PREP Athletics Basketball Podcast
PREP Athletics Basketball Podcast
Secrets to Peak Performance with Alan Stein Jr., Speaker, Author, and Performance Coach
Join host Cory Heitz on the PREP Athletics Podcast as he interviews renowned basketball performance coach and motivational speaker, Alan Stein Jr. In this engaging episode, Alan shares his incredible journey from being a college basketball player to becoming a sought-after performance coach for elite athletes. With years of experience working with top talent, Alan offers invaluable insights into the psychology of performance, the importance of preparation, and the secrets to achieving success on and off the court.
đź“Ś Key Points:
- Alan's Journey: From college basketball at Elon University to a career in performance coaching.
- Psychology of Performance: Understanding the mental aspect of sports and how it affects athletes.
- Importance of Preparation: Why thorough preparation is key to success in any field.
- Working with Elite Athletes: Alan’s experiences and lessons from coaching top-tier basketball players.
- Motivation and Resilience: How to stay motivated and resilient in the face of challenges.
- Advice for Aspiring Athletes: Tips and strategies for young athletes looking to excel in basketball and beyond.
- Impact of Mentorship: The role of mentors in shaping an athlete's career and personal development.
- Leadership and Teamwork: Essential qualities for becoming an effective leader and team player.
For aspiring athletes, coaches, and sports enthusiasts, this episode is a treasure trove of wisdom and practical advice. Alan Stein Jr.'s unique perspective on the intersection of sports psychology and physical performance makes this a must-listen for anyone looking to elevate their game.
▶️ Tune in to the full episode and gain insights from one of the best in the business!
#Basketball #PerformanceCoach #AlanSteinJr #SportsPsychology #AthleteMotivation #PrepAthletics #CollegeBasketball #EliteAthletes #SportsMentorship #Leadership #Teamwork #SuccessMindset #AthleteAdvice #MotivationalSpeaker
đź”— Connect with Alan:
Website | https://alansteinjr.com/
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/alansteinjr/
LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-stein-jr/
Twitter | https://twitter.com/AlanSteinJr
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/AlanLSteinJr
đź”— Connect with Cory:
Website | https://www.prepathletics.com
Twitter | https://twitter.com/PREP_Athletics
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/prep.athletics/
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/PrepAthletics
Email | coryheitz@gmail.com
Phone | 859-317-1166
đź”– Subscribe to the PREP Athletics Podcast:
iTunes | https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/prep-athletics-podcast/id1546265809?uo=4
Spotify | https://open.spotify.com/show/6CAKbXFiIOhoHinzsReYbJ
Amazon | https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/3c37179d-3371-47f9-9d97-fd569e8802a7/prep-athletics-basketball-podcast #AmazonMusic
Cory Heitz (00:00)
Welcome to this week's episode of the PREP Athletics Podcast. I'm proud to have Alan Stein Jr. joining us today. And I first met Alan in D .C. back when I coached at Gonzaga High School and he coached at DeMatha High School. So natural rivals, one of the biggest rivalries in high school sports in the country. And we all got along and hung out. And now years later, he has gone from the strength and conditioning field to being a corporate speaker.
But in his old days, he played D1 basketball at Elon. So we get into that discussion. He did coach and train Kevin Durant in high school. He's worked with people such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron, Steph Curry. So he's been at that pinnacle of professional athlete. And we talk about that as well. We talk about leadership, how he suggests his kids approach the game of basketball, and much, much more. So really enjoyed having Alan on the podcast and connecting with him again.
after all these years and I think you'll enjoy it too. So thanks so much for tuning in and enjoy the show.
Cory Heitz (01:26)
Alan, welcome to the podcast.
Alan Stein, Jr. (01:28)
It's great to be with you. I'm looking forward to a fun chat.
Cory Heitz (01:31)
Yeah, absolutely. Now we knew each other from back in our days when you're at Demathe. I was at Gonzaga and we had some battles both in front of packed houses and on ESPN. And just to get out of the gate here, what makes Demathe, Gonzaga, the WCAC such a special league in your opinion?
Alan Stein, Jr. (01:51)
Yeah, I mean, there's many basketball analysts that say it is the top preeminent conference in all of high school basketball. You know, I think what makes it so special, first and foremost, it has long tradition. You know, you've got schools that are in the WCAC that take a tremendous amount of pride in being not only academic, but athletic institutions. You've got incredible coaching. That is definitely another separator. I mean,
You know, I was very partial to working for Mike Jones at Dematha, but could readily acknowledge that all of the coaches, you know, Steve Turner and Glenn Forello and Joe Wooten are just unbelievably good on and off the court. and then certainly just immense talent. I mean, the, the DMV area, the DC, you know, Virginia, Maryland area is just a hotbed for youth sports and youth basketball in particular. It's probably one of the top five Metro areas, just on pure talent.
So, you know, you combine tradition with great coaching with a plethora of talent and you're going to get a really competitive league.
Cory Heitz (02:55)
Yeah, and if most cities could legally have their top private schools recruit from other high schools, there'd be a lot of talented high schools as well. It's just some reason it's legal there and it's the Wild West a little bit.
Alan Stein, Jr. (03:04)
Yes, it sure is. Yeah.
Cory Heitz (03:08)
Now you graduated high school in 94, a year before I did, and you decided to play at Elon. Where did you grow up and how did you get so good to play guard at a D1 school?
Alan Stein, Jr. (03:18)
So I grew up in Gaithersburg, Maryland, which is actually where I still reside to this day. And played at public school, Watkins Mill High School. Had a decent enough high school career to be able to play at that next level. And Elon was just a great fit for me. It was a smaller school, it was about four and a half hours away down in Burlington, North Carolina. And yeah, it just, it was a great fit.
really enjoyed both my high school and college experience. Didn't really have a very good college career. And if that's something you want to get into, we can. But mostly it was because I stopped working on my game and everybody else passed me and I stopped getting a lot of playing time. And I chose the route of blaming the coach and making excuses and complaining about not playing instead of actually getting in the gym and working and trying to earn more playing time. And that's an important part of my journey because
the way I behaved as an 18, 19, 20 year old is the exact opposite of what it is that I preach and teach today and what it is that I model even for my own children. But that was part of my journey. It was a painful but a very powerful learning experience. And it's helped shape me into the person that I am today. So I certainly don't regret it, but I didn't have a very good career at E -Line.
