. They also must learn how to rehab and bounce back from injuries, and how to make sure that while they are suffering from an injury, they do not overcompensate by putting additional pressure on any muscles/ligaments surrounding their injured parts. “He is totally professional, under him a lot of players have recovered, rehabbed and got back to performing at a high level again. From American Football players to players from Phoenix Suns’ players, he has worked with top professional athletes. Our physical training sessions would involve 1 hour outdoors and 1 hour in the weight room. They were really helpful and fun, injury concerns would also be alleviated.”- Mane.
Jagdeep Bains of Mumbai Challengers is one such player who found the insight from Coach Wilson particularly helpful in bouncing back from an injury. Jagdeep had sustained a back injury which had put him out of action back in 2012. During the 1st UBA US Pro Performance Camp in November 2015, Jagdeep got the opportunity to work with Coach Wilson, and after further rehab and surgery, Jagdeep was back to his old self on the court. “When I was injured during the first US Camp, I got my back checked out and got tips which helped me to rehab. The two main things at the camp for me are the training sessions and the world-class gym we train in, the same gym where NBA players also train.”- Jagdeep.
In addition of helping the players learn ways to train, coach Wilson along with UBA coaches Jody and Jon help the players focus on training harder than ever, which is something that they can implement in their regular regimen. “People here work really hard, players and coaches both. I’ve always been a hard worker but seeing the level of effort here, I am trying to work even harder,” said Nikhil (Mumbai Challengers). “After training so hard in this environment, I can’t wait to come back and compete in the league.”- Narender Grewal.
After training in the UBA US Pro Performance Camp, the players get infused with a new level of energy and knowledge about ways to train which they can implement on coming back to India. And the proof of improvement is in the play on the court. “This is such a new experience, feels like the NBA style. The game is fast and very high scoring. Teams are scoring over 100 points per game. And that is possible because the players are pushing their fitness levels higher. Teams can only score above 100 if the players are really fit.” — Yadwinder Singh (Haryana Gold). “You have to be mentally strong to play at UBA pace. To be able to score and defend at a high level for 40 minutes, training camps like this one really help a lot.” — Prudhvi Reddy.
Coach Wilson has a specifically designed program, and he knows how to get athletes to buy into the vision by walking them through exactly how each workout will help them. “I like to teach as I train so I want to educate them,” says Wilson. “Everything I do with someone I have a reason for it. So, every athlete I work with, I don’t just arbitrarily throw something in their program. I can explain everything and that’s what I’ve tried to do during this training process so they can understand what I’m trying to accomplish with them.”
With the 3rd UBA US Pro Performance Camp having concluded recently the players got another opportunity to learn how to take their game to the next level. Look out for the game being raised another level when UBA Season 5 tips off.
This article was originally published on www.UBAIndia.com.
