Why the Best Basketball Camps Make You Play Handcuffed

Why the Best Basketball Camps Make You Play Handcuffed

They say players compete in the winter but they are made in the summer.

This may be true, but HOW they are made is a topic of much debate. What is the right mix of gym time, weight time, or game time? What are the best ways to spend that time: by yourself? In a pickup game? Attending the best basketball camps?

With all the work players put in to learning how to play the game, they tend to forget that they can get an enormous edge over their competition by learning how to THINK the game as well.

One of the best basketball camps to address this is Point Guard College (don’t let the name fool you, they’re not just for point guards). Aside from intense on court training, they spend a large amount of time working on the psychological aspects of the game through video analysis, classroom training, and leadership development as well. The goal is to develop complete players, thinkers, and leaders in the community who are equally valuable off the court as they are on. And their approach is gaining ground.

Much of Point Guard College’s philosophy comes from the man who started it all, legendary basketball thinker Dick Devenzio, who not only started one of the best basketball camps, he wrote one of the elite basketball books: Think Like a Champion. (When John Wooden says your camp and your book are the real deal, people pay attention.)

To get an idea of the kind of approach taken by the Point Guard College, take a look at one of the chapters in Dick’s book on the concept of “Playing Handcuffed”, which starts like this:


"Even if you are highly skilled in your sport and you are the
best performer on your team, there will undoubtedly be times
when your coach requires you to do things that aren’t conducive
to you becoming the hero or even getting a chance to use your
abilities at all. It would make sense for you to think about this
now, in advance, so when your time comes you don’t have to
quit or rant and rave or act like your coach is a nut or the world
has come to an end. In nearly every sport, among the world’s
very best athletes, this handcuffing has occurred. Nearly every
athlete who has achieved high levels of proficiency has, at some
time, felt handcuffed.

“I could’ve won the game, but the coach wouldn’t let me.”
When this happens to you, be patient. Be understanding.
Be quiet. You aren’t always going to agree with your coach. And
your ability isn’t always going to be used in the way your parents
or you would use it. Sometimes, maybe you will be right. Your
way would have been better. Other times, though you may be
reluctant to admit it, your coach may have done what was best
for the team.

It’s not really important who is right and wrong. In sports,
many decisions have no clear cut right or wrong. Should you
play zone or man-to-man? Should the coach pinch hit for the
pitcher? Should we go for the 4th-and-2 or punt the ball? Even the
individual golfer has those same kinds of decisions. Play it safe or
try to hit the ball over the water? If the ball goes over the water
and you score an eagle, you’re a god. If the ball goes in the water
and you lose the tournament by one stroke, you’re an idiot.
But we all know that post-game commentary is a lot easier
than during-the-game decisions. When you find yourself in a
situation where you aren’t being permitted to use your skills to
the fullest, challenge yourself to see how well you can perform
handcuffed instead of going into a funk over those handcuffs. It
happens to the best, and it’s likely to happen to you. Remember,
coaches’ handcuffs are as much a part of the obstacles to
overcome as are referees’ calls, bad weather, injuries and any
other conditions that athletes have to learn to take in stride.
Handcuffed? Congratulations. You have joined some very
elite ranks. Make the best of it."


There are all kinds of things people can learn from attending a basketball camp, but these days, the elite basketball camps out there may be the ones that tell you how to think the game, and not just play it.

Lessons like Dick's are critical to taking your mental game to the next level.

Born in Toronto, Sefu is always excited about talking Xs & Os to share his passion for teaching, learning and motivating. He has studied the game internationally having travelled to Serbia, Slovakia and Spain; and instructs at various camps, clinics and schools in North America. He is also a development coach for the Canadian men’s and women’s national team programs. Sefu will direct the Advanced Concepts course and co-direct several Essentials courses on the PGC '09 Summer Tour.

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