Cory Heitz (04:40)
Alan, walk me through this. When you're there and decided you didn't want to work hard, what was the voice in your head telling you, I don't got to go to lifting or do extra reps?
Alan Stein, Jr. (04:47)
Well, for a little bit more context, I...
worked really hard leading up going to Elon, you know, after my senior year at Watkins Mill that spring and that summer, I really dedicated myself to working on my game. And when I got to Elon, that paid off. I mean, I actually played a lot as a freshman, started a handful of games, you know, was one of the first off the bench in the games that I didn't and played a fairly significant role. And I allowed myself to get complacent, allowed myself to put on the cruise control. I just figured, hey, if I'm playing a lot as a freshman,
Thank you.
Well, I'm just gonna ride this out for the next four years of college. And I also allowed myself to get distracted by the trappings of living on your own for the first time. So I joined a fraternity and was partying a lot. And all of that was kind of the perfect cocktail of not continuing to be in the gym working on my game. Like I said, I thought I had arrived and we had a really good freshmen class. So I wasn't the only freshmen that was playing a lot. And these guys are still good friends of mine to this day, but.
There were other freshmen that were playing a lot. And as you know, at the college level, coaches are always trying to out recruit the previous class. So even though we had a good freshman class, the coach wanted to bring in even better players the year after and then better players the year after that. That's what a coach's job is. So if you combine the fact that I stopped working on my game, my freshmen teammates kept working on their game and the class coming in behind was more talented than we were.
Well, yeah, it's no wonder that I found myself at the end of the bench with my shooting shirt on rarely playing. And at that time, like I said, there was a distinct fork in the road. And instead of saying, you know what, you know, I'm going to earn my time back. I'm going to, you know, recommit to getting in the gym. I'm going to recommit to, to, you know, showing that I deserve to be on that court. I decided to have a very bad attitude and decided to just blame the coach, blame politics, you know, and just complain and make excuses for I wasn't playing.
and then that just continued to, you know, submerge and I never quite recovered from that. But I will say, and I say this with a smile because I've forgiven the previous knucklehead version of myself, you know, that made that choice. But that's also one of the things that led me to really starting to dive into strength and conditioning. You know, I stopped working on my basketball game and really was getting burnt out on the game of basketball.
but I started to fall in love with weight training and strength and conditioning and plyometrics and agility training, which is something that I ended up doing professionally for 20 years once I graduated from Elon. So it all ended up working out just fine, but that is certainly a cautionary tale of, you know, when there's a fork in the road, I don't suggest choosing the one that I took.
Cory Heitz (07:38)
And I want to touch on something you mentioned there, you were burnout. When you grew up, were you playing multiple sports in high school or were you just a basketball kid?
Alan Stein, Jr. (07:45)
No, I played multiple sports and did multiple activities all the way up through my junior year of high school. My senior year was the only year that I decided to focus completely on basketball. Cause at that time it was my favorite sport. It was the sport that I had the most acumen in and it was the one that I felt would be the ticket to playing at the next level. But no, I've, I played football and soccer at high in high school. I did martial arts, skateboarding, BMX biking. I mean, I did every activity under the
from the time I was really little all the way up through junior year.
Cory Heitz (08:20)
So this is perfect because you are I've been in a strength game for so long. You did play at the D1 level and we're seeing more and more now. Island kids just specializing at a young age and doing a lot of wear and tear in their body in one specific sport. And we're seeing a lot in basketball. You and I tell me the advantages of what you did personally of playing multiple sports and multiple modalities and how that either helped you or hindered you from getting to the college level.
Alan Stein, Jr. (08:45)
Well, it is interesting because I do think the landscape has changed and you know, now I've seen, I've been around youth sports and youth basketball in particular.
since I was five years old. I mean, the first third of that was as a player. Then the next third of that was as a basketball performance coach. And then now in the current version, I have three children that all play youth basketball. I've got twin sons that are 14 years old and will be in ninth grade in the fall. And I've got a daughter that's almost 12 that'll be in seventh grade. And at present,
All three of them have made the choice to just play basketball. They've played other sports and did other activities when they were younger. And I will get back to your original question, but part of my philosophy as a parent is to allow my children some autonomy, allow my children the ability to make their own decisions. So while it would be my preference that they would play some other sports and do other things,
they've chosen to just play basketball and I want them to have some ownership over their lives and their decisions. So I support them in doing that, but I certainly am not the one that have told them that you need to be playing basketball year round and this is the only thing you should do. They've done all different other sports and at present that's what they want to do. So I only share that in context where I don't want it to appear that I'm being hypocritical, because I'm actually a fan of multiple sports and I'm a fan of kids trying and doing different activities.
It doesn't mean that you can't still be a really accomplished basketball player and still work on your game year round. But I'm not of the belief that playing soccer or playing volleyball or playing an individual sport like swimming or taking boxing lessons, I don't think that'll hinder your ability to play. But I think that's kind of the perception in the youth landscape is that if you're not playing the game year round, that you're not gonna be able to advance.
as well as the players that are. And I do think, you know, there's probably some parameters on that. I mean, certainly for me, when you're at the elementary and middle school level or age, I think you should be doing other things. When you get to high school, if you want to make the conscious choice to focus on one sport again, I'm not here to judge anybody else's decisions, whether it's a player or a parent, but I think there is some tremendous benefit to both the physiological and the psychological reprieve you can
Cory Heitz (10:52)
Yeah.
Alan Stein, Jr. (11:07)
get by playing a different sport and going through different motions and doing things differently than if you just are doing the same repetitive motions of your sport over and over.
But again, that's just kind of my philosophy on it. If you do decide to just commit to one sport the way my children have, I still encourage them to take breaks throughout the year. I still encourage them to pick up some other hobbies and do some other things that they enjoy and to not just do basketball 24 seven, because unless you absolutely love it and are obsessed 24 seven, it can lead to both physiological and psychological burnout.
Cory Heitz (11:47)
Yeah, absolutely. And what led to your burnout? I mean, if you were playing multiple sports up until senior year, like, was it just the grind of playing D1? Was it you were exhausted?
Alan Stein, Jr. (11:56)
I think that for me, the burnout was more along the lines of, you know, the bad attitude part. It was like, I'm not playing. So why should I give all of this effort? Like, I really don't, you know, I started to lose my love for basketball. You know, there'd always been this reciprocal relationship with the game where I work really hard and I'm rewarded by playing. I work really hard, I'm rewarded by playing. And now it's like, well, I'm working.
but I ain't playing, so you know what? I don't even feel like doing the working part. And again, I say all of this with a smile because I realized that everything that I said and did back then is 180 degrees from what it is that I wholeheartedly believe now and what it is that I preach and teach both on stage and on page.
But that's just where I was. And it also gives me tremendous empathy for younger people because, you know, when we're 18, 19, 20 years old, we often can be a bit hardheaded. We often think we know more than we do, but it also gives me empathy for parents.
Cause I certainly know my father tried to talk some sense into me and I just wasn't having it. I mean, I was, I was pretty hard headed back then. And, you know, and I realized that I'm probably going to have to go through similar journeys with my own children and have to accept the fact that they might not want to listen to me at some point and whatever wisdom I'm trying to bestow on them. And that's all part of the process. So I have nothing but empathy and compassion for my previous self, as well as for anyone right now, player coach or parent.
who's going through kind of tough times.
Cory Heitz (13:26)
All right, we're going to get in a time machine right now and Alan right now can go talk to Alan and Elon, who's burnout. Your dad couldn't get through to you. Now you've done this 180. Do you have the magic formula that could have snapped him out of it or did he just need to go through that at his point in his life?
Alan Stein, Jr. (13:42)
I think it was just kind of the journey. I don't think the 18 year old Alan would listen to the 48 year old Alan. And it's kind of crazy, you know, if you do that math real quick, I mean, I graduated high school 30 years ago, which is just absolutely insane to even think about and how quickly that's gone by. I just think that was kind of part of the process. And admittedly now with 30 more years of life experience and a little more, hopefully wisdom and maturity, you know, that bad attitude that I took then, I mean, it was all driven by
Cory Heitz (13:44)
Yeah.
Alan Stein, Jr. (14:12)
fear, it was driven by insecurity, it was driven by ego, you know, I was embarrassed that I wasn't playing very much because my friends, my fraternity brothers would come to the games and you know, they kind of bust my chops because I wasn't playing. So, you know, even that instance aside, you know, I can look back on my life and
Almost every poor decision I have ever made was driven by fear, driven by insecurity, or driven by ego. And now I try to make sure that those three things don't have the keys to the car, that those three traits aren't what's driving my decisions moving forward because it's, yeah, it's certainly a slippery slope when that's the case. But, you know, and I'm not here to speak for anybody else. I just know that on my journey at 18, 19 years old,
I didn't even have the awareness to know that's what was going on. I thought I was completely justified in blaming, complaining and making excuses. I mean, that is the way that I saw the world. I had blinders on and I didn't take any ownership over the fact that I stopped working on my game. So, you know, it's crystal clear now, but it certainly wasn't crystal clear, you know, back in the late nineties.
Cory Heitz (15:16)
Yeah.
All right. You mentioned getting into the body and strength training and plyometrics and Elon. What planted that seed for you?
Alan Stein, Jr. (15:29)
Well, the initial seed was planted from a basketball vantage point. Like I realized that if I could run a little faster and jump a little higher, that would allow me to perform my skills at a higher level. So the initial impetus was, yeah, I wanted to perform better on the court.
But then if you caught what I said earlier, I started to party more, I joined a fraternity. I also wanted to earn the affection of young ladies. And I realized that if I was bigger and stronger and more muscular, that might be a sexier, better look for trying to attract the opposite sex. So then I wanted to do it just out of pure vanity. I wanted to be ripped just because it looked better. But what's kind of cool is, you know,
Regardless of the driving force, whether it was performance on the court or I aesthetically simply wanted to look better, it absolutely grabbed my attention and piqued my curiosity and fascination. And I dove head first and I learned everything I could about performance training and strength and conditioning. And now keep in mind, this is right around the advent of the internet. I mean, we're talking, you know, 96, 97, 98. So we kind of had the internet.
But it isn't the internet that we know of today. I mean, you're talking about a dial -up modem. My first email account was at juno .com. I mean, it was in its infancy, but it absolutely opened the world up and was pretty remarkable. And so there were a couple of...
Cory Heitz (16:48)
Yeah.
Alan Stein, Jr. (16:55)
websites that really were talking about sports specific training and bodybuilding and powerlifting. And I would attend seminars and subscribe to newsletters. And these newsletters were physically mailed printed newsletters, not like we get today. But I was all in and it absolutely captivated my attention, my curiosity, my fascination. And I really took the kind of basketball burnout.
and parlayed that over into an immense dedication and almost obsession with the strength and conditioning and performance game.
Cory Heitz (17:28)
Yeah, love that. Now, you've done this for 30 years at the strength, actually more with the strength and conditioning and you know, my big audience is high school basketball players and their families, right? A lot of these guys are doing weightlifting with their schools, they've got trainers, but you and your opinion now in 2024, like what's the main or give me the top three lifts or body exercises that a basketball player can use that will get them the best bang for their buck?
Alan Stein, Jr. (17:39)
Awesome.
Well...
I'm happy to share my perspective. I do want to make sure that I kind of put into context that I distinctly pivoted away from the training game in 2017 to pursue what I do now, which is, for lack of better terms, motivational speaking. And the overwhelming majority of what I do is at the corporate level. So even though basketball is still a driving pillar in my life, it's something that my kids love, as I've already mentioned, and many of the stories that I share on stage in front of corporate audiences are from my experiences in the basketball game.
Cory Heitz (18:07)
Absolutely.
Alan Stein, Jr. (18:27)
I kind of removed myself from the training component. It's been eight years now. Now I will always identify as being an athlete and I will always try and keep myself in peak physical condition. So I'm constantly training and working on myself. And, you know, so I I'd like to believe I'm still kind of in the know, but I am no longer anywhere close to the best resource to talk about actual strength and conditioning. There are two folks in particular that I would recommend that.
anyone watching or listening follow. The first is my really good friend, Henry Barrera, who's the basketball performance coach at the University of Alabama with the men's basketball program. His website is Hoop Diaries. He's at Hoop Diaries on the social platforms, and he is just a wealth of amazing information. Another is my good buddy, Christian Placencia.
who has a company called The Durable Athlete. And Christian lives down in Austin, Texas, runs an amazing training program, works mostly with basketball players. And you can find him on social as well. Those two guys are far and above the best resources that I can recommend today. And I'm sure they can even recommend other resources. But since you did ask me, I've always been a big believer that in order to specifically train for the game of basketball,
You know, you need to train what it is that you actually need and use on the court. And you also have to have kind of a clarity of what your priorities are. So for me, the number one reason I believe basketball players should strength train is to reduce the likelihood of injury and reduce the severity of injury. It's to help bulletproof their bodies.
Well, if you want to look at it statistically, what's the number one area that basketball players tend to injure? It's their ankles, rolling ankles, sprained ankles is statistically the number one injury. And you can kind of move up from the chain, move up the chain from there, because then statistically the next will be knee issues. And then you've got hip and low back issues, and then you've got shoulder issues. And the reason I say that is,
I was a big believer in doing exercises to strengthen the feet and the mobility of the ankles. You know, back before it became the cool thing to do, I was always having our players do barefoot exercises, you know, get them out of the stability of their shoes to really provide a full range of motion so they could increase the mobility in their ankles and strengthen all of the little muscles of their feet. So as crazy as it sounds, you know, doing a barefoot routine, even if you're just doing it on the carpet in your living room, but a series of body weight
strength exercises and mobility exercises would absolutely be at the top of that list. I would also recommend doing some type of compound double jointed exercise for the lower body, whether that's a squat or a deadlift or a walking lunge or a step up, but something that really involves kind of the motor of the body, especially as a basketball player, you know, where you generate most of your power.
from your lower body and your core. So one of those. And then from an upper body standpoint, I always felt like pull -ups were the king of upper body exercises. I know the world loves bench presses and is infatuated with the bench press, but I always found that a pull -up, especially because it would strengthen your hands, it would strengthen your forearms and grip, help strengthen your back, would also make sure that you were able to hold the ball and possess the ball.
Cory Heitz (21:35)
Yeah.
Alan Stein, Jr. (21:52)
So if I had to only pick three, and I don't think you can have a truly well -rounded program by only doing three exercises, by the way. My favorite three would be something for the feet and ankles, something for the legs, hips and core, and then something for the hands and forearms and back muscles. So those would be my top three.
Cory Heitz (21:59)
Correct, yeah, you can't.
Now you mentioned the lower body and the pull -ups. Those are fundamental moves and you have a great story about seeing Kobe Bryant work out at an ungodly hour one time. And I think that story is so valuable about the point you got from that. So can you share your Kobe Bryant story and the big thing you took away from that?
Alan Stein, Jr. (22:26)
Yeah, absolutely. What I'll do, I'll give you kind of the quick summarized version and then anyone that wants a more theatrical version, you can just go to my YouTube channel, youtube .com backslash Alan Stein Jr. And you can find different versions of it there. But yeah, I had a chance to work the first ever Nike skills Academy with Kobe Bryant back in 2007. And I got to watch one of his really early morning private workouts. And I remember as a younger coach being very surprised that he was just drilling down on basic drills and.
and drilling down on fundamental drills, you know, stuff that I had done with the players at Montrose and at DeMatha, like, and when I asked them about it later that day at camp, you know, I basically said to him, Kobe, you're the best player in the world. Why were you doing such basic drills this morning? He said something to me that changed my life forever. He said, well, why do you think I'm the best player in the world? It's because I never get bored with the basics.
And the moment he said that, it just shifted my perspective on everything. I mean, I literally changed my life philosophy after that, that if you want to be good at anything, you can't get bored with the basics. That the key to mastery of anything, whether it's in basketball or it's in business or anything in between, is working relentlessly towards mastery of the fundamentals. Now, of course, in the game of basketball, the fundamentals are shooting, passing, rebounding, defending, handling the ball.
You know, it's your basketball IQ. It's understanding how and when to make certain plays and certain passes. It's understanding your different sets and your different defenses. You know, all of those are fundamental components of being good at the game of basketball. And then you've got fundamental movements.
You know, and fundamentally, can you do things to, as I said, bulletproof your body against injury, improve your work capacity, improve your capacity to run and jump and accelerate and decelerate and change direction. You know, all of those things are fundamental components. And if you want to be a really good basketball player, you got to work relentlessly towards improving each of those components. And, and if you can do that, then you give yourself the potential to be a better player, but it all goes back to the fundamentals and to the basics.
Cory Heitz (24:29)
Yeah, love that. And we had Tim DeFranchesco on who used to be the Lakers strength coach. Yeah. And he told me about Kobe landing at like three in the morning after, you know, a two game road trip and calling them like, let's go, let's work out. And, you know, he's got a crazy work ethic, obviously, but like my question to Tim was, well, how did he ever heal? Like when was he resting and recovering if he's working out three times a day like this? And Tim just said he's a machine. Like he just had different.
Alan Stein, Jr. (24:32)
I love them.
Cory Heitz (24:56)
different genetic makeup, which is another question I want to get into with you since you have worked on the court with so many top 50 players in NBA history and in high school at that same level. Let's start with high school first, Alan. When you had Durant and these other guys that played in the NBA coming through Montrose and the players you coached at DeMatha that it made to the league, could you tell – did you know ahead of time they had it or –
Did they work on the fundamentals over and over again? Was it time in the gym? Was it a drive they had? Can you try to pinpoint, which is impossible, I understand this, but what in your opinion was what these guys all shared in common that got them to the highest level of basketball?
Alan Stein, Jr. (25:37)
yeah, there's several. And if we use KD just as an example, I mean...
It's interesting because it's both. If I'm being completely honest, I knew that KD had the potential to be an exceptional basketball player. So I wasn't surprised that he was able to make it all the way up to the NBA. But there is no way that I would have predicted that he was going to be as good as he's ended up being. I mean, you're talking about probably one of the top five pure scorers in the history of the game. I mean, he's something special. But along those same lines, I'm not surprised he's one of the top scorers of all time because he's
he does have those qualities. Now, as you mentioned, when we're talking about the game of basketball, there are certainly some favorable genetic predispositions that could help someone be a good basketball player.
The most obvious one is height. You have a better chance of being an elite player if you're 6 '8", instead of being 4 '8". I mean, that's just the way the game is broken down. Now that doesn't mean if you are a smaller player that there's a ceiling on what you're able to accomplish. And I'm not here to discourage anyone. In fact, all three of my children skew on the smaller side. But generally speaking,
It's advantageous to be taller and to have a longer wingspan. It's advantageous to be bigger and stronger and faster and athletic and be able to jump and start and stop. I mean, pure athleticism certainly helps in the game of basketball, but it's not necessarily a requirement. It's just more of a trend. I mean, if you watch today's NBA, most of the players are big, strong, fast and athletic. And even the ones that at face value don't appear to be very athletic.
Let's just take someone like Luka Donchik, who arguably the best player in the game at present moment. You know, he doesn't necessarily pass the eyeball test because he's, he's not super explosive. You know, I say this with due respect. He looks a little Dewey. He doesn't look very chiseled, but it also comes back to how you define athleticism.
You know, Luka Donchik, his hand -eye coordination, his spatial awareness and his balance, those things are off the charts. I mean, he is in the upper 0 .00001 % of the human population in those metrics of athleticism. He's just more average when it comes to pure speed and agility and jumping. So it's also making sure that we have a well -rounded definition of athleticism. But all that aside,
You've got the physical part and that is important in the game of basketball. The nice part is outside of sports, that physical component doesn't matter as much.
You know, you can be an elite level entrepreneur or you could be the CEO of a Fortune 100 company. And it doesn't matter if you're six, eight or four eight, you know, it doesn't matter if you can dunk the ball or you can't jump on top of a curb. The athleticism part no longer plays a role. So it's really only in the sports world that the physicality part plays such a big role. But let's set that aside because we can't necessarily control that, or at least we can only control it to a certain degree.
You know, I smile at my own children and say, hey, you know, you guys have half of my genetics. So just know in advance, you're not going to be world -class athletes, which means if your goal is to play at a high level, you need to be unbelievably skilled. You need to be great communicators and great leaders, and you need to be as fit as possible. Cause those are things that you have control over, but you ain't going to be jumping out of the gym because you have half of my, you know, genetic predispositions. But outside of that,
to your original question, what are the traits that I saw that united the guys like Kevin Durant with other elite level players? The first we've already covered, they did have a respect for the fundamentals. They worked relentlessly on their ball handling, on their form, their shooting technique. They'd get in hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of game specific reps when working on their shot every single day. So the first is a respect for the basics.
Cory Heitz (29:19)
Mm -hmm.
Alan Stein, Jr. (29:35)
The second is they all learned how to blend confidence with humility. You know, each of those players earned the right to be confident because they put in the work during the unseen hours, but they always stayed humble enough to stay open to coaching. They stayed humble enough to stay open to feedback. They stayed humbled enough to say, you know, I'm the best player on my team or I'm the best player in the WCAC or I'm the best player at the McDonald's All -American game, but even I still can get better.
that I haven't gotten to the top of what I'm capable of. And that humility is what allowed them to keep working on their game, to never say, you know, humility is what allows somebody like Kobe Bryant to land at three in the morning and say, I still need to work on my game. You know, I don't know when that actual scenario happened, but there's a good chance that the point that happened, he had already won an NBA championship. He was already an NBA all -star. He'd already made hundreds of millions of dollars, you know, like, and he still realized I can get better.
and I'm gonna try and get better at 3 am So blending humility with confidence is a big one. And then the third component that I've seen unite all high performers, not just in basketball, but even in business, is a strong respect for the process. They have a crystal clear goal of where they're trying to get. And for many of the young players that I worked with, the goal was the NBA. That was the North Star.
Cory Heitz (30:48)
Mm -hmm.
Alan Stein, Jr. (30:57)
But once they set that goal, then they shifted their focus on the process, the daily decisions, the daily behaviors. You know, what do I need to do today to get me a little bit closer to that goal? You know, it's the same thing when you're in the weight room. You don't need to worry about whether or not you have a great workout. You need to focus on having a great set. And you don't even need to focus on having a great set. You just need to focus on doing this one rep to the best of your ability.
with absolute perfect form and technique and with great effort. And if you can break it down to the process, if you only perform really solid reps, well then every set will be as good as it can be. And if you only perform really good sets, well then every workout will be as good as it can be. And you start stacking really good workouts week after week, month after month, year after year.
and you'll see massive improvement. So it always comes back to the process. So for anyone listening right now, whether you're a basketball player, you're the parent of a player, or you even work in the corporate world, focus on the fundamentals, learn to blend confidence that you earn with humility so you stay open to coaching and learn to trust, respect, and appreciate the process. You do those three things consistently, most things will take care of themselves.
Cory Heitz (32:09)
Yeah, I love that. Thanks for sharing that. You know, we've had a lot of prep school coaches on who have had NBA players come through their ranks and, you know, the constant answer they give on that question is they were in the gym when no one else wanted to be, right? After a game of their loss, they'd be in the gym for an hour. They'd come in earlier, they'd stay later. When everyone else was tired, they'd be in there, which you've seen throughout your career. And, you know, the question is, is that, are you born with that?
Alan Stein, Jr. (32:24)
Yes.
Cory Heitz (32:36)
Or can someone plant that seed in you? Or is there a slight that happened or a little bit of trauma that happened to create that? I think that's the billion dollar question right there because people want to replicate this. And you've got kids that come from nothing that make it to the WNBA. You've got kids like Clay Thompson and Steph Curry who grew up in a great family environment with plenty of their needs met who still get there as well. And then you get everything in between. So trying to crack, this is my, you know, just my side hobby is trying to figure out like, what is the secret sauce and can you prescribe it?
not just for NBA players, but same for like special operators in the military, right? You got beasts that can't make it through there. You got guys that look very slight that go through without an issue and everything in between. What is that gene or mindset that people have to get them to that level? And you're around high performers all the time, both in the sports world and the business world. Like, do you have any insight on that?
Alan Stein, Jr. (33:28)
I, to be honest, I don't, I mean, I, I'm fascinated by it the same way that you are. it's something that I'm, I'm incredibly curious about. my, my gut intuition is it's like most things. It is a combination of nature and nurture. It is a combination. There is some genetic coding, just like I think some people happen to be born with a little more charisma than others. I think there are certain traits that, that we can have some slight pre predispositions for, but I.
also think it's what seeds were planted in us when we were really, really young in our formative years, most of which were planted before we were even consciously aware that they were being planted. What things were modeled for us? Like it's, you know, like take somebody like a Stephen Curry, as you mentioned, you know, Dell Curry played in the NBA for over a decade, you know, so, so Steph grew up in a, in a, a two parent household with all of his needs melt met, you know, grew up basically around wealth. And you're talking about one of the hardest workers.
to ever play the game. Well, I think part of that was probably because that was modeled for him at a very early age, that Steph made the connection.
My dad is a really good shooter and I always see my dad in the gym. So he made the inference that in order to be a good shooter, you've got to be in the gym. Now, certainly with Steph, did he have the advantage of having a father that could teach him proper shooting form at a very young age? Did he have a father who could take him to NBA practices and games and put them around the best of the best? Of course. And I don't think Steph would deny any of those advantages, but at the end of the day, something implanted in him that in order to get good at
anything, you have to put in repetitions during the unseen hours. And I want to be good at basketball. I love the game of basketball. Now, who knows that that original love for basketball come because he wanted to try and prove worthiness to his father. Who knows? And that's beyond my scope to even try and figure that out. But I do think it can be a healthy balance of all of it. What I will say, and I use this example with a tremendous amount of pride. So all three of my children play youth basketball.
And I have told this to them so that I'm not sharing anything publicly that I haven't said to my own children. If you were to ask me to describe my kids as far as basketball is concerned, I would say that at this moment...
All three of my kids like the game of basketball, but none of them love the game of basketball. They enjoy playing with their friends. They have fun at practices. They love going to their games. Sometimes they go out and they work out on their own, but they are not obsessed. They are not 100 % committed towards being the best players they're capable of. And that's okay. See, as their father, I've chosen to take a very hands -off approach to that. Like, I don't make my kids work out.
I don't make my kids go out and make 200 jump shots before dinner. That needs to come from them.
I believe as a parenting philosophy to extend as much autonomy to my children as I can and I support them, I encourage them, I empower them and I love them unconditionally. But if you don't want to go out and make 200 shots today, then don't do it. There's a consequence to that and the consequence is you're not going to be that good of a shooter. And if you're okay with that, then I'm okay with that. Now with that said, if my kids say, hey dad, I want to go out and make 200 jump shots, will you come rebound for me? I'll be there in a split second. I'll be there to help support that.
but it has to come from them. And there have been times where, you know, kind of the motivation and dedication has kind of ebbed and flowed. But this is their journey. This is not my journey. But here's the reason I'm sharing this. And I really hope all of the players and parents listen closely. All three of my children have told me over the last couple of years that they have the goal of playing college basketball. That's their goal. That is not my goal for them. That is their goal. And I've had to have the very...
tough conversation with them on two different occasions this past year, because I've told my children, and I tell them this out of love, that your current level of commitment is not good enough to play college basketball. That your current level of commitment is somewhat casual at best.
Yes, you go to your practices and you play really hard. Yes, you go to your games and you play hard and you're a great teammate. But outside of that, you're not fully committed to working on your game. You know, you don't make two to three to 400 shots every day. You don't consistently do your strength and conditioning and fitness workouts. You don't work on ball handling. You don't study film. And I don't say any of that to diminish my children. I love my kids as much as anyone else watching this right now.
But I've told them that because I told them that one of two things needs to change. Either you need to recommit and decide to pursue this goal of college basketball with everything you've got, or you need to acknowledge that it's okay that you don't want to play college basketball. You just want to play basketball because it's fun. You like being around your friends. Maybe you'll have a good career in high school and play some in high school, but that you do not want to make the sacrifice required to be a college player.
And I've told them that either one of those scenarios is perfectly fine. That I will love them unconditionally no matter what they choose, but I will not as their father, let them straddle in between and have the delusion of thinking that I'm going to be a college level player when I'm only giving a mediocre commitment. And again, I can't stress enough. Like when my kids are at practice and at their games, they play really hard. You know, they give it their best, but I've let them know that's just the baseline.
Just going to practice and going to games, that's just the ante to sit at the table. It's all of the work you do during the unseen hours when no one is watching that will determine whether or not you can play at the next level. And right now you're not that committed. And again, that's okay. I'm not pressuring my kids on which, you know, the fork is in the road. I'm not pressuring them to take one lane or the other. That needs to be their choice. But I just meet, I want to make sure that they are crystal clear.
what those two different lanes mean and what's required of each one. Because I played college basketball, I have trained hundreds of kids that have played college basketball. I know the level of commitment that it takes. And if they want to go all in on that, I will do everything in my power to support, encourage, and nourish that. And if they don't, if they just say, hey, dad, I wanna do other things, basketball's fun, I'll play when I can play, I'm totally good with that too.
Cory Heitz (39:52)
Yeah, love that. And I love you saying like they work hard, but that's baseline. Like that's like breathing. Like families tell me all the time, my son works hard. Well, that's a, you know, he has to read, write, breathe. Like, yeah, that's a given. It's not an extra thing.
Alan Stein, Jr. (39:57)
yeah.
Yes. Yeah, there's, in fact, there's only four things that I require of my children to play basketball. And I said, you know, if you do these four things, then your mom and I will continue to pay for and take you to all of your basketball. Number one, as we just said, you need to play as hard as you can, as consistently as you can. I don't ever stress perfection with my children.
You know, my goal as a man walking the earth is to give my best effort in everything I do as often as I can. But I have down moments. I have moments where I don't give the best effort I'm capable of, but my goal is to eliminate or reduce those as much as possible. So number one is give the best effort you're capable of as consistently as you're capable of. Number two is be coachable.
Be open to listening to your coach. Acknowledge the fact that your coach at this time knows more about the game of basketball and more about life than you do, and you need to be open to receiving that. So you gotta, number two is you gotta be coachable. Number three is you gotta be a great teammate. You're choosing to play a team sport, which means you need to be the teammate.
that you want to play with, you know, and if you can do anything in your power to help encourage and support your teammates, then that's what you need to do. If you don't want to do that, then you need to go play an individual sport, you know, take up swimming or take up tennis or take up golf or take up boxing or wrestling. That's fine. But if you're going to play a team sport, it ain't about you. It's about the team. And you need to make sure that you're a good teammate. And then number four is you need to have fun.
You know, if going to practice and going to games ends up being a drag and you're not having fun, then it's definitely not worth it. And I would rather you invest your time in something you actually enjoy. So as long as you work hard, you're coachable, you're a great teammate and you're having fun.
then I'm going to continue to support this with everything I've got. And my kids know those are the only rules. And notice nowhere in my rules are, you know, you have to make 200 jump shots a day or how much playing time do you get or what's your team's record or how many points do you average? To me personally, I don't worry about any of that stuff. I believe that if my kids do those four things consistently to the best of their ability, all of that other stuff will take care of itself.
Cory Heitz (42:18)
Yeah, love that. That's a great framework to have, Alan. I'm going to copy that for my own kids, if you don't mind. And everyone else out there listed, copy it for your kids as well. So since you got out of the strength and conditioning game at a very high level, you've been doing motivational speaking, you've been writing. Tell the listeners about what you're doing now and what benefit you bring to people.
Alan Stein, Jr. (42:22)
Please do.
So corporate keynote speaking is my primary vocation at present and I get hired from groups all over the world. I get hired by Fortune 100 massive conglomerates, but I also get hired by small mom and pop shops at the local and regional level. The groups that tend to bring me in the most.
are the leadership arm of an organization. So the C -suite, the executives, managers, directors, supervisors, basically anyone in a corporate structure that has been given the power of authority, but needs to learn how to lead.
much more effectively is a group that brings me in. I also do a ton in the sales space. Whether you sell a product or a service, but people that want to sell more bring me in to help teach them the foundation of how they can show up as the best versions of themselves consistently. So I do a lot of stuff at different events. Lots of groups bring me in to either to give like a motivational keynote or to do a half day workshop or a full day training. So most of what I share though, even in the corporate world,
draws on these stories and these lessons and these disciplines and these approaches that I learned through basketball.
You know, the Kobe Bryant lesson of never getting bored with the basics is absolutely something that applies to everyone walking the earth, but especially those in business. So yeah, I'm having an absolute blast doing what I'm doing now. I still feel very connected to the game of basketball because most of what I teach is through that lens. And as we've talked about, my kids are playing. So I'm still around the game all of the time, but I'm just not in the gym on the quarter in the weight room, the way I used to be.
I'm actually in the boardrooms and on stages now helping corporate folks raise their game.
Cory Heitz (44:18)
Yeah, and last question before we get to a couple of quick hitters here, like what leadership advice do you have for kids in high school? I mean, usually there's an alpha, usually there's a team captain that might be voted on, but like the rest of the guys might not be in that position. Like what's something they could think about or something they can do to either incorporate leadership skills, maybe in a small way or start building on them? What are your thoughts on that?
Alan Stein, Jr. (44:38)
Well, the very first thing is acknowledging that leadership is a choice. It is not necessarily an anointed or an appointed position of power. So even if you are not named the team captain, even if you're the proverbial 15th man on the end of the bench, even if you're the sophomore, but you're playing on varsity and you're the youngest one on the team and in the locker room, you can still choose to be a leader. And a leader is someone that is making the conscious decision to positively influence and impact those around them.
So your coach doesn't have to anoint you a leader for you to be a leader. So first and foremost, you just need to make the decision to lead. The second thing you need to do is you need to model the behavior that you want to see in those around you. You know, that if you want your teammates to work hard, then you need to work hard. If you want your teammates, you know, fill in the blank, whatever it is that you want to see your teammates do.
you need to make sure that you're doing that behavior to the best of your ability. If you're going to expect it of others, you need to expect it of yourself. And you need to work on your ability to communicate. And everyone will have a slightly different communication style. Some people lead more with example and others might lead more with their charisma and their words. Just find an authentic style that fits you, but just know also that no different than shooting a jump shot, leadership is a skill.
And the only way you get better at any skill is through repetition and purposeful practice. So if you want to become a better leader.
then you need to practice leading. And you need to take advantage of every opportunity. Whether you're in study hall, you're in class, you're in a film session, you're in the weight room, you're on the court, take advantage of the opportunity to lead. Take advantage of finding ways to pour into your teammates and to communicate with your teammates and to empower and support your teammates and do that as often as you can.
I always joke and I say this to my three kids and I'll say this to everyone else. There's two things that will never go out of style when it comes to the game of basketball. Shooters and leaders. Shooters and leaders, if you can do those two things at a very high level, there is a place for you on every team. I mean, the name of the game in basketball is put the ball in the basket. So if you can shoot at a high clip.
You can shoot off the catch, you can shoot off the dribble, you can shoot going right, you can shoot going left, you can shoot from two feet, you can shoot from 20 feet. If you can do that, I promise you, you will always find a home on a basketball team at every single level. But I can also say if you can supplement that with being an incredible leader. If you have the type of leadership skills that your mere presence raises the floor and raises the level of everyone, that is liquid gold.
In fact, I believe the most valuable skill set a human being can possess is the ability to make other people better.
And if you can simply make other people better by your mere presence, once again, now your basketball career may run short if you don't have the skills to back that up, but I promise you every single corporate organization in the entire world will always make a home for someone that gets people to raise their game and to improve. And if you can do both of those things, if you can shoot and you can lead, then you're gonna have a pretty nice career.
Cory Heitz (47:51)
Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for sharing that. Here's our quick hitters. You ready for them? Who's the best player you ever played against in basketball?
Alan Stein, Jr. (47:54)
I'm always ready you got it!
boy, that I ever played against, there was a guy named Travis Lyons that graduated from Dematha. I played against him in the summer one time and he was pretty special. But I never played at a level high enough to play like elite, unbelievably really talented players. I've coached some really good ones. I just didn't play against them.
Cory Heitz (48:19)
Yeah. All right. What's your biggest win of your basketball career, whether it's a coach or a player?
Alan Stein, Jr. (48:25)
Biggest win? There were definitely a couple of city championships and WCAC championships at DeMatha that I would rank up there, but probably the biggest win was...
Kevin Durant senior year at Montrose and we upset Oak Hill who was on a 56 game winning streak at the time. And we ended up beating them in the last game of the season, snapped their winning streak. They were number one in the nation for two years in a row, hadn't lost the game in two years and we beat them. They were loaded there. I mean, they had Michael Beasley and Nolan Smith and Tywan Lawson and we had Kevin Durant on our side. Many people think it's the best game that's ever been played in the DC area in the last 20 years.
Cory Heitz (49:07)
I've heard about that game too. Cause they played that at a high school. that was just sold out, I think. Cool. It just right. Yep. Interesting. favorite movie.
Alan Stein, Jr. (49:12)
Yeah, with that cool edge. Yeah.
I have so many, I mean on the comedy side Dumb and Dumber is a classic which probably speaks to my intellect. But then you know you can start going down the rocky rabbit hole, I was a huge fan of Rocky. But then you can just start throwing in movies like A Few Good Men. I'm quite a movie buff. I've always been fascinated by acting, directing, cinematography. I mean you want to talk about the ultimate team sport.
When you look at all the different roles and positions that go into making a movie, from the writers to the directors to the people that do the casting to the wardrobe to the people that score the music, there's so many different components that all come together in order to put together something that's 90 minutes for all of us to sit back and enjoy. But yeah, that went really hard to pick an absolute favorite.
Cory Heitz (50:09)
Yeah. It's funny you say that. I'm married to a woman that owns a movie production company. So I see all this behind the scenes and yeah, it's nuts. It's nuts what they do. So, last thing, what are your hobbies and you're not doing what you're doing?
Alan Stein, Jr. (50:14)
Wow.
Hehe.
You know, I'm a fairly boring human being, to be honest with you. I mean, I've got basically, you know, a handful of components of my life that are really, really important to me. I mean, I've talked at Nausium already about my children and my relationship with my kids. You know, I am a keynote speaker and I spend a vast majority of my time thinking about working on and diving into my own business and my own craft. But I'm also super into my own self care. You know, even though I left the strength game, I'm still doing everything in my power to, to,
reach a really high level of physical, mental, and emotional fitness. So I work out a lot. I actually recently, 90 days ago, I hired a nutrition coach to really help me take my nutrition up another level. And as I said before, I still identify as an athlete, so I try and stay in really good shape. It's funny, outside of my personal care, I've got my personal development. So I love reading and watching and listening to podcasts and books and audio books on growth and development.
And then I do like to just unwind by watching.
movies and shows on Netflix, because I'm fascinated by that realm. But outside of that, I don't have very many hobbies. I don't have the traditional hobbies of golf or fixing up cars or smoking cigars or buying watches. I'm a pretty plain and simple guy and by most people's accounts, rather boring, but it's my sweet spot. I've known ever since I was a young kid, I love structure, I love routine, I love discipline. I'm maniacally structured.
in my day, like down to when I eat, to what I eat, to when I work out, to when I schedule calls. I love routines. Even before I step on stage, I have what I call my pregame routine and I have a series of things that I do. Now there are different things that I used to do when I was in basketball, but the template's still the same. What things do I need to do the night before, the morning of, and the hours leading up to a speaking engagement that will allow me to step on stage and be the best version of myself? So.
I'm always looking to kind of level up and tweak my morning and evening routine and my pre -speaking routine and all that type of stuff. So I am incredibly boring, but boring is actually something I enjoy.
Cory Heitz (52:39)
Well, I love that. I mean, we had more time. I would talk because I'm one year younger than you, but still trying to keep in shape, nutrition, moving around, sauna, ice, all these different modalities. So that'll be for part two. But is there anything you want to mention today, Alan, we did not touch on?
Alan Stein, Jr. (52:48)
Absolutely all of that stuff.
No, this was a lot of fun. I'm so, so happy we were able to reconnect. I've been looking forward to this since we put it on the calendar. this was a fun conversation. You know, I'll just say, to all the players out there, you know, continue to work on your craft, continue to be great teammates, continue to stay open to being coached. as we've already said, you gotta work hard. That's an ante just for sitting at the table, but just know there are tons of resources out there for you and don't fall victim to just watching the highlight reels of what people do on social.
media, but instead try to find ways to find what it is they do during the unseen hours that allow them to be able to do that. And if you can take a peek behind that curtain and see what those elite level players do to reach that level, that'll be way more valuable. And then, you know, it's all of the parents out there listening, just continue to love your kids unconditionally, support them and encourage them in every way possible, but hold them to a very high standard of excellence and a high level of accountability on and off the court. And,
Yeah, do those two things and let the chips fall where they may. And certainly if I can ever be a resource to anyone watching or listening, my website is alansteinjr .com. I have two books, Raise Your Game and Sustain Your Game, which are easily found on Amazon and Audible or wherever you get books and audio books. And I'm very accessible and responsive on social media, on Instagram, on X and on LinkedIn, just at alansteinjr .com.
Just shoot me a DM if any part of this conversation struck a chord or if you have any questions or want to ask anything, I'd be happy to help. But this was a lot of fun, man. I appreciate you having me on.
Cory Heitz (54:28)
Yeah, thanks for coming on, folks. That was Alan Stein Jr. joining us today on the podcast, and Alan, thanks so much for joining us. All right, if you guys liked this, be sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel, all the podcasting platforms, and stay tuned until next week, all right? Thanks so much, we'll see you soon.
Alan Stein, Jr. (54:34)
My pleasure.